Newsletters and Communication

Communications

Year 11 Mock Examinations - February 2024

Year 11 February 2024 Mock Examinations – Timetable and Support

Year 11 Mock Exam Revision Booklet – February 2024

Our Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II - 9 September 2022

Dear parents and carers,

Today, as a Trust community, we unite in our grief following the sad passing of our Queen, Elizabeth II, yesterday afternoon.

For the significant majority of us, The Queen will have been the one constant in all of our lives, and been with us through both good and bad times. As our nation’s longest serving monarch, each of us will have our own memories of the role that The Queen has played in our lives, and through this period of national mourning it is important that we take time, as a community, to reflect properly on those memories and the dedicated public service she has offered over these last 70 years.

This morning, as the news of Our Majesty’s death continued to sink in, senior Trust staff addressed colleagues across our schools and divisions, so we can prepare to offer the very best support to our young people and families as we move into a period of national mourning.

At times like this, it is natural that we may all react differently and, as always, our Trust community shall remain respectful of each other and everybody’s feelings. Some of us, students, staff and families, may be more profoundly affected than others; especially those who may draw those natural feelings of loss as parallels to events in their own lives. With that said, and through this difficult period in our history, as a community I wish to assure you that we will remain here for our young people and families: supportive, empathetic and always positive about the future.

Today, and until I receive official guidance in line with national protocols for events such as this, colleagues have been encouraged to use their professional judgement and discretion when dealing with our young people and any questions they may have. Our Ethos and Pastoral Leads in your child’s school will be on hand to deal with any questions or concerns sensitively and compassionately.

As we enter a period of national mourning, it is normal to want to recognise Our Majesty’s passing in a variety of ways. As we said to colleagues across the Trust this morning, it is important that we spend the next few days talking with our young people, gathering our thoughts, waiting for protocols and guidance to be issued through Operation London Bridge to the Cabinet Office and Department for Education. Once the situation clarifies around what Royal protocol expects, I anticipate further guidance to be published in the coming days; at which point it will be carefully assessed and disseminated across the Trust, through Heads of School and Divisional Leads, in order to properly commemorate our Queen with our young people and Trust community, in a coordinated way. All of this, of course, will be explained to our students and we shall also be sure to keep you updated as to what these plans will be.

Right now, and for the next few days across our Trust, I believe it is important that we remain in the moment. Your children will notice that staff may choose to dress in a more sombre fashion as the period of national mourning is announced, and they should also feel confident that should they be experiencing any feelings of grief, upset, confusion or loss, they can speak to any member of staff immediately.

Our Queen was the absolute embodiment of public duty; at The Canterbury Academy Trust we shall continue to do ours with respect and unity, as Queen Elizabeth II passes the throne to King Charles III, who will continue to lead our Great Nation forward.

God save the King,

Jon Watson
Executive Principal

COVID Update - 23 February 2022

Dear parents and carers,

I write in order to update you on the most recent changes to government guidance on COVID-19, introduced by the Prime Minister this week.

If you would like to read the government’s ‘Living with COVID’ plan in full, you can access it by following this link; Living with COVID-19 .

For the sake of simplicity and clarification, I have copied the two most pertinent aspects of the guidance, quoted directly for you, below;

Changes to testing in education and childcare settings and children’s social care services:

From today, Monday 21 February, the Government is removing the guidance for staff and students in most education and childcare settings to undertake twice-weekly asymptomatic testing.

Given we now know that the risks of severe illness from COVID-19 in most children and most fully vaccinated adults are very low, and our successful vaccination programme has achieved a high rate of take-up, we can remove this advice, bringing education into line with wider society.

This is self-explanatory, but it is now the case that staff, families and students across The Canterbury Academy Trust are no longer guided to undertake asymptomatic twice-weekly testing using Lateral Flow Device kits. However, it is entirely your prerogative should you wish to continue doing so.

Secondly;

Changes to self-isolation and daily testing of close contacts:

From Thursday 24 February, the Government will remove the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test. Adults and children who test positive will continue to be advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least 5 full days, and then continue to follow the guidance until they have received 2 negative test results on consecutive days. In addition, the Government will:

No longer ask fully vaccinated close contacts and those aged under 18 to test daily for 7 days, and remove the legal requirement for close contacts who are not fully vaccinated to self-isolate.
End routine contact tracing. Contacts will no longer be required to self-isolate or advised to take daily tests. Staff, children and young people should attend their education settings as usual. This includes staff who have been in close contact within their household, unless they are able to work from home.
End the legal obligation for individuals to tell their employers when they are required to self-isolate.

Again, I’m sure this is self-explanatory, but as of tomorrow, 24th February, the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test result will be removed; although you will be advised to stay at home until two negative LFD tests have been completed. Further guidance on this can be found via the NHS or through the ‘Living with COVID’ plan.

With all of this said, in the schools across our Trust we will be continuing with many of our COVID mitigations, like one-way systems, staggered breaks and lunches, the availability of sanitiser around our sites and increased levels of cleaning.

If your child is going to be absent from school, due to COVID, general illness or any other reason, please continue to report that though our schools’ well established absence channels; pastoral staff will then be in touch accordingly.

As always, it is very important to us that you share any thoughts, reflections or concerns that you may have. To that end, if you do have anything you would like to ask about or discuss, please contact the relevant Pastoral Lead or Support Manager in your child’s school.

It remains the case that levels of COVID across our schools are mercifully low, both amongst students and staff. This is because of our routine and clearly understood COVID mitigations, but also, largely, due to the huge support we’ve had from our parental community and the cautious, common sense approach we’ve collectively taken at all times. As COVID restrictions come to an end we shall remain united, sensitive to each other’s perspectives, and aware that difficult decisions may, again, need to be taken in the future.

We shall keep calm and carry on.

My best regards,

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 26 January 2022

Dear parents and carers,

“From Thursday 20 January, face coverings are no longer recommended in classrooms and teaching spaces for staff, and pupils and students in year 7 and above. They were introduced in classrooms at the start of the spring term as a temporary measure.”

Furthermore, as of tomorrow:

“From Thursday 27 January, face coverings are no longer recommended in communal areas for staff, and pupils and students in year 7 and above.”

As our secondary aged students arrive for school tomorrow (Thursday) morning, in line with this updated guidance, they will no longer be expected to wear face masks anywhere around the campus: in classrooms, corridors, communal areas, or at break and lunch time whilst in buildings. Again though, as always, if a young person wishes to continue wearing their face mask in any of their lessons, or in any area of the school, they remain very welcome so to do. If you have any questions or concerns please do contact your child’s Support Manager in the first instance, who shall be very happy to talk supportively with you.

On the subject of testing, the DfE continue to direct schools to remind parents that they “strongly encourage” families to test twice weekly at home using Lateral Flow Device test kits. As you are aware, we have a supply of these at school and will continue to offer regular opportunities for students to collect and take testing kits home. As I write to you, cases of COVID remain mercifully low across our schools; further reinforcing the ongoing effectiveness of our COVID mitigations and the commitment that our Trust’s families show to regular home testing.

To remind you further, guidance on COVID and isolation periods for proximity contacts remains the responsibility of the NHS. We only ask that you report your child’s absence, COVID or otherwise, through the usual absence reporting channels; which, as a result of your ongoing support, continues to run very smoothly.

With all of this said, we shall continue to move forward as a Trust community, sensitively and cautiously, as we all adjust to these new ways of living and learning together.

I shall update you with any further changes to guidance if necessary.

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 20 January 2022

Dear parents and carers,

As you will doubtless already be aware through the media, the Prime Minister announced yesterday that all Plan B measures will be removed in England, with a full return to Plan A by Thursday, 27th January. In light of that, the Department for Education issued updated guidance to schools yesterday evening. This new guidance gives particular focus to the use of face coverings for secondary aged pupils, from which I quote directly:

It goes onto say that:

“From Thursday 27 January, face coverings are no longer recommended in communal areas for staff, and pupils and students in year 7 and above.”

As our secondary aged students arrived for school this morning, in line with this updated guidance, they were reminded that they are no longer expected to wear face masks in classrooms and learning areas. As always though, if a young person wishes to continue wearing their face mask in any of their lessons, they are very welcome so to do.

Moving forward, secondary aged students will still be expected to wear a face mask in communal areas (in corridors, at break and lunch whilst in buildings) until 27th January; with reminders being given to students as we approach that date. Again, if you have any questions or concerns, please do contact the appropriate Support Manager in the first instance.

In the meantime, our students, your children, continue to adjust to this ever changing guidance magnificently; resolute that they will keep learning and embrace every opportunity available to them, mask or no mask.

I shall be sure to update you with any further changes to guidance.

With my every best wish,

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 14 January 2022

Dear parents and carers,

I write this afternoon to update you following the Department for Education’s most recent guidance to schools, received this morning, for students self-isolating with COVID-19. As always, and for the sake of clarity, I shall quote directly from the guidance.

Changes to the self-isolation period for those who test positive for COVID-19;

“From Monday 17 January, people who are self-isolating with COVID-19 will have the option to reduce their isolation period after 5 full days if they test negative with a lateral flow device (LFD) test on both day 5 and day 6 and they do not have a temperature. For example, if they test negative on the morning of day 5 and the morning of day 6, they can return to their education or childcare setting immediately on day 6.The first test must be taken no earlier than day 5 of the self-isolation period, and the second must be taken the following day. All test results should be reported to NHS Test and Trace.If the result of either of their tests is positive, they should continue to self-isolate until they get negative results from two LFD tests on consecutive days or until they have completed 10 full days of self-isolation, whichever is earliest.Anyone who is unable to take LFD tests or anyone who continues to have a temperature will need to complete the full 10 day period of self-isolation.”

Tracing proximity contacts and advising on isolation periods remains the responsibility of the NHS. However, if you would like any further information you can access it through this link information on self-isolation for those with COVID-19

As we have said previously, if your child is absent from school, with COVID or otherwise, please continue to report that absence through the usual and established mechanisms at your child’s school. Regarding vaccinations, the DfE have directed me to remind you that Phase 2 of the national in-school vaccination programme for 12 to 15 year olds began on Monday, 10th January. When I receive a date from the School Aged Immunisation Service to administer Phase 2 doses on campus, I will write to parents of all eligible students to, should they wish, consent for their child to receive their second COVID vaccination. In the meantime, as we await confirmation of the Phase 2 date, the DfE “wish to encourage parents to book out-of-school vaccinations for their child, if aged 12 or over, through the NHS booking system.”

On which note, the COVID Vaccination Lead and Site Manager at The Canterbury Vaccination Centre (Sea Cadet Hub on Vauxhall Road, Canterbury, CT1 1ZN) has asked me to inform you that they are now able to administer Boosters, at the Hub, for pupils who are 16 and 17 years of age as a ‘walk in.’ Again, I quote directly from her message; “They must be 12 weeks past their second dose and any COVID positive result.” The Hub is open Monday to Friday, from 8:30am until 5pm, and also open this Saturday, 15January, from 8:30am until 4:30pm.

Finally, as a reminder, the DfE have told schools that the current guidance on face coverings for secondary aged students will be reviewed on 26 January. We shall await this update with anticipation and, of course, inform you of any changes as soon as we are able. Until that point, I’m very pleased to report that our secondary aged students continue to embrace this guidance stoically and I thank you all, as always, for your support, openness and ongoing communication with our staff teams. With my very best regards to you all,

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 4 January 2022

Dear parents and carers,

I write, firstly, to wish you and all of your families a very Happy New Year. Secondly, to update you on the start of term across The Canterbury Academy Trust and the most recent change to government guidance for schools.

As you will doubtless already know via the media, on Sunday morning the Department for Education updated their guidance to schools and now expect all secondary aged students to wear face masks in classes, in addition to them already being worn in communal areas, corridors, at break and lunch times. If you wish to read the most recent guidance in full you can do so by following this link Guidance for schools. It is understood from the DfE that the expectation to wear face masks in lessons will remain in place until 26th January, at least, when the situation will be reviewed.

This morning, as your child arrived for either their on-campus Lateral Flow Device test, or directly for mentoring, mentors and staff reminded and updated them on the changes to the use of face masks. They then, as they always do, adjusted brilliantly to the new (old) expectation, and happily continued with their day unperturbed, pleased to be back amongst friends and learning. As such, please may I ask you to continue ensuring that your child arrives in school with a face mask. We do have a stock of disposable masks which we can provide to those without, but, in terms of protecting that stock as best we can, your support in providing them from home continues to be very much appreciated.

There will, of course, continue to be exemptions made for some young people. If your child is unable to wear a face mask, or you are worried about them doing so, then please do contact your child’s Support Manager, for a supportive conversation, in the first instance.

On the subject of testing, the DfE have directed schools to remind parents, again, that they continue to “strongly encourage” families to test twice weekly at home using Lateral Flow Device test kits. As you are aware, we have a supply of these at school and will continue to offer regular opportunities for students to collect and take testing kits home. As I write to you, cases of COVID remain relatively low across our schools and this has been evidenced further with no positive LFD results being returned during on-campus testing this morning.

To remind you, as far as COVID and guidance on isolation periods for proximity contacts is concerned, this remains the responsibility of the NHS, who will advise you on length of isolation and, should you or your child be isolating, 6 day (plus) Lateral Flow Device testing. We would only continue to ask that you report your child’s absence, COVID or otherwise, through the usual absence reporting channels. This process continues to run very smoothly and I thank you for your ongoing support.

Other than that, we shall keep on keeping on, sensitively and calmly. As has been our desire throughout the pandemic, we shall continue to normalise as much of your child’s education as possible; always with their safety and best interests of all our families at the heart of everything we do.

If there are any further developments or changes to guidance I, or the relevant Head of School, shall be sure to let you know.

My best regards,

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 14 December 2021

Dear parents and carers,

Last night I received updated guidance from the Department for Education, to say that from today, Tuesday, 14th December, a new national approach to daily testing was to be introduced. There have been further updates to the guidance today which, should you wish to read it, is available via this link; schools COVID-19 operational guidance

As such, I have been directed to inform you of these changes and, in the hope of providing clarity as best I can, will quote directly from the DfE document, which says;

“All adults who are fully vaccinated and all children and young people aged between 5 to 18 years and 6 months identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19 – whether Omicron or not – are strongly advised to take a lateral flow device (LFD) test every day for 7 days and continue to attend their setting (school) as normal, unless they have a positive test result.”

The Department for Education guide us that;

“Daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 will help protect education settings by reducing transmission and will also help keep pupils in face-to-face education.”

Should you be required to take daily LFD tests, you will be contacted directly by NHS Test and Trace, not your child’s school;

“Once notified by NHS Test and Trace as a close contact, all eligible staff, pupils and students should take an LFD each day for 7 days and report the results through the Online Reporting System and to their setting (school). If they test negative, they can continue to attend their education setting. Outside of the education setting, they should continue to follow the advice set out in the Sunday 12 December press release. This approach should also be adopted over the winter break and on return in January.”

It goes without saying that you will not send your child to school if they are suffering from COVID symptoms, or have tested positive using a Lateral Flow test. If your child is absent, please report that absence and/or a positive Lateral Flow test in the normal way to your child’s school; just as you would for any other absence.

At The Canterbury Academy Trust, we understand that there now appears to be a national shortage of Lateral Flow test kits and, consequently, we will be distributing test packs to children across our Trust from the stock that we have left, as best and as reasonably as we can, over the remaining days of term. In line with most recent guidance, we continue to ‘strongly encourage’ families to test twice weekly though the holiday period, and prior to returning in January.

To continue from the guidance;

“If they test positive, they should self-isolate and order a PCR test to confirm the result. If the PCR is positive, they must self-isolate for 10 days. If the PCR test is negative, they no longer need to self-isolate but should continue to carry out the remainder of the daily tests, and only need to isolate if it is positive.”

In such a case, the NHS will confirm isolation periods directly, and what actions need to be taken.

The guidance goes on to say;

“Children under five years old do not need to take part in daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 and do not need to isolate.”

And, should families require them;

“For primary aged children LFD test kits are available through the usual routes (community test sites, local pharmacies or online).”

We have also been directed by the DfE to forward you this information regarding vaccinations;

“Vaccines are the best way we can protect ourselves and help keep children and young people in face-to-face education.”

