13/07/2021
11/02/2021 -Guidance for Parents & Carers – February 2021
Please see recent advice published by the Department for Education for parents and carers – What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges (publishing.service.gov.uk)
03/02/2021 – Supporting your child’s remote learning – information for parent and carers.
Please follow the link to find information regarding your child’s remote learning. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/supporting-your-childrens-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19
26/01/2021 – Consultation on how GCSE, AS and A-Level grades should be awarded in summer 2021
The UK Government has announced a joint consultation with OFQUAL on how GCSE, AS and A-Level grades should be awarded in summer 2021.They are looking to hear the views of students who are due to take their exams, their parents and carers, their teachers, school and college leaders and others who have an interest, including further and higher
education providers, and employers.
The Department of Education (DfE) is putting their trust in teachers and their judgement to determine grades. Grades will be based on teacher assessment, with teachers supported in making decisions with guidance and training from exam boards to ensure these are awarded fairly and consistently.
The consultation will consider the range of evidence teachers use to award a grade, which could include coursework, other forms of assessment and papers provided by exam boards, to support consistency and fairness across schools and colleges.
At The Acorns School, we would like to encourage as many as possible Year 11 students and their parents or carers to take part in this consultation – these are your grades and your voice should be heard!
Please use the link provided to take part before the deadline at 11.45 pm on Friday 29th January 2021.
Consultation on how GCSE, AS and A level grades should be awarded in summer 2021 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
14/01/2021 – Virtual School Attendance
As you are now aware students here at The Acorns School are now being educated mainly within the home environment, along with most pupils throughout the UK during the current national lockdown, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This situation is not easy for any of us. Remote learning looks different in each household, with many of you working from home and having more than one child to teach.
As a school, we would like to thank you for all the support you are giving to your child’s education-you are amazing! Please give yourself some credit and be kind to yourself.
The Acorns School is trying its very best to support and enable your child’s education to continue as much as possible during this difficult time. Teaching and support staff are constantly looking at ways to try to engage their pupils through virtual school, provision of laptops and work packs to enable educational learning opportunities. We feel that the amount of work we are setting is reasonable, whether this is through virtual school or via the work packs supplied.
We understand completely that you do get issues over trying to get your child to engage with schoolwork at home particularly with logging into the virtual school. Please don’t be discouraged if they are refusing, just keep trying, that is all we ask. Your child’s Keyworker, Form Tutor and myself are making welfare phone calls and doorstep home visits as necessary throughout the week. Please don’t hesitate to ask for support around encouraging your child to engage with school or any other issues that are worrying you.
Kind regards,
Jan Lewis
Attendance Manager and DSL
04/01/2021 – ‘COVID-19 National Testing Programme’
We would like to welcome all our staff and students back, we hope you have had a restful break.
We are working to keep our school as safe as possible. You may have heard that testing for those without coronavirus symptoms is beginning across the country using new, quicker COVID-19 tests known as ‘lateral flow tests’.
Along with the other protective measures we are taking, these tests will help staff and pupils to remain in school safely. Up to one third of people who have coronavirus experience no symptoms. By testing we will help to stop the virus spread and help to keep our school open as safely as possible. The test is voluntary, but I would encourage everyone to take it.
We will be testing all staff and secondary school age pupils who want to participate from week commencing 11th January 2021. If you are happy for your child to be tested, please fill in the form below and the enclosed consent statement and return it to the school office, a copy of this has been posted to each pupils’ home address.
Those taking the test will be supervised by trained staff. The ‘lateral flow’ tests are quick and easy using a swab of your nose and throat. For under 18s, staff can oversee the swab process. Results (which take around half an hour from testing) will be shared directly with staff and pupils participating. Where participants are under 16, parents or legal guardians will also be informed.
We know these tests work – in validation studies conducted by Oxford University and Public Health England, they were shown to be as accurate in identifying a case as a PCR test (99.68% specificity). The tests have lower sensitivity but they are better at picking up cases when a person has higher viral load, hence the need to test frequently.
COVID-19 National Testing Programme
03/11/2020- Information for parents and carers
Please find the link to advice for parents and carers that has been updated; Information for parents and carers.
09/10/2020 – School Reopening Letter
07/10/2020 – Updated School Risk Assessment
24/09/2020
Dear parents/carers,
As you know, Lancashire is under very tight restrictions with regard to the spread of coronavirus. One of the rules that we must follow is the wearing of appropriate face coverings/ masks.
Some of our pupils in school are not wearing their masks in communal areas and when moving around the school. When asked by staff to cover their faces with the masks, some refuse and some have misused their masks.
Some pupils are refusing to wash hands or sanitize with hand gel. We must all do this routinely in the building.
Some pupils are forgetting that they should try to distance from others as much as possible. Making space between ourselves stops the virus from spreading. This virus desperately wants to be around for a long time, and we all want to banish it from our lives, don’t we?
These are simple measures that everyone in the whole country must take to protect themselves and others from getting Covid 19. For some people – mainly older – this virus could result in severe illness and have life threatening consequences. We all need to look after each other so that we stay well!
If all individuals in our school – staff and pupils – take the above measures all of the time, then we reduce the risk of having a confirmed case of Covid 19 disease in school.
If we have a confirmed case in school, then it is highly likely that the school will have to close for 14 days for us to isolate for 14 days. This would have a really negative impact on many staff, parents and pupils.
We can all support each other by following the HAND, SPACE, FACE message.
If you have any queries, then please contact me at school.
Best wishes
Jane Eccleston
Headteacher
08/09/2020
Please find attached updated guidance for parents/carers – Updated Guidance for Parents/Carers September 2020
02/09/2020
I hope everyone has had a good summer.
I’d like to welcome our staff and pupils back to school. It will be a bit different, but we will all manage together! Over the next few days, staff will be contacting families about the arrangements for getting back to school. I appreciate parents, carers and pupils may be a bit worried about coming back after so long. Many pupils did return in June so know what to expect, but we haven’t seen some for a long time and of course we will have new pupils in class over the next few weeks.
Public Health England have produced some resources to inform you about what schools are doing (click on the link below). However, our discussions with you and ‘welcome back’ pupil meetings, will provide much more information. If you still have concerns please do not hesitate to get in touch. Unfortunately, we can’t have visitors to school like we used to, but if you telephone school, someone will get back to you and talk through any concerns.
https://coronavirusresources.phe.gov.uk/schools-/resources/
Best wishes
Jane Eccleston
Headteacher
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