CV & CC Update: Tuesday 19th May. Nothing new to report.

CoronaVirus & College Closure Update

 Update 19^th May 2020

1. NEW ITEMS

• Nothing significant to report.
• The national debate about whether it is safe for students and staff to return to schools is still raging. We are planning gently with a notional 15^th June date in mind, but will make no big decisions until the week beginning 1^st June; we will have better government information, scientific data, and will seek the views of parents during that week.
• We are prioritising our ECP provision for key workers’ children and vulnerable children. Numbers are rising steadily. This will, of course, reduce our capacity for a future return to school this term.

2. SUMMARY OF CURRENT POSITION 

• Until 15^th June at least, there is no change to the existing position.
• We will continue to send remote learning tasks to students. We are looking to “refresh” this to increase variety and improve motivation.
• 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.
• Please ignore continuing media speculation and the fierce debates about likely dates for schools re-opening. The next key date is the Government 3-week review on 28^th May and any significant changes will be notified in the week beginning 1^st June

3. 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) ·
• 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.

4. 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.
• School Transport is suspended. If you are a key worker and would like school transport, please contact on the day before you require transport.

5. 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 assigned on Microsoft Teams and notified on students’ College e-mail accounts.

6. Free School Meals 

• We joined the Edenred/Government scheme from 6^th
• If you have any queries about Free School Meals, please contact Racheal Long on .

7. Public Examinations

• Exam Results Days have been confirmed as 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.

8. 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

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:

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:

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