Should you require any more information about vaccinations and availability for your child, you can view the following guidance if your child is 12 to 15 years old; COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 guidance . For young people that are 16 years and older, they can visit Further information on the coronavirus booster vaccination and visit, should you/they wish, the national booking system national booking system .

In light of this, the guidance specifies that;

“Anyone over the age of 18 years and 6 months who is not vaccinated, must isolate in line with government guidelines if they are a close contact of a positive case.”

Again, the NHS will advise on this and any subsequent isolation period directly.

I do hope that this updated guidance and message makes sense, and my apologies for having to relay it to you so quickly. As you will already have noted, it appears likely that the government will direct for this guidance to remain in place in January. If there are any further updates at all, I will be sure to let you know.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the appropriate member of staff at your child’s school and we will endeavour to answer them as best we can with the information we have available to us.

My best regards

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 8 December 2021

Dear parents and carers,

Following my message of 29th November, I write to provide clarity on the arrangements for the start of term 3 at The Canterbury Academy, including the offer of a single Lateral Flow Device test on campus.

Like all schools, in line with most recent government guidance on COVID testing, we continue to ‘strongly encourage’ families to engage in LFD testing twice weekly at home. To further strongly encourage this, through next week we will be circulating test kits to those students who may wish to take some home to continue testing through the Christmas period.

In addition to this, the Department for Education have directed all secondary schools to offer a single LFD test to all secondary aged students at the beginning of next term, at school. With that in mind, you will recall that I asked those families who may wish to have their children tested on campus at the start of next term, as a supplementary measure to home testing, to register via an online consent form by the deadline of Monday, 13th December. The uptake for on-campus testing would then, in turn, determine the arrangements for the start of term and how we might prepare our testing station.

Despite the DfE’s offer of staggering the start of term by a day or two to cope with the demands of mass testing, it is our view that we should have our children return to school as soon as possible, with as little delay as possible; they have lost enough learning already over these last two years. I’m also conscious, of course, of the impact a staggered start to term can have on families and parents/carers having to take additional time off work to look after children at home.

Taking all of this into consideration and based on the number of families who have already consented to a LFD test on campus, we will need to delay the start of term ever so slightly. So, in order to provide clarity, term 2 will end on Friday, 17th December at 1pm for Years 7-11 and at 11am for Sixth Form students, where students will be dismissed and able to make their own way home. There will be no bus services available directly from the campus that afternoon. Term 3 will start for all students at The Canterbury Academy on Tuesday, 4th January at the slightly later time of 11am. Students will go directly to their mentor rooms for an 11am mentoring session, and then straight to their period 3 lesson. Sixth Form students should arrive in time for the start of Period 3, should they have a timetabled lesson. The rest of the day will then run as usual, with a normal school day continuing from Wednesday, 5th January.

All staff will return to campus at the normal time on 4th January, but by starting the ‘school’ day at 11am, it will allow us the chance to initially divert enough staff to run our mass testing centre for those that have consented to a LFD test. Testing will start at 9am and conclude at 10.40am. If you would like to book an on-campus LFD test for 4th January, please follow this link to the same online booking system that we have used before https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-canterbury-academy-student-testing-tuesday-4th-january-tickets-223277207137

The link will be live for booking upon receiving this message, and will close on Monday, 13th December. As you book your slot you will be taken directly to a consent form. Please give consent on the link, even if you have already completed the separate form circulated last week. That way we can be doubly sure we have all of the necessary information.

Once bookings close on 13th December, we will have a clear idea of the size of venue needed for testing. Once your child has tested on campus and, depending on outcome, received their result, they will be free to leave the campus should they wish; returning at 11am for mentoring and the start of term. Similarly, if you would like your child to remain on campus after testing until mentoring at 11am, they should be more than welcome to do so; with supervised area(s) on campus that they will be able to report to and wait until mentoring begins. All other children should arrive directly for mentoring for 11am.

Heads of Schools will provide a further reminder on all of this next week in their end of term communications; including clarification on where our testing centre will be located and where students can go, should they wish to stay on campus, post LFD test.

I hope this will provide immediate reassurance and clarity about the end of this term and the beginning of next, so families can plan in advance. I also hope you will forgive me when I say this could all be subject to last minute changes in government guidance…and should that happen I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible. However, if you do have any immediate questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Support Manager in the first instance.

On a related note, I have also been asked to inform you that the Canterbury Vaccination Centre, based at the Sea Cadet Hub on Vauxhall Road, Canterbury (CT1 1ZN) will be holding a COVID Vaccination Clinic over Saturday and Sunday of this week (11th and 12th December) for people aged 12 years and over. The clinic will be open from 9am until 5pm on both days and able to administer first and second doses of the vaccine, including boosters. Appointments can be made online through the National Booking System, or via 119; with those that have booked in advance taking priority.

As I say, Heads of School will be in touch again next week and I shall write to you all, as is usual, on the last day of term.

Until then, as always, my very best wishes to you all.

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 29 November 2021

Dear parents and carers,

As you will already doubtless be aware through the media, in light of the emergence of the Omicron COVID variant, the Department for Education (DfE) sent a message to all schools yesterday evening containing an update on the following:

The use of face coverings in schools
Testing
Contact tracing and isolation
Vaccination

For the purposes of absolute clarity under each heading, I will quote directly from the DfE update. If you wish to read all of the guidance you can do so by following this link schools COVID-19 operational guidance

Face coverings

“Face coverings should be worn in communal areas in all settings by staff, visitors and pupils or students in year 7 and above, unless they are exempt. Pupils or students (in year 7 or above) should continue to wear face coverings on public and dedicated school transport, unless they are exempt. “

Albeit staff and most students will already be wearing face coverings in communal areas (eg; corridors, break and lunchtime), from tomorrow, Tuesday, 30th November, as per the guidance, all students at The Canterbury Academy should wear a face covering in communal areas. Please do try and provide your child with a face covering from home, especially if they are using public transport to get to school. However, if this is not possible, staff will be available at the start of the day, at break, lunch and after school, to provide disposable ones. Students are currently not guided to wear face coverings in classrooms; however, should they wish to wear one they will be completely supported in doing so. If you have any questions or concerns around your child wearing a face covering, please contact their Support Manager.

Testing

“All educational and childcare settings should continue to encourage staff and students to test twice weekly using lateral flow device (LFD) tests.”

In line with current guidance, we continue to encourage families to test twice weekly with Lateral Flow Devices at home. In addition to this, in a message received from the Department for Education on Friday afternoon, secondary schools have been directed to prepare for another, single round of mass testing upon your child’s return to school in January 2022;

“We would like all secondary schools to prepare to test their pupils once on-site on return in January. We understand that this is a significant additional ask but testing continues to play a vital role in keeping COVID-19 out of schools. Testing all pupils in school boosts testing participation and will help reduce transmission after a period of social mixing over the school holidays.”

We have no further detail from the DfE at this stage, but understand this round of on-site testing, as it was last time, to be voluntary but “strongly encouraged.” Given the numbers of students that this could involve and in order to help us try and plan the logistics, we should like to get an initial feel for the potential take up amongst families. This will help us gauge how we might best facilitate the administering of the tests, whilst also ensuring a smooth start to term 3 for our students and families. To this end, if you would like your child to be tested at school at the start of term 3, I should be grateful if you could complete the online consent form by following this link https://forms.office.com/r/8DEChc9Q83 by Monday, 13th December. Reminders will be sent on this as we approach 13th December.

Although there will be further opportunity to add your child to the list for testing after 13th December, this will, at least, give us an immediate idea of the numbers that we may be dealing with and, thus, the work that will need to be put into preparing our testing centre again over the Christmas break.

Contact tracing and isolation

“The current guidance on contact tracing and isolation remains in place. In addition to these, any suspected or confirmed close contacts of the Omicron variant will be asked to isolate for 10 days regardless of vaccination status or age. You will be contacted directly and told to isolate.”

We continue to encourage all families to follow the current guidance on contact tracing and isolation, which you can access by hitting the hyperlink above. As per this guidance, The Canterbury Academy is not currently required to play any role in proximity contact tracing, or advise on periods of self-isolation; all of which will be provided to you directly, if necessary, by the NHS.

Vaccination

The DfE have directed me to share the following message with you;

“All eligible staff and students aged 12 and over are encouraged to take up the offer of the vaccine, including boosters. Vaccines are our best defence against COVID-19. They help protect young people and adults, and benefit those around them. Vaccination makes people less likely to catch the virus and less likely to pass it on. To book a vaccination, please visit: Book or manage a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination – NHS (www.nhs.uk).”

For 21 months of this pandemic now, as a Trust community of students, families and staff, we have worked cohesively and tirelessly together to provide as much ‘normality’ for our young people as possible. COVID and its numerous variants will continue to challenge us for many years to come, and we shall continue to tackle those challenges calmly, precisely, methodically and sensitively; always together and always with the very best interests of our students, families and communities in our hearts. The challenge that Omicron may give us shall be no different.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s Support Manager, Head of Learning, or Head of School in the first instance.

As always, I will provide you with further updates should they be necessary.

My very best wishes to you all,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 16 July 2021

ADVICE TO ALL PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19 AT THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY

Dear parents and carers,

At the time of writing this letter, we have been advised by Public Health England that since last Friday, 9th July, through the weekend and this week, there have been a further nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 amongst students across The Canterbury Multi-Academy Trust. The affected year groups have been Year 6 at The Canterbury Primary School and Year 7, 9 and the Sixth Form at The Canterbury Academy. As a result of these most recent cases PHE have told us to send you this letter.

We know that you may find this concerning but we are continuing to monitor the situation and are working closely with Public Health England. This letter is to inform you of the current situation and provide advice on how to support your child. Please be reassured that for most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

The parents of the children who have been in close contact with the students who have tested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have all received a letter informing them that their child must now stay at home for 10 days and self-isolate as a precaution. Similarly, the staff who have been identified as a proximity contact of these PCR positive cases will also now begin a precautionary period of self-isolation.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

If your child develops symptoms of COVID-19, they must not come to school and should remain at home for at least 10 days from the date when their symptoms appeared. Anyone with symptoms will be eligible for a PCR test (the normally available test type) and this can be arranged via https://www.nhs.uk/ask-for-a-coronavirus-test or by calling 119.

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The household isolation period includes the day the first person in your household’s symptoms started (or the day their test was taken if they did not have symptoms) and the next 10 full days. This means that if, for example, your 10-day isolation period starts on the 15th of the month, your isolation period ends at 23:59 hrs on the 25th and you can return to your normal routine.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

If you require help with buying groceries, other shopping or picking up medication, or walking a dog, you should ask friends or family. Alternatively, you can order your shopping online and medication by phone or online.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

If you are able, move any vulnerable individuals (such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions) out of your home, to stay with friends or family for the duration of the home isolation period.

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/. If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take. Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 9 July 2021

ADVICE TO ALL PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19 AT THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY

Dear parents and carers,

At the time of writing this letter, we have been advised by Public Health England that through Wednesday evening, Thursday and today there have been a further thirteen confirmed cases of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy; two in Year 12, one in Year 10, four in Year 9, two in Year 8, three in Year 7 and one member of staff. As a result of these most recent cases PHE have told us to send you this letter.

The children who have been in close contact with the individuals who have tested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must now stay at home for 10 days and self-isolate as a precaution. Similarly, the staff who have been identified as a proximity contact of these PCR positive cases will also now begin a precautionary period of self-isolation.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take. Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 7 July 2021

ADVICE TO ALL PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19 AT THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY

Dear parents and carers,

At the time of writing this letter, we have been advised by Public Health England that through yesterday evening and today there have been a further five confirmed cases of COVID-19 amongst students at The Canterbury Academy; two in Year 9 and three in Year 7. As a result of these most recent cases PHE have told us to send you this letter.

The children who have been in close contact with the students who have tested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must now stay at home for 10 days and self-isolate as a precaution. Similarly, the staff who have been identified as a proximity contact of these PCR positive cases will also now begin a precautionary period of self-isolation.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take. Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 6 July 2021

ADVICE TO ALL PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19 AT THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY

Dear parents and carers,

We have been advised by Public Health England that through yesterday evening and today there have been a further five confirmed cases of COVID-19 amongst students at The Canterbury Academy; two in Year 9 and three in Year 7. As a result of these most recent cases PHE have told us to send you this letter.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take. Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 5 July 2021

ADVICE TO ALL PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19 AT THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY

We have been advised by Public Health England that over the weekend and through today there have been a further five confirmed cases of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy; one in the Sixth Form, one in Year 10, one in Year 9 and two in Year 7. As a result of these five separate and, to the best of our knowledge, unrelated cases, we have been told to send you this letter.

The children who have been in close contact with the students who have tested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must now stay at home for 10 days and self-isolate as a precaution. Similarly, the small number of colleagues that have been identified as proximity contacts of the students who have tested PCR positive, have also been sent home to begin a precautionary self-isolation period.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take. Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 2 July 2021

ADVICE TO ALL PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19 AT THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY

We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a single confirmed case of COVID-19 within our Sixth Form bubble at The Canterbury Academy. We have also been advised that there has been a single confirmed case amongst our staff body at The Canterbury Academy. As a result of these two separate and unrelated cases, we have been told to send you this letter.

The small number of children who have been in close contact with the student who has tested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must now stay at home for 10 days and self-isolate as a precaution. Similarly, the small number of colleagues that have been in close contact with the member of staff who tested PCR positive, have also been sent home to begin a precautionary self-isolation period.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take. Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 30 June 2021

ADVICE TO ALL PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19 AT THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY

We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a single confirmed case of COVID-19 within our Year 10 bubble at The Canterbury Academy, and told to send you this letter.

The small number of children who have been in close contact with the individual who has tested Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must now stay at home for 10 days and self-isolate as a precaution.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take. Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 29 June 2021

ADVICE TO ALL PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19 AT THE CANTERBURY ACADEMY

Dear parents and carers,

We have been advised by Public Health England that there have been four confirmed cases of COVID-19 within our sixth form bubble at The Canterbury Academy, and told to send you this letter.

The small number of children who have been in close contact with the individuals who have tested positive on a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test for coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home for 10 days and self-isolate as a precaution.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take. Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 12 May 2021

Dear parents and carers,

I trust that my message will find you and all of your families well, as we proceed carefully and sensitively through the government’s ‘Roadmap’ out of lockdown. I write to you this afternoon in light of the Prime Minister’s announcements of Monday evening, and updated guidance received by schools yesterday afternoon from the Department for Education.

It is a fairly large document (72 pages) but if you would like to read the guidance in full you can access it via this link https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/985138/10_May_Schools_Guidance.pdf

In summary, however, the most significant change is the use of face coverings in schools for secondary aged students from Monday, 17th May.

I reference page 10 of the document directly for you, under the sub-heading ‘Ensure face coverings are used in recommended circumstances;’

Based on the current state of the pandemic and the positive progress being made, it is no longer necessary to recommend the additional precautionary face covering measures put in place from the 8 March. From 17 May, in line with Step 3 of the roadmap, face coverings will no longer be recommended for pupils in classrooms or communal areas in all schools. Face coverings will also no longer be recommended for staff in classrooms. In all schools we continue to recommend that face coverings should be worn by staff and visitors in situations outside of classrooms where social distancing is not possible (for example, when moving around in corridors and communal areas).

The guidance goes on to refer to the use of public transport;

Children and young people aged 11 and over must still wear a face covering on public transport. In accordance with advice from PHE, they must also wear a face covering when travelling on dedicated transport to secondary school or college. This does not apply to children and young people who are exempt from wearing face coverings.

I will not tire of thanking you for the way in which you have supported our Trust and its component schools and divisions since the pandemic began. As the Prime Minister said on Monday evening, it has been your commitment to following the guidance which continues to mean that the tests needed to lift lockdown restrictions are successfully met. However, we must still proceed with caution. The students across our Trust are reminded daily of our COVID mitigations. COVID is very much part of our lives and will be for some considerable period to come. It is not ‘over’ and I know that we shall all remain absolutely vigilant, whilst also respecting each other’s differing experiences and perspectives on COVID, and the impact it has had on our children, each other and our families.

