End-of-Term Newsletter December 2020

Thank you for your unwavering support this year.

UPDATE: An important update to the start of term in 2021: http://bit.ly/2IZ4ZS5

Dear parents and carers,

You’ll be pleased to hear that our end of term letter is relatively short. This year has been a year of words and heavy communications so we deserve the break and this Christmas period will be a welcome rest for our entire community.

Success Centre Fundraising
The Success Centre team have been fundraising to buy some of our most vulnerable students Christmas presents. They have raised £1,315 so far, this will be added to some funding from Tesco. Congratulations to the Success Centre team and thank you for caring so deeply for the children in our community.

Online Safety
It can be hard to know how to talk to your child about online safety. From setting up parental controls to advice on sexting, online games and video apps, you need to understand the risks and keep your child safe.
These resources from the NSPCC are well worth looking over to help you keep your children safe: www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

Work Experience
Year 10 work experience (WEX) is scheduled for March 22-26th, 2021. If placements have been secured that is good but we are fully aware that with the current climate businesses are struggling to commit to offering placements. We are looking to offer virtual work experience events, many of these taking place within the school holidays. More news will follow via school emails and school social media.
Forge will be working with ‘Speakers for Schools’ on a new initiative, to offer virtual WEX, tapping into 220 national employers via a portal. Pupils will be told more about this in the new year and how to apply for the high quality virtual placements that are on offer.

Equipment and Coats
It is vitally important that students come to school with the equipment required to learn. The minimum equipment that will be needed is a pencil case with a pen, pencil, ruler, calculator, pink and green highlighter and a pack of colouring pencils. There are still instances of students coming to school without this kit and from January we will be taking a zero tolerance approach on being ready to learn.
Please ensure that your child has a warm coat with them every day. It is essential that all costs are waterproof too especially during these winter months.

Face Coverings
Face coverings must continue to be worn properly by all students and staff when moving around the site including in corridors and communal areas where social distancing cannot be easily maintained. Current guidance states that students are not required to wear masks when they are outside, leaving the Academy.
We expect the use of reusable masks or daily disposables, provided by parents. Face coverings must be as plain as possible and without any offensive or aggressive words or images on them. We will continue to rigorously enforce this.

Testing From January
The Government has announced a testing programme for school. We are still taking advice on this and more details will follow in January.

COVID Arrangements Over Christmas
Public Health England has agreed a 6 day window after the final day of teaching in which schools and further education providers are asked to remain contactable so they can assist with contact tracing where necessary. This will allow enough time for positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases to be identified and confirmed by a test and for relevant contacts to be traced. It is likely that the need to support the tracing process will reduce dramatically over the course of the six days as the majority of cases should be identified earlier in the week. Obviously, we hope that there are no cases and we won’t have to contact anyone.

To this end, we all need to be aware of the following information regarding positive cases in the holidays:

  • Where a student or staff member tests positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), having developed symptoms more than 48 hours since being in school, the school should not be contacted. Parents and carers should follow contact tracing instructions provided by NHS Test and Trace.
  • For the first 6 days after teaching ends, if a student or staff member tests positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), having developed symptoms within 48 hours of being in school, we will assist in identifying close contacts and advising self-isolation, as the individual may have been infectious whilst at Forge. In this instance, please email [email protected] or message us via the Facebook page.
  • The last teaching day is on Thursday 17 December, there should be no student contact tracing beyond Wednesday 23 December.

Please take care over the Christmas break, don’t take any unnecessary risks and follow the Government guidance. We very much look forward to welcoming everyone back in 2021 for a fresh start and the opportunity to start putting Covid behind us and moving forward at last.

Thank you for your unwavering support this year. On behalf of the staff and everyone associated with the Academy, we could not have got through 2020 without you. We have been stronger together.

Sending Christmas wishes and blessings for the new year.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Lisa Mason
Principal
Ormiston Forge Academy