I had not anticipated writing to you with another change and update quite so soon!
You will have seen the news and heard the latest announcement about school closure and the move to remote learning for all students for term 3. We are so frustrated for our young people that, yet again, they have a huge disruption to their learning and education but it seems that the latest news is unavoidable. Following this announcement about National lockdown and school closures, I wanted to clarify as much as possible. As always, we will pull together to do our utmost to keep students safe and on track.
Remote Learning:
All year groups will now be remote learning from home – the school will provide remote lessons and learning accessed via Show My Homework in the usual way. Do get in touch if you are experiencing any problems with this, including IT access, or you need any support. Form Tutors will be running remote tutor times at the start of the day, to check in with their groups and check they are set up for the day.
Following on from the Government’s announcement on Monday evening, the Department of Education has confirmed that January BTEC and Cambridge Nationals exams will take place as planned.
We are pleased to let you know that be will be offering rapid COVID testing when students return to school. This will mean only those who test positive will need to self-isolate.
The new test is called a lateral flow test, and gives a result in 30 minutes. Students will be asked to test themselves and will be supported by a team of staff and parent volunteers. The video below offers more information on this type of testing.
The key objectives to testing all staff/students are to reduce the transmission of Covid within the school and reduce the number of people needing to self-isolate.
More information on the mass Covid testing can be found here, within the dedicated Covid Testing folder.
Start of term January 2021
Details
Written by Debbie Shallcross
31st December 2020 Dear Parents and Carers, Warm wishes to you all; I do hope you have been able to enjoy some form of break with your loved ones at home, albeit a very different Christmas period. You will have seen that the government announced yesterday to delay the return to school for secondary students and I want to clarify the arrangements for King Ethelbert students as follows:
Week Beginning: Monday 4th January
All year groups will now be remote learning from home – the school will provide remote lessons and learning accessed via Show My Homework in the usual way
Exams and ‘warm up’ sessions for those Y10-13 involved will continue as planned with some additional ‘warm up’ sessions – see below. School uniform as usual please.
The school will also provide supervision for those vulnerable students and children of keyworkers who need to be in school whilst they access their remote lessons and learning materials. School uniform as usual please.
Week beginning 11th January:
Y11 and Y13 return for face to face teaching, other year groups remain remote.
Keyworker children and vulnerable students continue as 1st week.
Week beginning 18th January:
All students return for face to face teaching.
This delay to the return to school is to allow the school to plan for the proposed rapid testing programme designed to reduce the spread of Covid-19 by identifying asymptomatic cases quickly and minimising disruption. We will be planning how this will be staffed, accommodated and resourced so we will keep you updated with details in due course.
Testing Programme in school During the first week of term, we will be working out a plan to carry out the proposed testing programme. The extent of the testing we are able to accommodate will depend on a number of factors, including staffing and resourcing. We will initially be focusing on a plan to test staff and Y11 and Y13 students to minimise further disruption to teaching and exam groups. Testing is voluntary and a letter will follow next week, asking parents and carers for consent for their child to be tested, with further details. A simple guide to the swab test is included here.
The testing workforce will be made up of school staff and volunteers and training will be provided for all those involved. The Lateral Flow Device tests are simple to use and young people swab themselves, with a trained person supervising them in appropriate PPE. Tests are then processed and recorded by the testing workforce. They produce a result in around 30 minutes. We would be hugely grateful for any support with running this valuable programme, even for volunteers able to offer a few hours a week, which will help our young people resume their education without the level of disruption that they have been having to endure.
If any parent or carer or member of our community would be willing to volunteer to be part of the testing workforce, please contact the school for more details, by emailing your name, contact details and availability to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
BTECEXAMS BTEC unit exams will still go ahead as planned. Every candidate has already received a personalised timetable and all information is on the exams page of the website. Here is the summary:
Date
Subject
Unit
Year Group
Start Time
Wed 6th Jan
Business
Developing a Marketing Campaign
Y12
9.30 am
Wed 6th Jan
Health and Social Care
Enquiries into Current Research
Y13
9.30 am
Wed 6th Jan
Sport
Fitness Training
Y13
9.30 am
Thu 7th Jan
Art
Critical and Contextual Studies
Y12
9.30 am
Fri 8th Jan
Business
Principles of Management
Y13
9.30 am
Fri 8th Jan
Travel and Tourism
UK Travel and Tourism Sector
Y10/11
9.30 am
Fri 8th Jan
Health and Social Care
Human Lifespan
Y12/Y13
1.30 pm
There are a number of ‘warm up’ or revision sessions planned. Students involved will need to come in to school and go directly to their warm up room at the appropriate times as follows:
Warms Ups /Revision Sessions
Date
Subject
Unit
Year Group
Room
Start Time
Mon 4th Jan
Sport
Fitness Training
Year 13
M6/7
9.15 am (until 11.15 am)
Wed 6th Jan
Business
Developing a marketing campaign
Year 12
B8
8.30 am
Wed 6th Jan
Sport
Fitness Training
Year 13
W2
8.30 am
Wed 6th Jan
Travel and Tourism inc. technical pathway
Revision session
Year 10
B2
2.15 pm (until 4.30 pm)
Thurs 7th Jan
Art
Critical and Contextual Studies
Year 12
B8
8.30 am
Thurs 7th Jan
Travel and Tourism inc. technical pathway
Revision session
Year 11
B2
1.15 pm (until 3.15pm)
Fri 8th Jan
Business
Principles of Management
Year 13
B8
8.30 am
Fri 8th Jan
Travel and Tourism inc. technical pathway
UK Travel and Tourism sector
Year 10
B2
8.30 am
Fri 8th Jan
Travel and Tourism inc. technical pathway
UK Travel and Tourism sector
Year 11
B5
8.30 am
Fri 8th Jan
Health and Social Care
Human Lifespan Development
Year 12
W4
10.45 am
Any questions or concerns relating to exams during the break should be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Vulnerable Students and Children of Keyworkers
We need to plan the staffing for any vulnerable and keyworker students attending for the first week as teaching staff will already be fully occupied in teaching either face to face or remote lessons. To help us with this if your child falls into either category and needs to attend school, please message us using MyEd as soon as possible with your child’s name, form and which days (from 4th Jan to 15th Jan 2021) your child will need to be in school and whether they will be buying food/drinks from the canteen. This group will be based in the IT Plaza in the red building as before and should go directly there at their usual arrival time. Students will need to bring headphones to plug in to the computers to listen to their remote lessons individually to avoid disturbing other students in the room who will all be accessing different lessons. Students should be in their normal school uniform.
Once again, we appreciate your patience and understanding and we will do all we can to ensure things go as smoothly as possible.
I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that 2021 brings all in our community health, happiness and hope for more positive times ahead.
With best wishes to you all Vicky Willis Headteacher