001_All_Years_26Feb2021_ECI

Parent/Carer Bulletin for Years 7-13

Friday 26th February 2021

Monday Deep Learning Day
1st March

Tuesday
2nd March

Wednesday
3rd March

Thursday
4th March

Friday
5th March

Future Diary Events

● Monday 8th March - College staggered reopening this week as stated below
● Thursday 11th March - 6th Form Parents Evening - virtual 4.30-7.30pm
● Tuesday 23rd March - Y12 Parents' UCAS Evening - virtual 7-8.30pm

Dear Parents and Carers,

College full reopening week beginning 8th March 2021

We share your delight that schools will be reopening fully from the 8th March. We will write again with much
more detail but this is our planning and preparation to date. As I am sure you will have picked up from the
news, there is an expectation that all students are tested for covid as they return to school and logistically, it
isn’t possible to test everyone at once. We will have to stagger the return of students so that they can be
tested on their first morning. Thank you for your patience and understanding, we are very keen to get all
students back in as soon as we can.

Return to college plan
Monday 8th March: All students in Years 7, 12 and 13 return to college all day and will be back in
college every day from Monday onwards. They will be tested that day (all before lunch). Years
8, 9, 10 & 11 will continue with Real Time, Remote Learning. Students in Y8, 9, 10 and 11 who
currently come into college will continue to work in college. They will not sit together in their year group
classrooms as they currently do, they will go to their normal timetabled classroom where their normal
teacher will be leading remote learning for the rest of the class at home.

Tuesday 9th March: All students in Years 8 and 11 return to college all day and will be back in
college every day from Tuesday onwards. They will be tested that day (all before lunch). Years
9 & 10 will continue with Real Time, Remote Learning. Students in Y9 and 10 who currently come
into college will continue to work in college. They will not sit together in their year group classrooms as they
currently do, they will go to their normal timetabled classroom where their normal teacher will be leading
remote learning for the rest of the class at home.

Wednesday 10th March: All students in Years 9 and 10 return to college all day and every day from
then on. They will be tested on Wednesday (all before lunch).

Years 7, 12 and 13 Years 8 and 11 Years 9 and 10
Tuesday 9th March: Wednesday 10th March
First lateral flow test Monday 8th March
in college

Second lateral flow Thursday 11th March Friday 12th March Monday 15th March
test in college

Third lateral flow test Tuesday 16th March Wednesday 17th March Thursday 18th March
in college and home
testing kits given to
students

After the tests in college students will be able to do their lateral flow tests at home, having learnt
how to do them as effectively as possible in college. They should start doing them from 3-5 days after their
last test in college. They should be done twice a week thereafter.

We will write again with details of:
● Our high expectations.
● The first few days of school e.g. period 1 with their form mentor group.
● Explaining to students how they will do their rapid asymptomatic lateral flow tests, which they will
be doing three times in the first fortnight in our college testing centre. After that, students will be
expected to test at home twice a week and we will write to you with details about that as well.
There is scientific evidence that how well the tests are carried out has a big impact on their
accuracy.
● National rule changes e.g. all students between 8th March and the end of term will be expected to
wear face masks in all normal classroom lessons as well as in corridors and communal spaces.
Please ensure your son/ daughter has a supply of clean, comfortable masks.
● Other changes e.g. sport and physical extracurricular activities will be on again.
● A reminder of our covid protocols. Reopening schools first has been the nation’s top priority.
Opening up the rest of society (shops, businesses, travel etc.) from restrictions is dependent on
school reopening being a success and not causing a large increase in the infection rate. The national
system will remain (even with lateral flow testing) that close contacts of positive cases will have to
self-isolate even if they are asymptomatic. We will be using the same track and trace system based
on classroom seating plans that we used from September to December 2020.

Thank you to all parents and carers who have completed the consent form for us to carry out
covid testing in college. If you have not done that yet, please do so by following this link:
Covid Testing - Student Consent Form
Thank you. Please also tell your son or daughter that you have given your consent so that they know.

We are really looking forward to welcoming all our students back in college. They have done so brilliantly
while we were in lockdown 3. Thank you, parents and carers for your support. Attendance, engagement and
completion of work have been at 97%! Our students have done so much work and, once again, developed
their independent learning habits and their ability to concentrate and think hard. It may not always have
been easy to keep going while learning at home and we pay tribute to the resilience and grit of our
students. We are enormously proud of them!

