School Closure Updates: 13 March-17 April
DenmarkRoad365 - But Different.
New School Day Timings, Timetables and Curriculum Offer
Our new curriculum offer is introduced here by Miss Giblin:
Please read (and watch!) full details of our updated Curriculum Offer for Term 5 here.
---
School Closure Update - 6 April 2020
School open over Easter Holidays for children of critical workers and our vulnerable students
As per government guidance, parents should keep their children at home unless it is absolutely necessary for them to be looked after at school. Only children of critical workers or students who are vulnerable are eligible for childcare at school.
We understand that the next two weeks may be extremely busy for key workers in the NHS in particular, consequently we will open the school on both bank holidays. We would be grateful if you would complete the google form sent to you to indicate days and times of attendance daily.
We also appreciate that the schedule of key workers may change at short notice. Please rest assured that your daughter will be welcome to attend even if you have not had opportunity to complete this form.
Please note, there is no longer catering on-site so your daughter will need to bring a packed lunch and drink.
Regards
Claire Giblin
---
School Closure Update - 3 April 2020
Headteacher's End of Term Assembly
The traditional end-of-term assembly was a little bit different this year. You can watch the assembly on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbc7C7DINE0
---
School Closure Update - 3 April 2020
GCSE & A levels update for students and parents
Further to my message last week, today Ofqual, the exams regulator, have published new guidance on how your GCSE and A level grades will be decided.
We have been asked to produce two pieces of information for each of your qualifications:
The first is the grade, based on our professional expertise and experience, that we believe you would have achieved if teaching, learning and exams had gone ahead as planned.
The second is the order of all the students who we have given a particular grade to, in each subject, based on our judgement of your performance. The best performing person at that grade will be top. The lowest performing person at the grade will be bottom. This is required to allow a fair fine tuning of grades nationally to ensure grades awarded this year are similar to those awarded in previous years.
When deciding the grade you were most likely to achieve we will take into account a range of supporting evidence. This includes how you have done in tests and assessments, how you have done in non-exam assessment (NEA) whether this was finished or not, how you did in your mock exams, how well you do in class and homework and our experience of how well similar students would usually progress during the teaching and revision time you have missed. Where applicable we will also take into account exceptional circumstances which would have led to you having special consideration in traditional examinations.
The information that we need to submit to exam boards is confidential. Please do not ask your teachers or anyone else at our school for information about the grades or the order we will be submitting. We are not allowed to share this.
As stated last week, we will not expect or consider, work that has been produced since the school closure when developing our grade and order. There is no need to do any more work to prove yourselves. We know you. We know the qualifications. We know what you are capable of achieving. Throughout your GCSEs and A Levels we assess you regularly, we standardise this and track this, consequently we already have the information we need to make accurate professional judgements. Our teachers are experts in assessment, experts in the qualification they teach and experts in making ethical, informed judgements based on the myriad of information we gather.
Our guidance remains that if you feel there are elements of the course you would like to continue with, particularly if it would be beneficial in preparation for A Level, Apprenticeships or University, you can still work on this on a voluntary basis. Over the Easter holidays we will be publishing details of our new curriculum offer for Year 11 and Year 13 which will focus on preparing you for the next steps in your education and ensuring you are not disadvantaged next year by the early finish to your studies this year.
The results day has not yet been confirmed. However, we know it will be no later than the published dates for A levels (13 August) and GCSEs (20 August) and more than likely a little before. We will update when we have more clarity. We are also awaiting more information about the process of taking your exams in either the Autumn or in Summer 2021 should you want to do so. If you do take the exams, then both grades will stand. Ofqual are currently considering arrangements for an effective appeals process should you not be happy with the grade you are awarded. They will be consulting on their proposals shortly and we will provide further information to you when it becomes available.
Finally, and most crucially, the GCSE and A level grades you’ve earned this summer will be indistinguishable from those awarded any other year. They will carry equal weight with employers and universities. The exam boards, Ofqual and all the staff at Denmark Road are committed to ensuring this process is fair and the grades you receive this summer will be a true representation of the grade you would have achieved in more normal times.
Have a wonderful and restful Easter break. Enjoy your time with your family and stay in touch on our group chat rooms. Stay home. Be safe. We can’t wait to celebrate with you all on results day.
Claire Giblin
---
School Closure Update - 28 March 2020
Message for Y11 and Y13 students
I trust you are all keeping well and have managed to enjoy some of the sunshine we have had this week. It is great to see so many of you engaging on the group chats, staying in touch with each other, motivating each other and trying out new things.
