Below is the letter sent to our parents/carers from our Headteacher, Mr Bellamy on 18th June 2020:

Dear Parent/Carer,

I am pleased to be able to give you some further updates on our reopening of school and the progress of our virtual learning.

I wish to begin by discussing this week’s Zoom lessons that we have been rolling-out with students in Year 10. Virtual teaching via a software application is a new initiative and a different way of delivering teaching and learning. The vast majority of our students have engaged with the process in the excellent manner we expect from our Hilbre students. As we continue with our virtual teaching, there are some ‘must dos’ that students must stick to and we need parents/carers to reinforce. It is imperative students sign-on to the Zoom lessons as themselves and are fully compliant with teacher expectations. It is also imperative that the students have their cameras on for the lessons. Your support in ensuring students sign-on appropriately at the correct time will be most helpful.

This week face-to-face contact with Year 10 and Year 12 students has commenced via Zoom.

Next week (22^nd onwards), beginning Monday 22^nd June, we will continue the Zoom face-to-face sessions with our Year 10 students.

Also next week, Year 12 students will be taught in school throughout the week and we look forward to seeing them back on our school site. We have been careful to lay out clear guidelines for students as they return to school.

In the week beginning 29^th June, we will welcome our Year 10 students back to school. Year 12 will also be taught in school that week.

For their taught sessions in school, Year 10 and Year 12 students will not be following their normal timetables and will be sent the timetable for their school sessions by email.

Moving forward with virtual learning, we are also planning to commence Zoom sessions with our students in other year groups; prior to the commencement of these lessons, further details will be shared with you.

As we head towards the end of this unique term, we will be sending you a School Report. The report will tell you the level of your child’s engagement with learning and contain a written comment from your child’s Form Teacher. We believe these to be the two key components upon which we should report, following such a long period of lockdown and without the opportunity to assess our students in school. Formal assessments will recommence in the Autumn Term. Under normal circumstances, this very week would be our Exams Week!

To close, I return to some key information for students in Years 10 and 12 for their return to school; information initially sent to you in early June:

• School will be open to students in Years 10 and 12 between the hours of 9am to 12.10pm. Students' school start time will be staggered.
• Each student will be advised of their start time and their timetable for the days they are in school. Students will complete 2 ½ hours of study (including their break) and all students will be leaving the school site by 12.10pm at the latest.
• Students will be able to have breaks between lessons; they will need to stay in the classroom for those breaks. Time for breaks will be directed by the staff member in the designated room.
• Students will need to bring their own equipment.
• Students will need to bring a snack and a bottle of water. There will not be any school provision of brunch and students will be dismissed from school before lunchtime.
• Students must not bring exercise books to school.
• We encourage all students to either walk or cycle to school. If this is not possible, we recommend students receive a lift to school and, if so, they must be dropped-off outside the school gates.
• Students will not need to wear school uniform but should dress sensibly.

As always, I wish you well and thank you for all your support in keeping our young people safe and educated.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Bellamy

Headteacher

 

Below is the letter sent to our parents/carers from our Headteacher, Mr Bellamy on 10th June 2020:

Dear Parent/Carer,

Further to the email I sent to all parents/carers last week, outlining our plans to reopen as a school with students in Years 10 and 12 on-site from 15^th June, I now write to you with an update, beginning with this joint statement on behalf of all Secondary Headteachers on Wirral:

On Tuesday 9^th June 2020, Wirral’s Secondary Headteachers met as a group with Public Heath Wirral and were reassured to hear from them that there are no public health reasons why we should not move forward with our plans for wider educational participation from the 15^th June.  Public Health Wirral are reassured by the detailed risk assessments that all the Schools and the College have in place and are confident that these ensure that we are offering safe environments for students and staff.

All Secondary Schools and the Sixth Form College have been working together through this difficult time and will continue to do so as we move forward.  There is a recognition that what we do over the coming weeks will vary as we adapt our plans to open to a wider body of students dependent on our individual circumstances. 

This common but necessarily varied approach is fully supported by the Wirral Local Authority.

As a consequence of the meeting outlined above, at Hilbre we will begin by offering face-to-face contact with students in Years 10 and 12, from Monday the 15^th June. The meetings will be held on Zoom with students still at home and using appropriate technology; they will not be on the school site. Next week, the school site will only be open to students who are vulnerable or the children of key workers.

