High School: Into the last three weeks

There's plenty to look forward to in the final few weeks of Term 2! These are the last weeks for our Year 11 and 13 students as they begin study leave in Term 3 to prepare for their upcoming examinations. We also have a new COVID protocol for checking students' photos of their named, dated ATKs when they arrive at the High School in the morning. Learn more below...

As you can see from the Calendar below, it is now only three weeks until the end of Term 2, and lessons for Year 11 and 13 students, and only six weeks until (I)GCSE and IBDP exams begin.

We know that the best outcome is that all of our students sit these exams next term. OFQUAL, the UK Government’s Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) and the IB have all announced that exams will not be cancelled this year, and we know that students sitting exams is the best way to ensure that their final grades fully reflect the progress they have made since the start of their courses in August 2020, allowing them to also demonstrate the additional progress that they will make both over the last three weeks of term and in their revision during the Songkran holiday and next term’s Study Leave. 

We also know, however, that Covid could still disrupt (I)GCSE and IBDP exams for a small number of students, and this afternoon Ms Sasha and Mr Will emailed Year 11 and 13 students and parents more details of both the procedures that we will have in place to ensure that as many students as possible can take their exams, and what will happen if a small number of students have to miss an exam for Covid related reasons.

As last year, teachers are working with their Year 11 and 13 classes over the last three weeks of term to both prepare them for the final exams and collate the evidence that would be used to ensure that any students who unavoidably miss exams will still receive fair grades, as last year’s Year 11 and 13 students did. This was a significant focus in each Department/Faculty’s meetings during Friday’s INSET Day.

COVID Protocols Update

Thank you again to all those parents who are now completing our twice-weekly ATK tests between 4 and 7pm each Sunday and Tuesday evening, to enable us to both make timely decisions and to communicate these with the relevant groups within the school community. 

From tomorrow, we have a new protocol for checking students’ photos of their named, dated ATKs when they arrive at the High School in the morning.

Monday and Wednesday mornings will continue as before, with every student being checked for either a photo of their named, dated ATK or their actual ATK.

On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings, only those students who have not attended school on the preceding day will trigger the new CHECK ATK status. They will then have to go to the No-badge Kiosk and type their name as if they have forgotten their badge. If the CHECK ATK message appears, the staff member on duty will look at their photo of their named, dated ATK, or their actual ATK, and, by swiping to confirm the entrance, they will activate the student's ID Card until the next of our twice-weekly ATK tests.

The slide above, which was shared with High School students during this morning’s Registration, also shows the other codes that would mean that students would need to go to the No-badge Kiosk before entering school. By far the most common of these is the orange flag that parents have not updated our Health App, either for the student themself or for their sibling in a Class/Tutor Group that is currently studying on the VSE.

Thank you all again for your understanding and support in keeping our community safe and healthy.

Please remember that all the school's live Google Calendars can be seen via Moodle.