1st of June Provision

Dear Parents/Carers

I wrote to you last week to explain that Stretford High School was reviewing if and how we could deliver the Government’s ambition for Year 10 pupils to have some ‘face to face’ time with teachers from 1st June.

I want to thank you for the responses from Year 10 parents & carers in our survey which has been very helpful in our decision making. We have also been in consultation with the Local Authority, secondary schools across Trafford and have used the latest medical science available to us to help us to plan SAFE provision for our Year 10 pupils.

The parent /carer survey has identified 32 pupils who would benefit from accessing learning in school. A further 9 Year 10 pupils have already returned to school.  40 parents/carers have decided that their child will continue to learn from home until September and 54 parents have opted to review their position as the future picture unfolds.

Our school risk assessment, taking into account delays in the track and trace capabilities and differences in regional R rates, has informed our decision that it is not safe to open school to Year 10 from the 1^st June.

What will happen from 1^st June?

In line with LA advice, our school will be closed to ALL pupils – essential workers and other pupils included – on the 1st and 2nd June to facilitate staff training and ensuring that the school is ready for our next steps.

On the 3rd of June, the school will be open to the children of essential workers and others with an identified need as we have been this half term.

On the 8th, 9th and 10th of June , all Year 10 pupils will be invited to a one to one review with their form tutor using Google Meet. During this session, form tutors and pupils will review how pupils have managed learning at home, how they are feeling and what their learning is going to look like over the following half term. It is VERY important that all Year 10 pupils are in attendance at these virtual meetings. We will send invites and time slots for each meeting directly to pupils and a text message will be sent to parents so that you know when the meeting will take place.

What will Learning from home look like from 11th June for Year 10?

From 11th June, all Year 10 subjects will deliver face to face online lessons as feedback from pupils and parents have told us that this is the preferred method of learning at home.  The timetable will now be less fluent than it has been up to this point. Pupils will need to log into google classrooms at set times and  on time for each session.

There may be times when online lessons may not be possible due to staffing restrictions but our intention is that every subject has at least 1 online lesson delivered for every subject every week.

What will learning in school look like for Year 10?

For some Year 10 pupils and their parents/carers, their preferred option is that pupils come into school. The survey you completed helped us to identify some small groups which we will be able to accommodate in school from Thursday 11^th June.  At this point we can accommodate all pupils whose parents have requested in school provision. However, should the number of pupils increase, we may have to move to partial weeks in order to facilitate more pupils in school and maintain safe levels.

It is important to note that pupils learning at home and in school will be accessing the same learning. Delivering lessons as normal is not possible at this point. The in-school provision is for pupils who cannot learn well at home due to a number of circumstances.

We have to balance what pupils learn at home and what pupils learn in school.

• Therefore, pupils in school will have a PC/iPad available to them with earphones so that they can access the same learning their peers are accessing from home.

We have to ensure that pupils and staff in school are safe.

• Our classroom sizes will not accommodate 15 pupils per classroom as per government recommendations. We are limited to 8 pupils per classroom.

We cannot safely allow for transitions to different classrooms.

• Pupils will be assigned to a room which will be their base for the day.

Pupils must be protected at all times on their way to, in and on their way home from school.

• Social times will be strictly supervised and social distance rules must be maintained during break and lunch times.
• Lunch will be limited to grab bags (sandwich, drink, fruit, snack) so that queuing and pupil numbers in the canteen can be kept to a minimum.
• The school day will begin at 9.30 am so that pupils are not travelling to school during peak periods.
• Pupils must maintain social distance whilst travelling to school.
• Sanitiser will be available in every classroom so that pupils can sanitise their hands regularly.
• Each group will be released at 5 minute intervals from 2.05pm so that corridor crossover is minimised.

What will learning in school look like for children of essential workers and others with an identified need?

The pupils who have been attending school in HT 5 will continue to work as they have done.

Their day will begin at 9am and finish at 1.55 pm.

Their will continue to learn in the classrooms assigned to them and will complete the same work as their peers at home.

They will have staggered break and lunch which will not cross over with Year 10 provision.

What about Years 7-9?

There are no plans for Years 7-9 to return to school at this time. However, we are also reviewing online lessons for Key stage 3 in the next half term.

Thank you again for your ongoing support.  Although online learning and provision in school for essential workers will not restart until 3^rd June, I am always available via email [email protected]

Take care and stay safe,

Nic