Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope you are all well. Most of the important content is in the three documents which accompany this bulletin – the letter to Y11 from Mr Butterworth, the letter to all students and parents from Dr Geall and the guidance for parents on wellbeing from Miss Powell. Mr Butterworth’s letter deals with queries about exam grading, coursework and revision. Dr Geall’s outlines how the systems for setting and handing in work are progressing and what a day of home learning might look like. This is new to all of us, so please bear with us as we get the systems right. I have heard some positive feedback about the work we’ve been setting but I’ve also heard that some younger children in particular are finding the volume upsetting. We don’t expect you to do it all. My own children are working from 9.0 -12.30 every day on school work, then relaxing more after lunch with art or gardening; something less book-based. They are young and if they were older, I would expect them to do more academic work. I’m not suggesting that is a perfect model, but it works for us at the moment. No work will be set for the Easter holiday.
Children around the town
I’m being told that there are groups of children congregating around town, despite the very clear advice on staying at home and the introduction of new police powers to enable them to enforce that. I think that young people think it doesn’t matter if the get Covid-19 because they are likely to have milder symptoms, but they are not considering that if they do get it, they will bring it into the family home. I know that I’m only speaking to a very small number of you here, but please, please do not let your children leave your home apart from to exercise once a day. No one should be meeting anyone they do not live with.
Free School Meals
Parents of students who receive free school meals should have been emailed a Tesco voucher yesterday which would cover the value of all meals this week. If you think you should have received one and haven’t, please contact kfranks@samuelward.co.uk. We have a small groceries bank. If you are desperately short of anything please contact jpowell@samuelward.co.uk who can arrange to have some things delivered. We might not have what you need, but try us.
Easter Holiday Provision
We have been open this week and are combining with Churchill next week to provide childcare for the children of key workers. We are planning our Easter provision at the moment. We have contacted all the people who came forward initially, but if you are a key worker and need childcare over the Easter holiday in order to fulfil your role, please contact jpowell@samuelward.co.uk before the end of the day on Monday 30 March. The numbers attending this week have fallen day on day and we now have fewer than ten children attending, so any Easter provision will also be in partnership with Churchill School.
You Tube
Aside from the work being set on Go 4 Schools, don’t forget to have a look at our you tube channel. Search for Samuel Ward Academy. You’ll find Mr Sari’s daily workouts and a growing range of video lessons. We’re planning to organise them into sub-channels to make it easier to find what you’re looking for as the number of videos increases.
I hope you are all managing to adjust to the new ways of living that we are all being asked to take up. If we can help in any way at all, please let me know.
Best wishes
Andy Hunter
Headteacher