GHS Connect #26 Monday 20 April
From the Head
I really hope that you’ve all had a good break and have not been unwell. We are open again as from today but as I said before Easter, we are asking parents to inform us the day before if they intend for their children to come in, so we should have a good idea about how many people we will need on site. I will call people who have signed up to the rota the day before to let them know if they need to come in. We will need to ‘feel our way’ with this a little as the weeks go on. We don’t know at what point schools will fully re-open but it is obviously being discussed by the ‘powers that be’.
The next few weeks are going to be very odd, but we will try as much as possible to stay in touch with each other.
> Kelly is working closely with HODs and the teaching team and has set up a google drive folder for HODs so that everything connected to remote learning is in one place.
> HODs will be working closely with Adam and Amandip to ensure that we get the necessary information required by Ofqual for Year 11 and Year 13 grades (we still await the outcome of their consultation on whether they will be doing the same thing for Years 10 and below who were due to sit GCSEs this Summer).
> Lou, Mark, Noble and Jeremy will be working with the pastoral teams to ensure that we are fully supporting and staying in contact with our students during this time.
> I will also be working with Lou to plan for the ways that we can support the inevitable possibility that some of our students may return to school bereaved.
> Paul will continue to plan for staffing and curriculum needs for next year and I will start to plan how we might interview for any vacancies.
I would urge you to stay in contact as teams, whether that be through email catch ups, virtual meetings, whatsapp or by phone, although the core business of most teaching staff will be to continue to focus on remote learning for the students. I will be conducting my line management meetings virtually as from this week but I will also be available to talk to anyone should there be anything you want to discuss. If you would like to talk to me at any time, please just drop me an email and I can arrange a time to speak to you.
You may have heard that the government is now planning to issue laptops and broadband to some vulnerable secondary school students and they have also launched some virtual lessons and resources. Kelly will be sending around details of these in due course.
Finally, although this last point is rather depressing, I do think it is necessary; if you or your families have in any way been affected by the virus, either through sickness, emotional wellbeing or through bereavement, please do let me know so that we can support you.
Mia