We understand the concerns you will have following the announcement that exams will not take place in the summer. As you know from previous communications, we are still awaiting precise guidance from the government and examination boards as to how we, as teachers, will contribute to your calculated grade. Ofqual has confirmed that this information will be published next week. As soon as we know, you will know.
We also appreciate that some of you feel you should currently be continuing with work and assessments, that you feel there is a need to prove yourselves and what you are capable of. There is no need: We know you. We know the qualifications. We know what you are capable of achieving. Throughout your GCSEs and A Levels we assess you regularly, we standardise this and track this, consequently we already have the information we need to make accurate professional judgements. Our teachers are experts in assessment, experts in the qualification they teach and experts in making ethical, informed judgements based on the myriad of information we gather.
Our guidance for all students in Years 11 and 13 across all subjects remains as follows: If you feel there are elements of the course you would like to continue with, particularly if it would be beneficial in preparation for A Level, Apprenticeships or University, you can still work on this on a voluntary basis.
We recognise the hard work you have put into your studies and we are extremely proud of what you have achieved. At the end next week we will be providing further information on how we will be supporting you in your preparation for the next stage of your education. Over the next term we will be providing opportunities to explore and develop new knowledge, techniques and skills which will help prepare you for those next steps while also supporting your well-being.
Regards
Miss Giblin
---
School Closure Update - 27 March 2020
Well-being Monday is now Well-being Thursday & Friday
As you will be aware, our school was to hold an online INSET day on Monday 30th March. This was scheduled to enable our staff, having now experienced home learning, to review and further improve our curriculum offer during this difficult period of school closure. We would like to change and extend the dates for our online INSET to Thursday 2 April and Friday 3 April.
There are several reasons for making this change. Firstly, we have moved the date as we have been informed today that an organisation we work with, Partners in Excellence (PiXL), are releasing new materials on Tuesday which we wish to consider in our new offer. In addition, Ofqual have also announced that further guidance regarding the awarding of grades and the process schools will need to undertake should be released next week and this will need to be incorporated in our planning time.
We have also extended the online INSET to two days as remote planning on this scale is huge undertaking. Finding the time to do so collaboratively as a staff is also proving a challenge. Most of us, as you no doubt are too, are learning to juggle our work commitments whilst at home while also supporting home learning for our own children or caring for elderly relatives. We therefore need a little more time to plan.
On Thursday and Friday next week there will be no online lessons taking place. On both days, we ask that students catch up with the homework tasks on Show My Homework, read books (don’t forget to post your reviews in The Reading Marathon), get exercise (Joe Wicks, 9am!) and engage regularly with their friends in their Year Group Google Chat Room.
School will remain open to students of key workers and students who are vulnerable. We will also be open throughout the Easter holidays, with the exception of the bank holidays. To support our staffing numbers in school, if you are a keyworker and will be sending your child to school next week we would be grateful if you would complete the google form sent. We will send out one every Friday for the following week. We do appreciate that plans may change at short notice for key workers, if this occurs please do contact us, your daughter will always be welcome during our opening hours.
Thank you for your continued understanding. Look after yourselves.
Claire Giblin
---
School Closure Update - 25 March 2020
We hope everyone is keeping safe, staying home and are doing okay.
This is a massive change for all of us. Certainly as staff we are all missing the routine and reassurance of regular school life. We have been operating all week as a ‘skeleton school’ with a small number of students, who are the children of critical workers, and a dedicated group of support and teaching staff. With the vast majority of our students and staff in their homes, our teachers have been delivering online lessons, sharing resources and setting work and well-being activities.
This has been a steep learning curve for our students and our staff. You may have found these few days have been quite overwhelming for your child too. Not just with the amount of work they have been set. The original offer we shared with you in the event of our closure was anticipating that exams would still be on for Year 11 and Year 13 students and that we would be closed for two weeks around Easter. As we are all aware, events have accelerated quickly since then and in addition to exams being cancelled, we are being told that the national school closures will last likely last for months not weeks.
Considering the potential for a more lengthy closure, without exams this summer, we have begun the process of refining and improving our offer for all our students working at home. We will ensure that well-being is the central focus of the offer with a wide package of support, activities and challenges. We will be making sure that the academic tasks we set and online lessons we deliver offer a consistent experience for students, balance their workloads and keep their minds active. There will be big focus on preparation for future years, whether that is moving onto University, A levels or GCSEs or the next year up in the school. This will also feature careers, life skills and community learning and opportunities.
