5 January 2021

Dear Parents / Carers,

I’m sure you will have heard the government announcement yesterday. I am writing to clarify how this affects our community.

Following the Prime Minister’s statement, I can confirm that the school will be closed for the remainder of the half term, for all students except for the children of critical workers and vulnerable children. For Y11 students there will also be some changes to how exams will run this year. We know that many Y11 students will be confused by this and so will be calling you individually today to discuss this as well as holding a virtual assembly for the year group and their parent’s tomorrow afternoon.

The virtual assembly will be held at 4pm on Wednesday 6^th and to access the platform you will need to follow this link: https://meet.google.com/ewf-xmqr-epz

We have excellent experience and high-quality resources to enable exceptional learning to continue for all our students from home. Students in Y11 will engage in these via their Google Classrooms platform. If you have concerns about accessing the online curriculum or need support with technology please contact the school on info@blaisehighschool.co.uk

We will continue to open the school for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. The government defined list of critical worker roles is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

Parents have already booked places in this on-site provision for the coming days, we will continue with an online booking system for this provision throughout the half term.

If your child receives Free School Meals, you will continue to receive support. Today (Tuesday 5^th January) between 10am and 12pm families can collect their FSM hamper from our school canteen. Please be assured that we have arranged for full coverage for every student entitled. We hope to return to a voucher system, if possible, and will update you on when this will become available.

We are not yet sure how long we will remain closed for, and I will of course update you as soon as we have more information. In the meantime, it is essential that students work hard and complete all their online tasks, to ensure that the excellent progress they have made continues and they can guarantee the better chance of success that Blaise High School has always set out to give.

Finally, I want to express my huge gratitude to our school community, for the support and encouragement you have shown the school in these challenging times. I also would like to express my gratitude to all the staff who have gone well above and beyond the call of duty up to this point and will continue to do so to show care and compassion to your children.

Yours faithfully

Ms K Brown - Headteacher