From Mr M Hall (Principal)
Dear Parents/Carers,
When we shut in March 2020, we knew very little about what the weeks ahead would look like. Since then, we have made significant progress in our understanding of remote learning, supporting vulnerable students through this difficult time, and ensuring our site is Covid-secure. As such, we are confident that the weeks ahead can be a productive time for students and staff as we work together to learn and grow in character.
We have found it encouraging to see just how many students were online and waiting to learn. Early data on this “online attendance” suggests that in many “classes” attendance is over 70%. Please be encouraging students to continue in this positive -vein and improve their engagement yet further. Our expectations for learning each day are detailed below, but essentially, we are expecting students to follow their normal timetable.
The College Day
We will expect all students to communicate with their tutor on Teams, between 8:30am and 9:00 am, to indicate they are present and ready for the day ahead. This is a daily expectation and provides an opportunity for students to share any concerns that they may have. It will also provide a designated time for tutors, Heads of School and senior staff to continue our assembly programme. This programme considers character education, ethos and personal development.
Tutors will make daily contact with students in their tutor group and will monitor student communication on Teams between 8:30am and 9:00 to receive messages from their tutees that signal that they have logged on and are ready for learning. Tutors and teachers will use the chat function to encourage and commend students. Where students are not engaging with learning, in each lesson, we will contact parents to ensure all barriers to full participation are removed. Students are expected to follow their normal timetable with teachers providing remote instruction and learning tasks in all cases. Students can have a short break between each lesson.
May I draw your attention to three documents now on our website for your information:
1) GC Online learning policy Covid-19