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During this period of partial closure, Oathall continues to be open for provision for vulnerable pupils and children of key workers. Irrespective of any partial closure or collaboration with another school, the safeguarding of all our children remains our top priority.

At this time, our school will continue as normal in supporting our vulnerable children and if anyone has any questions regarding this they are asked to make contact with our Assistant Headteacher, Mrs E Green.

Please contact the school on office@oathall.org if you have any queries.

The exam boards are committed to providing you with grades for all your subjects, these grades will, we are told, carry exactly the same value as those awarded in other years. They are yet to finalise details about how your grades will be awarded, however, they have clearly indicated this will involve a range of different elements. It is not yet clear how these different elements will be weighted.

In essence, you will be awarded grades for the qualifications you are currently entered for based on a blend of school forecast grades, your KS2 attainment, completed coursework (where relevant) and Key Stage 4 performance data. It is not yet clear how these different elements will be weighted. They are planning to issue the final grades at the end of July with an appeals process and the option of sitting the real exams later in the year if you are unhappy with the grade given to you.

This does, of course, raise a number of questions, most of which are answered at the Gov.UK site here

Things to consider

1. Staying safe and well whilst also staying in and looking after friends and family.
2. Your courses were approaching the end of taught content when we had to close. Coursework/NEA (non-examined assessments) will provide evidence for forecast grades.
3. You need to be mindful of the fact that you will be embarking on further study from September. You need to ensure you are starting those courses from a position of strength. That means you must continue to learn content and reinforce prior learning in order to be ‘Sixth Form ready’. This may include reading about the content of courses or looking at specifications.
4. Please do not email your teachers directly to start conversations regarding your forecast grades. There is a clear process linked to establishing forecast grades, these will reflect exam and test performance to date along with work you have completed in class and your target grades. We know this is an unsettling time for everyone and you want answers but at this stage things are not confirmed and we simply do not know for sure.
5. It is important to keep your minds active and maintain your learning during this time. This will give you the best chance of preparing for a GCSE exam in the autumn (if the worst happens and your grade given is below what you want or need).

We will continue to remain in touch and provide further guidance as more information becomes available.

Yours faithfully
Mr E Rodriguez
Headteacher

This information was also emailed to students on 24 March.

As you know the school will be closed until further notice from Monday 23 March.  At present we have no further information about the duration of this closure.

The school remains committed to support those children considered to be vulnerable as well as the children of key workers. We await further direction from relevant authorities and will advise accordingly.

Provision for working at home
Work will largely be set on Google classrooms. Students access this by first logging into the school website and then selecting the icon at the top of the page. They will need to monitor their school email to get access codes and further instructions from staff. They will also need to look at INSIGHT, as can parents, to see how the work is being scheduled.

Please support and encourage your child to engage in other enrichment and educational activities to include: wider reading, writing and exercise. Additionally, a number of online resources are being provided by various organisations including the BBC, for example.

Paper packs will be available for students who have identified already that they do not have access to the internet or computer devices at home.

If you are a parent of a Year 11 student, we appreciate there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the awarding of qualifications. We are awaiting further guidance in relation to this. We will, of course, write to you with details as these become clear.

As you can appreciate this is a rapidly changing situation and one which is unprecedented for schools. We understand that you have many questions about a range of issues. It is not possible for us to answer every query individually. We will use our website to collate our responses to frequently asked questions. We will continue to use our other communication channels to keep you and your children regularly updated.

Yours faithfully

Mr E Rodriguez
Headteacher

We have taken the decision that students in Year 9 and Year 10 will not attend school until we give further notice.

We are doing this because we have significantly reduced staffing levels and can therefore not safely supervise all students in school. Work will be set for students in Year 9 and Year 10 on Google Classroom and Insight.

Students should check their @oathall.org school e-mail regularly for updates as it is important that they continue with their learning.

Assemblies have been held today telling students how to work at home and more details will be provided in due course. This has been an extremely difficult decision to reach but we must ensure the safety of our students in the school.

This is a rapidly changing situation and we are expecting further guidance from the government imminently.

Please bear with us as we get these new arrangements fully up and running.
Thank you for your support and co-operation.
Yours faithfully

Mr E Rodriguez
Headteacher

Please see the latest letter and guidance about coronavirus from Mr Rodriguez.