Work For Closure

26th March 2020Shirebrook

Please follow the link for your year group below to find out more information about work set for students to complete in the event of closure and self-isolation.

Letters were sent home with log in details for all necessary systems, all of which can be accessed from tablet, phone, laptop and PC devices. Work will be added on an ongoing basis.

Help guides for online systems:

Exam board support for learners can be found here:

For issues with usernames and passwords to online systems please contact:

nmehrotrahughes@shirebrookacademy.org

 

Important Key Worker Information

20th March 2020Shirebrook

20th March 2020

Good morning, Parents and Carers,

Gov.Uk have now published the list of key workers for whom care provision should be available in academies and schools. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home and the guidance states that every child who can be safely cared for at home should be. Therefore, if it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.

The guidance can be found via this link. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

If your work is included in the list of key workers and you would like your child to attend our academy from next week onwards, please contact us immediately via email address bnorman@shirebrookacademy.org

Thank you.

Health and Social Care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and Childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key Public Services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

Local and National Government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.

Food and other Necessary Goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public Safety and National Security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, Communication and Financial Services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

Coronavirus Update 19th March

19th March 2020Shirebrook

Re: Announcement of school closures as of 3.10pm on Friday 20th March

Further to this announcement, I can confirm that Shirebrook Academy will close at 3.10pm on 20th March to all students except those who are the children of ‘key workers’ (definition to be confirmed by the government), those children who have an allocated social worker and those identified as being our most vulnerable.

Students who attend school will have a planned day of activities, delivered by staff from the academy. The academy building will be open between 8.30am and 3.30pm with normal school day lessons and break times. Please note only the front entrance will be open for students. Johnsons have informed us that buses 524 Langwith & 135 New Houghton. Pleasley and Glapwell will continue to run as normal, however, if this changes we will let you know. There will be a limited school meal offer or students may bring their own packed lunch as normal. Students entitled to a free school meal will have a meal provided.

All other students should follow their normal timetable at home as far as possible, accessing work set by their teachers on SAM Learning, GCSE Pod, the school website ‘work for closure’ section or via printed materials that have been sent home with students. If you do not have access to the internet and need more printed resources, please call the school and we will send resources home. The Government has announced that they will organise a voucher scheme for students entitled to Free School Meals who are at home, we will let you know as soon as we receive details of this scheme. The announcement stated that schools would continue to operate this approach until further notice.

With regards to students in Y11, the announcement also clarified that students in these year groups would not take their examinations this May and June and that their future pathway at Post 16 would not be impeded because of this decision. I am sure that further clarity about what that actually means in practice for students will be released over the next few days. We appreciate that this may well have left our students bewildered and uncertain. They have worked so hard and all deserve to gain good results this summer. The Government is committed to ensuring that students will not be disadvantaged by this decision.

I will, of course, continue to communicate with you on a regular basis, giving you the latest updates and the implications for our young people.

Could I please ask, if you have not done so already, that you email Belinda Norman bnorman@shirebrookacademy.org if you believe you meet the ‘keyworker’ criteria and you wish for your child(ren) to continue to attend school.

If you have any further questions about these arrangements, then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours Faithfully

Mark Cottingham

Principal

Coronavirus Update

13th March 2020Shirebrook

Coronavirus Update Friday 13 March 2020

The current government guidance is for schools to remain open and there are no plans to close any schools in the near future. If this advice changes we have contingency plans to provide work for students to do at home via packs of work, SAM Learning and the curriculum areas of the website. The government plan is for GCSE exams to proceed as normal.

If any students or staff test positive for Coronavirus we will take advice from Public Health England and keep you informed.

Please continue to send your child to school and remind them to maintain good hygiene by regularly washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.

If your child develops symptoms of Coronavirus, a persistent cough and high temperature, they should stay at home for a week and consult your doctor or call the NHS helpline 111. If this happens, please make sure you inform us that the reason for absence is due to symptoms of Coronavirus and you must inform us if you or your child test positive for the virus.

On government advice the scheduled trips to Berlin, Barcelona and Toulon have been cancelled. We are in contact with the travel companies and our insurers and hope to be able to recover costs but cannot guarantee this at this stage. We will confirm details by letter as soon as possible, if you have any queries please contact our finance office.

Coronavirus (Covid-19)

3rd March 2020Shirebrook

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update

Following the publication of advice by the Government today, 3/03/2020, Shirebrook Academy remains open as normal and we will continue to do so unless otherwise advised by the Department for Education and or Public Health England.

The virus spreads in the same way as cold or flu and basic hygiene measures such as washing hands thoroughly with soap and water and using tissues will help to contain the spread of the virus. The poster gives basic information for you to follow.