With that said, we are asking that our secondary aged students continue to wear their face coverings as is currently ‘normal’ until the end of the day on Friday, 14th May. Upon their return to school on Monday, 17th May, they will no longer be expected to wear a face covering in classrooms or communal areas. However, we shall also completely respect any individual preference to still wear a face covering should that make them feel more comfortable. If you are worried about any aspect of this, please may I encourage you to contact your child’s Support Manager for a discussion in the first instance. We will make sure that all of this is explained to our secondary aged students by the end of this week.

As regards our continued cautious approach through the ‘Roadmap’ I should like to remind you, in line with this most recent guidance, that students remain strongly encouraged to continue to home test twice a week, including over half term. With this in mind, should more be required, students are able to collect further Lateral Flow Device (LFD) home test kits from Rooms 9 and 44A at The Canterbury Academy. In a further attempt to facilitate this, staff will also be visiting lessons to distribute test kits to students who need them through next week. As previously, there is no need to report negative test results to us at the school. However, if your child receives a positive LFD result, please contact The Canterbury Academy Trust COVID Helpline immediately on 01227 286167, where senior staff will advise on next steps.

If there is further detail from the guidance that we need to update you on, we shall in due course. In the meantime, it remains only for me thank you for all that you have done, all that you are doing, and all that you shall continue to do in support of your children, our students, and our wider Trust.

My very best wishes,

Jon Watson
Executive Principal

Start of Term 5 (Middle and Senior School) - April 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

We hope that our letter finds you and your families well and that you have been able to take advantage of the easing of lockdown restrictions and enjoy the pleasant weather.

Further to our message at the end of Term 4, we wanted to reiterate the arrangements for the start of term on Monday, 19th April. All students will return to school as normal at 8:45am for morning mentoring. Timetabled lessons will begin at 9:00am with Period 1 and any necessary timetable adaptations, such as Pillars sessions for Years 7 and 8, will be explained to students during mentoring. We return to school on a Week A timetable.

As you may know, The Department for Education planned to review their guidance for schools over the Easter break and have provided us with an update. If you wish, you can view the full guidance using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-in-education?utm_source=8%20April%202021%20C19&utm_medium=Daily%20Email%20C19&utm_campaign=DfE%20C19

In summary, the Government’s guidance regarding face coverings remains as follows:

In schools and colleges where pupils and students in year 7 and above are educated, we recommend that face coverings should be worn by pupils when moving around the premises, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas where social distancing cannot easily be maintained.
In addition, we also recommend in those schools and FE providers, that face coverings should be worn by adults and pupils in classrooms or during activities unless social distancing can be maintained. This does not apply in situations where wearing a face covering would impact on the ability to take part in exercise or strenuous activity, for example in PE lessons.
Face coverings do not need to be worn by pupils when outdoors on the premises.
Subject to the roadmap process, as part of step 3, we expect these precautionary measures to no longer be recommended. This would be no earlier than 17 May and will be confirmed with one week’s notice.

Whilst we have a small stock of disposable masks available in school, please endeavour to send your child to school with their own reusable face covering each day. We are aware that some of our students are exempt from wearing face coverings. If this applies to your child, please ensure they have the relevant exemption pass from their Support Manager. If their circumstances have changed, or they have misplaced their pass, please ensure they visit Room 9 or 44a to collect a replacement.

We thank you again for your support at this time and we look forward to seeing your children, our students, on Monday, 19 April at 8:45am.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us on headsofschool@canterbury.kent.sch.uk should you require any further information.

Yours faithfully,

Angela Banbery James Brooke
Head of Middle School Head of Senior School

Start of Term 5 (Sixth Form) - April 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that my letter finds you and your families well and that you have been able to take advantage of the easing of lockdown restrictions and enjoy the pleasant weather.

Further to my message at the end of Term 4, I wanted to reiterate the arrangements for the start of term on Monday, 19 April. Timetabled lessons will begin from 9:00am using a Week A timetable and we look forward to seeing your child for their first lesson next week.

In summary, the Government’s guidance regarding face coverings remains as follows:

In schools and colleges where pupils and students in year 7 and above are educated, we recommend that face coverings should be worn by pupils when moving around the premises, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas where social distancing cannot easily be maintained.
In addition, we also recommend in those schools and FE providers, that face coverings should be worn by adults and pupils in classrooms or during activities unless social distancing can be maintained. This does not apply in situations where wearing a face covering would impact on the ability to take part in exercise or strenuous activity, for example in PE lessons.
Face coverings do not need to be worn by pupils when outdoors on the premises.
Subject to the roadmap process, as part of step 3, we expect these precautionary measures to no longer be recommended. This would be no earlier than 17 May and will be confirmed with one week’s notice.

Whilst we have a small stock of disposable masks available in school, please endeavour to send your child to school with their own reusable face covering each day. We are aware that some of our students are exempt from wearing face coverings. If this applies to your child, please ensure they have the relevant exemption sticker. If their circumstances have changed, or they have misplaced their sticker, please ensure they visit Sixth Form Student Reception for a replacement.

I thank you again for your support at this time and look forward to seeing your children, our students, in their first lesson next week.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me on lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk should you require any further information.

Yours faithfully,

Lucy Winslow
Head of Sixth Form

The Pillars of Excellence Newsletter - Term 4 2021

Dear parents and carers,

Twelve months on from the beginning of the COVID pandemic, we approach a very different end of term 4 and I attach our Trust’s Pillars of Excellence Newsletter for you to read at your leisure.

It has been a joy to witness how our students have returned more widely to our Trust’s schools and divisions through March; to see our corridors, classrooms and fields vibrant with the buzz of young people interacting and learning face to face again. There have been so many highlights over the past few weeks, many of which you will read about in our Newsletter, but none more so than the fact that attendance across our schools has hovered around an average of 95%; comfortably above the national average and a real testament to the resilience of your children, our students, and their determination to get back to school and make the most of the opportunities available to them.

As always, I cannot let this opportunity pass without thanking you, our parental community, for your unwavering support, positivity and constructive voice in helping us continuously review our planning through this most challenging period. I hope you will never underestimate the crucial role you have played in helping us get things as right as we can, as quickly as we can, as often as we can over this last year. For many reasons it is a period in our lives, in fact our history, that will never be forgotten. I know that I speak on behalf of all my colleagues across our Trust, when I say how much it has felt like we have faced these challenges together as one big team; a team of young people, staff, all of our families and all of our communities pulling together. For that commitment and togetherness we will always be grateful and immensely proud of what we have achieved, collectively, since the COVID pandemic begun last year.

As we prepare for next term you will have already been contacted directly by our Heads of Schools outlining the various operational and logistical detail for when our students return on 19 April, including the ongoing plans for families engaging in home testing through the break. I hope, also, that many of our students and families might engage in the activities we are offering across our Trust through our Youth, Community and Extended Services Team during the holiday. I know that lots of families are already booked in!

The green shoots of summer are beginning to show; the vaccination programme is developing at pace and the government’s ‘Roadmap’ will continue to be monitored carefully at every stage. As you flick through the achievements of our students in this Newsletter, including some of our Alumni, you will see no indication of a generation who have been “written off,” and you will see no sign that these young people are “lost.” What you will see is a generation even more determined to be the best that they can be; a generation that are accepting the challenges they have faced and continue to embrace how they might feel; a generation that can also be absolutely assured they will receive our complete and total support at every turn.

COVID has reminded us of many things; that the beauty of the human spirit will always be victorious, and what can be achieved when a nation, indeed a world, pulls together.

Our children won’t be written off, they won’t be lost. As you will see…they’re only just getting started!

My very best wishes to you and all of your families for Easter,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 23 March 2021

Advice to all parents regarding a single case of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Primary School:

Dear parents and carers,

We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a single, confirmed case of COVID-19 within our year R (Reception Class) bubble, and told to send you this letter.

We know that you may find this concerning, but we are continuing to monitor the situation and are communicating and working closely with Public Health England. This letter is to inform you of the current situation and provide advice on how to support your child. Please be reassured that for most people, COVID-19 will be a mild illness.

The parents of the students who have been in close contact with the individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 have, today, been contacted and received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home for 10 days as a precaution.

The school remains open and, if you have not been contacted separately, your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available by following this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The household isolation period includes the day the first person in your household’s symptoms started (or the day their test was taken if they did not have symptoms) and the next 10 full days. This means that if, for example, your 10 day isolation period starts on the 15th of the month, your isolation period ends at 23:59 hrs on the 25th and you can return to your normal routine.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community
If you are able, move any vulnerable individuals (such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions) out of your home, to stay with friends or family for the duration of the home isolation period.

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, COVID-19 will be a mild illness.

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/.

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds.
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available.
wash your hands as soon as you get home.
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze.
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards.

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson
Executive Principal
The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 16 March 2021

Advice to all parents regarding a single case of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy:

Dear parents and carers,

We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a single, confirmed case of COVID-19 within our year 8 bubble, and told to send you this letter.

The parents of the small number of students who have been in close contact with the individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 have, today, been contacted and received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home for 10 days as a precaution.

The school remains open and, if you have not been contacted separately, your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 10 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available by following this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The household isolation period includes the day the first person in your household’s symptoms started (or the day their test was taken if they did not have symptoms) and the next 10 full days. This means that if, for example, your 10 day isolation period starts on the 15th of the month, your isolation period ends at 23:59 hrs on the 25th and you can return to your normal routine.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are recent onset of:

· a new continuous cough

· a high temperature

· a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, COVID-19 will be a mild illness.

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/.

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

· wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds.

· use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available.

· wash your hands as soon as you get home.

· cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze.

· put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards.

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

Lateral Flow Testing Update - 12 March 2021

Lateral Flow Testing Update

COVID Update - 5 March 2021

Dear parents and carers,

I write to you this evening as we approach what we hope will be the final throes of lockdown for our families. Next week, excitedly, we shall continue Lateral Rapid Flow testing across our Trust, alongside the phased return of your children, our students, to our schools.

You will, by now, have received staggered communications from each of our Heads of School, carefully outlining the next steps for your children from Monday, 8 March. You will be sent further messages at the beginning of next week that will explain in more detail what to expect once all of our students return to our schools and divisions, particularly from Monday, 15 March. These messages will include updates on our testing programme, what will happen in mentoring and lessons, timetables, lunch and break arrangements, reminders about entering and exiting our schools, and any pertinent travel updates from Stagecoach.

As regards next week, I am pleased to report that we already have close to 1,000 families who have booked their child/children in for Lateral Rapid Flow testing. We anticipate this number may grow further over the weekend and, possibly, through the week. Of course, involvement in testing remains absolutely voluntary, but the government continues to “strongly encourage” young people to engage in an attempt to stop the asymptomatic spread of COVID-19.

Heads of School have written to you with guidance as to how your child (if age appropriate) can engage in testing. If you have not yet registered, and still wish to, you can book your child’s test by accessing the appropriate link below:

Years 7 and 8 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-canterbury-academy-student-testing-wednesday-10th-march-tickets-143332026951
Year 9 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-canterbury-academy-student-testing-thursday-11th-march-tickets-143333974777
Year 10 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-canterbury-academy-student-testing-tuesday-9th-march-tickets-143322025035
Year 11 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-canterbury-academy-student-testing-monday-8th-march-tickets-143331216527
Year 12 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-canterbury-academy-student-testing-tuesday-9th-march-tickets-143322025035
Year 13 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-canterbury-academy-student-testing-monday-8th-march-tickets-143331216527

If you choose to book your child’s test, please also complete the online consent form by following this link:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=TxWpPkWAgE264qMS1YZuE7GWFq4M_DVBoXbBeA1xPjVURFZLTVhJV1lDMFgyU0lZWlVZRklROFRJSy4u

If you have any further questions on testing at all, please do not hesitate to contact the appropriate Head of School.

One of the things that was most popularly received by students and parents when we fully returned to our schools in September, was our attempt to ‘normalise’ the school day as much as possible. I want to reassure you that this is our intention again, whilst also, obviously, adhering to all government guidance and making sure that the risk of exposure to COVID is mitigated to an acceptable level for all of us. However, it is also very important that, upon our students returning to school, we pay the proper care and attention to the variety of experiences that we’ve had as families over the last year. This horrible pandemic will have touched all of our families in different ways, and it is important that we recognise that.

I know how much my colleagues across the Trust want to speak to our students about their experiences; encouraging them to share their thoughts, feelings and emotions; and then using them to begin focussing on all of our futures again. In order to properly embrace what may lay on our horizons, we must acknowledge and try to understand that which we have left behind. We will dedicate whatever we need to, whenever we need to, in order to help our young people, our families and our communities continue on our journey of recovery from COVID together.

Over the coming days, weeks and even years, as we all hope that this lockdown will be the last, across the schools and divisions of The Canterbury Academy Trust you will hear no talk of our young people being ‘written off,’ or described as a ‘lost generation’ who need to ‘catch up.’ The experiences that our children and families have had through COVID will always remain in our minds, but our futures are in our hands. This past year has been incredibly difficult, but that doesn’t mean that what lays ahead can’t be better, brighter and more exciting than we’ve ever imagined.

I, and all of my colleagues, will never be able to thank you enough for the support you have shown us over the last 12 months; but much more importantly the support you have given your children, your families, your friends, neighbours and communities. You, alongside the rest of our nation, have encapsulated the true resilience and determination of the human spirit.

So, for the last time from lockdown (please!), my most sincere thanks for everything and I hope you have a relaxing weekend.

As always, my very best wishes to you all,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Summer Exam Entries and Information for Years 10,11,12 and 13 - 3 March 2021

Dear Students, Parents and Carers

Please note this section is for students due to sit GCSE and A Level exams this summer

We write to you in light of the most recent Ofqual announcement regarding Exams for this summer. This announcement provided further information as to how grades would be reached this summer for students in examination year groups. As we now have this further information, we are able to share with you your son/daughter’s statement of entry.

In order to ensure that all entries made are correct, please see your attached examination entries/timetable conformation. This is the list of exams we would usually send candidates in preparation or the forthcoming exam season. Please check this document very carefully and if you believe there are any mistakes please contact:

Year 10 and 11 Mr Brooke Jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Year 12 and 13 Mr Hadlow shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Please note: if you have no attached document with this email, it is because you have no exam entries for GCSE or A level exams this summer.

Please also note that these entries/timetables have the summer examination times on as to when these exams would have taken place, however, the students WILL NOT be sitting the examinations. We send these to you as a method of ensuring all students are entered on the correct courses for the summer.

As I am sure you will already be aware, students this year will receive Teacher Assessed Grades provided by teachers. This means that teachers will be reviewing the students’ work throughout the entire course to base their judgments upon. A lot of evidence will have already been collected, however, with the remaining study time in term 4 and 5, teachers will still continue to assess students in lessons and may use some internal assessments to do this.

There will be no formal mock examinations scheduled for Years 13 and 11 in term 3. We believe that staff will be able to accurately provide teacher assessed grades working with students in and out of lessons.

The full information on the Ofqual announcement can be found, for your information, by using the link below:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/965005/6747-1_decisions_-_GQ_consultation_on_awarding_grades_in_2021.pdf

Please note this section is for students studying BTEC and OCR Vocational Qualifications

For those students studying BTEC and OCR Technical qualifications, the Exam Boards have confirmed that students will also receive a Teacher Assessed Grade for their subjects using a similar system to the GCSE and A level students. Teachers will once again use all the evidence from students throughout the students’ course, and for the remaining study time in term 4 and 5, to provide overall teacher assessed grades. (Students sitting BTEC qualifications will not have an entry attachment with this email and BTEC subjects entries are administered in a different way)

Please also note that the Department for Education has moved the summer results days to:

Tuesday, 10 August for A level and BTEC Level 3 (predominantly Year 13)

Thursday, 12 August for GCSE and other Vocational qualifications (predominantly Years 10 and 11)

We appreciate that many students may be understandably anxious and upset, hopefully this further information should help reassure you slightly. We will do all we can to support students and families through this difficult time and help secure their onward destinations, whether that be sixth form, college, university or the work place. Our students and our families, as always, will have our full and unequivocal support.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions regarding this summer’s exam process. We will be in contact with further information and arrangements moving forward as and when it is released to us by the Department for Education and relevant Exam Boards.