We will asking our teachers to use Monday as a planning day. They will be meeting online in teams to help prepare the specific resources for our new off-site offer. This will mean there will not be any online lessons or work set on Monday next week. However, school will remain open for key-worker children as usual. We ask all our students to have a ‘well-being’ day on Monday instead and do some of the positive well-being tasks that are being shared on their Year Group Google Chat rooms. If you have not yet seen these please take a look. They are wonderful places where students have been sharing ideas, memories, experiences and lots and lots of photos of their cute pets. This is the Denmark Road spirit living on – albeit online only at the moment.
As you can imagine, effectively re-writing our curriculum is a big undertaking. We will be publishing specific details of the offer for each year group on Tuesday. In the meantime, we ask that students continue next week with their homework tasks on Show My Homework, read books, get exercise (Joe Wicks at 9am is a must!!!!, use the resources they have been sent and engage regularly with their friends in the google chat rooms. We will be launching our new offer after the Easter Holiday.
Thank you, as always, for your unwavering support.
Claire Giblin
___
School Closure Update - 21 March 2020
FAQs - 21 March 2020
Q: Can my child come to school next week?
We will be closed next week for all students with the exception of the children of critical workers and our vulnerable students.
Q: How long will you be closed for?
We do not know when we will open again. We have been informed that we will remain closed for the majority of our students until further notice.
Q: I am a critical worker or have a vulnerable child. Do I have to send my child to Denmark Road?
No. The advice is that every child who can be safely cared for at home, should be. If you can keep them at home do not send them in.
Q: I am a critical worker or have a vulnerable child. How will my child get to Denmark Road?
At present all bus/coach services are running as normal. This may be reviewed in future and we will update you accordingly if affected. The local authority has pledged to provide transport arrangements to support our children.
Q: What time are you open to children of critical workers and vulnerable students?
We will be open from 8:00am to 5:00pm every day.
Q: I am a critical worker or have a vulnerable child. What will happen during the Easter Holidays?
We will continue to be open with our usual hours, 8:00am – 5:00pm, throughout the Easter Holiday break. We will not be providing online lessons during this time.
Q: Is my child counted as vulnerable?
We have contacted students who we believe this is applies to. This includes students that have free school meals, a social worker or educations, health or care plans. Please contact Miss Leathart on 07848 883470 or Miss Giblin on 07848 689917 if you have any concerns or would like to include your child.
Q: Am I a critical worker?
The government has provided clear guidance of who qualifies as a critical worker. Please consult their guidance here for full details. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision
Q: My child gets Free School Meals but is not going to attend school. Are we entitled to anything?
We have contacted students and parents involved. If you are entitled to free school meals and are not coming into school then we will provide a weekly £15 cash payment to your bank account. We are aware of some scam emails circulating around this area - please do not respond to any requests for bank information via email. We will contact you by telephone or you can contact us.
Q: I am a critical worker that does shift work? Do you need to know which days my child will attend?
No. If you are working and your child can not be safely cared for at home: bring them in.
Q: Will they need to bring their own lunch?
Our restaurant will be open with break and lunch service available.
Q: How will attendance work?
If your child is eligible to attend next week you do not need to let us know they are attending. We will be asking all students to sign in. We send you an email confirmation when they arrive at school.
Q: What if I need to pick up my child earlier than 3:20pm?
This is encouraged. If your child is going to leave before 3:20pm they will need to be collected.
Q: What is the curriculum offer for students who are at home?
We have outlined the curriculum offer we are providing on our website. We will update this, with more specific information on Monday and share will all students and parents.
Q: Do they have to wear uniform if they are attending?
We would like all students to wear their usual school uniform when attending.
Q: What is happening about exams?
The government has confirmed that all GCSE and A Level exams have been cancelled. They have released new detailed guidance on this today and our response will be covered in a separate communication. In summary, GCSE and A Levels grades will be a ‘calculated grade’. This will be informed by a number of factors including our teacher’s professional judgement whom know the amazing dedication, hard work and fantastic performance your children have put into their qualifications. This will be recognised. We will share our response over the weekend.
Q: What do I do if I have a pastoral concern?
We have two ‘hotlines’ set up for emergencies. These will be manned from 8:00am – 5:00pm. You can leave a message outside of those hours. Please call Miss Leathart, Assistant Headteacher Progress & Well-being, on 07848 883470. Or Headteacher Miss Giblin on 07848 689917.
---
School Closure Update - 20 March 2020
Denmark Road High School will be open on Monday only for our vulnerable students and for our students who are the children of critical workers.
