Year 11 Update 24.6.21

Good evening,

Once again as a school we are facing a number of challenges with Covid 19.  A significant number of students have had to be sent home following two confirmed cases this morning and a number of teaching staff are having to self isolate.  Our entire kitchen staff are isolating along with a significant number of our cleaning staff.  You will appreciate that my first priority has to be the safe functioning of the school and ensuring continuity of education for those in school and remotely from home.

The Year 11 Grading process is largely complete and all results have been submitted to exam boards.  We are now in the middle of the sampling process by the Exam Boards and have so far had to submit evidence of our procedures, policies, marking and assessments/ student work in Maths, Art, I Media, Construction and BTEC Sport.  With this we are given 48 hour deadlines, which are relatively tight especially when it involves scanning entire Art portfolios for sampling.

With regard to results- these will be issued by the exam boards on Thursday August 12th, which is earlier than usual.  There will be an appeals process, which must be completed in writing and I will issue further information regarding this nearer the time.

Obviously we were all very disappointed following the Prime Minister’s announcement that the Beamish Leavers event has had to be cancelled.  This was cancelled by Beamish Hall not ourselves.  At a Public Health Briefing last week given to all Durham Headteacher’s any plans for Leaver’s events have to be submitted to Durham Health and Safety for consultation.  All events should be outside and students maintained in their class bubbles.  I do not consider keeping young adults in groups of 30 to be a particularly attractive proposition for a leavers event- it would not generate the atmosphere that a leavers event should.  Mr Green has and is continually looking at possibilities.  He has made a number of suggestions which are under consideration and I assure you Year 11 have not been forgotten.  Mr Green would not allow me to forget them.

He will be contacting students with a survey to ask their views on whether they would like to wait until as late as September for an event.  What I don’t want to do, however, is get students’ hopes up just to see them dashed at a later date.  Therefore, I would ask you to be realistic with them and explain that anything we organise may have to be cancelled with almost no notice.  I would also ask you as parents to recognise that above all else I have to put the safety of students and staff first, above the need for a Leavers Event.  We would all dearly love to see such an event happen but it has to be within the guidelines permitted by Durham Public Health.  The school cannot be responsible for an event which leads to an outbreak in the wider community that places people who may not even have attended at risk.

If an event proves impossible to hold then any monies raised by students could be used for the following, reduce the cost of hoodies already purchased, reduce the cost of the Year book or donated to a charity of the student’s choice.

I will of course be in touch with further updates.  If you do have any concerns or queries then please do not hesitate to contact the school ideally by email.  Either myself or another member of staff will get back to you though it may not be straight away.

Once again thank you for your support over the year and moving forward.