CV & CC Update 12th May 2020. Position after Prime Minister’s Announcement

CoronaVirus & College Closure Update

 Update 12^th May 2020

1. NEW ITEMS: IMPLICATIONS OF PRIME MINISTER’S ANNOUNCEMENT

                From Letter to Parents & Carers 12^th May 2020

•  For the next three weeks at least, there is no change to the existing position. The site remains closed to all, except for ECP. I will continue to discourage and resist visits to the site, and the ECP hygiene measures will remain fully in place. I am interpreting the new slogan “Stay Alert” as one minister’s definition as “Stay at Home as much as possible”.
• It is extremely unlikely (but not impossible) that Years 7 to 9 will be back until September.
• Years 10 and 12 may be back before the summer holiday either in very small numbers for “face-to-face” or as a cohort.
• We will continue to send remote learning tasks to students. We will also develop ways to “refresh” this to increase variety and improve motivation.
• It is not compulsory for pupils or students in the named Year groups to return, and parents will not be fined for non-attendance.
• Parents/carers will be asked about your likely intentions of allowing your children to attend or remain at home; this will be after half-term, nearer any potential time of a return, and will be necessary for planning purposes.
• Before any students return to Clyst Vale, thorough risk assessments will be conducted
• Perhaps my most important point is that parents can be reassured that safety is my absolute priority, and I will continue to be extremely cautious. While I believe that students’ educational interests are best met in College, this cannot be at any cost or risk. 
• [New government links below]

2. College Closure: Main Points

• Clyst Vale site is closed, except our Emergency Childcare Provision (ECP) for children of key workers and vulnerable children (and deliveries, essential contractors, etc) ·
• Parents and carers can contact us as normal, although we recommend e-mail
• If you have any concerns about a student at Clyst Vale, 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.
• The College is closed until further notice. Please ignore continuing media speculation about likely dates for schools re-opening. The next key date is the Government 3-week review on 7^th May with an announcement expected about schools on Sunday 10^th

3. Emergency Childcare Provision

• We are fully committed to maintaining our offer to look after the children of key workers (secondary age group) and vulnerable students
• ECP will run daily Monday to Friday 08.30 – 17.00. Please contact us if you wish to discuss varying these hours (within reason) for individual children.

(If no children attend, the College will close at 12.00.)

• 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.
• There is now an expectation that vulnerable students should really be in school unless there are health issues or (in the case of SEND students) they would be safer at home.
• School Transport is suspended. If you are a key worker and would like school transport, please contact on the day before you require transport.
• School transport if required during half-term week 22^nd – 25^th May must be organised through us; please do not contact School Transport directly yourselves.

4. Remote Learning 

• Teachers are working from home to set work on the day your child would have their lesson. The activities set should take 2-3 hours in Year 7 rising to 3-4 in Year 10.
• Work will be sent by e-mail to students’ College e-mail accounts, and also assigned on Microsoft Teams.
• From Monday 13^th May, work will NOT be set on a lesson-by-lesson basis to Year 11 and Year 13 students. Please refer to the tabs on the website for suggested activities. Students are expected to monitor College e-mails, keep in contact with tutors, and individual e-mails from students will be responded to.

5. Free School Meals 

• We joined the Edenred/Government scheme from 6^th
• On the Government scheme, parents can choose one of eight supermarkets. Asda and Waitrose will accept the codes for on-line ordering and home delivery. Aldi, McColls. Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons and M&S are in store only. (Lidl and the Co-op are NOT unfortunately in the scheme)
• Some parents are experiencing difficulty redeeming their e-codes to vouchers/e-gift cards. This is a problem with Edenred, but please contact Mrs Long on who may be able to help.
• The e-codes can be downloaded and forwarded or printed for someone else to use if a family is in self-isolation or cannot get to the supermarket.
• If you have any queries, or need or require e-codes to be posted, please contact Racheal Long on .

6. Public Examinations

• Exam Results Days have been confirmed as the original dates of Thursday 13^th August for A-Level and AS (and presumably vocational Level 3 courses, but we don’t know this); Thursday 20^th August for GCSE (and vocational Level 1 & 2 courses ?).
• We still await information from the Department of Education or Exam Boards as to how vocational qualifications will be assessed, and also the mechanics of how we send results to the Exam Boards.
• We cannot discuss predicted grades with students, parents or carers at any stage. This is prohibited in the guidance.

7. Trips and Visits

• Parents WILL be refunded in full for payments made. Clearly, this is your money, so this is a priority for us and we will keep you updated.

LINKS AND FURTHER INFORMATION

These are revised links from the Government (11th May 2020):

Implementing protective measures in education and childcare settings

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protectivemeasures-in-education-and-childcare-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-implementingprotective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings 

Actions for education and childcare settings to prepare for wider opening from 1 June 2020

Much of this document repeats what is in the above however it does provide more
information on the scientific evidence. Additional topics include attendance, staff wellbeing,
transport and funding.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settingsto-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/actions-for-education-and-childcare-settingsto-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020

Opening schools and educational settings to more pupils from 1 June: guidance for parents and carers

Document for parents explaining the proposed phased return and what it means for them
and their children.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-forparents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june

Department for Education Coronavirus helpline:

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

Email:

There are hundreds of support agencies’ links I could list for mental health and on-line issues. Here are just four, but all are tried and tested.

• kooth.com has a load of information and on-line counselling; mainly mental health
• childline.org.uk 0800 1111 has been around for ages, but is still one of the best helplines
• thinkuknow.org.uk focusses on on-line issues including bullying, or messages that make you uncomfortable
• Young Devon (Google it) is web-based, and points you to a wide range of possible services

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

Kevin Bawn, Principal