Later this week, if your child (or children) is in Year 10 or Year 12, they will be contacted to inform them of when they will be having their Zoom sessions. For students in Year 10, these will be with their English, Maths, Science and Form Tutors over the week. Students in Year 12 will have the opportunity to meet up with their Form Tutors. Students will be contacted through Show My Homework or emailed to their school email address with details of logins and passwords. Here is an overview of the teaching schedule, next week:

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
AM		Y10 Form Teachers	Y10 Maths	Y10 English	Y12 Form Teachers
PM		Y10 Science	Y10 Science	Y10 Science

Instructions about how to use Zoom safely and responsibly will also be sent out.

As we look to use Zoom technology to deliver face-to-face contact with our students, we will also be implementing Zoom sessions with some individual students and possibly their parents/carers over the coming weeks. We foresee Zoom communication as a key component of our learning and support processes going forward.

As each week progresses, adapting and changing provision is almost certainly inevitable.

I hope you understand that the decisions taken, following thorough consultation, are designed to aid all in our community to return to normal as quickly as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Bellamy

Headteacher

 

Below is the letter sent to our parents/carers from our Headteacher, Mr Bellamy on 3rd June 2020.

Dear Parents/Carers,

I write to you with important information about our school’s continuing actions with regard to Covid-19. There is particularly important information for parents/carers of students in Years 10 and 12 about the phased return to school of students in those years.

Students in Years 7, 8, and 9:
For our students in Years 7, 8 and 9, our actions continue as they have been, since March 20^th, when we went into lockdown. We have been in regular and consistent communication with our students, parents/carers and governors about the actions we have been taking. Feedback we have received indicates our setting of work on Show My Homework is successful in maintaining a good, consistent learning platform for our students. In fact, we are now introducing one catch-up-day per week in which no new work is set for students on the designated day, so that they can cope with the workload and not be too overwhelmed.

GCSEs and A-Levels: Years 11 and 13:
For our students in Years 11 and 13, this is the time when in ‘normal circumstances’ we would be in the midst of our GCSEs and A-Levels. For weeks now, we have been carefully determining the teacher assessment grades for our students and are in the process of submitting these to the examination boards. We believe we have been fair and considerate with our teacher-assessed grades and wish all of our Year 11 and Year 13 students the very best with their results. We look forward to seeing our Year 11 and Year 13 students in August on their results days, when they will be able to see and celebrate their successes.

Phased return to school: Years 10 and 12:
From June 15^th, we are introducing a phased return for our students in Year 10 and Year 12. The Department for Education clearly states that ‘to limit the risk of increasing the rate of transmission, scientific advice indicates we need to take a phased approach that limits both the number of children and young people in school and how much they mix with other pupils and staff.’ With this guidance at the forefront of our planning, the following information details the approach we are taking, as we prepare for the return of our students in these years.

Accompanying this communication, you are receiving a PDF document ‘Risk Assessment Document for School Reopening after Lockdown’ A copy of this Risk Assessment can also be accessed on our school website. The Risk Assessment Document has been carefully considered so that we can reopen for the designated year groups with the maximum confidence that opening poses the minimum risk of infection. The Document has been shared with our Governors, our staff, school unions, the Local Authority and you, our parents and carers, so that all in, or attached to, our Hilbre High School community are fully aware of the actions we are undertaking. I ask that all parents/carers of students planning to return to school carefully read through the Risk Assessment Document.

The Department for Education has clearly stated that, ‘From 15 June, secondary schools are able to offer face-to-face support for a quarter of the year 10 and 12 cohort at any one time.’

We have taken the decision that, to ensure the maximum safety for our students, we will alternate our opening for students. We will be open for Year 10 students and some Year 12 students on the week beginning 15^th June and then open for Year 12 students only, on the week beginning 22^nd June (but not open for Year 10 students that week). This system will continue alternating in this way until the end of term.

We will only have a maximum of a quarter of a year group at any given time. This means for students in Year 10, they will be in for one day in the week, which will be decided by a student’s English class; for Year 12 students may be in for more than one day in the week, which will be decided by subjects taken in a particular Option Block. Further information about this will be shared closer to opening.