Kind regards

Steve Hadlow

Senior Vice Principal- Head of Sixth Form & Exams

COVID Update - Wider Reopening of Schools - 3 March 2021

The Canterbury Primary School

The Canterbury Academy – Years 7 – 11

The Canterbury Academy – Sixth Form

COVID Update - 23 February 2021

Dear parents and carers,

I write to you this evening in the hope that this message finds you and all of your families well, whilst also wishing to update on our plans following the Prime Minister’s announcement of yesterday; in particular the plans for the wider re-opening of schools. Speaking on behalf of all my colleagues across the Trust, we are delighted that we shall now be able to see all of our students back in our schools from the week beginning 8 March. Seeing our young people in our classrooms, corridors, halls, studios and sports facilities again, is something that we have all missed hugely now for far too long.

Last night the government issued guidance for the wider re-opening of schools from 8 March. You can see the guidance by following this link https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/963541/Schools_coronavirus_operational_guidance.pdf

Although we have been planning as best we could, we will now need to spend some time carefully digesting the contents of the guidance and making sure that we communicate our next steps carefully with you, so that everybody is clear as to what will be happening in our Trust’s schools from Monday, 8 March. Trust senior leaders and the leadership groups in our schools will work methodically over the coming days, with Heads of School communicating plans with you on or before Monday, 1March. These communications will also include feedback on the voicing we conducted around our remote learning programmes at the end of last term, the ongoing use of Rapid Lateral Flow Tests in schools and the wearing of face masks.

I hope that my message may reassure you as to our planning and the timeline for our communications with you prior to schools opening more widely. As a community, having dealt with COVID for a year now, we shall continue calmly and sensitively with the very best interests of all of our students, families and colleagues in mind.

The road back to normality appears to be slowly, but definitely, edging closer.

With all very best wishes,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

The Pillars of Excellence Newsletter - Term 3 2021

Dear parents and carers,

As another term draws to a close this evening, I write to you with our usual Pillars of Excellence Newsletter, in the hope that you will join us in celebrating and recognising the wonderful achievements of our young people and families across our Trust, despite facing the most challenging of circumstances again since January.

Whilst you take a few moments to read what has been achieved through our Pillars this term, it becomes increasingly difficult to find words to truly reflect the incredible way that you all, as families and communities, continue to support your children, our students, and each other through what has been almost a year of the most extraordinary challenges.

I remain hugely grateful to my colleagues across the Trust; from our City View Pre-School and Nursery, through The Canterbury Primary School, The Canterbury Academy and its Sixth Form, to the work of our City and Coastal College and Youth, Community and Extended Services Team. They continue to be resolute in their commitment to calmly adapt to ever changing government guidance, whilst holding the very best interests of our students, families and communities in their hearts. It remains my absolute pleasure to be able to work amongst them.

However, as I have said before and will say again, you, as parents and carers, and as communities, have been dealing with the most intense pressures of COVID for almost a year now. The strain that I know it will be placing on you all cannot be underestimated; with all of you, parents and students, working and learning from home again through the second full national lockdown in less than twelve months.

I know that I speak on behalf of each and every one of my colleagues across our Trust when I say that you, our students, parents, families and communities, remain the real and true inspiration to all of us as this horrible pandemic continues. The stories that you have shared with us, the support, care and empathy you have shown, the feedback you have given and, overall, your determination to keep us all moving forward as a Trust community, continues to be an ever humbling experience and one that, as a generation, will never be forgotten.

As we move into this February half-term and the snow begins to thaw, there remains hope on the horizon. The government has promised to publish a plan on 22 February for the phased ending of lockdown and wider re-opening of schools in England. Every family, up and down the country, has the date of 8 March stuck to the door of their fridge. It goes without saying that we hope this promised plan, alongside an ongoing and effective vaccine roll-out, combined with the promise of longer days and warmer weather, will see all of our schools and divisions begin to welcome more of our students back for face to face learning as soon as the government deem possible.

Needless to say, we shall continue to plan sensitively, methodically and calmly, with 8 March in our minds. As soon as the government’s plan has been published, and we have carefully reviewed it, we shall be in touch with you all regarding our next steps. Until such time, on behalf of all colleagues across our Trust, may I wish you a safe, healthy and possibly even relaxing half-term break.

As always, my very best regards to you all.

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID19 Test and Trace - 12 February 2021

END OF TERM AND HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN PART OF OUR KEY WORKER AND VULNERABLE LEARNER SCHOOLS

CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) TEST AND TRACE

Dear Parents and Carers,

The Government, through the Department for Education and Public Health England, has asked that schools across the country continue to support contact tracing during the half term holiday.

This is something that senior staff at The Canterbury Academy Trust are already very familiar with, alongside senior colleagues at other local schools, and have been doing across weekends and holidays for many months.

In response to this request from the DfE and PHE, and to assist the national effort to limit the spread of COVID-19, we will continue to report any Test and Trace contacts for a six day period after our schools close on Friday, 12 February 2021. This means that it is possible you may receive a call from a senior member of staff, up to and including Friday 19 February, with notification that your child may need to self-isolate for 10 days as a proximity contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case.

In an attempt to be clear as to how this service should be used, you will only need to contact us if your child has received a positive COVID-19 test result from the NHS. There will be no need to contact us before any symptoms have been confirmed by a positive NHS test result.

Staff, students (or their parents and carers) are asked to inform the school of any confirmed positive COVID-19 case (after NHS testing) where symptoms have occurred within 48 hours of the confirmed case being on any of our school sites.

Where a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, having developed symptoms more than 48 hours since being on any of our school sites, you do not need to contact us, but should instead follow the contact tracing instructions provided by NHS Test and Trace, available by following this link; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-how-it-works

As a helpful reminder, taken directly from the NHS website, please find the main symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19) below. Most people with COVID-19 have at least one of these symptoms:

a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

To further clarify when you should contact us, I have attempted to frame some potential scenarios for you:-

For example, if a student receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result on Saturday, 13 February, and they had been in school on either Thursday, 11 February or Friday, 12 February, then we would ask that you contact us so that we can trace any possible proximity contacts and advise those parents about the need for their child, as a proximity contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case, to self-isolate for 10 days.
As a further example, if a student or member of staff receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result on Monday, 15 February, and they had no symptoms on or before Friday, 12 February, then you would not need to contact us. You would, in this case, need to contact NHS Test and Trace and follow their guidance.

As I write to you this evening, it remains the case that there have been mercifully few confirmed COVID-19 cases across The Canterbury Academy Trust, and we very much hope that this will remain the case as we continually review our mitigations and risk assessments. We shall continue to encourage all our staff and students to socially distance wherever possible, to wear face coverings whenever appropriate, to follow our one way systems, wash hands and sanitise regularly, and maintain all of our additional cleaning measures.

So, if your child receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result, and they have had contact with others at school within 48 hours of developing symptoms, please could you do one of the following:

Call The Canterbury Academy Trust COVID-19 Helpline on 01227 286167. This is an answerphone facility which will send a message immediately to key senior staff so action can be taken.
If you would prefer to talk to someone directly, call 01227 463971, where the telephone will be manned between 10am and 12pm every day, up to and including Friday 19 February.
Additionally, a dedicated email address has been set up for COVID-19 reporting purposes on; canterburyacademycovid@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Please note, each of these three points of contact will be in place from Friday, 12 February and will cease on 19 February. After which point and as we approach the start of term 4 on Monday, 22 February 2021, you should report your child’s absence, COVID-19 related or otherwise, through our normal channels.

When contacting us, please could you clearly provide the following information:

Name of your child/children.
The school and year group they are at/in.
The date and approximate time the NHS test was taken.
The date the positive NHS test result was received.
The date that symptoms first developed and what they were.
Contact details for us to respond to you as soon as possible including, if possible, a mobile telephone number.

Once received, these details will be sent directly to a team of senior staff drawn from across The Canterbury Academy, The Canterbury Primary School , City and Coastal College and our Youth, Community and Extended Service Team, working under my direction and in line with that of the Department for Education and Public Health England. That team will make sure that the necessary actions are taken swiftly and any further communications with proximity contacts and families are had as soon as possible.

Although I sincerely hope that nobody will need it, I trust you may find the service useful and thank you very much, in advance, for your support with it.

I shall continue to update you as necessary on any further COVID-19 developments, so we can all look forward to a happy, healthy and safe half term for our families and our communities.

My best regards,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 28 January 2021

Dear parents and carers,

With my apologies for emailing you twice within 48 hours, but following some government announcements yesterday, I wish to update you on some things moving forward.

The wider re-opening of schools and remote learning

The Prime Minister announced yesterday that the government hopes to begin opening schools more widely from Monday, 8 March. The government have said that this date is dependent on case rates dropping, the NHS having the capacity to deal with the ongoing hospitalisation of COVID patients, and the government having reached their vaccine targets by 15 February. If the targets are missed say, for example, by a week or two, then the date they hope to begin re-opening schools more widely will be delayed also by the same period. The government and The Department for Education will keep these factors under constant review and communicate with schools and parents accordingly.

What this announcement does give us, hopefully, is some clarity and a date to begin working towards. More importantly, it may provide families with the assurance that there is a plan to get your children, our students, back in school and, to coin a well-used phrase, that “there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

Needless to say, this does mean that for the vast majority of students, they will continue to be home schooled until at least 8 March. As a result, the contingency plans and next layer of our remote learning programmes for next term that I mentioned in my previous message, including live and interactive elements of lessons for students in all year groups, will be communicated by Heads of School by the end of this term, Friday, 12 February.

In the meantime, as we continue to roll out the live elements of our remote learning menu, you will receive a letter from Heads of School tomorrow (Friday) explaining the additions to that menu, which students will be able to choose from as of next week, Monday, 1 February.

Similarly, Heads of School will also outline where our Community Mini-Bus will be next week, as it travels around our communities providing crucial supplies to young people and families. You will find this information updated regularly too on our social media channels:

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

Mass Testing

Yesterday afternoon, we received the following updated guidance from The Department for Education;

“Following new advice, NHS Test and Trace and Public Health England are temporarily pausing the need for a confirmatory PCR test following a positive result with a lateral flow test in secondary schools and colleges. Following a positive lateral flow test result, an individual will need to self-isolate in line with government guidance, and contact tracing will need to be undertaken.”

This means that for secondary aged students who are returning to school, if they opt to take a rapid lateral flow test and it returns a positive result, they will be immediately asked to self-isolate in line with national guidance for 10 days. They will not need to complete a follow up PCR test to have the lateral flow test result confirmed. In addition, any students identified as direct and proximity contacts of a positive lateral flow test result will also be asked to self-isolate as a precaution, in line with national guidance, for 10 days. Should this situation arise, as we have done throughout the pandemic, staff will contact families and young people affected directly.

February half-term provision

Earlier this week schools received the following guidance from the DfE;

“Schools will close as usual over February half-term and are not expected to remain open to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers during that week.”

However, across the schools and divisions of The Canterbury Academy Trust we continue to recognise the importance of non-term time provision and, through our Youth, Community and Extended Services Team, will be offering a programme of activities to young people across our Trust for the week beginning Monday, 15th February. Details of our Trust’s half-term offer, and how you can register your child for activities, will be sent to you by our Director of Youth, Community and Extended Services, Adam Fairbrass, by the end of next week.

I hope you will find these updates useful, and that they may further reassure you of our planning moving forward over the coming weeks.

As always, if you have any questions, concerns or feedback, we should be delighted to hear from you.

My best regards,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 26 January 2021

Dear parents and carers,

Firstly and above all else, I hope that this message finds you and all of your families safe and well; coping with things as best we all can during this ongoing lockdown.

The government’s message remains clear on one thing, in that we should stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives. But, with the ongoing confusion around the wider re-opening of schools, exams and mass testing, I wanted to write in an attempt to provide a (hopefully) clear, calm overview of our Trust’s current position.

Remote Learning

As you are all aware, we continue to constantly review and monitor our remote learning platforms across the Trust, including The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy. Our position has been to continue ‘layering up’ our offer, and Heads of School have been in regular contact with you about our plans for this moving forward. As you know, as a Trust with students in ‘Schools for all the Talents,’ it remains our position, even during lockdown, that we do not want to have a ‘one size fits all’ approach to our young people’s learning. As lockdown(s) continues, our ‘Learning Menu’ from which students can choose a style that suits them best, continues to evolve. The most recent addition to that menu has been ‘live’ elements of learning and lessons, which will continue to develop further over the remaining weeks of this half-term.

It has been interesting to monitor the ever changing national picture with views on remote learning that has been live/interactive/recorded, with much research now suggesting that all day, every day, spent sat at a computer following a ‘live’ curriculum, could actually be counterproductive for children. The need for structured and regular breaks, walks, fresh air and exercise away from a computer screen, all being recognised as absolutely essential and, of course, aspects that would feature in any ‘normal’ school day.

It is important to us that your child and your family finds a way of learning at home that works for them/you as individuals and families; not for you or your child to feel pressured into doing things online at regimented times when, frankly, there may well be much more important things that your family needs to focus on. Please don’t feel tied to it; please feel free to use our remote learning system’s built in flexibility and pick a method through which you can access your work from our ‘Learning Menu’ that catches your child and their individual learning style ‘in,’ and doesn’t catch them ‘out.’

Heads of School will be in touch again at the end of this week with further news and plans that will take us up until the end of this term. At which point, on 15th February, the government have said they will review the plans for the wider re-opening of schools. As you would expect, we are planning contingencies for the lockdown to remain in place for term 4 and have plans ready to go. We will, of course, communicate these with you as soon as the government announces its next steps following the 15th February review.

Exams

Again, this continues to be a confusing picture, with schools, Headteachers and teachers being consulted with at the moment about our views on how grades should be awarded this summer to those young people that would have taken public examinations. The consultation, led by Ofqal, finishes this coming Friday and we hope that we will be in a position to communicate the government’s definitive plan as soon as possible afterwards. Mr Hadlow, Mrs Winslow, Mr Brooke and the Exams Team will contact those students and families directly impacted privately.

Mass Testing

To continue a theme, this has also been confusing. As you will know, staff across the Trust worked hard through Christmas to make sure that our Mass Testing Centre was up and running for as close to the start of term as possible. Our Testing Centre has been fully operational since 11th January, and has carried out somewhere in the region of 600 asymptomatic Rapid Lateral Flow Tests so far this term. Testing has been offered to students who are the children of Critical Workers or who are Vulnerable, and have returned to The Canterbury Academy. Likewise the tests are also offered to colleagues across the Trust, whether they be in our nursery settings, primary or secondary schools. Two tests are offered to secondary aged young people as they return to school, three days apart, and twice weekly testing is offered to all staff.

The government initially told us that we should offer sequential, seven day tests to young people and staff who have been identified as direct or proximity contacts of a confirmed COVID case, giving young people and staff the option to remain in school instead of self-isolating for 10 days. As you will doubtless know through the media, the government soon u-turned on that decision and have now told schools to NOT offer sequential seven day testing for direct and proximity contacts. That means that if your child, or a member of staff, is identified as a proximity contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19 in any of our schools or divisions, they will now have to follow national guidance and self-isolate for 10 days from their last point of contact with the confirmed case. Should this situation arise we will contact families directly and advise, in line with all national guidance, as we have throughout the pandemic.

Overall, however, we have been very pleased with our Testing Centre and continue with the offer of testing for returning secondary aged students and staff across the Trust. If you wish to find out more about how our Testing Centre works, including a short information video, please go https://canterbury.kent.sch.uk/covid-testing-centre/

As we continue to move carefully and sensitively forward, if you are a Critical Worker and/or your child is Vulnerable, you are most welcome to request a place in our Critical Worker and Vulnerable Learner Schools that are operating, by contacting:

Miss Wilson, Head of School at The Canterbury Primary School, on bwilson@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Banbery, Head of Middle School (Years 7-9) at The Canterbury Academy, on abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Mr Brooke, Head of Senior School (Years 10 and 11) at The Canterbury Academy, on jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Winslow, Head of Sixth Form at The Canterbury Academy, on lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

For those families who are in receipt of Free School Meals, the government’s national Edenred voucher scheme has now kicked in and will replace the voucher scheme that we had been running. Mrs Farrell, Trust Executive Vice Principal and Mrs Butler, our Trust’s SENCo, are coordinating this and if you have any questions or concerns you should contact Mrs Farrell if your child is at The Canterbury Primary School, on bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or Mrs Butler if your child is at The Canterbury Academy, on vbutler@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Likewise, with some of our circumstances changing quickly as this pandemic continues, it may be the case that you feel your family might now be eligible for Free School Meals. If your family circumstances have changed and you think you may now qualify, please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs Farrell and Mrs Butler in the same order, above.

