Message to Year 11

I sent a short email last night to ensure that you all knew that your learning this half term would be via remote learning for this half term. I purposely did not mention Year 11 exams as the message from the Prime Minister regarding 2021 exams was not explicit.

The PM said  that ‘‘it’s not fair for all exams to go ahead this summer as normal and the Education Secretary will work with Ofqual to put in place alternative arrangements.‘

We do not yet know what these ‘alternative arrangements‘ will look like. We also do not know if remote learning will continue after February half term or if we will be able to bring Year 11 back into school for face to face lessons.

Therefore I want to make the things we do know ABSOLUTELY CLEAR:

1. Remote learning will begin tomorrow, 6th January, for Year 11 pupils. PLease log on to each of your lessons, following your normal timetable.
2. We know that every lesson, every task set and every assessed piece of work you complete between now and the end of your year is VITAL for your learning and progress.
3. Attendance in your google lessons and completing assessments will provide us with hard evidence of your progress if we have to use centre assessed grades similar to last academic year.
4. This is an excellent opportunity for you to apply yourself to your learning and show yourself, and your teachers, what you are really capable of. It is a relatively short amount of time but if you use it wisely, you will benefit greatly in the long run.

Most of all, school for you is definitely not finished. Goodbye messages are not necessary. You might say ‘but Mrs Doward look at what happened to last year’s Year 11’. Let me point out two key differences:

1. Last year, lockdown happened in March and Year 11 would have been leaving very shortly after anyway. This is January, it is only the start of term 2. There is time.
2. Last year, there was no vaccine to curb infection rates. This year we have Earlier Lockdown + Vaccine = Shorter time to bring infection rates back under control.