19 March 2020

Dear Parent/Carer,

School Closure - COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

You will now be aware that last night the government made the judgement to close schools across
the country from the end of day on Friday, confirming our decision earlier in the day.

Much of the original advice remains in place, especially regarding the basic hygiene measures
and the arrangements for self-isolation. Non-essential social contact is to be avoided where
possible and non-essential travel is also discouraged. We have not had a confirmed case of the
virus in school, but it is impossible to know if individual members of the community have already
had the virus or come into contact with it. Some people may exhibit symptoms and others may
not. However, please do remember that COVID-19 is highly contagious and everyone needs to
follow the published advice.

As a reminder, the Prime Minister has advised that children should not be left with older
grandparents or older relatives at this time, as they may well be more vulnerable to this
coronavirus.

There have been some additional government announcements that I need to share with you and
these are itemised below. Please ensure that you keep checking the school communications and
website as the situation is constantly changing and there will be updates as appropriate.

The Children of Key Workers

The government wants to ensure that ‘key workers’ are able to continue working so that critical
support services are not disrupted. This means that we will continue to be open for the children
of key workers from Monday 23 March. Examples of key workers are NHS staff, police and
delivery drivers. Further information on a more complete list of key workers is due to be issued
by the government later today.

We do not hold any information regarding parents/carers who are ‘key workers’, so we are asking
you to make contact with us urgently to confirm your own particular home circumstances.

Please complete the form here if you will require this extra support and to let us know what key
worker service you provide. We will need this information before 11.00am on Friday so that
appropriate arrangements can be made over the weekend. We will only accommodate students
for whom we have complete key worker contact information and all normal expectations will apply
regarding behaviour and appearance.

Should you require this provision, we will make a supervised study facility available, where the
students can complete the online work that has been set for the rest of their peers. Please do
note that there will be no formal teaching of students on the school site.

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Free School Meals

We understand that many families may be concerned about the financial impact of the current
measures to tackle the virus. The government has announced a national voucher system for
those eligible for free school meals. We do not have further information at this stage but as soon
as we do, we will implement this strategy. We will communicate with parents/carers separately
on this as soon as the information is available.

GCSE and Advanced Level Examinations

It has been confirmed that the public examinations will not go ahead as planned this summer.
The Education Secretary has stated that the government “will ensure children get the
qualifications they need”. At this stage, there is no clarification on what this means and we all
appreciate that this decision will be disappointing to you all, and especially to those students in
Year 11 and Year 13 who have been working so hard for the examinations.

It is essential that everyone in Years 11 and 13 keeps completing the work that will be provided
whilst school is closed as teacher assessments and predicted grades may well contribute to final
qualification(s). It is also possible that examinations might be rescheduled for later in the summer.

Students in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 will also need to complete their coursework in line with
published deadlines as this work will invariably contribute to overall grades this summer or next
summer.

It is also important that students wishing to go onto further study, or who may be seeking an
employment reference, demonstrate continued commitment and maintain their efforts, even in
these difficult times.

Remote Learning

We have been preparing to maintain a good level of education via remote learning. These
arrangements will start on Monday 23 March.

The expectation is that students will, as far as possible, follow the normal school timetable and
the teaching staff will direct this work on a daily and or weekly basis.

Further information will be available tomorrow and on the school website.

Further Advice

UPDATES ON COVID-19
• https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

NHS ADVICE
• https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

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ASTHMA ADVICE
• https://www.asthma.org.uk/coronavirus

I wish you all the very best in these difficult times. Please do keep looking out for further
communications from us but above all else stay well.

Yours faithfully,

Euan Ferguson
Headteacher