I hope you are well. The last week of the 11-16 educational journey for our Year 11 students was undoubtedly not what we wanted. Unfortunately, escalating infection rates of students over the weekend and on Monday led me to make the decision to close the school for students until the start of the new half term on Monday 7 June.
GCSE Assessments
We have managed to rearrange and run the assessments that were due to take place this week for the vast majority of students. However, I understand that not all students were able to attend and we are keen to give everyone the opportunity to complete any missed assessments. The schedule for these additional opportunities is given below:
Monday 7 June
P1 & 2 English
P3 & 4 History and Geography
P5 & 6 French & German Higher
Tuesday 8 June
P1 French Foundation
P2 – 4 Science Assessment 3
P5 RS
P6 Maths
Wednesday 9 June
P1 & 2 Business studies & Health and Social Care
P3 – 5 Science Assessment 1/2
Thursday 10 June
P1 & 2 Computer science
If students are required to attend they will be contacted by the subject leader and you should be copied into that communication. The assessments will be in the Year 11 area and students should report to B40 on their arrival, unless they have been notified otherwise. Please note that students should be in uniform for these assessments. If you have any questions regarding these catch-ups please email Mr Goodman at tgoodman@haslingdenhigh.com
Leavers’ Assembly
I have no doubt that the premature end to the half term has been extremely disappointing for many of our Year 11 students who will feel they have missed out on the opportunity to celebrate their time at school with their friends and members of staff. The concept of a leavers’ assembly had been under regular discussion for a number of weeks. We have not held full school assemblies all year as they constitute a mass gathering. Given infection rates locally, irrespective of what was happening in school, we had not decided whether the leavers’ assembly in its traditional form could take place. With the escalating infection rates in school, and the number of Year 11 students having to self isolate, this was becoming increasingly unlikely. Clearly, the school closure has taken that decision away, however, we do remain keen for this to take place in the future. If we are able to hold this later in the term, further details will follow.
Leavers’ hoodies
We have had as many enquiries from students about hoodies as we have had about the assessments! We will contact you in the near future to let you know about the arrangements for their collection. Thank you for your patience.
Prom
The school prom is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 23 June, two days after the government’s planned date for removing Covid-19 restrictions. I fully understand that there are a range of views on the school prom, and currently all Rossendale secondary schools that had planned to hold a prom, are still hoping to do so. As with so much in life at the moment, there are no guarantees that we will be able to hold this celebration but we are keen for it to happen if it is safe to do so. We have been in regular discussions with the Dunkenhalgh Hotel about their arrangements to ensure the venue is as Covid secure as possible. I fully understand the uncertainty surrounding this makes planning for both ourselves and you extremely difficult, but unfortunately this is beyond our control. If your child is planning to attend the prom, I would definitely urge caution in spending large sums of money on transport, outfits etc. Thank you for your understanding.
Work after half term
Given the amount of time students have missed in school, the government advice about providing work for Year 11 students up to the end of June sounds sensible. This advice indicates that the additional work is not necessarily face-to-face. The transition to key stage 5 is notoriously difficult and many students, regardless of ability, find it very challenging. For students considering A Levels or Level 3 vocational courses, there are ‘bridging units’ on our website for each subject to support students making the jump from GCSE to A Level. Students are asked to complete these in at least four, but ideally five, of the subjects they are interested in. These units of work are password protected and this will be sent to your child’s email account today. For students who are not considering A Levels, they may wish to consolidate learning in English and maths and there are plenty of resources on our website to support this; all students have a login to the excellent Hegartymaths service. In addition, there will be some careers-based resources to help students with decisions about their careers, which will be available after half term.
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
The arrangements for students in Year 11 to complete their Bronze expeditions are still in place for Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 July and we are expecting 77 students over that weekend. All our fingers are crossed that this will still be able to take place as planned.
GCSE Results Day
GCSE Results Day will take place on Thursday 12 August and further details will be sent nearer the time. We will also be enrolling students into our sixth form on this day and we will be replicating last year’s process which proved to be extremely quick and efficient. This took place with full social distancing and will do so again this August, if this is necessary at the time. I firmly believe that many students need consistency and personalised support to navigate these crucial next steps in their education. Our sixth form provides that consistency and the student-centred, supportive ethos is something all of our year 11 students will benefit from should they choose to continue their studies with us. If you have any questions about our sixth form, please do not hesitate to contact me or Ms Marsland, Director of Sixth Form, lmarsland@haslingdenhigh.com
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes
Mark Jackson, Headteacher