Closure due to Coronavirus January 2021
I am sure that you are all aware of the Government announcements on Monday 4th January regarding schools in England. The key points were as follows:
- All schools to close and likely to remain closed until February half term. This applies to all students except the children of key workers and the most vulnerable children.
- Scheduled external January exams will take place as planned but alternative arrangements are being planned for the GCSE and A-Level examinations in June. Year 13 mocks next week will take place on line at home (more details to follow).
At Sponne we will continue to use the Google platform for all of our remote teaching and so live aspects to lessons will take place on Google Meet and resources will be set on Google Classroom by their teachers working from home. We will be expecting students to follow their normal school timetable during the closure weeks though we will revert back to normal lesson timings so that Lesson 1 will start at 8.45, lesson 2 at 9.45, lesson 3 at 11.05, lesson 4 at 12.05 and lesson 5 at 2.05 pm. Teachers will be available to provide guidance to students by email or the Google classroom.
I am very conscious that our Year 11 and 13 students, in particular, will have significant questions about their exams and my message to them is to stay focussed on their learning and engage fully in the online live lessons. There will be some form of teacher assessment and as soon as we have any further details from the DfE and Ofqual regarding any alternative arrangements we will inform you of this.
Please be aware that if my teachers have primary aged children at home or are unwell then some lessons may not always have some live aspect to them but resources will always be available.
I’ve also included the latest advice and guidance from the government that I would encourage you to read: Information for parents & carers
Please do not hesitate to contact me on should you have any other queries about this.
Yours sincerely
Iain Massey
Headteacher
