Principal's Update: Friday 29 May 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope that you, your families and loved ones are all safe and well.

As we begin Term 6 of the academic year, there has been no significant change in the Department of Education’s (DfE) guidance for our Years 7 – 9 provision.  Therefore, our students will continue to learn from distance.  As per norm, all learning will be guided from PCSA teachers online.  We will continue to upload the work on a weekly basis for all students to access and progress with their curriculum.  As soon as we have further guidance form the DfE we will notify all parents and carers immediately.

However, the picture looks different for our Year 10 students.  The Government’s advice is for Year 10 students to have some “face to face” contact with their teachers from Monday 15th June.  At PCSA, we are reviewing this guidance and we are working very hard in order to provide our Year 10 students with some “face to face” contact with their teachers.  We want to ensure that this will happen in a safe environment and we will take all necessary measures to be able to provide this.  We will update you in advance with our plans for any future re-opening of the school for our Year 10 students.  Please note that we do not expect any students to be in school before the week commencing 15th June.

Meanwhile, and for the next two weeks, we expect all Year 10 students to access learning online as directed by their teachers.  As with the case of Years 7 – 9, tasks will be uploaded daily for our students to access and progress appropriately.

Our provision for key workers’ children and vulnerable groups will remain the same for Term 6.  PCSA will be open daily from 09:00 – 15:00 for these groups of students.  Please be aware that from Monday 1st June, we will not be able to provide any meals as the PCSA kitchen will be closed.  All students accessing the 09:00 – 15:00 provision must come to school with a packed lunch from Monday 1st June.

Last but not least, we have now completed our grading for all Year 11 students and this will be sent to the exam boards next week.  We have made sure that the grade has represented the overall performance of the students and we are very confident that we have provided fair and accurate data.  As per my previous messages, I would like to remind all Year 11 parents and carers that we are not allowed to discuss any grades until their official release on Thursday 20th August.  Therefore, please do not contact individual teachers regarding grades as they won’t be able to discuss it with you.

If you have any concerns or queries regarding any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact me at, angelos.markoutsas@pcsa.org.uk or call me directly on 01934 511411.

Please stay safe and rest assured that the academic, emotional, physical and mental well-being of our students is at the forefront of everything we do and plan for the future.

Best wishes

Angelos Markoutsas

Principal