Dear Parents/Carers
I hope you are all well and almost ready for the Christmas break.
I write to you today as a result of the Government’s latest announcements; that secondary schools in England are to introduce a staggered return to school until Monday 11th January. The Government has made this change to support their decision in implementing mass testing programmes across schools nationwide. I will write to you in the New Year with further details regarding this initiative and the logistics of how mass testing will work when we have further clarity.
In light of the announcements, on Monday 4th January, only students within the following groups will return to school-based learning on site:
- Students in exam year groups; Year 11 and Year 13
- Our most vulnerable students and children of key workers, we will continue to offer our hub provision for students who have previously accessed this whilst we were working remotely. If you require a place in this provision please contact the academy on info@stroodacademy.org before 3pm today.
During the first week of term we will be unable to offer food in the canteen due to limitations with our caterers Cucina. All students attending 4th January will need to bring a packed lunch with them every day for the first week of school. Students entitled to FSM will be provided with a lunch on site.
Any planned public examinations will still go ahead and students have been informed of these via MCAS and through their classroom teachers. The exams below will be taking place in the first week:
Wednesday 6th January
- BTEC Business – Unit 2 Development A Marketing Campaign (3h)
- BTEC Applied Law – Unit 1 Dispute Solving In Civil Law (1h30)
- BTEC Sport – Unit 2 Fitness Training and Programming (2h30)
All other students (year 7,8,9 10 and 12) will learn remotely for the first week of term, from Monday 4th – Friday 8th January. We expect all students to return to school onsite Monday 11th January. We will be arranging for FSM hampers for students in these year groups and we will make contact separately regarding arrangements for the first week.
Whilst away from the classroom students must stay at home and learn remotely and are required to attend all their lessons – including morning form tutor time, which is a vital welfare check. Students should log onto google classrooms during their normal allocated lesson times to receive work from their subject teachers. If your child has difficulty with accessing work online please contact their pastoral teams.
We appreciate that this change is short notice, but it is essential that we continue to closely follow all Government guidance on COVID-19 in order to safeguard our students, staff and wider school community.
I wrote to you on 14th December with advice on reporting if your child tests positive between the 19th December and 24th December as reminder the academy will be closed over Christmas, parents will need to report positive cases using a simple form on the Trust Portal without needing to call or email your child’s academy.
https://sites.google.com/latrust.org.uk/covid-19-parent-porta
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the school office from 4th January
We look forward to seeing your child, either at school or online in the New Year and wish you a safe and relaxing Christmas break.
Yours sincerely
Numera Anwar | Principal
