Further to my letter dated 25 January 2022, I wanted to update the whole school community around the remote education that is currently in place for two year groups. The decision to move to remote learning was not taken lightly and we only did this as we were unable to operate the school day in a safe and meaningful way. As a parent I understand how frustrating it is when schools are not fully open but staff contracting COVID-19 is outside our control and I would appreciate everyone’s understanding.

The current position around staffing remains challenging. We currently have over 25% of the staffing body absent from school, and today we had two periods where we had over 10 lessons that were difficult to cover. We are asking staff to teach over their timetable in order to make sure students have a teacher for their lesson.

As a result of this there is a need to continue with remote education for two year groups at the start of next week. To ensure one year group is not disproportionately affected more than another we will put in place the following plan for next week:

• On Monday 31 January, Year 8 and Year 10 are able to return to school
• From Monday 31 January to Wednesday 2 February, the school will be closed for Year 7 and Year 9, and they will be expected to complete remote education.
• On Thursday 3 February all students able to return to school.

This plan takes into account the changes to isolation periods that was communicated to parent/carers earlier today.

How Lessons will Work:

Students following remote learning 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 who are absent from school 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 to their Google Classroom last term. These start with 'WEL' in front of their class code, e.g. 'WEL-8yEN1' for Year 8, 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 have children in Year 7 and Year 9 that are in receipt of free school meals will receive a voucher through the post which will cover three day of lunch funds. If you would like to discuss how we can support you until then please get in touch with us. Again - thank you for your understanding and support.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us if there is anything else we can do to support you or your child while they are working at home.

With very best wishes.

Yours faithfully

Mr R Pett

HEADTEACHER