Warmest regards,

Mr Hennebry
Principal

Speakers for Schools

Please remember to explore the library of virtual talks that are available to our students. These are updated
weekly and are a fantastic resource for our students

Speakers for Schools Website

NOTICES & PREVIOUSLY SHARED INFORMATION:

Reading Roundup - World Book Day competitions closed!
The Extreme Reading and Creative Readers competitions are
closed as of 4pm on Friday 26th February. We’ve had a
fantastic response from students (and staff)! Hopefully you’ve
noticed the staff entries on our social media accounts. Keep
an eye out next week as we will be showcasing some of our
students’ entries. Winners will be announced on World Book Day (Thursday 4th March).

World Book Day next week coincides with DLD. We’ve put together a list of reading-related
activities that your child could participate in on the day. This will also be distributed on Google
Classroom. We’d love to see as many students as possible getting involved!

Recommended Read
Mr Gower recommends the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb: “A really well written fantasy epic combining political
intrigue, magic and the work of royal assassins. I have read and reread this trilogy since I was a teenager.”

Talking Point - Reading is Power!
This year the World Book Day theme is “Reading is Power”. A good book can give us so much. It could be an
opportunity to further understand ourselves, a chance to exercise our curiosity, or it might offer us the knowledge
that we need to make decisions about our future. When was the last time you felt empowered by a book? How
did it help you?

Preloved College Uniforms - We are requesting donations of good quality
uniforms. If your child’s uniform does not fit anymore please could you bring it
into the college so that the pastoral team can then use this stock to help out
families in need. Thank you very much.

Transport - Please see below email from National rail:

Introduction of a new reduced timetable for Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern rail services. This
timetable was introduced on 22 February, and we wanted to send a reminder about this given the government
announcement noting all students will return to school or college on 8 March.

The impact of coronavirus and the national lockdown measures have seen our passenger numbers fall to around
15% of pre-Covid weekday levels. Additionally, the impact of coronavirus on our own crew availability, as
colleagues may need to self-isolate or shield, means we've had to adapt our timetable to ensure we continue to
deliver a resilient and reliable service for our customers.

We've aimed to maintain services for ‘school trains’ at suitable times as much as possible. However, train services
are different compared to the 'pre-lockdown' timetable, and we'd be grateful if you could include information
about this in your communications to students, parents and staff, as they may need to travel at alternative times.

Individual journeys can be viewed on planners such as www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Y12 & Y13 Super Curricular DLD Achievements
Y12
Rosie Petracopoulos - Step Into Social Care
Scott James - English Football: A Social History
Sophie Brigden - Making Sense of Mental Health Problems
Maddie Curtis - Working with Young People in Sport & Exercise
Lily Walker-Milne - First Aid
Edward Peasgood - Young People's Participation & Mental Health
Molly Hall - Introduction to Studying Veterinary Medicine
Evan Lester - Crimes of the Powerful
Lucy Maher - Dance Skills
Oliver Seymour - Artificial Intelligence Fact or Fiction
Jacob Knock - Health Sport Psychology - Improving Aerobic Fitness
Lydia Murphy - Social Work Learning Practise & Making Sense of Mental Health Problems
Laura Pengelly - WW1 Heroism Art Film & History of the Book

Y13
Emma Chrismas - Critical Thinking At University
Will Cox - Global Marketing
Petro Kasimis - Exercise & Mental Health
Thomas Lines - An Introduction to Electronics
Chase Neilly - You & Your Money
Rosie Newman - Child Psychology & The Science of Bereavement
Emily Pagett - Preparing for University

