Dear Parents and Carers,
Given the recent news given by the Prime Minister, announcing that all schools in the United Kingdom are being closed after Friday for the foreseeable future, we understand that you will be worried for your children and the effect that this will have on their education.
Although we cannot be certain when Brune Park will open its gates again, we are putting everything we can into place to ensure all students are supported in this time of uncertainty.
The student leadership team met with Mrs AP this morning and worked through each of the things we know students and parents might worry about. We don’t have all the answers yet but we know the school is working really hard to plan for as many situations as possible.
We’re writing to you as parents and carers to share what we know so far:
Lots of work is being provided to students so they can work online, with some support from class teachers. We know it will be challenging for students to ‘learn’ a new way of ‘learning and working’ and we encourage students to support each other, seek support from parents and carers as well as accessing support from teachers remotely.
We need to be realistic that things are going to be very different and that there isn’t a ‘magic’ solution to ensuring we have work every minute of every day. We are expecting we will really build our skill set for independent learning!
For all Year 11s we are having a dedicated day on March 20 so that the team here at Brune Park can provide us with all the information that is available around what will happen now exams have been cancelled, how we keep working at home for the coming weeks, what happens with our applications to Bay House Sixth Form and college etc.
We understand that this is a stressful period for Year 11s, parents and staff at the school, it is unbelievable for all of us. We want to work together as a community with our Year 11s to provide as much reassurance as we can, and make sure we are focused moving forward. We can confirm that there will be a Prom, we will have a ‘Results Day,’ and a Leavers Day with Assembly, however at this time, we do not know when these will take place – we will do our best to keep you informed throughout this process.
For those sitting exams in the Summer 2020 window, we can confirm that these will not go ahead as scheduled. For those leaving school this academic year final grades will most likely be based on a combination of mock grades, predicted grades and online assessments that if taken place the school will support with. However, this is not confirmed and students should continue studying in case another outcome occurs. The school will keep us all updated when they hear more about arrangements for this from the government.
Brune Park has a good plan in place already to support students who are most in need in our community, the provision will be discussed with individual students and their families.
The GFM and Brune Park are also planning provision for children of key workers and will update us on this as soon as possible.
As year 11 students we are pleased that the school has been able to give us some certainties in these very uncertain times and we hope sharing this with parents and carers also gives a bit of reassurance to you all.
We wish all in the school community to stay well and safe and hope to all be back together again soon.
Many Thanks,
Phoebe Tunmore, Andrew Gamble, Jack Thorpe, Emma Penney, Emma Merchant-Locke, Connor Taylor, William Dobbie, Kester Hull.