Pupils are told to work from home until summer hols
PUPILS have been told to work from home for what’s left of the summer term because of the high number of Covid cases at a school.
Since the beginning of July, The Kingsway School, in Cheadle, has recorded the same number of positive cases that it had in the entire first half of the autumn term.
Some year groups now have more pupils at home than in school.
As a result, headteacher Joanne Lowe has decided to move Years 9 and 10 to remote learning until school finishes for the summer holidays.
In a letter to parents, she said: “Over the weekend we received an additional eight cases of Covid-19 with the majority affecting Years 9 and 10.
“Since the start of July we have experienced almost the same number of cases as the total cases reported in the first half of Autumn term.
“Our expectation is that the number of cases is going to continue to rise during this week with the inevitable need for students to be sent home to self-isolate.
“Currently we have some year groups with more students at home than in school; we also have a large number of staff who are now selfisolating. As a result of these very difficult circumstances, managing the school and providing a high quality experience for all our students has become very challenging.”
She added: “We have decided that Year 10 and Year 9 will switch to remote learning for the remainder of term. This has been a very difficult decision to make but it will mean that we are able to provide a better quality of education with greater consistency of learning for our students and also it will also reduce the risk of your child needing to self isolate during the summer holidays, should they be identified as a close contact.”
Mrs Lowe described the end of this term as ‘unprecedented’ - ‘with the number of positive cases reaching levels not previously seen without the government closing schools’.
She’s hoping the move to remote learning - a decision which ‘has not been taken lightly’ - will reduce the number of students having to isolate at the start of the summer holidays.
“Due to the current rules concerning close contacts a significant number of students are now in self-isolation and studying from home,” she said. There is now a considerable impact on large numbers of families having to self-isolate at the beginning of the summer holidays, and the subsequent effect on family plans and wellbeing. It is reasonable that we try to mitigate these negative effects on our families after such a difficult year.”
Continuing bubble closures across Greater Manchester mean many pupils will miss spending the end of their school year in the classroom.