In further updates, and recognising that our Trust is in possession of many resources, from marker pens through to pencils, paper, text books, work packs and other useful items, we will be sharing news with you at the end of this week about a mini-bus that we will be sending around our communities in order to dispatch crucial items to young people and families. As I say, please watch out for a message at the end of this week via email and on our social media channels as to where the bus will be next week, with what it is carrying and at what time(s).

With that said, please don’t forget you can follow us on:

Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

Until we get more news on when and how the government plans to open schools more widely, we will continue to keep everything we are doing under constant review and evolve our remote learning offer further; with every addition being something new on the ‘menu’ to choose from, not replacing something that already exists.

With this in mind, feedback from our students and you as families remains absolutely crucial in adjusting what we are doing and keeping us moving forward. If you think we are getting something wrong and can improve it, please do let us know. Whatever the issue or concern is; whether it be related to learning, access to IT equipment, stationery, Free School Meals or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please don’t suffer anything in silence. As a team across our Trust, we are all here to help you, your families and our communities in any way that we reasonably can. Your challenges will become our challenges, and we will face them together.

Let’s keep talking, keep listening and remember that, for many of us, the most heroic thing we can continue to do right now is care for each other.

My best wishes to you all,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - National Lockdown

Dear parents and carers,

I write to you today in the light of last night’s announcement of another national lockdown; with the message from the Prime Minister being to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

There has been much confusion, change and last minute decisions around the opening of schools, mass testing, free school meals and exams. As always, the media’s reporting of these items has not been entirely helpful. In this message I will attempt to provide some calm, some clarity and some direction, based on the best and most credible information that we have available to us at this time.

As of today we know that The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy will remain closed to all students, except the children of critical workers and those that are vulnerable, until the start of term 4. City View Pre-School and Nursery remains open as usual and your child should continue to attend if they are well.

The government’s message in the last national lockdown was that if critical worker or vulnerable children could be cared for at home then they should be. That does not appear to be their stance this time around and, as such, if you are a critical worker or your child is deemed vulnerable according to this government list, available here; listed as a critical worker they are encouraged to attend school should they remain well.

As last time, it is a fairly extensive list and has now been updated to include other jobs essential in the post Brexit transition period. Similarly, we are very aware that vulnerability is not always necessarily visible and cannot always be clearly defined. So, if you are a critical worker or you feel your child is vulnerable, and you would like to accept the offer of educational provision in one of our schools, please contact:

Miss Wilson, Head of School, on bwilson@canterbury.kent.sch.uk if your child attends The Canterbury Primary School
Mrs Banbery, Head of Middle School, on abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk if your child is in year 7, 8 or 9 at The Canterbury Academy
Mr Brooke, Head of Senior School, on jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk if your child is in year 10 or 11 at The Canterbury Academy
Mrs Winslow, Head of Sixth Form, on lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk if your child is in the sixth form

For those children who will continue to attend school:

If you are reporting to The Canterbury Primary School, Breakfast Club will be open from 7.45am and the school day will start at 9am.
If you are reporting to The Canterbury Academy, Years 7-11, please report to the main school hall for 8.45am.
If you are reporting to The Canterbury Academy Sixth Form, please report to the Sixth Form Centre for your specified start time.
Students across our schools should arrive in normal school uniform.
A school meal and refreshments will be available as normal.
Please do not bring any PE kit unless you are specifically asked to do so, as our new timetables begin to take shape.
Our school days, as normal, will finish at 3pm.
With regret, there will be no after school clubs available at either school, at this time. But, at The Canterbury Primary School, supervision of children will be available until 4pm.

As regards transport to and from our Canterbury Campus, Stagecoach will not be running any dedicated school buses until further notice. However, ordinary bus services are still running. The number 22, for example, stops almost directly outside the campus on Knight Avenue. Students can catch this service to and from the main bus station in Canterbury. I can only advise all parents and carers to check the Stagecoach website on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/south-east/canterbury as regularly as possible, just to make sure that the services you may require continue to run in the midst of this unpredictable situation.

The picture as regards exams and assessments for the summer of 2021 is, I am sorry to report, very confusing. For those students that are due to sit public vocational examinations and assessments scheduled to take place in January, we are currently told that these will go ahead. Mr Hadlow and the Exams Team will have already been in touch with those affected privately to be clear on arrangements.

As regards other public examinations/assessments across primary and secondary schools scheduled for the summer, all I can do currently is share with you this pertinent element of the most recent Department for Education guidance, released at 11pm last night;

“In these circumstances, we do not think it is possible for exams to go ahead fairly this summer. The Secretary of State for Education will be asking Ofqual to consult rapidly on an approach for alternative arrangements that will allow students to progress fairly.”

This suggests that an immediate consultation will be launched with school leaders as to how they feel grades should be best awarded to students for this coming summer. I will, alongside Mr Hadlow and Heads of School, share more information with you when it is available.

If your child receives Free School Meals you will continue to be contacted privately to ensure that you have the appropriate amount of food vouchers each week through lockdown. As a Trust, we will not wait for any government scheme to begin, we will provide you directly with vouchers immediately to alleviate as much anxiety for families as possible. If this is to change in the light of a centrally offered government scheme, we will, of course, notify you as soon as possible.

If you have not been contacted privately and believe your child to be eligible for Free School Meals, please contact Mrs Butler, our Trust’s SENCo, on vbutler@canterbury.kent.sch.uk if your child attends The Canterbury Academy. Or, if your child attends The Canterbury Primary School, please contact Mrs Farrell, Trust Executive Vice Principal, on bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

As we did in the last lockdown, Mrs Butler, Mrs Farrell and our Ethos and Engagement Teams will be coordinating welfare calls to families across our Trust. These calls started yesterday and will continue every week through until the end of this lockdown period. Any support that a family or young person might need following a regular welfare call, will be signposted to the appropriate agency and professionals.

If you do not believe you are expecting a welfare call and/or are anxious, worried or concerned about any aspect of what lockdown might mean for your child or your family, please do not suffer in silence. Our Trust’s pastoral teams are here for you and available both by email and over the phone. They would love to hear from you and you must not hesitate to contact them. We will help you. So, please contact:

Miss Birch, Pastoral Leader at The Canterbury Primary School, on kbirch@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
Mrs Cork, Support Manager for Year 7 at The Canterbury Academy, on scork@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
Mrs McDermott, Support Manager for Year 8 at The Canterbury Academy, on dmcdermott@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
Mrs McMahan, Support Manager for Year 9 at The Canterbury Academy, on lmcmahan@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
Mrs Felts, Support Manager for Year 10 at The Canterbury Academy, on afelts@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
Mrs Goldsack, Support Manager for Year 11 at The Canterbury Academy, on kgoldsack@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
Mrs Jackson, Sixth Form Ethos Manager, on djackson@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

As regards remote learning, Heads of School have already been in touch with parents and students across the Trust, and will continue to communicate with you as our packages evolve in light of this new lockdown. We will continue to reward students for their excellent efforts and work produced. If you have any questions on remote and online learning, please do not hesitate to contact any of the Heads of School on the email addresses provided earlier in this message.

The Department for Education have instructed secondary schools to continue planning for the roll out of mass testing. The plans that we worked hard on through the Christmas break will not be wasted, but will instead be initially scaled back to accommodate voluntary asymptomatic Rapid Lateral Flow Tests for the smaller numbers of staff and students working on our sites and in our schools during lockdown. Although it would appear that RLF testing is still the direction that the government wishes to go in secondary schools, this has, again, become a confusing picture. Once I have further clarity from the government I will be back in touch accordingly.

In the meantime, it is our intention to share as much good news as possible through our social media platforms, keeping our Trust community in touch as we move back into lockdown

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

We will continue sharing student successes from this term and beyond, things that families can do and are doing together at this most difficult time, tips on keeping fit, recipes, cooking, arts, crafts and much more. We’d love to hear from you too!

As I say, there will be further communications that will flow to parents and students on a more bespoke basis in the next couple of days. In light of this new national lockdown, akin to that of March last year, I know that for many it will feel like we have made no progress in the fight against COVID-19. We can hopefully all remind ourselves that we have.

We have been here before and we have come through it. We have talked together; we have listened together; we have supported and cared for each other, together, and, when we’ve had the chance, we have laughed together.

We have a vaccine. It is rolling out and it is making its way, eventually, to all of us. In these cold and dark days of winter we must focus on the hope that a new year brings, with the brighter, warmer days of spring on the horizon.

But, it is clear again that we must all now adhere to guidance and do our bit to bring the virus back under control, shield our most vulnerable, protest the NHS and save lives.

We will, again, get through this together.

On behalf of all of the staff across our Trust we remain incredibly grateful for all of your ongoing support.

My thoughts and very best wishes remain with you and your families,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - Delayed Start to Term 3

Dear parents and carers,

I hope that this email finds you well and that you have enjoyed a restful, happy Christmas.

As you already know, at the end of last term secondary schools were told to have mass testing programmes in place for all students and staff for the start of term 3. Our Trust has been working hard throughout the Christmas break to get that in place for all students at The Canterbury Academy and for all of our staff across our schools. I write to you today, as promised, in light of further changes to the government guidance announced last night for the reopening of schools in England from 4 January.

I will attempt to map out our position, as follows:

City View Pre-School and Nursery, and The Canterbury Primary School will open as normal on Monday, 4 January 2021. Your child/children should attend as normal.

The Canterbury Academy will be CLOSED to ALL students for face to face learning on Monday, 4 January 2021. As per government guidance, this is to allow a day for staff training to begin on our testing programme and for further remote learning to be planned. Guidance for all students to access our remote learning and online support packages will be sent by Heads of School at 5pm this afternoon.

Remote learning will continue for ALL students through the week beginning 4 January. Please be aware that because of staff training, any messages to staff may not be responded to until Tuesday, 5 January.

Years 11 and 13 will be able to return for face to face learning week beginning 11 January, and all other year groups will be able to return week beginning 18 January. Although the government have said they will keep these dates under constant review.

The public examinations planned for the weeks beginning 4 and 11 January will go ahead as planned. Mr Hadlow and our Exams Team will be in touch with you separately to tell you how these will work.

If you are a critical worker and/or your child is deemed vulnerable by the government according to this list https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision your child will be able to access face to face learning on site from Tuesday, 5 January.

In order for us to be able to plan as effectively as possible, please can you let us know by midday on Monday, 4th January at the latest, if your child will be attending school from 5 January, by contacting:

Mrs Banbery on abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971, if you are in year 7, 8 or 9.
Mr Brooke on jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971, if you are in year 10 or 11.
Mrs Winslow on lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971, if you are in the sixth form.

As regards ‘Rapid Lateral Flow Testing’ at The Canterbury Academy, we are starting to see now some more concrete guidance on how we are to administer this from the government, with more information and training to be provided to schools at the start of next week. As a result, it is not likely that we will be in a position to begin administering our mass testing programme until the middle of next week, at the earliest. The test kits themselves are not due to be delivered to us, for example, until sometime on Monday, 4 January. We have also been told to expect large deliveries of PPE from the government which, likewise, is not due to arrive until 4 January. With that said, it is extremely unlikely that any student sitting examinations on site next week, or accessing face to face learning as the child of a critical worker or a vulnerable learner, will be offered the opportunity of a test.

You will, of course, be the first to hear when we are in a position to begin offering asymptomatic RLF testing, and I would urge you to please be patient with us as we continue to plan for this significant logistical undertaking. I should remind you again, also, that RLF testing is NOT compulsory. It remains, quite rightly, your (and your child’s) choice as to whether they take a RLF test. The government’s position is that all secondary aged students and staff should be “strongly encouraged” to access testing, but should you not consent it will not affect your child’s ability to attend school and learn with their friends. Access to education and learning is a right that every young person has and although, clearly, I would also strongly encourage your child to access RLF testing, consent will need to be provided for the test to be administered and for us to share the result appropriately. This will all be explained to you in more detail once staff have been trained in the processes at the beginning of next week.

In the meantime, please do be assured that senior staff across the Trust have been working hard through the Christmas break to plan for the roll out of mass testing at The Canterbury Academy from the start of term 3. Additional staff have already been temporarily recruited to administer the testing programme, under the constant supervision of Trust leaders. This means that we will not have to divert already stretched staff resources away from teaching and working with children. Likewise, it means that I will not have to ask our parental body to volunteer their time to help administer testing. Also, our Estates Team have already devised and built several testing pods to provide privacy for young people and colleagues taking a RLF test. Once we have taken delivery of the testing kits and other PPE resources from the government promised at the start of next week, our testing site will be ready to operate and we will begin to communicate with you to offer your children, our students, the chance of a test.

Finally, the only other thing I feel able to offer you at this time are my apologies for having to communicate with you again over the holiday period and especially on New Year’ Eve. The situation with COVID-19 remains incredibly challenging, fluid and ever changing; as such I am very sorry that we will now not see all of our children back, face to face, at The Canterbury Academy until the week beginning 18 January. For those returning to City View and The Canterbury Primary School, I know I speak on behalf of all my colleagues when I say how very much we are looking forward to seeing you again on Monday.

I shall be back in touch again next week.

Here’s to a happier and healthier 2021!

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 22 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

As promised in my message of Friday, I had hoped to write to you today with a clearer picture of what will be expected of The Canterbury Academy as regards mass testing for COVID-19 at the start of January and, of course, what that might mean for our students and you as families.

Regrettably, as I write to you this afternoon, I have not yet received any further updated guidance from the Department for Education on how secondary schools should implement mass ‘Rapid Lateral Flow’ testing from the start of term 3. However, I can remind you of our current position based on what we know today and, as best I can, sketch out our provisional plans moving forward:

These plans do not impact on The Canterbury Primary School, which will open as normal on Monday, 4 January 2021.
For The Canterbury Academy, it is anticipated that year 11 and year 13 will be the only students who return for face to face learning in school during the week beginning 4 January 2021.
Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 will all be expected to access their learning remotely from 4 until 8 January; hopefully returning for face to face learning week beginning 11 January. Heads of School will be in touch at the end of December/start of January, to make sure that all students are provided with the information they need to access their remote learning from home.

It is the government’s expectation that all students in years 11 and 13 will receive a ‘Rapid Lateral Flow Test’ before they resume their studies at school week beginning 4 January. Likewise, students in year 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 will also be expected to report for testing at school before they return, test result permitting, week beginning 11 January. It is, however, important to be clear from the outset that testing is not mandatory and parental consent will be required to both administer the test and share the result. As I say, we await guidance from the government and Department for Education on how we should organise, implement and administer the mass testing programmes.

I can further clarify that;

If your child is in year 7, 8, 9, 10 or 12 and you are a ‘Critical Worker’ or your child is deemed ‘Vulnerable’ as defined by the government using this link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision they will still be able to attend school for face to face learning week beginning 4 January 2021. We will contact you again at the end of this month to see if you would like to take advantage of this offer.
If your child is in year, 7, 8, 9, 10 or 12 and would usually receive Free School Meals during the week beginning 4 January, we will write to you privately to make sure you are provided with the food vouchers that your child/children should be entitled to for that period.
If your child is in year 12 and due to sit a public examination(s) during the week beginning 4 January, they will still go ahead. Our Exams Team and senior staff will be in touch with you privately to make the appropriate arrangements nearer the time.

Moving forward, even if schools do receive the promised guidance before Christmas, I will not write to you again until the week between Christmas and New Year, more likely towards the end of the month. I hope that by that point I will have absolute clarity from the government on what we have been asked to do and will be better placed to advise you as to how we shall go about doing it. In the meantime, we shall continue to plan with the information currently available to us.

