College Closure & Coronavirus Update 09.04.20. Little new.

College Closure and Coronavirus Update

 Update Thursday 9^th April 2020

1. Summary of Main Points: note Wednesday 15^th April

•  Clyst Vale site is closed, except our Emergency Childcare Provision (ECP) for children of key workers (and deliveries, essential contractors, etc) ·
• ECP will run daily Monday to Friday 08.30 – 17.00 throughout the holidays (including Bank Holidays) and in term-time.
• ECP has moved to a booking system. Places for the next day can be booked until 9.00 p.m. the night before (including Sunday, for Monday). Or phone the number which has been provided to ECP parents.
• Parents and carers can contact us as normal, although we recommend e-mail
• Teachers are working from home to set work on the day your child will have their lesson. This will resume on Wednesday 15^th
• We have been accepted for the Government voucher scheme for Free School Meals but the site is experiencing difficulties through overload in issuing e-codes for parents..
• School Transport is suspended. If you are a key worker and would like school transport, please contact on the day before you require transport.
• If you have any concerns, please contact the school and ask to speak to a Designated Safeguarding Lead (Mr Sutton, Mrs Albutt, Miss McConnachie or Mr A Pearce). If this is not possible please contact MASH, The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub: 0345 155 1071.

2. Emergency Childcare Provision: MINOR UPDATE

•  We are fully committed to maintaining our offer to look after the children of key workers (secondary age group) and vulnerable students
• A separate e-mail went to key worker parents on 2^nd April
  • with information about an improved booking system, based on the
• ECP will run daily Monday to Friday 08.30 – 17.00 throughout the holidays (including Bank Holidays) and in term-time. If no children attend, the College will close at 12.00.
• After the holiday period, we can discuss varying these hours (within reason) for individual children. Please contact us.

3. Free School Meals: NEW

•  We have decided to join the Government voucher scheme for Free School Meals because with our semi-rural catchment other methods of providing FSM are complex and cannot possibly reach everyone.
• We have been accepted on to the scheme, but overload is causing delay. We anticipate that parents will receive their e-codes today (9^th) or tomorrow at the latest.
• The amount will be £15 per child per week. We have tried to overlap the Government scheme with our previous one for this week to make up for a £3 per week difference between schemes.

4. Public Examinations

• Detailed guidance was published on 3^rd April, although there are a number of loose ends and details to be confirmed
• There are 2 documents:

1. For students:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/877830/Letter_to_students_-_Summer_2020_grading.pdf

2. For everyone (ie general guidance)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/how-gcses-as-a-levels-will-be-awarded-in-summer-2020

• Summary
  • Teachers will be asked to predict grades for each student in each subject.
  • Teachers are also required to place the students in rank order, including within the grades (i.e who is the “top” grade 5 ? who is the “second best” grade 5 ? etc).
  • Teachers will use all available evidence to help them make their judgement.
  • This evidence itself will not be sent to the exam boards.
  • Teachers’ predictions will and must be strictly confidential.
  • Mock exams alone will not be used (although they are part of the evidence)
  • The deadline for the grades to be sent in is 29^th

           5. Trips and Visits

• Year 7 Parents should see that they have been refunded for the cancelled visit to Chepstow Castle. If you haven’t been, and/or have any queries, please contact   Please note that the refunds may take 3-5 days to transfer.Very sadly, but very much the right thing to do and no surprise to anyone, neither of the visits to Bude or the Belgian battlefields will be going ahead. Please do not make any more payments.Parents WILL be refunded in full for payments made for these visits, but it is not clear exactly when this happen, because we are in discussions with the companies and our insurers. Clearly, this is your money, so this is a priority for us and we will keep you posted. A small step forward regarding Bude is that we heard this week that this will be covered by our insurance.

LINKS AND FURTHER INFORMATION

This is the Government’s guidance to parents:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers

The following link is the government’s advice to schools, last updated 26^th March

Guidance to Educational Settings About Covid-19

The next link is Devon County Council’s dedicated website for parents for Coronavirus advice

https://www.devon.gov.uk/document/schools-and-families/

Department for Education Coronavirus helpline:

Phone: 0800 046 8687  Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

Email:

Should you have any specific queries regarding Covid-19 and Clyst Vale, please e-mail Mrs Ann Hopkins (College Manager) on .

Kevin Bawn, Principal