Luke Wingrove - Career Skills for 2020
Henry Allen - Extinctions Past & Present
Sadie Chant - Food Science
Richard Haynes - Preparing for University
Ethan Kerwin-Nye - I Want to Study Engineering
Milly Lambert - The Politics of Economics
Elliot Phoenix - Living at University
Toby Shelford - Basic Computer Programming
Pariss Shoubridge - Understanding Epilepsy
Saif Ullah - Programming for Everybody
Ben Williams - Getting Ahead at University
Ellie Brooker - Global Perspectives on Primary Education
Charlotte Fothergill - Effective Nursing in times of Crisis
Hattie Legh-Smith - Researching my Project
Isobel Bartlett - Understanding Gender Equality
Daisy Buckenham - The Living Picture Craze: An Introduction to Victorian Film
Poppy Martin - How to Succeed at Writing Applications
Lucy Wainwright - Live Smart: Your Essential Guide to Living at University
Joshua Christian - Egyptian Maths/Babylonian Maths
Livi Comley - Ocean Science in Action
Alana Severn - Managing Mental Health & Stress
Gemma Downing - Shakespeare Context & Stagecraft
Sadie Eastwood - Women's Health Course
Jack Fenton-Jones - Photoshop Online
Emily Morrall - Studying the Anne Frank Museum
Zak Robertson - The Biology of Bugs, Brains & Beasts

'All about Apprenticeships' - Please see attached February issue for lots of information for parents and students
on apprenticeships.

Emotional and Mental Health Support
The College Pastoral Leaders have been working extremely hard to ensure that every student's emotional and
mental health is being supported at this time.

PALS are working alongside a variety of partners including; our school counsellor, school health team, school nurse,
education support, behaviour and attendance service (ESBAS) and child and adolescent mental health service
(CAHMS) to support students with a range of interventions and therapies.

However remember, your emotional and mental health is important too, there is a range of organisations that can
provide advice and guidance on the parent zone section of the College website.

If you, or anyone in the family, is feeling overwhelmed text SHOUT to 85258 for free, confidential support, 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week.

East Sussex Careers Hub Resources
You may remember the East Sussex Careers Hub’s families’ resources packs that were sent out during the spring
lockdown. They have updated them for 2021 and are attached as the following links: Family Learning Careers
Resources (careerseastsussex.co.uk) and (SEND) Family Learning Careers Resources (careerseastsussex.co.uk) .

Barnardo’s ‘See, Hear, Respond’ service
See, Hear, Respond is a service provided across England by Barnardo’s and other national and local
community-based organisations in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

See, Hear, Respond, provides support to children, young people and their families who aren’t currently seeing a
social worker or other agency, and who are struggling to cope with the emotional impacts of coronavirus
(COVID-19). See, Hear, Respond will support from pre-birth up to 18 years of age and those with special
educational needs under the age of 25.

See, Hear, Respond will contact every referral made, so no child is missed. Help is available in one or more of four
ways:

● an online hub of support and information
● online counselling and therapy
● face-to-face support for those most affected and at risk of some of today’s most pertinent issues, such as

criminal exploitation, and
● helping children and young people reintegrate back into school
You can access via the ‘See, Hear, Respond’ service self-referral webpage or Freephone 0800 151 7015.

Uckfield College Careers Webpage
The Careers Plus webpage now has a wide range of useful careers resources, information and weblinks for all
students to use to find out about possible career options and to help parents and carers when they are discussing
career choices.

East Sussex Careers Hub Youtube Channel
The East Sussex Careers Hub has produced a number of videos and training sessions to support teachers, students,
parents and carers. These are all available on the Careers Hub Youtube.channel. Students can watch ‘Skills to
Succeed’ videos and hear employers talk about their career journeys in a number of sectors, including the NHS,
construction, creative and digital, finance and law.

Job Vacancies - see link to current vacancies page here for both Support staff and Teachers
https://www.uckfield.college/vacancies

Covid protocols. All the documents below are on our website:

Uckfield College summary of steps to minimise Covid-19 transmission for students and parents /
carers
Staff Covid Protocols
Visitor protocols
Uckfield College: Roles and responsibilities in keeping everyone safe through protocols for
Covid-19

If you have any questions about our covid protocols or any other worry, please submit your
question using this link - link to parent question. We will either publish some FAQs from your
questions or, if it is an individual matter, someone from the year group pastoral team will get in contact
with you.

Uckfield College Life - November/December’s Issue

Uckfield College Life will be published once a month. We have attached the Newsletter to the title
above - if you wish you can click on the title to see the newsletter. Please e-mail details to Toni
Fletcher, [email protected].

Term dates for the Academic years 20/21 & 21/22 - http://www.uckfield.college/termdates

Reporting Absences - See link to information on Website

Uckfield College Facebook - Uckfield College Facebook page

UCTC TWITTER- Follow us on Twitter @UckfieldCollege