As regards further updates, can I thank those parents who have contacted our COVID Helpline to share any positive NHS test results that their child may have received at the start of the holidays. Can I also thank the parents that we have subsequently had to call with the news that their child should self-isolate as a proximity contact, as a precaution, for 10 days. Now that we are in the newly created Tier 4 there was, at least, a sense that a Christmas with family and loved ones had not been too affected as a result. With that said, and as you will probably imagine with soaring case rates across the South East, our schools have not been left untouched by COVID-19, with several students and staff all receiving positive results in the first few days of the break.

So, again as a reminder, if your child receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result, and they have had contact with others on any of our school sites within 48 hours of developing symptoms:

Call The Canterbury Academy Trust COVID-19 Helpline on 01227 286167. This is an answerphone facility which will send a message immediately to key senior staff so action can be taken.

If you would prefer to talk to someone directly, call 01227 463971, where the telephone will be manned between 10am and 12pm every day, up to and including Christmas Eve.

Additionally, a dedicated email address has been set up for COVID-19 reporting purposes on; canterburyacademycovid@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Please note, each of these three points of contact will remain in place until 12pm on 24th December, Christmas Eve. After which point and as we approach the start of term 3 on Monday, 4 January 2021, you should report your child’s absence, COVID-19 related or otherwise, through our normal channels.

When contacting us, please could you clearly provide the following information:

Name of your child/children.
The school and year group they are at/in.
The date and approximate time the NHS test was taken.
The date the positive NHS test result was received.
The date that symptoms first developed and what they were.
Contact details for us to respond to you as soon as possible including, if possible, a mobile telephone number.

Finally, finishing on some positives, I hope you may have found some time to read our Pillars of Excellence Newsletter for the end of term 2, acknowledging some of the wonderful achievements of our young people across our Trust; with probably the highlight being our incredible ‘Christmas Cabaret – The Movie!’ With over 200 students from our City View Pre-School and Nursery, The Canterbury Primary School, The Canterbury Academy and our Sixth Form, performing nearly 50 pieces, the result was the most amazingly positive and uplifting experience.

If you are not one of the 3,700 people who have watched the Cabaret on our YouTube channel already, then you can do so now by following this link https://youtu.be/0aQ9LmLH0CY

In addition to our Cabaret, please do also keep in touch with us over Christmas via our social media platforms, where you can follow us on:

Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

There will be a Christmas message to all of our families from the staff team across The Canterbury Academy Trust posted on our Instagram at 6pm on Christmas Eve. I hope you will enjoy it!

I shall be back in touch as soon as I am able after Christmas, but please do rest assured that we are working hard to do all we reasonably can to have mass testing in place for our students and staff at the start of next term.

My very best wishes to you all for a safe and merry Christmas.

Yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Support over Christmas

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we draw towards the end of this unprecedented year, I wanted to take the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. A year that we hope will be filled with more promise and optimism than that which we leave behind. We know that Christmas, like everything else this year, will be different; for some we know that this could be a very difficult and challenging time of year.

Name of the organisation	Summary of the support offered.	Contact details
Kooth	Online counselling to support young people with their mental health.	www.kooth.com
Kent Youth Health	NHS guidance for young people on emotions, health, sex and relationships.	https://www.kentyouthhealth.nhs.uk/
NSPCC	Support and tips to keeping children safe online. Advice to parents if you are concerned about your child.	help@nspcc.org.uk 0808 800 5000
Samaritans	An organisation where people can listen when you are feeling alone or vulnerable	https://www.samaritans.org/ 116 123
Childline	A confidential service that can provide a range of advice, especially for mental health and personal safety.	https://www.childline.org.uk/ 0800 1111
Kent Food Bank	Food bank for families in crisis and financial difficulties.	https://kentfoodbank.org/
Kent Resilience Hub	Supporting 10-16-year olds to cope better with the pressures of everyday life.	https://kentresiliencehub.org.uk

Across the Trust our ethos has always been to support every child and their wellbeing and recognise that their mental health is paramount. Our commitment to support all students and their families remains at the core of everything we do. Therefore, I thought it might be useful to signpost you towards a range of resources and links offering wellbeing support and guidance.

Please also follow us on social media for further updates from the youth team and information regarding the return to school arrangements in January. If you or your child requires any support during the holidays, please use the email address below to contact the safeguarding team and we can direct you to the appropriate support.

support@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

This email address will be checked regularly throughout the holiday by our team of safeguarding leads across the Trust.

I hope you have a peaceful Christmas and look forward to what we hope will be a positive and healthy new year together.

Yours faithfully,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 17 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Advice to all parents regarding confirmed cases of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy

We have been advised by Public Health England that over the space of yesterday evening and today, there have been two, confirmed but unrelated, cases of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy; one in our year 8 bubble and one member of staff.

The parents of the eight children who have been in close contact with the individuals who have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home and self-isolate for 10 days as a precaution.

As we approach the final day of term, there is no need to close our year 8 bubble as a result of these cases. As I say, the children that have been identified as proximity contacts are now isolating at home as a precaution and the school remains open. If your child is in years 7, 8, 9 or 10, and you have not been contacted separately, they should continue to attend school as normal if they remain well.

For all students/parents across our school who have either had their bubble closed, are self-isolating, or where families have taken the decision for their child to learn from home for the remainder of this term, Heads of School and Heads of Learning will continue to make sure that they have access to our remote learning packages.

If your child receives Free School Meals, you will be contacted privately and provided with the appropriate amount of food vouchers to cover the remainder of this week.

This remains an incredibly worrying time for all of us and an ever changing, fast moving situation, which we shall continue to try and manage as best we can. Many of you may have seen media speculation late yesterday evening and today, that the government may announce a staggered return for secondary school students at the start of term 3. I now find myself in the difficult position of having to report that despite this incredibly late stage in the term this speculation would, indeed, appear to be true. It appears that the instruction for students to return in a staggered manner to secondary schools is to allow schools to conduct and administer mass testing of their students on site. You can see the announcement from The Department for Education and the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, by following this link https://www.gov.uk/government/news/staggered-rollout-of-coronavirus-testing-for-secondary-schools-and-colleges

At this stage, I am afraid, we know as much as you, as you will note from the link that; “Guidance will shortly be provided to schools and colleges on how to set up and staff the testing sites.” A date for the guidance to be provided appears to have not been set, but needless to say, as I mentioned in my message of earlier today, we will wait for that guidance, digest and contextualise it, before then hopefully providing you with some clear and definitive detail as to what this will mean for our young people and staff at The Canterbury Academy. In the meantime, we will plan as best we can from the basic information currently provided and continue to communicate with you regularly with any updates.

As always, if you do have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Banbery, Head of Middle School, on abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk; Mr Brooke, Head of Senior School, on jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk; or Mrs Winslow, Head of Sixth Form, on lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

For those young people that have been asked to self-isolate today, and that we will not see now until January 2021, I’d like to wish them a safe and very happy Christmas. Also, of course, I give my thanks to all of you, our parental body, for your exceptional and relentless support of the difficult decisions that we have to continue to make.

I will write again tomorrow to accompany our celebratory end of term Pillars of Excellence Newsletter, and also, I hope, provide some more detail on the plans for mass testing and staggered student returns to school in January.

My best regards,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

End of term and Christmas Holiday arrangements 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

END OF TERM AND CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS – CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) TEST AND TRACE.

I write to remind you of our plans for the start of the Christmas holiday and how we will assist the Government, through the Department for Education and Public Health England, in continuing to support contact tracing. I also wish to update on what we know about the announcements you may have seen in the media around rapid testing for students and staff in schools, starting from January 2021.

As you will know, contact tracing is something that senior staff at The Canterbury Academy Trust are already very familiar with, alongside senior colleagues at other local schools, and have been doing it across weekends and holidays for many months.

In response to this request from the DfE and PHE, and to assist the national effort to limit the spread of COVID-19, we will continue to report any Test and Trace contacts for a six day period after our schools close on Friday, 18 December 2020. This means that it is possible you may receive a call from a senior member of staff, up to and including Christmas Eve, with notification that your child may need to self-isolate for 10 days (recently updated from 14 days) as a proximity contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case.

Where a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, having developed symptoms more than 48 hours since being on any of our school sites, you do not need to contact us, but should instead follow the contact tracing instructions provided by NHS Test and Trace, available by following this link; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-how-it-works

As a helpful reminder, taken directly from the NHS website, please find the main symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19) below. Most people with COVID-19 have at least one of these symptoms:

a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

To further clarify when you should contact us, I have attempted to frame some potential scenarios for you:

For example, if a student receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result on Saturday, 19 December, and they had been in school on either Thursday, 17 December or Friday, 18 December, then we would ask that you contact us so that we can trace any possible proximity contacts and advise those parents about the need for their child, as a proximity contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case, to self-isolate for 10 days.
As a further example, if a student or member of staff receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result on Monday, 21 December, and they had no symptoms on or before Friday, 18 December, then you would not need to contact us. You would, in this case, need to contact NHS Test and Trace and follow their guidance.
As you will already be aware, under current guidance, if a student or member of staff is confirmed as positive and showed symptoms on Thursday, 17 December and/or Friday, 18 December, they would need to self-isolate for a period of 10 days and anybody in their household would also need to isolate for 10 days, from the first day of the symptoms developing. In this particular example, the household (and any other identified proximity contacts from their school) would need to isolate until the end of December.

So, if your child receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result, and they have had contact with others at school within 48 hours of developing symptoms, please could you do one of the following:

Call The Canterbury Academy Trust COVID-19 Helpline on 01227 286167. This is an answerphone facility which will send a message immediately to key senior staff so action can be taken.
If you would prefer to talk to someone directly, call 01227 463971, where the telephone will be manned between 10am and 12pm every day, up to and including Christmas Eve.
Additionally, a dedicated email address has been set up for COVID-19 reporting purposes on; canterburyacademycovid@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Please note, each of these three points of contact will be in place from 1pm on Friday, 18 December and will cease at 12pm on 24 December, Christmas Eve.

After which point and as we approach the start of term 3 on Monday, 4 January 2021, you should report your child’s absence, COVID-19 related or otherwise, through our normal channels.

When contacting us, please could you clearly provide the following information:

Name of your child/children.
The school and year group they are at/in.
The date and approximate time the NHS test was taken.
The date the positive NHS test result was received.
The date that symptoms first developed and what they were.
Contact details for us to respond to you as soon as possible including, if possible, a mobile telephone number.

Although I sincerely hope that nobody will need it, I trust you may find the service useful and thank you very much, in advance, for your support with it.

As regards the Government’s plans for rapid testing in schools from January, all we currently have access to is the same guidance that you may have seen, available here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/secondary-schools-and-colleges-to-get-weekly-coronavirus-testing

The operational guidance, training and details of this process, are yet to be released to schools. Accordingly, and as we have done throughout this pandemic, we shall wait for the specifics of the guidance and then apply them carefully to our context, ensuring that you are provided with accurate, detailed and credible information. In the meantime, please be assured that we have begun to prepare what we can from the outline information released so far.

We can also assure you that testing will not be mandatory, and will only take place in conjunction with parental consent.

Moreover, this access to testing will not change any of the actions we are already taking across our Trust, as we continually review our mitigations and risk assessments. We shall continue to encourage all our staff and students to socially distance wherever possible, to wear face coverings whenever appropriate, to follow our one way systems, wash hands and sanitise regularly, and maintain all of our additional cleaning measures.

We will be in touch again as soon as we are able to update you with a comprehensive outline of how rapid testing for students will work at our Trust.

Likewise, I shall continue to update you as necessary over the remaining 24 hours of this term on any further COVID-19 developments, as we hope to continue navigating our way calmly and carefully towards a happy, healthy and safe Christmas for all of our families and our communities.

My best regards,

Jon Watson
Executive Principal
The Canterbury Academy Trust

COVID Update - 16 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Advice to all parents regarding confirmed cases of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy

We have been advised by Public Health England today that, over the space of yesterday evening and today, there have been two, confirmed but unrelated, cases of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy; one in our year 8 bubble and one in our year 9 bubble.

Again, these two new cases are not linked to any previous ones, although I can completely appreciate that you may continue to find this concerning. The parents of the children who have been in close contact with the individuals who have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home and self-isolate for 10 days as a precaution.

With our year 11 and sixth form bubbles remaining closed until the start of term 3, and with staffing still remaining stable, there is no need to close either the year 8 or 9 bubble as a result of these individual and separate cases. As I say, the children that have been identified as proximity contacts are now isolating at home as a precaution and the school remains open. If your child is in years 7, 8, 9 or 10, and you have not been contacted separately, they should continue to attend school as normal if they remain well.

All students/parents in year 11 and the sixth form have already been sent a letter reminding them of how they might access their learning remotely for the rest of term. Likewise, remote learning letters have been sent to those students isolating in year 7. The same letter will now be sent to the students who will self-isolate as a result of the case in year 8 and the case in year 9.

For other families that have taken the decision for their child to learn from home for the remainder of this term, Heads of School and Heads of Learning will continue to make sure that they also have access to our remote learning packages.

If your child receives Free School Meals, you will be contacted privately and provided with the appropriate amount of food vouchers to cover the remainder of this week.

This remains an incredibly worrying time for all of us and an ever changing, fast moving situation, which we shall continue to try and manage as best we can. As always, if you do have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Banbery, Head of Middle School, on abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk; Mr Brooke, Head of Senior School, on jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk; or Mrs Winslow, Head of Sixth Form, on lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

As I have done over the two previous days of this week, I’d like to wish those young people in year 8 and 9 that we will not see now until January 2021, a safe and very happy Christmas. I’d also like to thank all those parents who continue to send us messages of support, following the difficult decisions that we have had to continue to make. Your ongoing support, and many messages of thanks for staff, have meant a huge amount at this very difficult time.

I am so very sorry that I have to keep writing to you under these circumstances, and, although I cannot guarantee it, I hope that I will now not need to contact you again until the last day of term.

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 15 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Advice to all parents regarding confirmed case of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy

We have been advised by Public Health England today that there has been a single, confirmed case of COVID-19 in our year 7 bubble at The Canterbury Academy.

Similarly to my message of yesterday evening, this most recent case is not linked to any previous ones, although I can completely appreciate that you may find this concerning. The parents of the children who have been in close contact with the individual who has tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home and self-isolate for 10 days as a precaution.

Having taken the decision yesterday to close both our year 11 and sixth form bubbles until the start of term 3, and with staffing remaining stable, there is no need to close our year 7 bubble as a result of this case. As I say, the children that have been identified as proximity contacts are now isolating at home as a precaution and the school remains open. If your child is in years 7, 8, 9 or 10, and you have not been contacted separately, they should continue to attend school as normal if they remain well.

All students/parents in year 11 and the sixth form were sent a letter last night regarding how they should continue to access their learning remotely for the rest of term. Our Head of Middle School, Mrs Banbery, will provide the same letter to the parents of those students now self-isolating in Year 7 as a result of today, for the rest of term.

Heads of School and Heads of Learning will continue to make sure that any other families who have taken the decision for their child to learn from home for the last few days of term, will also have access to their remote learning. Likewise, if your child receives Free School Meals, you will be contacted privately and provided with the appropriate amount of food vouchers to cover the remainder of this week.

As always, if you do have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Banbery, Head of Middle School, on abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk; Mr Brooke, Head of Senior School, on jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk; or Mrs Winslow, Head of Sixth Form, on lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

I’d like to wish those young people in year 7 that we will not see now until January 2021, a safe and very happy Christmas. I’d also like to thank all those parents who sent messages of support last night following the unfortunate closure of our year 11 and sixth form bubbles. Your continued support and messages of thanks for staff have meant a huge amount at this difficult time.

We shall continue to proceed with care until the end of term.

My best regards,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 14 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

CLOSURE OF YEAR 11 AND SIXTH FORM BUBBLES

We have been advised by Public Health England that over the weekend there have been two more, single and unrelated, cases of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy.

Although, again, not linked to any previous cases that we have had in the school, I can completely appreciate that you may find this concerning. The parents of the children who have been in close contact with the individuals who have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home for 10 days as a precaution.

Until the start of this week, attendance across the school had hovered at around 91%. This week it has already dropped significantly, with increasing numbers of parents taking the decision that their child/children should learn remotely for the last week of term. Moreover, as other schools have closed bubbles and in some cases closed completely, there has been a significant knock on effect to the number of teachers now unable to attend work for a variety of reasons; ranging from self-isolation and ill health through to their own childcare issues.

