College Closure & Coronavirus Update: 07.04.20
Covid-19 (Coronavirus)
Update 7th April 2020
- Summary of Main Points: Reminder
- Clyst Vale site is closed, except our Emergency Childcare Provision (ECP) for children of key workers (and deliveries, essential contractors, etc) ·
- ECP will run daily Monday to Friday 08.30 – 17.00 throughout the holidays (including Bank Holidays) and in term-time.
- ECP has moved to a booking system. Places for the next day can be booked until 9.00 p.m. the night before (including Sunday, for Monday). Or phone the number which has been provided to ECP parents.
- Parents and carers can contact us as normal, although we recommend e-mail
- Teachers are working from home to set work on the day your child will have their lesson. This will resume on Wednesday 15th. This is a change from previous updates and is entirely my fault; I forgot that the 14th April is a non-pupil training day, and will be used as such.
- Teachers are not expected to set work during what would have been the holiday period (March 30th to April 13th inclusive).
- Free School Meals are being provided through weekly vouchers, and we have issued these in advance for the two-week holiday. We are trying to join the Government voucher scheme but the site is experiencing difficulties through overload.
- School Transport is suspended. If you are a key worker and would like school transport, please contact on the day before you require transport (term-time only)
- If you have any concerns, please contact the school and ask to speak to a Designated Safeguarding Lead (Mr Sutton, Mrs Albutt, Miss McConnachie or Mr A Pearce). If this is not possible please contact MASH, The Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub: 0345 155 1071.
2. Emergency Childcare Provision
- We are fully committed to maintaining our offer to look after the children of key workers (secondary age group).
- A separate e-mail went to key worker parents on 2nd April
- with information about an improved booking system, based on the parents’ evening booking system, open to 21.00 the day before childcare is needed
- with confirmation of opening on Good Friday and Easter Monday
- with confirmation of flexibility for drop-off and pick-up times
- ECP will run daily Monday to Friday 08.30 – 17.00 throughout the holidays (including Bank Holidays) and in term-time. If no children attend, the College will close at 12.00 (until Friday 3rd April). From April 6th, if no students have pre-booked by the day before, the College will not open at all (there is a contingency phone number for exceptional overnight emergencies).
- After the holiday period, we will consider extending the hours we are open if there is sufficient demand. Again, key worker parents will be contacted separately about this.
- Free School Meals: NEW
- The Government have announced the launch of the national voucher scheme for Free School Meals. We have decided to use it because with our semi-rural catchment other methods of providing FSM are complex and cannot possibly reach everyone.
- We have log-in details, but the government site continues to have difficulties because of the high demand
- Once we are set up, we will contact parents/carers of FSM to explain the system in more detail. It will be very similar to the voucher scheme we put into operation although e-mails will be sent to parents (or students only by special arrangement). A key difference is that the allowance will be £15 per child per week.
- To make up this £3 difference, we still hope to introduce the scheme as from Monday 6th
4. Public Examinations: NEW
- Detailed guidance was published on 3rd April, although there are a number of loose ends and details to be confirmed
- There are 2 documents:
- For students:
- For everyone (ie general guidance)
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/how-gcses-as-a-levels-will-be-awarded-in-summer-2020
- Summary
- Teachers will be asked to predict grades for each student in each subject.
- Teachers are also required to place the students in rank order, including within the grades (i.e who is the “top” grade 5 ? who is the “second best” grade 5 ? etc).
- Teachers will use all available evidence to help them make their judgement.
- This evidence itself will not be sent to the exam boards.
- Teachers’ predictions will and must be strictly confidential.
- Mock exams alone will not be used (although they are part of the evidence)
- The deadline for the grades to be sent in is 29th
- Trips and Visits: NEW
- Year 7 Parents should see that they have been refunded for the cancelled visit to Chepstow Castle. If you haven’t been, and/or have any queries, please contact Please note that the refunds may take 3-5 days to transfer.
- Very sadly, but very much the right thing to do and no surprise to anyone, neither of the visits to Bude or the Belgian battlefields will be going ahead. Please do not make any more payments.
- Parents WILL be refunded in full for payments made for these visits, but it is not clear exactly when this happen, because we are in discussions with the companies and our insurers. Clearly, this is your money, so this is a priority for us and we will keep you posted. A small step forward regarding Bude is that we heard this week that this will be covered by our insurance.
LINKS AND FURTHER INFORMATION
This is the Government’s guidance to parents:
The following link is the government’s advice to schools, last updated 26th March
Guidance to Educational Settings About Covid-19
The next link is Devon County Council’s dedicated website for parents for Coronavirus advice
https://www.devon.gov.uk/document/schools-and-families/
Department for Education Coronavirus helpline:
Phone: 0800 046 8687 Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
Should you have any specific queries regarding Covid-19 and Clyst Vale, please e-mail Mrs Ann Hopkins (College Manager) on .
Kevin Bawn, Principal