Please see our list of frequently asked questions
Children of critical workers
The government guidance is extremely clear: If you are a critical worker and are able to keep your children at home you should. They should not be cared for by a friend or relative who is in an identified vulnerable group, this includes people with underlying heath conditions or those over 70 years old. Only, if they are not able to keep your child at home then please send your child to school at the normal time, in the normal uniform. School buses will be running as normal on Monday. The dining room will also be open as usual.
The government has defined critical workers as:
Health and social care
Includes frontline health and social care staff - such as doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, as well as support and specialist staff in the health and social care sector. In addition, those working in supply chains, including producers and distributors of medicines and personal protective equipment, are included.
Education and childcare
Includes nursery, teaching staff and social workers, as the department said these workers are required to deliver their plans.
Key public services
Those required to run the justice system, religious staff, as well as those responsible for managing the deceased and journalists providing public service broadcasting are on the list.
Local and national government
The list "only includes administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services", including payment of benefits.
Food and other necessary goods
Includes those involved in the production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery of food.
Public safety and national security
Police, support staff, Ministry of Defence civilian staff and armed forces personnel are on the list, along with fire and rescue staff, as well as those responsible for border security, prison and probation staff.
Transport
Includes those who will keep "air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response".
Utilities, communication and financial services
Staff required to keep oil, gas, electricity, water and sewerage operations running are on the list, along with those in the civil nuclear, chemical and telecommunications sectors. Those in postal services and working to provide essential financial services provision are also included.
Vulnerable Students
Our vulnerable students are welcome to attend our school as usual. This includes our students who have a social worker, those with Education, Health and Care Plans and those that have free school meals. We will be contacting students and parents who we believe are in this group this afternoon. If you have not been contacted but believe this applies to you, if you need further guidance or simply need to talk - then please contact us. You can speak directly to Miss Leathart, Assistant Headteacher Progress & Well-being, on 07848 883470. Or headteacher Miss Giblin on 07848 689917.
We will continue to be open at Denmark Road High School for these two groups of students throughout the originally planned Easter Holiday.
Students who remain at home, including students in the above groups who are self or household isolating, will continue to be in touch with their teachers using our ShowMyHomework (satchel:one) app, Google Hangouts Chat and Google Meet. This is in addition to a wealth of online learning resources which they will be supplied with to support the continuation of their studies.
As a reminder, every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.
Thank you, to whole community, for your unstinting support in this challenging time.
Claire Giblin
---
School Closure Update - 18 March 2020
We are driven. We are fearless. We are DenmarkRoad365.
Dear all,
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them” – Maya Angelou
This evening, the government announced that all UK schools will be closed until further notice. Schools will remain open only to vulnerable students and the children of key workers. We have been informed that clear guidance on how this will work will be published tomorrow. The government has also announced that GCSE and A Levels will not take place in May and June. We do not know more than this at this stage although we have been told that further details will be published in the coming days. I appreciate this is an unsettling time for us all. Speculation is seldom helpful, we may only deal with the certainties we have.
This might be the last time for a long time we are all together as the Denmark Road family. Self-isolators excepted. I want all of our students and staff – whom are fit, well and safe to be here – to share these last two days. We will celebrate with our amazing Year 11 and Year 13 students and support all our students during these uncertain times. We are all determined our DenmarkRoad365 spirit will make these last two days a joyful time.
With this in mind Year 11 and Year 13 will have their Celebration Day on Friday. We will celebrate as well as those in years gone past have enjoyed. They will be given time on Thursday to prepare for these big events!
Where staffing allows we will be running timetabled lessons. Where it does not we will put groups together to watch movies, play games, read books and enjoy each other’s company. For these last two days we encourage students to bring with them a book to read and a board or card game to play with friends. Cushions are recommended on both days for when you use the gym and the hall. Year 7 and 8 may bring a onesie to change into before their movie on Thursday. The same for Year 9 and 10 on Friday. Year 12 will have the opportunity to leave at lunchtime on both days.
I will hold assemblies with all year groups during the course of Thursday to reassure them that our community is strong and that we’ve got this.
Regards
Claire Giblin
---
Interim Update - School Closure - 18 March 2020
This evening the government has announced that all schools across the UK will be closing on Friday afternoon until further notice. This will be with the exception of the children of key workers in the fight against the Coronavirus virus. They have also announced that exams for students in Year 11 and Year 13 will not occur this May or June.