With all of this in mind and in consultation with guidance from the Department for Education and Public Health England, I have had to take the difficult decision to close both our year 11 and sixth form bubbles until the start of term 3 on Monday, 4January 2021.

If your sixth form child is due to sit the second part of their Criminology Controlled Assessment, they should arrive at school as planned tomorrow to sit their assessment.

All students/parents in year 11 and the sixth form will be sent a letter by their respective Head of School, reminding them of how to access our remote learning packages. Similarly, if your child receives Free School Meals, you will be contacted privately and provided with the appropriate amount of food vouchers to cover the remainder of this week.

At this stage, the school remains open to all children in years 7 to 10. If your child is not in year 11 or the sixth form, and have not been contacted separately, they should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

I am very sorry that I have been forced to make this decision and can assure you it is not one I have taken lightly. It has been made balancing what onsite learning we are physically able to provide for our students with the resources we have available, against the health and safety of everybody, students, staff and all of our families, as we approach the Christmas break.

As always, if you do have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact Mr Brooke, Head of Senior School, on jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk; or Mrs Winslow, Head of Sixth Form, on lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

It only remains for me to thank you all, again, for your unwavering support through these most challenging times, and to wish you a safe and Merry Christmas.

I look forward to happier times ahead in 2021.

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - Christmas Holiday Test and Trace

Dear Parents and Carers,

END OF TERM AND CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS – CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) TEST AND TRACE.

The Government, through the Department for Education and Public Health England, has asked that schools across the country continue to support contact tracing during the first part of the Christmas holiday.

In response to this request from the DfE and PHE, and to assist the national effort to limit the spread of COVID-19, we will continue to report any Test and Trace contacts for a six day period after our schools close on Friday, 18 December 2020. This means that it is possible you may receive a call from a senior member of staff, up to and including Christmas Eve, with notification that your child may need to self-isolate for 14 days as a proximity contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case.

As a helpful reminder, taken directly from the NHS website, please find the main symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19) below. Most people with COVID-19 have at least one of these symptoms:

a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

To further clarify when you should contact us, I have attempted to frame some potential scenarios for you:-

For example, if a student receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result on Saturday, 19 December, and they had been in school on either Thursday, 17 December or Friday, 18 December, then we would ask that you contact us so that we can trace any possible proximity contacts and advise those parents about the need for their child, as a proximity contact of a confirmed COVID-19 case, to self-isolate for 14 days.

As a further example, if a student or member of staff receives a positive COVID-19 NHS test result on Monday, 21December, and they had no symptoms on or before Friday, 18 December, then you would not need to contact us. You would, in this case, need to contact NHS Test and Trace and follow their guidance.

As you will already be aware, under current guidance, if a student or member of staff is confirmed as positive and showed symptoms on Thursday, 17 December and/or Friday, 18December, they would need to self-isolate for a period of 10 days and anybody in their household would also need to isolate for 14 days, from the first day of the symptoms developing. In this particular example, the household (and any other identified proximity contacts from their school) would need to isolate until the start of January 2021.

Call The Canterbury Academy Trust COVID-19 Helpline on 01227 286167. This is an answerphone facility which will send a message immediately to key senior staff so action can be taken.

If you would prefer to talk to someone directly, call 01227 463971, where the telephone will be manned between 10am and 12pm every day, up to and including Christmas Eve.

Additionally, a dedicated email address has been set up for COVID-19 reporting purposes on; canterburyacademycovid@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Please note, each of these three points of contact will be in place from 1pm on Friday, 18 December and will cease at 12pm on 24December, Christmas Eve. After which point and as we approach the start of term 3 on Monday, 4January 2021, you should report your child’s absence, COVID-19 related or otherwise, through our normal channels.

When contacting us, please could you clearly provide the following information:

Name of your child/children.
The school and year group they are at/in.
The date and approximate time the NHS test was taken.
The date the positive NHS test result was received.
The date that symptoms first developed and what they were.
Contact details for us to respond to you as soon as possible including, if possible, a mobile telephone number.

Once received, these details will be sent directly to a team of senior staff drawn from across The Canterbury Academy, The Canterbury Primary School, City and Coastal College and our Youth, Community and Extended Service Team, working under my direction and in line with that of the Department for Education and Public Health England. That team will make sure that the necessary actions are taken swiftly and any further communications with proximity contacts and families are had as soon as possible.

Although I sincerely hope that nobody will need it, I trust you may find the service useful and thank you very much, in advance, for your support with it.

I shall continue to update you as necessary on any further COVID-19 developments, as we hope to continue navigating our way calmly and carefully towards the end of term, so we can all look forward to a happy, healthy and safe Christmas for our families and our communities.

My best regards,

COVID Update - 10 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Advice to all parents regarding COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy:

We have been advised by Public Health England that there have been two separate and single, confirmed cases, of COVID-19 within our school; one within our sixth form bubble and one member of staff.

The parents of the children who have been in close contact with the individuals who have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home for 14 days as a precaution. Likewise, three members of staff have been identified and will also self-isolate, as a precaution, for 14 days.

The school remains open and, if you have not been contacted separately, your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

If your child develops symptoms of COVID-19, they must not come to school and should remain at home for at least 10 days from the date when their symptoms appeared. Anyone with symptoms will be eligible for testing and this can be arranged via https://www.nhs.uk/ask-for-a-coronavirus-test or by calling 119.

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community.

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening, you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take.

Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 7 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Advice to all parents regarding COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy:

We have been advised by Public Health England that between Friday evening and over the weekend there have been three, unrelated, confirmed cases of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy. Two within our sixth form bubble and one member of staff.

In an immediate response to being notified of the confirmed cases, cumulatively, 19 students have been identified as in close contact (as defined by DfE guidance) with the individuals who have tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19). Their parents have all been telephoned over the weekend and first thing this morning, and have received a letter informing them that their child must now stay at home for 14 days as a precaution. In addition, two members of staff have been identified and will also self-isolate, as a precaution, for 14 days.

The school remains open and, if you have not been contacted separately, your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community.

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening, you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take.

Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 3 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Advice to all parents regarding a single case of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy

We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a single, confirmed case of COVID-19 within our sixth form bubble at the school, and to send you all this letter.

The parents of the children who have been in close contact with the individual who has tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home for 14 days as a precaution. Likewise, four members of staff have been identified and will also self-isolate, as a precaution, for 14 days.

The school remains open and, if you have not been contacted separately, your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening, you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take.

Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 2 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Advice to all parents regarding a single case of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Academy:

We have been advised by Public Health England that an individual member of staff has tested positive for COVID-19, and to send you all this letter.

Although no children have been identified as having been in close contact with the individual who has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), one additional member of staff has been spoken with and will now stay at home for 14 days as a precaution.

The school remains open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening, you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take.

Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 1 December 2020

Dear parents and carers,

As always, I write to you with my first thoughts being for the safety and health of all your families, whilst also wishing to update you on our current COVID position and our plans as we end lockdown and move into Tier 3 restrictions.

We will, of course, continue to follow the most recent guidance from The Department for Education and align this with our own risk assessments and COVID mitigations.

You can find a copy of the most recent DfE guidance by following this link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

You can continue to view all of our Trust’s COVID compliant documentation and risk assessments by following this link to our website https://canterbury.kent.sch.uk/covid-documentation/

In accordance with that guidance, in moving to Tier 3 (high alert or very high alert) there will be no change to the wearing of face coverings in communal areas around school for secondary aged students across the Trust;

“When an area moves to local restriction tiers: high alert or very high alert, in settings where pupils in year 7 and above are educated, face coverings should be worn by adults and pupils when moving around the premises, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas where social distancing cannot easily be maintained. This does not apply to younger children in primary schools and in early years settings.”

As such, please do continue to encourage your secondary aged child to bring a face covering to school and wear it whenever they are using public transport.

The speed at which our students adjusted to this change at the start of November showed a real maturity, and we do not anticipate this to be an issue as we move to Tier 3. There are young people who will carry exemptions and I would ask you to continue liaising with the appropriate pastoral staff so we can help support with this.

We are delighted that the guidance for Tier 3 allows us to begin, as best we can facilitate, our after school and extra-curricular programmes again across our Trust. However, there continues to be restrictions applied to what can be done after school in areas like Performing Arts and Sport, with, for example, The Department for Culture, Media and Sport yet to agree with sporting National Governing Bodies what is deemed ‘safe.’ Updates will continue to be provided to our students as and when we get them. Similarly, Heads of School will keep communicating with parents and carers on an operational level, as we begin to roll our extra-curricular provision back out and finalise our planning for the end of term on 18 December.

As we move into Tier 3 tomorrow, 2December, it is still the case that the operations of our schools remain relatively untouched by COVID. Student attendance across our schools is consistent at an average of around 92%, and I remain ever humbled by the commitment and sheer determination of our staff team to just keep on keeping on, covering lessons and other activities with the inevitable absence of colleagues; a culture that I am immensely proud to be part of.

This good fortune will be a combination of our mitigations, risk assessments and a decent blob of luck; however, I do wish to thank you most sincerely for the absolutely crucial role that you are playing in keeping our Trust community as safe as possible. Simply put, you have been phenomenal and I cannot thank you enough. You have shared your opinions and given us your voice; you have supported us and communicated with us promptly with issues and backed up our messages at home. Overall, as we endeavour to keep our schools and divisions as ‘normal’ as possible for our young people, the empathy, appreciation and sense of community you have shown has been felt by all of my colleagues across our Trust; in our Nurseries through to our Sixth Form and beyond. Schools can achieve nothing without their parents, and it remains a privilege to be working with and amongst you (socially distanced!) through these most challenging times.

I understand that the Tiers will be reviewed again on 16 December, so until then and the end of term we shall do as we have been, keeping calm and carrying on.

I hope that my next message to you will accompany our celebratory end of term Pillars of Excellence Newsletter, but should there be a need to contact you sooner I will be sure to do so.

My very best wishes to you all,

Jon Waton
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 18 November 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Advice to all parents regarding a single case of COVID-19 at The Canterbury Primary School

We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a single, confirmed case of COVID-19 within our Year 2 bubble at the school, and to send you all this letter.

The parents of the children who have been in close contact with the individual who has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, been contacted and received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home for 14 days as a precaution.

The school remains open and, if you have not been contacted separately, your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

· a new continuous cough

· a high temperature

· a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening, you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

· wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds

· use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available

· wash your hands as soon as you get home

· cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze

· put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take.

Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 11 November 2020

Dear parents and carers,

We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a single, confirmed case of COVID-19 within our sixth form bubble at the school, and to send you all this letter.

The parents of the children who have been in close contact with the individual who has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have, today, been telephoned and received a letter informing them that their child must stay at home for 14 days as a precaution.

The school remains open and, if you have not been contacted separately, your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19:

All other household members who remain well, must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. This includes anyone in your ‘Support Bubble’.

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill.

Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

a new continuous cough
a high temperature
a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening, you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading:

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
wash your hands as soon as you get home
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Currently, there is no further action for the school to take.

Should there be any updates I will be sure to let you know as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID Update - 4 November 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Welcome back to what I had hoped would be a slightly more ‘normal’ term 2 across our Trust.

Sadly, with the Prime Minister’s announcement of Saturday evening, we are now moving back to a month long national lockdown. However, the government have been clear that schools shall remain open and carry on, as best as possible, as they have through term 1.

I would like to have written to you sooner this week, in anticipation of Thursday, but I have only this afternoon received some updated guidance from the Department for Education (DfE), available by following this link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-and-childcare-settings-new-national-restrictions-from-5-november-2020?utm_source=4%20November%202020%20C19&utm_medium=Daily%20Email%20C19&utm_campaign=DfE%20C19

The key change in the guidance is around face coverings in communal areas;

In primary schools and education settings teaching year 6 and below, there is no change to the existing position. It is not mandatory for staff and visitors to wear face coverings. In situations where social distancing between adults in settings is not possible (for example when moving around in corridors and communal areas), settings have the discretion to recommend the use of face coverings for adults on site, for both staff and visitors.

In schools where pupils in year 7 and above are educated, face coverings should be worn by adults and pupils when moving around the premises, outside of classrooms, such as in corridors and communal areas where social distancing cannot easily be maintained. This was already the case for pupils in year 7 and above, and staff and visitors for those schools that were in areas where local alert level ‘high’ and ‘very high’.

Some individuals are exempt from wearing face coverings and we expect adults and pupils to be sensitive to those needs.

Face coverings should also be worn by pupils in year 7 and above when travelling on dedicated school transport to secondary school or college.

In light of this, ideally as of tomorrow (Thursday) morning, but certainly by Monday, 9 November, staff across our Trust will be supporting our students to wear face coverings in communal areas. Tomorrow morning, senior colleagues will be supporting students as they enter our secondary sites, to check they have a face covering and supply them with a disposable one, should they not have their own.

In addition, leadership groups across our Trust will move to postpone key events that were due to take place in November. For The Canterbury Academy, for example, the Sixth Form Open Evening planned for 10 November has been postponed and provisionally rescheduled for 21 January, 2021. Heads of Schools and Divisions will be in touch with parents and carers directly, regarding any further postponements and rescheduling.

Likewise, the revised guidance goes onto say that extra-curricular activities and fixtures will need to cease for the month of November; not just in sport but across our schools. However, at The Canterbury Primary School, for instance, our ‘326 Club’ will be allowed to continue, as it provides a ‘child care function.’ Likewise, Breakfast Clubs at both The Canterbury Academy and The Canterbury Primary School can continue to operate as part of our ‘wrap around care.’

With all of our schools remaining open across our Trust, you can continue to find our COVID secure and compliancy documentation, alongside risk assessments, on our website; https://canterbury.kent.sch.uk/covid-documentation/ We will, obviously, continue to review these regularly, and update them accordingly, in line with this most recent guidance from the DfE.

With my sincerest thanks to colleagues, phase, team leaders and DoTLs across the Trust, we remain positioned to continue our remote learning programmes for individuals, groups or year groups of students, should they be required.

As regards attendance, the government remain clear that all students, currently, are expected to attend school. At both The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy, we were delighted to see that attendance for term 1 was close to 95%. This was especially pleasing, given the challenges that COVID has presented. Our wish remains for all students to attend school through this next period of lockdown. However, I do of course acknowledge that this will cause varying degrees of anxiety for families. If you are worried about your child’s attendance, or how their attendance at school may affect your family’s ability to isolate, please do not hesitate to contact the relevant Support Manager or Pastoral Leader at your child’s school. As we have throughout, we will continue to work closely to support you in making the right decision for your child, your family and your context.

As you know, it has been our intention to try and make our schools as ‘normal’ as possible for our students and, with that in mind, Heads of School wrote to all parents and carers at the end of last term, outlining our plans for this term and the next phase of our COVID recovery planning. These plans remain in place and will continue, carefully and sensitively, working alongside DfE guidance.

I am not going pretend that things will be easy moving forward. Colleagues and young people will continue to need tests for COVID. There may be lesson cover needed and, thus, some implications for learning. I hope you will feel I have always been frank with you, as I have with my colleagues, in saying that I cannot guarantee complete protection from COVID at our Trust. We can only mitigate the risk that we shall all face, collectively, in our schools and in our communities, to an acceptable level. Many families will be worried, and quite understandably so. Please do make sure that, if you have any concerns, you contact your child’s school, so they can be addressed appropriately and with the level of care and attention they deserve.

We will keep calm and carry on.

My very best regards to you all,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

The Pillars of Excellence Newsletter – Term 1 October 2020

The Pillars of Excellence Newsletter – Term 6 July 2020

Dear parents and carers,

I write to you all this evening, on what is our last day of term 6, not entirely sure how I can best sum up what has happened this academic year. The word “unprecedented” has been used way too often and I don’t think that it really accurately describes what we have been through as a Trust community in recent months. I guess we might be better to focus on what COVID 19 may have taught us about ourselves, our families and our communities; what we hold true in our hearts and our minds, and what we value above all else. So much has happened in the last four months since we locked down as a nation on 20 March; so long ago, yet for many of us it will always only seem like yesterday. My intention is to keep this message relatively brief… I can hear the collective sigh of relief from you all having read my many volumes of emails since March!

