Dear parents and carers
I hope the first week without school hasn’t been too challenging for too many of you. On the positive side, there has certainly been a real sense of everyone pulling together to make things work as well as possible and I have found this truly heart-warming.
A few points by way of an update here:
- We will be open again next week for children of keyworkers and parents of vulnerable children. The only change to the last few days is that the usual school buses will not be running. Instead, minibuses will be deployed to pick up students on an individual basis from Monday and therefore we need a slightly different system.
- Please email keyworkers@lymmhigh.org.uk by 3pm the day before if your child needs a bus and tell us which bus stop they use; a minibus will collect them at roughly the same time as the normal school bus would. Even if you have been using the buses this week, please email this address over the weekend to let us know what you need for Monday.
- You do not need to email everyday if your child will be using the bus regularly – please just let us know about the week ahead and if anything is changing on any given day.
- If there is a problem with buses arriving in the morning, please tell your child to call school on 01925 755458 in the first instance or 07730 075996 (bus company emergency contact just for these children at this time if they get no response from school).
- No more than four students will be in any one 16-seater bus so that social distancing can be properly employed and the council have plenty of minibuses available to facilitate this.
- We are intending to stay open throughout the Easter holidays to support key workers, including the bank holiday if required. Please let us know using the same email address if you need us for this. Similarly, if you might need weekend childcare at any time, please let us know as soon as possible.
- As parents and carers, please try not to put too much pressure on yourselves around supporting children with home learning. This is difficult enough to manage for those of us who are experienced teachers and we completely understand that many of you will be finding it very hard and might be feeling anxious about it. However, we all need to remember that these are unprecedented times and we can only do our best. Try to ensure students stick to some kind of routine as far as possible and try to show an interest, but be prepared to be flexible and don’t feel that you should know the ‘answers’ to all the work they are doing. As long as students are making an effort to complete as much work as they can in the time suggested, then that is all any of us can ask for. It really doesn’t matter if they are not finishing everything or if they do not understand every single thing they do. We will keep going with the work that has already been set for next week and then all of us can reflect on what has worked well and what we might look to change after Easter. In the meantime, as I say, please try not to worry.
- Similarly, none of us want students getting upset because they are overwhelmed with work. We know of a few younger ones who are worrying about not finishing everything, but please reassure them that this is not a problem – it is impossible for teachers to set an amount of work that suits everyone and, on the whole, we have tried to err on the side of ensuring there is plenty to be getting on with. We do not expect every student to finish all of it and there is certainly no question of anyone getting in trouble for not doing so!
- The government has released another, very brief statement on the grading of exams this summer. It doesn’t say anything new, but does say that further details are due next week. Rest assured that we completely understand people’s concerns about this and are eagerly awaiting more details.
- Apologies to those of you who received Gateway/text messages about attendance last week. This was due to a glitch in the system, which we hope is now fixed.
- Please note that telephone lines are not being regularly manned in school at the moment because, in line with government advice, we are trying to keep the number of staff in work to a minimum. The best way to contact us to email the relevant person.
- We are in the process of setting up a portal on the website so that all information relating to school closure, work set and so on will be stored in one place. This should be up and running shortly.
- A couple of people have asked about Year 9 option choices and when students will know. As you can imagine, this process has been delayed a little – but not by much and we expect to be able to let you know within a week or two of the Easter ‘holidays’.
- Finally, watch out for information on challenges that we will be setting over the next few days to keep your children active at home. Prizes and hall points will be available! Sixth formers are invited to check out Instagram for the latest efforts at kicking teabags into cups, some of which are very impressive!
I think that’s it for now. Have a lovely weekend.
Kind regards
Gwyn Williams