School Up-date 18-03-2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
As we all wait for our government to understand the challenges
being faced by schools, I am endeavouring to maintain a service. I am led to expect that there will be an
announcement, from Boris Johnson, in the next two days, regarding schools. I know that Year 11 and their parents will be
eager to find out if any decisions have been taken by Ofqual regarding the
examination season.
Families should follow the advice from Public Health England and
that has to include the families of my staff team. The school will continue to
follow the advice of the Department for Education and Public Health England.
This is an exceptional situation and clearly the announcement from
central government impacts both on students and staff; with some staff having
to stay at home if they are at risk or have family members who are displaying
symptoms, this includes five staff who are pregnant.
I have risk assessed the staff team and know that I can only offer
less than a full service for the rest of this week, if I am to maintain the
safety of students on site and quality provision in the classrooms. As the situation has escalated and I have
more staff isolated at home with sick children and their own underlying health
conditions, I have now had to close the
school for Years 8 and 9 from Thursday 19th March 2020. Any child in these year groups, receiving
free school meals, will be very welcome to come into school at 12.20pm, wearing their uniform, to have
their lunch.
The aim is to prioritise Year 11, in their preparation for the
examinations and support our youngest students.
Year 11: Open as normal
Year 10: Open as normal
Year 9: Closed, working from home
Year 8: Closed, working from home
Year 7: Open as normal
It is likely that there will be further changes later this week or
at the beginning of next week and we are awaiting instruction from central
government. There have been no known
cases of coronavirus in the school population to-date.
There will be some changes to staffing but the timetabled day for
these students will run as usual. Teachers will set work on Frog and some
additional work is being done to ensure that our systems are robust.
I know that this will be disruptive for some parents but I will
keep our staffing levels under-review. I
would appreciate your co-operation in these challenging circumstances.
Mrs Zoë Johnson-Walker
Headteacher