We are hearing this news for the first time this evening too. I am sure you will all have a huge number of questions related to this news. Please bear with us as we gather further information. We will update our COVID-19 page on our website with a more detailed response with the provision for this Thursday and Friday shortly.
---
COVID-19 Update - 17 March 2020
Information regarding self-isolation
Yesterday’s government guidance confirmed that all members of the household self-isolate for a period of 14 days if anyone in the household shows symptoms of a persistent cough or high temperature. If this applies within your household please ensure that you do not send your child to school.
School work: At present teachers are unable to provide specific school work for students who are self-isolating. We recommend that students access online educational resources and continue to monitor Show My Homework (SatchelOne) app for regular homeworks/resources. We also strongly encourage all students who are self-isolating to take advantage of this time by reading fiction books. I appreciate that this might be frustrating but the primary focus for teaching staff is keeping the school open. This includes them covering for absent colleagues. We do not have the resources at the moment to provide bespoke work for students at home.
Reporting self-isolation: If your child is not attending school due to self-isolation please ensure that this is explicitly mentioned as the reason for absence when reporting. Please also include whether it is the student or a member of the household that has potential coronavirus symptoms. If self-isolation is not mentioned when reporting absence we are having to call home in each case. With increasing levels of absence and limited resources this is a time consuming action.
Thank you for your continuing support.
---
COVID-19 Update - 16 March 2020
This evening the Government has updated their advice with regards to their Coronavirus response.
The most crucial change for our school is the requirement that all members of the household self-isolate for a period of 14 days should anyone in the house display persistent cough or fever symptoms.
We ask that you comply with this. If your child, yourself or anyone in your house has these symptoms please do not send them to school for the next two weeks. Please inform us if they are entering self-isolation using the usual absence procedures. We will immediately send home students who display these symptoms in school. If you are called to collect your child you must immediately come to do so.
Government advice remains that schools are to stay open. We continue to follow this guidance and the advice from Public Health England and the Department for Education.
We thank you for your support with this.
---
COVID-19 Update - 13 March 2020
I am sure you are all aware that the government is continuing to react to the worsening COVID-19 epidemic. Yesterday, the country officially moved to the ‘Delay’ stage of the contingency plan and has updated guidance accordingly.
Our primary concern will always be with the health and wellbeing of our students and our staff. We would therefore ask that you observe government advice with regards to regular handwashing. Yesterday, the advice was also updated to ask all individuals who have a “new continuous cough” or “a temperature above 37.8C” to self-isolate for a period of 7 days. We would ask that if your child displays these symptoms that they immediately self-isolate and do not attend school. Please can you follow usual absence procedures and inform the school if this is the case.
Further advice on how to self-isolate is available from https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
Our Response
These are challenging and unprecedented times. It is times like this where our school community, our empathy, compassion and support for one another is at its strongest. We will be making difficult decisions with outcomes that some will find frustrating. However, we will be well-prepared for what lies ahead and will overcome these trying circumstances.
The government advice is that schools should remain open. With this in mind I would like to take you through what we will do to maximise our opportunity to stay open and also what we will offer should we be forced to close in the future.
We have made the decision to concentrate on our core business. Primarily, continuing to deliver a quality education to our students in lessons. As such we have decided that for the remainder of this term we will:
- Not proceed, following government guidance, with the Thailand Trip.
- Postpone the upcoming Y12/Y13 and Y10 Excellence Evenings
- Cancel all PE fixtures
- Cancel after-school events with the exception of after-school clubs run by DRHS staff
- Next Wednesday’s INVEST Day will become a normal timetabled teaching day (except for Year 11 students who will still have their ‘study from home’ day)
- Ask all students and staff to regularly wash hands throughout the day
- Ask all students and staff to practice social distancing – refrain from hugs, handshakes and physical contact where possible.
We will be reviewing all upcoming UK-based school trips on a case by case basis following the latest guidance from the government and Public Health England. We will also be taking steps to reduce the number of external visitors to the site and cancelling staff training courses.
I am sure that this information will be disappointing to many. Especially for students and staff who are looking forward to the educational trips, fixtures and events. We are proud of the diverse curriculum we provide at Denmark Road but at the moment our priority must remain with the health of students and staff and ensuring we are to remain open. The new requirement for students and staff to self-isolate if displaying symptoms, with the likelihood that this will be extended to entire households in the coming weeks, could present significant staffing pressures on us as a school. Removing non-essential trips and additional events will help to reduce the burden on staffing and help keep us open.
If you have made contributions towards the costs of school trips that get cancelled, please bear with us. We will be liaising with venues, tour providers, insurance companies and the government to look at the potential to postpone the trip to a later date or seek a refund. We will contact you individually in due course.
