9th June 2020 Dear Year 9 Parent/Carer

Update on academy closure I do hope you and your family are well, and enjoyed the recent half-term holiday. Once again, I would like to thank you on behalf of our academy staff for continuing to support your children with their online home learning. I am writing to you with some important updates regarding online home learning at the academy. As I have described previously, sadly children in Year 9 are extremely unlikely to return to school before the end of the summer term. As a team, we want to do everything we can to support your child’s learning at this time, as they prepare to start their GCSE courses in the next academic year. Introduction of Year 10 face-to-face support The Government and medical advisors consider the situation with the coronavirus to be improving and would like Year 10 students to start to return to school on a part-time basis from next week. I have written to Year 10 parents separately to describe the detailed arrangements we have made for this. As a result of the introduction of this face-to-face support, and the results of our recent parent survey regarding online home learning, we are making some small changes to the way that Year 9 students will be learning for the remainder of this term. Changes to home learning for Year 9 students I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your contribution to the recent parent survey on online home learning. Your feedback is invaluable and helps us to ensure that we are providing the best possible support for our students. As a response to the recently completed parent survey, we are now developing our home learning timetable to offer opportunities based around student wellbeing and to encompass wider opportunities. This will include introduction courses for Guided Choices options, ‘Live Lessons’ with teachers via Microsoft Teams, more self-directed learning, a weekly Citizenship lesson and independent reading activities. We are using the end of this week as to prepare for our new arrangements, which will come into effect from June 15th and will continue until the end of the summer term on July 17th. To support this, on Thursday 11th June, there will be no daily email contact between teachers and students. We are using this day to train our staff on the changes we are making. On this day, a member of the Academy Leadership Team will set you child work on the theme of wellbeing and kindness by email.

On Friday 12th June, we will begin to transition to our new online home learning timetable. We will be ensuring that your child receives an assembly briefing on our new arrangements which they should watch at home. They will also receive contact from any teachers who are beginning to teach a new class group online as a result of the introduction of our face-to-face support for Year 10.

On Monday 15th June, the new timetable will start. Your child will continue to access the work set via their academy email. Each teacher will send the work by 8.30am on the day when a lesson is timetabled, as per our current arrangements.

The online home learning timetable should be followed on every day that your child is not attending the Academy for face-to-face support.

We have a dedicated page on our academy website to support home learning. This will now include our updated online home learning timetable, and guidance on how to access timetabled ‘Live Lessons’ via Microsoft Teams:

https://www.oasisacademylordshill.org/learning/home-learning

The new timetable for Year 9 students are also included as an appendix to this letter.

If you son/daughter completes work via a work pack supplied by the Academy, please return this to the Academy when the work has been completed. A further work pack will then be issued.

Academy staff are continuing to monitor the completion of students’ work weekly in every subject. Your child’s Head of Year, Ms Muddle, will continue to review this information weekly and praise students with high engagement and contact families who require further support.

If you have further questions or concerns you would like addressed at this stage, please do contact us by email, using info@oasislordshill.org. We will keep all aspects of our school preparations under review and will always seek to take on board your feedback. Thank you as ever for your patience and understanding during this time, and the support you are showing the team who are working exceptionally hard to do all they can for your child.

Yours sincerely

Mr Rob Forder Principal

Year 9 Online Home Learning Timetable – from Monday June 15th