Dear parent/carer,
We hope that you and your family are well.
As you will be aware, we have been working hard to ensure we can safely widen the re-opening of our academy to more students and we have been delighted to welcome back those in years 10 and 12 for face-to-face support in addition to their home learning. It has been so lovely to see these students and they have all been brilliant at adapting to the new arrangements and a different learning environment to the one they are used to.
No doubt you will have also heard in the media, following the Prime Minister’s statement, that it is the government’s aim to see more children return to school. We are continuing to follow the government’s guidance, which requires that we limit the numbers of students in class ‘bubbles’. As a result, we are ensuring that we are safely maximising our capacity to allow as many of our students within those identified groups to attend, but unfortunately this cannot be widened to other year groups before the end of term. We appreciate that this may be disappointing to hear, however accommodating the existing groups has been challenging and we must continue to place the safety of both staff and students at the centre of our plans.
We will of course do our very best to ensure that our remote learning provision remains as good as it can be in the meantime, although you may see some adaptations to this as we increase teaching on-site.
As yet, we are not in a position to share detailed plans for September as we await further government guidance to inform this, however we will ensure that arrangements for transition provide the right support all our students.
You may also be aware that the government has announced that additional funding will be provided to all schools in England to help put in place catch-up support for students where it is needed. We will be planning to ensure that this is used to the maximum benefit of students in the new academic year.
For those students receiving examination results this summer, it remains our intention to open up the academy to facilitate this – providing our normal support and guidance, alongside hoping to share in those special moments of celebration which mark the conclusion of such hard work.
Throughout the lockdown, many children of keyworkers and other identified groups have benefited from attending the childcare provision. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff for supporting this wholeheartedly. Now that things are returning to a ‘new normal’, it has been agreed that childcare through the summer holidays will not be provided.
If your child is a recipient of the free school meals scheme, we are pleased to advise that the voucher arrangements will continue throughout the summer break and our expectation is that these will be supplied through the same e-voucher scheme currently in place.
Please do get in touch if you have any questions or concerns, and we thank you for your ongoing support.
Yours faithfully,
Heather Widdup, Senior Principal
Matt Pennington, Principal