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End of Term Coronavirus Bulletin

STAY SAFE; STAY ALERT

Dear Parents/Carers,            

This will be my final bulletin of the school year. I hope you have found them useful in keeping you up-to-date with all we are doing and planning or preparing for. It has been quite a year for many reasons as you know, but throughout it all there have been so many positives which have mainly centred around your children and how wonderful they have been throughout it all!

Phase Two Re-opening

Teaching and Learning

Over the summer holiday, subject staff will set small tasks which we are calling ‘Bridging Units’ to extend our students’ thinking. Details of these tasks will be on ClassCharts very shortly. Please let us know if you have problems accessing them for any reason. In September we will resume the curriculum after we have identified gaps in student knowledge and worked towards closing them. We await further guidance from Ofqual which clarifies what the 2021 exams might look like.

Mr Moroney has prepared some guidance should there be another lockdown, in order to illustrate to you how learning will continue. You can find it on our school website or by following this link:

https://www.altrinchamcollege.com/latestnews/learning-during-lockdown

A reminder of our reintegration schedule for September is below:

Re-integration Schedule

  • Friday 4th Sept: Years 7 and 12 only 
  • Monday 7th September: Years 7, 11, 12, 13 only
  • Tuesday 8th September: Years 8, 9, 10 only
  • Wednesday 9th September onwards: all year groups 

Work will be set for all year groups who are not in school. All students are expected to attend so that we can start further catch-up work as soon as possible, however if they are ill or showing symptoms of Coronavirus they must not attend.

Full school uniform is also expected. If you foresee any issues with purchasing items in time, please let us know. The canteen will be fully operational therefore please ensure your child has enough money on their account via ParentPay. The end of August is probably the best time to top up their accounts as once term starts it’s very easy to forget amidst all the other preparations!

A Results Day letter from Mr Smith will follow shortly for all Year 11 students to explain the process for this year; for all year groups there will be information about the start of term posted out to them. Please keep the contents safe as they will need them in September!

Transport Update

At the time of writing, TfGM have not allocated our school any extra buses. We have placed a request. Once term starts and they can see exactly who is using each bus (numbers may reduce if more students walk or cycle to school or are dropped off by car) they may decide to allocate another bus to us if there is any overcrowding. They have informed us that students tend to stand up rather than sit next to someone they don’t know and have asked us to stress that students should take a seat if one is available. It is useful to know that contactless payments can be taken on buses and there is the opportunity to ‘top-up’ passes at travel shops.

Staff Farewells

The end of term often brings staff changes and this summer we say goodbye to those who are moving on to pastures new:

  • Mr Marron (retiring)
  • Dr Whitham (leaving teaching)
  • Mrs Mathers (part-time at a new school)
  • Mrs Gate (part-time at a new school nearer to home)
  • Mr Carter (promotion to Head of ICT at a new school)
  • Mrs Lees (promotion to Head of MFL at a new school)
  • Ms Klays (promotion to Head of PE at a new school)
  • Mrs Iwaneczko (new school nearer home)

We wish them every success and happiness in their new ventures. We will miss them; they have done great things for the students at AC but I am sure they will continue to do great things and take fond memories of our school with them.

We would also like to thank our cover staff who have been here for the best part of the year on maternity covers:

  • Ms Titchfield
  • Mr Hafford
  • Ms Higgin
  • Mr Stroker

Obviously this means we will have new staff starting in September. They came into school earlier this week for their Induction Day and are very excited about continuing their career at AC!

I also wanted to introduce two members of our new cleaning team, Margaret and Mark! Students will see them around school a lot next year; Margaret is our resident cleaner which is someone we didn’t have before. She never stops and both she and Mark and the rest of the team have been doing a great job for us. Thank you. 

Finally, I would like to thank all our staff who have worked incredibly hard this year and put up with many difficulties due to the build, IT issues and so on. They have remained buoyant and determined that learning continues whatever happens. The admin team, finance team, site staff, IT and catering teams have also worked tirelessly to keep everything as it should be, providing exceptional help and support to teachers and families. Staff who have supported our vulnerable/key worker children have been particularly fantastic and a wonderful socially distanced BBQ with a balloon release will mark the end of a lockdown for all those children today.

A huge thank you from me to all of you!

I would like to wish you all a very happy and safe summer. Thank YOU for your support, kind words and for helping your child get through this testing time. But….the future is bright, we have hope and we have optimism. We will move on from this and September will bring new beginnings again.

Kind regards

Ms Kim Earle