Parent Bulletin: 19.01.2021
19th January 2021
Dear Parents and Carers
At present, work continues on all the usual things that occupy us at this time of the year, notably admissions and staff recruitment for 2021 /22, and the permanent headache that is the school budget… alongside running Critical Worker School, Covid testing and remote learning. We are keeping our provision for the pupils during this period of closure under constant review.
Survey Responses - Thank you to everyone who sent responses to our Parent Survey last week. Ms Gildea has carried out an analysis of the results and we will share these, and the results of the pupil survey, with you later in the week.
Go4Schools - We are working on some adaptations to the way that Go4Schools is set up, hopefully to enable some more nuanced responses when pupils’ work doesn’t come in as expected, and to give some more regular, reassuring feedback. I hope that you and your children will find these changes helpful.
Using Video in Live Learning - The Cam Academy Trust has now approved its schools to have pupils on video-link with their classmates and teacher during live lessons; this will be optional for pupils at first and some clear protocols for dress and behaviour will apply. This is being presented to pupils this week and will start from Monday 25 January.
Year 11 – End of Course Assessment - The government has published its proposal for how grades should be awarded this summer – it is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-how-gcse-as-and-a-level-grades-should-be-awarded-in-summer-2021
The consultation window lasts until Friday 29th Jan at 11.45pm and schools, pupils and parents are invited to respond. We would urge you to use your right to do this, but request that you read very carefully the proposal alongside answering the questions. The questions themselves sometimes appear to offer simple and reasonable propositions which are highly controversial when unpicked.
Ms Gildea and Mr Bellis, who led the school Centre Assessment Grade process last summer, have formulated the school response to the proposal which can be found here in case it is of interest to you. Put simply, we do not approve of the Government setting ‘tests’ for pupils for which the marking cannot be verified. Clearly we understand that parents will have their own view of this and hope you are not offended by the sharing of our response with you.
And on a much lighter note: Rotary Club Competitions for Pupils - To allow for the difficulties being experienced by pupils and by schools through the current pandemic, the closing date for entries for both the Young Photographer Competition and the Young Environmentalist Competition has been extended to 8 March 2021. Furthermore, the rules for the Young Photographer Competition have been simplified. Details of both competitions can be found on the Rotary Club of Cambridge website: www.cambridgerotary.org.uk
With all good wishes and take care,
Claire Coates
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