In the event of School Closure
While government advice is that schools should remain open they have advised that future closures remain an option. I therefore wanted to let you know the actions we will take in the event of an extended school closure.
Even if we are forced to close, DenmarkRoad365 will continue. We will continue to provide a valuable education to the best of our ability in the circumstances we are faced with.
Our offer will encompass a range of options depending on your child’s year group:
Key Stage 3
- Continue Reading
Research shows that one of the most educationally beneficial activities is reading. In the event of a school closure students will be given rare ‘down-time’ which can give them more opportunity to read more.
We would like all our students to embrace their love of reading. During the school closure all Key Stage 3 students are to take part in a “DRHS Reading Marathon”
They will be required to attempt to read 26 books – the reading marathon! We will track progress in the marathon online and also use our vocabulary app, PiXL Unlock, to build on this learning. Full details of how the marathon will work will be shared with students in due course.
Resources: Take out books from the LRC now, use books at home, Online LRC access via google sites, Kindle copyright free library, Local library Pressreader/e-Book access, Access PiXL Unlock App
- Continue Homework
Where fit and well, teachers and curriculum leaders will continue to set regular homeworks (in accordance with the school timetable) using our Show My Homework app and website. This app gives teachers access to a large library of educational community resources including online quizzes and tests. This will continue to provide educational experiences for your children across all their subjects – often with instant feedback.
Key Stage 4
- Continue Studies
As your child progresses in their GCSE studies you will find they have access to specialist online learning materials and resources. We have invested in a subscription to GCSEPod. These excellent resource with give your child access to high quality dedicated content for each GCSE subject for every GCSE paper. Teachers will be able to set content playlists for students to follow and will provide feedback on their progress. Students will be issued with their login details shortly. We also have access to PiXL Apps in Geography, History, English and Mathematics and Dynamic Learning resources across MFL, Science and Mathematics. In addition, your child will continue to receive regular learning and homeworks (set in accordance with the school timetable) with assignments, quizzes and projects set through our Show My Homework app and website.
And- Read – This a rare opportunity to have time off school! – Fall in love with reading again. Look out for the recommendations coming from Mrs Cordall.
- Continue Revision
In Year 11, your child will now be completing the content for their upcoming GCSE examinations. In addition to their own revision plans, teachers will direct their students through a revision programme using subject specific online resources.
If fit and well, students will be able to access their teacher on a dedicated twice-weekly ‘chat’ using their school Google account. Staff will set sessions in accordance with the school timetable and notify students of this via Show My Homework.
Resources: PiXL History, Maths, Geography, English and Unlock apps, laptop/computer/smartphone with internet to access Google, Show My Homework, GCSEPod and online revision resources.
Key Stage 5
- Continue Teaching
A Level studies are an intensive process for our students and our teachers. There is already a heavy burden of expectation on your child to be committed to significant independent study. This will continue and will be prescribed using our Show My Homework system.
Recognising the significant importance of subject mastery – our teachers, where fit and well, will commit to provide a weekly ‘video lesson’ using Google Meet which your son/daughter will be invited to using their school Google account. This interactive experience will enable students to ask questions and check understanding of their independent studies. These will run in accordance with the school timetable (exact time to be notified via Show My Homework) and students, where fit and well, will be expected to be available to access them and take part.
And- Read – This a rare opportunity to have time off school – Fall in love with reading again. Please see the recommendations from Mrs Cordall.
Resources: Laptop/computer/smartphone with internet to access Google, Show My Homework and online revision resources.
We are in the process of providing laptops for students who have let us know they do not have access to today.
Finally, I am aware that many students and parents are concerned about the potential disruption to the upcoming GCSE and A Level exam season. At the moment we have received no information other than this is being planned to happen as normal. We are seeking further guidance from the government and will inform you the moment we know of any changes.
I hope that this information is helpful in understanding our next steps as a school. As noted, this is a fluid situation, we will continue to keep you informed every step of the way. Please monitor our website, twitter and your email. If you have not yet taken the opportunity to download the free “School Gateway” app for your smartphone please take a moment to do so now from the GooglePlay or App Store. This will allow us to send you free instant notifications with the latest updates on what we are doing as a school to react to the virus.
Please do also remember to keep in touch with us. Please let us know if your child becomes unwell. You can report absences via the School Gateway app, on email by absence@denmarkroad.org or by calling the absence line on 01452 543335.
Thank you for your continuing support.