I write to you with an update regarding arrangements for the end of term. Following an assessment of our current staffing levels this morning we have made the difficult decision that we need to move to the contingency plan outlined on Thursday 9 December.

When I wrote to you last week I was hopefully that over the weekend staff would returning from their isolation periods and we would not have new confirmed Covid-19 cases amongst staff. Unfortunately, this has not been the case and today we now also have a number of staff that have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace due to contact with suspected Omicron cases. These members of staff are now required to self-isolate regardless of their vaccination status.

Therefore unless communicated otherwise, from Tuesday 14 December we will be working to the plan set out below:

• Tuesday 14 December – Wednesday 15 December: School remains closed to Year  8 and Year 9 students. Students should continue completing on-line learning. From Thursday 16 December Year 8 and Year 9 students return to school. Students will remain in school until the end of term.
• Tuesday 14 December – Wednesday 15 December: Year 7 and Year 10 remain in school. From Thursday 16 December the school will be closed to Years 7 and Year 10 students and they will move to home learning until the end of term.
• Year 11 and  6^th Form - School remains open as usual and they should attend school until the end of term.

Please can I also confirm with parent/carers that on Tuesday 21 December will finish at 12.30pm. Students eligible for Free School meals will receive these at morning break.

We will continue to monitor staffing levels on a daily basis and if we returned to stronger staffing levels we will communicate we will communicate this to parent/carers. These decisions are based on the ability of the school to operate in a safe and meaningful way with all students on site. This includes taking into account having enough adults to cover the lessons for staff unable to come to school and also the safe supervision of students while moving around the school and also during break and lunchtimes.

How Online Lessons will Work:

Students need to access work linked to the current school curriculum via their google classrooms, the same way they accessed learning during the previous lockdown. Work will be set by the classroom teacher for each timetabled lesson and should be accessed at the time they would normally attend that subject in school. Teachers will be ‘live’ (via the google meets link in the classroom) to talk through the learning of the lesson and answer any questions for the first 15 minutes and aim to include live or interactive content to support the learning. Throughout the lesson time, the students will be able to contact the teacher via email to ask any further questions they might have.  Students would have been automatically enrolled in their Google Classroom last half term. These start with 'WEL' in front of their class code, e.g. 'WEL-9yEN1' for Year 9, Y side, set 1 English. This will be on their Google Classroom page. If your child is having difficulties accessing their Google Classrooms, please email google@wellingschool-tkat.org for support. Please click the link below for help with logging into Google Classroom:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZlZK119mert9bszX8tnwlbN3-ZMUgR0ZYru92iayfzo/edit?usp=sharing

Computer and Internet Support:

Most students who needed to borrow a computer from us during the last period of remote learning, still have their Chromebook. If your child returned it to us or if you have joined the Welling School community since then and need to discuss how we can support you, or if you need technical support with google classrooms, please email: google@wellingschool-tkat.org 

Students Eligible for Free School Meals:

All families who are usually in receipt of free school meals will receive a voucher through the post. If you would like to discuss how we can support you further then please get in touch with us.

Thank you for your understanding and support. Later this week I will communicate with parent/carers the plan for students return in January and how we will facilitate the testing of all students.

With very best wishes.

Yours faithfully

Mr R Pett

HEADTEACHER