Dear Parents/carers,
I hope that you are all well and staying safe in these very difficult times? I wish to update you with regard to the Governing body meeting and Health and Safety visit that took place at the school this morning and also to remind you of information on blended learning for our learners.
School re-opening update
The Governing Body of the school met this morning with myself and the Director of Education to review all factors related to the re-opening of the school. A Health and Safety visit was also undertaken at the school and this confirmed that the school is “taking reasonable measures to manage the risk of Coronavirus” and that “a number of specific actions that have been taken in addition to the general controls, demonstrated both a good understanding of the risks and the ability to reduce the risks as far as reasonably practical”.
However, due to the exceptional circumstances within the community and in the school and the adverse impact of Covid-19 on staffing levels at this present time, it has been decided that the school will remain closed to all pupils this week, except those sitting examinations. School will re-open to all pupils on Monday November 9th.
Blended Learning
For information around Blended Learning, including instructions, advice and key links and support, please see our webpage: https://macs.uk.net/blended-learning/
As a key reminder, all Google accounts were re-set at the start of the year. They always follow the format of firstname.surname@macs.uk.net and unless a pupil has already changed it then the password will always be Password at first login. For those with hyphenated names then this is usually included in the username. For example Katie-May.Jones@macs.uk.net. If you have real issues with logging in then we can re-set passwords remotely but thank you for your patience in allowing time to do this.
In terms of workload, we know that pupils sometimes spend a lot of time on devices as it is. Therefore, at the very most (and providing a teacher has been well enough to do so) our pupils should not spend more time than their usual timetable allocation working on tasks set on Google Classroom. They may find some teachers are able to login and set work on a day by day basis whereas others will provide advance notice of instructions. Using their school timetable can help with organisation. Teachers are also contactable using the email system.
I also want to wish all of our learners taking examinations this week and next the very best of luck.
May I take this opportunity to thank Governors, Local Authority officers, staff and all of our parents/carers and learners for the ongoing support that we have received as a school in these challenging circumstances.
Many Thanks,
Mrs S.J.Evans
Headteacher