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News & Events
Letter from Headteacher to Parents
 I hope you are feeling well and are able to follow the government advice on self-isolation, household isolation and social distancing. In education, the advice from the government has been very clear on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19. If children can stay safely at home, they must in order to limit the chance of the virus spreading. That is why the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend. It is important to underline that schools, all childcare settings, colleges and other educational establishments, remain safe places for children but the fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society. Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response may be able to ensure their child is kept at home and every child who can be safely cared for at home must be. Please, therefore, follow these key principles:
I would like to personally thank parents for their support over the past two weeks where, due to your arrangements, we have been able to close Alde Valley Academy. This means that our staff and students have not had to expose themselves to any further risk of contracting the coronavirus. It has also allowed our staff to concentrate solely on setting, marking and feeding back on home learning material. I would like to thank all of our staff for the fantastic job that they have done to support our students academically and emotionally over the past few weeks. You may be pleased to hear that today, Wednesday 1st April 2020, is the final day of the Spring Term and tomorrow is the first day of the Easter Holidays. This means that there will be no school work set for any students until 20th April 2020. Over the Easter Holidays we have made arrangements to ‘supervise’ the children of any critical workers who have a role to play in the national fight against the coronavirus. Again, I would ask you to contact me directly on the following email address if you need Alde Valley Academy to support you during this time: d.mayhew@aldevalley.suffolk.sch.uk Free School Meals As outlined in my previous letter we have set up a voucher system for the families of children eligible for Free School Meals. Our system has bridged the gap between the school closing and the Department for Education system which starts on 20th April 2020 after the Easter holidays. All parents of eligible students have been contacted and will be given details of the new system closer to the time. In the meantime, I would like to draw your attention again to the conversation that I have had with the Leiston Citizens Advice who are reporting an increased number of families who are experiencing financial hardship as a direct result of the COVID-19 outbreak. If you are in this category and would like advice about what to do next or the availability of local Food Banks please contact them directly on 01728 832193. GCSE Exam Results We have been provided with a small amount of detail on how Ofqual plan to collect data from school and award GCSE grades for Year 11 students this summer. Regulators are expected to set out a process that will provide a calculated grade to each student which reflects their performance as fairly as possible. By the end of this week we will be asked to submit our judgement about the grade that we believe the student would have received if exams had gone ahead. This prediction will take into account a range of evidence and data including performance on mock exams and non-exam assessment (including work produced since the school has been closed). Exam boards will then combine this information with other relevant data, including prior attainment, and use this information to produce a calculated grade for each student, which will be a best assessment of the work they have put in. The aim is to provide these calculated grades to students before the end of July and students will be able to appeal their grades if they don’t believe the right process has been followed. In these cases, there will be an option to sit exams early in the next academic year for any students who wish to. With this in mind, I would advise continuous light revision to maintain subject knowledge in case pupils choose to complete exams at a later date to improve their grade. Following the Easter holidays we will not be setting or expecting any work from Year 11 students. I would advise however, that any students looking to study A Level courses next academic year ensure that they are familiar with all of the material due to be covered in the GCSE course in their chosen subjects. We have not received any information about what will happen with the English Literature exams that Year 10 students were due to sit in the summer. It is extremely likely that students will sit these exams in summer 2021 due to the amount of teaching time missed. We are here to support you through these extraordinary times so please do not hesitate to contact me direct on the school’s main phone line or on the email address given above. Please also provide us with feedback on how the school’s home learning, welfare and information systems have worked in the first few weeks of our provision. I hope that you and your family stay safe over the next few weeks and I will be in contact with you at the end of the holidays. Yours faithfully, Mr. D. Mayhew Headteacher |
Message from Headteacher to Parents
 Our continued thanks and gratitude go to staff and parents that are working hard and in new and creative ways to support pupils’ learning while they are working from home. These are challenging and unprecedented times and like you we are trying our best to implement the government guidelines to maintain critical services whilst maintaining social distancing. With the Easter holidays approaching, there is a need to find the balance between government guidance on ensuring pupils and staff stay safe and at home and a provision made for critical workers to continue to fulfil their roles in the national response. The two categories of children who will be considered a school place at this time are 'vulnerable children' and children of 'critical workers'. The definitions of these two categories are as follows:
If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading. That is why the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend. I would like to ask parents about their needs so that we are able to work on a rota of staffing to ensure that we have sufficient staff in school whilst staff have the opportunity to have time off over the next few weeks. I would appreciate all parents who are considering sending their children into school over the next week and Easter holidays to contact me on the following email address as a matter of urgency: Please do not hesitate to contact me on this address if you have any feedback or questions about the provision for your child during this time. Thank you all for your ongoing support, I hope you all keep safe and well. Kind Regards Dan Mayhew Headteacher |
Latest COVID-19 School Information
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Advice on the coronavirus
The current advice at time of publication from Public Health England for anyone in any setting is to follow these main guidelines.
At the current time and based on our understanding of what is known of COVID-19 and other similar respiratory viruses, it is likely that older people and those with chronic medical conditions may be vulnerable to severe disease. As more information emerges, recommendations may change. The latest information can be found on the coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public website. 
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School Travel Opt-In
 Please see www.suffolkonboard.com/optin for further information. |
Where have all the eels gone?
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Year 11 Parents Evening - Date Change
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Careers and Progression Evening
 Alde Valley Academy would like to invite all students and parents to the Careers and Progression evening on Thursday 7th November 5-7pm.Meeting employers is a vital opportunity for students to talk to them about future employment opportunities and how to achieve them. Local sixth forms and colleges will be attending to advise students about the courses on offer and where different subject choices can take you. |
Year 11 Parents Information Evening
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