Since my last correspondence with you yesterday there have been further developments and changes to how the Isle of Man is planning to manage the Coronavirus pandemic and I therefore also need to make you aware of further changes here in school.
Parental Meetings after school
Due to the current situation we have taken the decision to postpone the scheduled parental evenings between now and the Easter holidays. These include:
Year 7 Parents Evening on Thursday 19th March
Science Parental Information Evening on Thursday 26th March
Sixth Form UCAS Evening on 1st April
We have taken this decision based on a number of parental and community concerns received over the last couple of days, particularly from those with underlying health conditions. There is a similar feeling amongst teaching staff. Whilst I would always want to be an open and accessible school to all parents and carers, these measures are a sensible precaution given the present circumstances. If you were going to attend one of the information events please do continue to access our school website as details and relevant information that would have been covered on the evenings will be posted. A rescheduled date for the Year 7 Parents Evening will be shared with you once it has been confirmed in the summer term.
Core Skills Y7 Improvement Project
Tomorrow’s Core Skills Improvement Project has also been postponed.
School Trips and Visits
We have also now cancelled all of our off-island school trips for the remainder of this academic year. These include the Business Education Trip, the Y12 Universities Trip and we will also be cancelling our Activities Week in the summer term as this is made of both off-island and on-island activities. This week will now just run as normal school timetabled week. Please be reassured that any monies already paid for these St. Ninian’s school trips will be reimbursed.
Y12 Work Experience
In a further attempt to limit the movement of our students over the coming weeks we have also cancelled our Y12 Work Experience Week.
Student Absences and Home Learning
As per my letter yesterday, official advice states that those students exhibiting symptoms should self-isolate at home. Any students who either have an underlying health condition or a member of their household has an underlying health condition can also self-isolate if that is required but all other students should be in school until such a time that a decision is taken to close the schools. Students will also need to self-isolate upon their return if they travel off the island at any time from 11.59pm this evening.
To manage this we are currently developing our online learning platforms (mainly Google Classrooms but also itslearning) so that those students that are at home can access work via their Google Classroom account and continue with their education remotely. More detailed advice will follow on this but all students know how to use this and, if they are not in school over the coming weeks should log on to their Google Classrooms to access their work and learning during their time away from school.
I hope this information is helpful and useful. Please understand all contents are correct at the time of writing the letter but as we are in a very fluid and fast moving situation I fully anticipate I will be writing to you all again soon with further updates.
Look after yourselves and your families, take care and continue to follow Public Health advice on basic hygiene.
Yours,
Mr. Coole