School will be open to students in Years 10 and 12 between the hours of 9am to 12noon. Students' school start time will be staggered and begin at either 9am, 9.15am or 9.30am. Each student will be advised of their start time and their timetable for the days they are in school. Students will complete 2 ½ hours of study (including their break) and all students will be leaving the school site by 12noon at the latest.

(We will continue providing full-time provision for vulnerable pupils in all year groups and continue providing full-time provision for children of critical workers in all year groups.)

Students will be taught in just one classroom with a group of no more than 10 students. Social distancing will be enforced - at least two metres apart per student. Students will not be able to move rooms.

Each selected classroom will have a sink for washing hands and an exterior door, so students will be able to line-up (socially distanced) outside the room before entering and exiting. Each classroom will have its own designated male and female toilets.

The DfE states, ‘It is up to schools to decide how they use face-to-face support in the best interests of their pupils.’ We intend to focus our taught content on the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. We will also provide some Personal Social and Health Education. Critically, we know how important face-to-face time in school will be to our students in ensuring they are on-track for work and preparation for the examinations they will be taking next year.

Students will be able to have breaks between lessons; they will need to stay in the classroom for those breaks. Time for breaks will be directed by the staff member in the designated room.

Students will need to bring their own equipment.

Students will need to bring a snack and a bottle of water. There will not be any school provision of brunch and students will be dismissed from school before lunchtime.

Students must not bring exercise books to school; the work they complete will be done on paper with the expectation that they will complete follow-up exercises at home and submit them digitally as per the current practice we have in school lockdown. (The DfE states that whilst we provide some face-to-face support to supplement the remote education of Year 10 and Year 12 students, there is ‘a clear expectation that remote education will continue to be the predominant form of education delivery for these year groups and that this should be of high quality.’)

We aim for the measures we are taking to create a safer environment, where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced.

In addition to the above, we will ensure:

• Minimised contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring pupils or staff who have coronavirus symptoms, or who have someone in their household who does, do not attend school

• Hands are cleaned more often than usual - pupils and staff will be encouraged to regularly wash their hands thoroughly for 20 seconds with running water and soap and dry them thoroughly, or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered

• Good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach

• Cleaning of frequently touched surfaces, using standard products such as detergents and bleach

• No pupils to be allowed on the school grounds unless for agreed contact time or attendance as above

• No external visitors to be allowed on-site, except for essential work or deliveries

To minimise risk to our students on their journey to and from school, we encourage all students to either walk or cycle to school. If this is not possible, we recommend students receive a lift to school and, if so, they must be dropped-off outside the school gates. The DfE states, ‘schools should ensure that the use of public transport to travel to and from school is minimised as far as possible.’ We fully support this statement and ask that students do not take public transport. We do accept that there may be some students who have no choice and we are currently in discussion with Mersey Travel over the service they offer.

With the extreme importance of the measures we are taking to be successful and so we protect the health and safety of all on our school site, it is essential that we follow the procedures and expectations carefully. Although I do not anticipate it happening, I must inform you that if I have a student on site who fails to comply with my expectations around maintaining social distancing, following instruction and protecting the health and safety of those in my school community, the student will not be able to attend face-to-face sessions in school and will be ask to return to remote learning from home.

Students will not need to wear school uniform, as the recommendation is that we all wash our clothes the evening after we have spent a day in school. Students will be expected to attend school in their own clothes, which will need to be appropriate for our school learning environment.

To help us plan further and ensure we have the best provision for our students returning to school, at the end of this paragraph is a link to a very basic questionnaire; a yes/no survey to state whether your child will or will not be attending school when we reopen. Please will all parents/carers of students in Year 10 and Year 12 take the time to complete the survey (the deadline for completion is Monday 8^th June), so that we can make further plans.

Please click this link to complete the survey. It takes just a few seconds to complete.
Return to School Survey (link inactive on the website)

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I fully appreciate there is much to take on here.  For parents/carers of students in Years 10 and 12, I believe that outlining for you the measures we are putting in place and the expectations we have, ensures you will be able to send your child back to Hilbre with the full confidence we are doing all we can to protect the health and safety of our young people.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Bellamy

Headteacher