www.altrinchamcollege.com/information/covid19

Altrincham College Coronavirus Bulletin

Wednesday 18th March, 5pm

Dear Parents/Carers,

Sadly, due to staff absence including all site staff and some catering staff, I have had to take the decision to close the school from today.

Thank you for all your support during this time and please thank your children who have conducted themselves so wonderfully over the past couple of weeks. They really are a credit to you and have made things so much easier for our staff in terms of teaching and learning and behaviour around school.

As Wales and Scotland close schools from Friday I have no doubt the Prime Minister will take a similar decision in England and await his briefing later this evening. I am expecting, at time of writing, school to open again on Monday 20^th April after the Easter holidays; however, I will have to await further instruction from the Department for Education on this. I will share with you any further information I have on this matter as soon as I have it.

We have taken steps to ensure that, as far as possible, students in all year groups have tasks to complete which tie in with the curriculum/exam syllabus they are studying in every subject. Work was delivered to the Post Office tonight for those Y11 and Y13 students who have not been in school. You should receive this in the next couple of days. Y11 and Y13 students who have been in school have already collected some work from their subject teachers. Class Charts will also have details of other work for students to complete in Years 7-13.

We have had a backlog of work being printed for students, therefore staff will be outside of school between 9am and 10am tomorrow morning (Thursday 19^th March) to hand out work for Y11 only in:

• Geography
• Combined Science
• Art/Graphics folders

We would be grateful if students studying those subjects could come to the front of school near 6^th form reception to collect their work between those times.

Staff, providing they are well enough, will respond to student queries within 48 hours via their school email to student email during working hours (8.45am-3.10pm) over the next two weeks. This will only be with respect to work-related issues. We have also provided links to websites and other resources which could aid student study; these have been posted on our website and sent to you via Edulink and ClassCharts. We appreciate that working at home for a full school day every day is unrealistic therefore you will also find a suggested ‘timetable’ for Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 students which might help them to plan their work.

Safeguarding Leads have mobile phones should any students feel worried or concerned over the next two weeks. Their phone numbers are:

Miss Diffley [Designated Safeguarding Lead for Altrincham College]:  07873 387591
Ms Vitalis [Education and Welfare Officer]:  07565 712486
Mrs Scholes [Pastoral Support for Years 7 and 8]:  07395 957033

Mrs Sherry Brennan [Pastoral Support for Years 9 and 10]:  07395 930580
Miss O’Brien [Pastoral Support for Year 11]:  07754 122657

If you have any specific safeguarding concerns, please do NOT call these numbers but refer to Trafford First Response on one of the following numbers:

Central – 0161 912 5021

North – 0161 912 5070

South – 0161 912 5021

West – 0161 746 3810

May I thank you for all your support. We also wish the following staff well as they leave us this term and thank them for all they have done for our school:

• Mrs S. Whitworth (retiring)
• Mrs F. McGrath (new post)
• Mrs A. Tayub (new post)
• Mrs V. Fletcher (new post)

May I also wish you and your families and happy and healthy Easter and I look forward to seeing all the students again on Monday 20^th April 2020.

Kind regards

Kim Earle