As we prepare to welcome back key worker students and those we have directly contacted, here are a few reminders, we will add to this guidance as things develop. Staff are meeting on Monday 4th to go through new guidance and attend online training related to the governments new testing plans.
WHO’S IN AND WHEN!
4th – February half-term
Only ‘Keyworker’ children and those who have been contacted directly to be in school. If you have not booked a place as a key worker, please email us at enquiries@fracademy.org Students coming into school will be able to access the canteen for a hot meal so no need for packed lunches.
All other students will be ‘learning from home’ via https://foweyriver.fireflycloud.net/help and other resources.
Exams
Current plans are, following earlier government statements, that the following exams will be going ahead:
Thursday 8th January 9 am start – BTEC Music – Contact vrolls@fracademy.org if you have any questions.
Monday 11th January 9 am start – OCR Cambridge National for PE – Contact shorton@fracademy.org if you have any questions.
Free School Meals – 5/1/21
We have sent out emails to parents of all free school meal eligible students. This email includes a voucher for this week for £15. We will then be sending out further vouchers for the following 4-6 weeks. If you are having any problems with accessing the vouchers, please email us at: enquiries@fracademy.org
COVID TESTING UPDATE – 5/1/21
As some of you will know, the Government has said that schools will be asked to support mass testing of students and staff, to aid the fight against COVID. Testing is voluntary, but given the seriousness of the pandemic, we are hoping the vast majority will support efforts to make the school environment even safer than it already is. Today we learned what will be involved in the testing programme and we are now planning to be operational for student testing from Monday 11th for those in school. We need all students to be registered for testing before we can proceed with individual tests, please fill out this short form here so we can make sure we have your consent.
Of course, mobilising a mass testing programme for a school is no simple exercise and another additional skill we have acquired through this crisis! The big issue all schools will have is running this at the same time as trying to keep a full curriculum going, which we are absolutely committed to. We will have to complete over 1,200 tests a week which is a full-time logistical exercise in itself. So WE NEED YOUR HELP…we are looking for volunteers to work alongside our staff, to help with all aspects of the process, from record-keeping to supervision of the tests. Can you spare a few hours each week or day to help in this fight against COVID? We would not ask if it wasn’t hugely important…and this will make a big difference…full training and PPE will be provided…please email us if you are happy to help or want to enquire about what might be involved.
TRANSPORT
Buses will operate as normal from 4th January. Due to the reduced numbers, we have been told Roselyon Coaches may review their routes/pickups and revise according to demand. We will update as soon as we have any new information. We ask that all our students wear face-coverings whilst using shared transport. This will also be enforced on our school minibus for local pickups.
UPDATE 4/1/21: FOW 101 ALL stops will be 15mins later than normal
FACE COVERINGS
We ask all students to wear face coverings on transport to and from school.
Students must wear face coverings in all indoor communal/public areas at school, unless otherwise stated by staff.
BEHAVIOUR
At FRA we have a ‘consequence hierarchy’. This is a very clear set of rules and consequences which students understand. Complying with our instructions around safety and COVID related protocols will form part of the consequences hierarchy. What this means in practice is that if a student or group of students compromises the safety and wellbeing of others by not following our safety guidelines, then we will treat this the same as other serious offences on the hierarchy, with the ultimate sanction that they are excluded if we deem it a serious breach.
UNIFORM/EQUIPMENT
UPDATED: 15.1.21 – School uniform will not be required for students attending school during the lockdown or until we advise otherwise.
- NON–UNIFORM
- No ripped jeans
- No cropped or otherwise revealing tops
- No extremely short skirts
- No sandals, flip-flops or open-toed shoes
- No excessive make-up
- No extreme hairstyles
- No jewellery or piercings other than plain ear-studs
- No offensive messages or pictures on clothing
- EQUIPMENT
- Face Mask for buses
- Strong waterproof school bag
- A scientific calculator
- A pencil case containing the following:
- Pens and pencils
- Coloured pencils
- Pencil sharpener & Rubber
- Ruler
- Compass & Protractor
- Glue stick
online lessons/HOMEWORK/FIREFLY – 5/1/21
In the first lockdown, we learnt a lot about delivering online. We received lots of really useful feedback which we have used to improve further the offer. Everyone has a different view on what works best for their children and our evidence shows a one size fits all approach does not work. Whilst LIVE lessons are great, they do not suit everyone, so we have tried to find a balance that works for the majority.
Students will be expected to follow their normal school timetable using FireFly as the basis for their learning. Where possible we will supplement this with Microsoft Teams and/or Zoom LIVE learning and will contact students directly via their school email with guidance.
KS3 – students in Years 7 to 9 will receive at least 1 live/recorded lesson per core subject and 1 LIVE Q&A session per week, in addition to FireFly lessons.
KS4 – students in Years 10 & 11 will receive at least 1 live/recorded lesson per subject and 1 LIVE Q&A
Students will continue to be set homework. To access the FireFly portal as a parent please see the following guidance: https://helpcentre.fireflylearning.com/parents/getting-started/logging-in