Dear Parents/carers

As I’m sure you are aware the decision was taken yesterday by the government that schools in England should close.  We are now putting in to action the plans we have made to support your daughter’s learning from home for an unspecified period of time.  Work is being sent home with students today and tomorrow, and more will be available on the school website and through a variety of learning platforms.  We have compiled a list for each year group of the resources sent for each subject which will soon be uploaded on to the website.  Work has been set in a variety of forms, some online and some not.  It is important that your daughter does not access all of her learning through a screen, so please encourage her to work in other formats too.  Additionally, we have relaxed the library lending rules so that a student with overdue books will be allowed to borrow.  However, any books that can be found and returned tomorrow will mean that another student could borrow it, so please help her look if your daughter is in that situation!

Your daughter’s work will be reviewed by her teachers and this will happen in a number of ways.  Some learning platforms alert teachers to common errors made by the majority of a class, and other work will receive individual feedback once it has been read and reviewed.  This will be appropriate to the piece of work, the subject, the age group of the students, and will be done in a timely fashion.

These new ways of working will require some adjustment for all of us.  In the next few weeks I anticipate we will have staff who are self-isolating, and others who are at home for child or dependent care.  Staff will not necessarily be in the building at school so our means of communication will also need to adjust.  Please do not call school or visit us.  The email address for general enquiries will be office@ssso.southwark.sch.uk.  Enquiries about your daughter’s work should be directed to either her Director of Learning, or the Head of Department for that subject.  All of their email addresses are listed on the website under the ‘contact us’ tab.

We await further clarification from the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, on the plans for awarding examination grades this year.  As soon as we have received that I will update you further.  We are also awaiting confirmation of who will be invited in to school as the child of key workers or other vulnerable criteria.  Please look out for a text and when invited please complete the online form about this.   

If at any point during this closure you have concerns about the safety or wellbeing of any young person please contact the Southwark Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub at 020 7525 1921 or MASH@southwark.gov.uk

The last week has been truly exceptional, and I thank you for your support and understanding as we have found our way through.  I have been so impressed by the calm, and sense of purpose our students have demonstrated, and the commitment of our staff who have gone way beyond their duty to maintain a safe and purposeful atmosphere around school for all of our students.  These will continue to be challenging times for all of us, wherever we are working and learning.  I wish you and your families good health, strength and patience.  A school is not its buildings, it is it’s people.  We remain the St Saviour’s and St Olave’s community, students, parents and staff, and I look forward to the next time we are able to meet.

With very best wishes

Catherine May

Headteacher

St Saviour’s & St Olave’s School

New Kent Road

London

 

020 7407 1843