On the subject of what we hold true, our vision, our ethos, our philosophy and our culture across the schools and divisions of The Canterbury Academy Trust, I do hope you may feel we have kept to them during these uncertain and challenging times. And, with that in mind, I attach our end of term 6 Pillars of Excellence Newsletter, which I hope you will be able to read at your leisure. It is what we would send out “in the old days” at the end of each term, which had been brilliantly replaced, temporarily, by the weekly Celebrations Newsletter issued by Mrs Shilling, Miss Wilson and the Teaching and Learning Team across our Trust, highlighting all of the brilliant work that was going on in and out of the classroom, in and out of school, through lockdown. Despite all of the challenges that COVID has presented our Trust community, you will see the magnificent ways that students, friends, families, neighbours, streets and communities have pulled together to still make sure that we were making the very best of an incredibly difficult situation. I hope you may feel just as inspired as I have been reading the newsletter.

Can I remind you all, please, that although our schools have been guided to close for the summer break, our usual summer offer of provision delivered by our Youth, Community and Extended Services Team, led by Adam Fairbrass, will be sent to you all in the next couple of days detailing the activities available; running alongside a summer transition camp for our new Year 7 students in September, who have, of course, missed out on the normal induction process. Similarly, should you wish to follow what the Trust is doing through the summer period and beyond, please do click on any of our social media icons on the Newsletter and join any, or all, of our social media platforms.

Each of our Heads of School have written to parents and carers to inform you of our plans for the total re-opening of our schools from September, with start of term timings and details as to what our schools will look and feel like. As you know, each Head of School will be back in touch with you at the end of August, around a week before the scheduled start of term, to reconfirm details and provide you with any more information, should it be needed. We will also continue to monitor the situation with COVID closely through the summer break and work in conjunction with and adhere to, as we have throughout, all relevant agencies and published guidance.

Likewise, for those students in year 11 and 13 who will be receiving their results this summer and securing their onward destinations into further education, training or employment, I wish them the very best of luck and hope that we shall see our ‘Classes of 2020’ at a safe and appropriate time again in the future. I also wish them to know that we shall always be here for them if they ever need us; they will forever remain part of our Trust community.

So, as a line is slowly drawn under the strangest and most challenging of academic years, I wish to publicly and most sincerely thank our incredible staff across our Trust, whom I feel so privileged to work amongst. You, of course, our parental body, who have been so unfalteringly supportive of all that we have tried to do for our young people and families; your messages of support, thanks and encouragement have been so very much appreciated, humbly and often quite emotionally received. And then, of course, our students, your wonderful children, who have been dealt such a difficult blow through lockdown and who have handled things in the very best possible way. There are stories of utter inspiration, from so many of you, that will live with me and all of my colleagues for the rest of our careers. We are very much looking forward to seeing all of our students back in our schools again in September; their smiles and laughter has been so dreadfully missed.

It only remains for me to say, on behalf of all of my colleagues across The Canterbury Academy Trust, it has been and remains a privilege to have been with you, together, as a community, through this pandemic. We shall all look forward positively now to a happier and healthier academic year in 2020/21.

My very best wishes to you and all of your families for a restful, enjoyable and safe summer.

Yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Click to download Newsletter

COVID19 Guidance for Schools - 3 July 2020

Dear parents and carers,

Before I begin, I do hope that as lockdown continues to be eased my message still finds you and all of your families safe and well. I hope, also, you may have had the chance to read our final Celebrations Newsletter from Mrs Shilling, Miss Wilson and the Teaching and Learning Team. It has been an immense piece of work to continue through lockdown, and I am incredibly grateful to them for all of their efforts. I hope that you will feel as passionately as I do, that everything you have seen in those newsletters has been a very neat and perfect encapsulation of everything that our Trust stands for, both in and out the classroom, and in and out of school. The next newsletter you will receive will be back to the “old days” of the Pillars of Excellence Newsletter at the end of this term.

You will all doubtless have seen the Department for Education’s guidance on how schools should re-open to all students full-time in September, released to the general public at the same time yesterday as Headteachers saw it for the first time; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

As you already know, the guidance that remains in place until September has allowed us to welcome back significant numbers of young people at City View Pre-School and Nursery, The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy. In addition to the groups of Key Worker and vulnerable children that already existed, it has been an absolute pleasure to gradually see more numbers return to campus, seeing more smiles and hearing the much missed sound of young people laughing and enjoying themselves gradually but surely increase in volume! I know I can speak on behalf of all my colleagues across the Trust, when I say we have missed our face to face interactions with your children, our students, so very much.

For those of you that may have read some or all of the guidance, you will see that there is much to wade through, and I am sure you will have many questions as to how things will work. As I have said on several occasions previously, I hope that you will still respect that I can make no guarantees of complete safety from COVID. But I can continue to assure you that we will take all reasonable steps to mitigate the risk that we shall all face to an acceptable level. I hope you will have felt assured by the COVID secure and compliancy documentation available on our website.

In the main, today, I write to thank you again for your unwavering support and the absolutely integral role that you continue to play as parents and carers across our Trust community in supporting us as we edge back towards a new normal in our schools. The time frame within which we have to plan for September is tight, but we are resolute in our determination to get things as right as possible, as quickly as possible and as safely as possible. Your feedback at every stage of our gradual and phased re-opening has been crucial in shaping our thinking, and we wish for this to continue as we move into what we hope may be the final phase of re-opening now for all students in September. There are still nearly two months before the start of next academic year and much can change, as we have seen most recently in Leicester. We shall live with this virus for many, many months to come. We must and shall, as always, proceed carefully, methodically and calmly; gathering as much intelligence, feedback, information and guidance along the way as possible.

With all of that said I also write to thank you for your patience. Our leadership groups across the Trust are in possession of the guidance and have begun to carefully plan their way through it. Meetings will continue next week and although it is impossible to give an exact time frame, it is my hope that each of our Heads of School will have written to parents with a clearer plan and details for the total re-opening of our schools in the next two weeks, including expectations around school uniform and other detail, certainly in advance of the summer holidays. I shall personally, of course, continue to update you as and when appropriate.

Alongside those communications, we shall also make you aware of the provision we will offer through the summer holidays across our Trust. Although schools have been guided by the DfE to close to all students over the summer break, our Trust is determined to still offer a provision through our Youth, Community and Extended Services Team. In light of yesterday’s most recent guidance, Adam Fairbrass, who directs that particular pillar, is currently in the process of finalising staffing and provision, so that we can write to you and our young people in the next week or so with details of what that offer may look like.

So, as our Trust community has done throughout this situation, we shall keep calm and carry on. There remains guidance in place for schools and parents until September, replaced then by the new DfE guidance above. We shall continue to face the challenges that COVID presents us together as a Trust team of students, parents, carers and staff; working through them sensitively, objectively and always with the very best and safest interests of all of our families in mind.

My very best wishes remain with you and all of your families,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID19 Update - 15 June 2020

Dear parents and carers,

As we all slowly, surely and safely, continue to adjust our lives to fit what will be a new “normal” for potentially many months moving forward, I write to update you on our current position and plans, looking forward as schools across The Canterbury Academy Trust.

You will doubtless already have read our newsletter this week, celebrating much of the work that has gone on across our Trust, both in school and remotely, over this last week. As we have begun to re-open our schools more widely since the beginning of June, our colleagues at City View Pre-School and Nursery continue to do a brilliant job in welcoming increasing numbers of young people back, as more and more parents return to work. Now, as we near the end of the second week in which more students returned to The Canterbury Primary School, we are delighted to report on some of the work that has been taking place, and we remain ever grateful for the ongoing support and overwhelmingly positive feedback that has been provided by our parents and wider community. At The Canterbury Academy all staff training on COVID New Ways of Working has now been competed and we are all very much looking forward to seeing more of our students in Years 10 and 12 return to us next week, alongside the Key Worker and vulnerable child group(s) that have been operational since lockdown began.

As you will know, as we move forward carefully, accepting COVID may now be part of our lives for the foreseeable future, The Canterbury Academy has, in the short term, been split into three schools:

A Key Worker and Vulnerable Child School led by Mrs Banbery
A Year 10 School led by Mr Brooke
A Year 12 School led by Mrs Winslow

You will already have been contacted privately by each of the Heads of School to inform you of the detail surrounding your child’s return to school. Again, may I thank you for all of your support and very useful feedback as part of that process. As I say, we are very much looking forward to seeing more of your children, our students, back on campus beginning next week. Each Head of School will be sure to maintain regular contact with you separately as our plans continue to develop and evolve over the remaining weeks of term.

Nevertheless, and as has been consistent in my messages to you throughout this crisis, if you are yet to do so and would like to claim a place for your “eligible” child in any of these schools please can you contact:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

I feel obliged to remind you again that it is now the Department for Education’s position that;

“Now that we have made progress in reducing the transmission of coronavirus we are encouraging all eligible children to attend – it is no longer necessary for parents of eligible children to keep them at home if they can. In particular, as per the existing guidance on vulnerable children and young people, vulnerable children of all year groups continue to be expected and encouraged to attend educational provision where it is appropriate for them to do so.”

However, you continue to have my assurance that it does, of course, remain entirely your choice as to whether you send your child to school and, as I have said before, you will receive nothing other than our support in making the right decision for your child and your own individual family circumstance.

Quite justifiably, the journey that your child will make to and from school remains a concern, especially as many may use public transport. Stagecoach, as we understand it, will still be unable to run any dedicated school buses. However, ordinary bus services are still running. The number 22, for example, stops almost directly outside the campus on Knight Avenue. Students can catch this service to and from the main bus station in Canterbury. I can only continue to advise all parents and carers to check the Stagecoach website on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/south-east/canterbury as regularly as possible, just to make sure that the services you may require continue to run.

Furthermore, you will all be aware that from Monday 15 June it has become a requirement that anybody who uses public transport must wear a face covering. You can follow this link for the guidance on the government website https://www.gov.uk/government/news/face-coverings-to-become-mandatory-on-public-transport

We have also had the following message from Kent County Council, that I have been asked to share with you in advance of next week;

“To be clear, the requirement is for a form of face covering that covers the mouth and nose and is distinct from any medical grade PPE. With this in mind, it is the responsibility of parents to equip their child with an appropriate face covering for their journey. In addition to pupils wearing face coverings, those who support children with their journey to school will also be required to wear a face covering in line with the national guidance.”

KCC have produced a notice covering the key information around this, which I have attached for your information.

As I write to you today, with just over four weeks left of term 6, for parents of children currently in Years 7, 8 and 9 at The Canterbury Academy, it still appears that there will be no return to school until September 2020, at the earliest, unless they are vulnerable or the child of a Key Worker. For as long as this situation continues I hope that our students will still access their remote learning timetables and remember that our staff are here to support at any time, as are the Directors of Teaching and Learning, Heads of Learning and Heads of School. For students in Year 11 and 13 due to leave us in the summer, and for any others who were due to sit public examinations in the summer, we shall continue to update you separately on the processes through which your grades are being calculated and how you will collect them. Likewise, we shall also discuss some of those rites of passage you may have, in the short term, been denied, like the legendary Leavers’ Assemblies and Balls; such very important things that we wish to assure you we have absolutely not forgotten.

As regards September, we have all very much welcomed the announcement that the government will fund ‘catch up programmes’ for young people through the summer and beyond, although there is still much detail as to how that will work needed behind the announcement.

Similarly, it remains the case, as I write to you, that despite the excellent news that the Prime Minister has pledged to have all students back in our schools full-time from September, the guidance behind that plan is also yet to be published. This is now a major concern for schools with so little time remaining to sensibly plan. As I have said throughout, until such point as legitimate, detailed guidance is produced by the Department for Education and the government, any speculation in the press or media remains entirely unhelpful. Regardless, and as I have said previously, when the detail and guidance is eventually produced, we shall address it positively together as a Trust community, navigating our way through it calmly, objectively and methodically, and always in the very best and safest interests of all of our children and all of our families.

As I finish today I wish to remind you of the Friday, many weeks ago now, that schools were forced to close due to COVID on 20 March. As I pointed out at the time, that happened to coincide with the 103rd birthday of Dame Vera Lynn. As we closed our doors that evening I spoke of the spirit that Dame Lynn embodied and the voice that sang many of our grandparents and great grandparents through some deeply troubling times in World War II. That evening, I left you with some words from one her most famous songs, the lyrics of which have seemed as relevant over the last three months as they did all those years ago;

“But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day
Keep smiling through
Just like you always do
‘Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away“

Sadly, Dame Vera Lynn passed away yesterday morning, yet I feel sure that she would have been incredibly proud of how our community have handled everything that has been thrown at us by COVID. Last month, on the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, she spoke of how simple acts of bravery and sacrifice still define our nation. Never has that been more prevalent than in our own Trust’s community during COVID through your acts of kindness, support, resilience, care and encouragement, both for your own families and throughout our communities. It has been an inspiration.

As we look forward and, also, in celebration of a wonderful life, I shall leave you with our own Trust’s tribute to that beautiful song, ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ and everything that it stood for by following this link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EgJ8Bik1RSU

For us, as Dame Lynn promised, that sunny day when we shall all meet again is edging ever closer.

As always, my very best regards to you all,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID19 Update - Reopening of Schools - 5 June 2020

Dear parents and carers,

As we conclude the first week of Term 6 I write, as promised, to update you further on our plans to open our schools more widely across The Canterbury Academy Trust.

I do hope, as always, that my message will find you and all of your families well and in good spirits. I hope, also, that our weekly newsletter from Miss Wilson, Mrs Shilling and the rest of our Teaching and Learning Team, will have given you a very good feel for the excellent work that continues across our Trust, both in school and remotely.

As you will be aware, the country remains at a critical point in its battle against COVID 19 and we must all continue to proceed with caution, none more so than in our approach to opening schools across the country to more students. As I have said, it is my intention to get it as right as possible, as soon as possible and as safely as possible. There is much to consider, much guidance to read, often at the last minute, and many logistical barriers to overcome. Your voice has been and remains crucial in this, and I should like to thank those parents and carers who have provided such invaluable feedback through our questionnaire processes. We think we are nearly there…

We have carried out thorough risk assessments and adhered to COVID compliancy guidelines. You will now be able to view the following documents on our Trust’s website, should you wish to, by clicking https://canterbury.kent.sch.uk/covid-documentation/

The Canterbury Academy Trust – COVID Secure Statement
The Canterbury Academy Trust – COVID Risk Assessment
City View – COVID Secure Statement
City View COVID Risk Assessment
COVID Risk Assessment Guidance

As you know, all of our schools have remained open through this pandemic, however, this week, City View Pre-School and Nursery continues to expand its offer. Whilst at The Canterbury Primary School, colleagues have been in for COVID New Ways of Working training, operating within their new “bubbles.” Mrs Farrell has written to primary parents separately and I know, alongside all of the team, is looking forward to seeing more of our children from Monday, 8 June, and excited to hear classrooms, corridors and playgrounds slowly fill with smiles and laughter once again.

It remains the case across our Trust that if your child has been classified as vulnerable according to a combination of the government’s and our own definitions, we will already have contacted you privately and you will have been offered a place in our provision. However, regardless of any label, if you feel your child to be vulnerable, please contact us and we will do all we can to support.

If you are classified as a key worker it still remains that your child, in DfE terms, is also “eligible” for a place in our provision, should you wish to accept it. The government’s definition of key workers remains available via this hyperlink Key Workers for your information.

As regards attendance, the guidance from The Department for Education has changed to say;

“Now that we have made progress in reducing the transmission of coronavirus we are encouraging all eligible children to attend – it is no longer necessary for parents of eligible children to keep them at home if they can. In particular, as per the existing guidance on vulnerable children and young people, vulnerable children of all year groups continue to be expected and encouraged to attend educational provision where it is appropriate for them to do so.”

It does, of course, remain entirely your choice as to whether you send your child to school and, as I have said before, you will receive nothing other than our support in making the right decision for your child and your own individual family circumstance. However, if you have not already done so and wish for your eligible child to begin attending, please can you let us know by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

You are also aware that we have been planning for the wider return of Year 10 and 12 students at The Canterbury Academy for some face to face learning, which will supplement that which is being done remotely in Term 6. Thank you very much to the parents of students in Year 10 and 12 for returning your questionnaires so quickly, it has really helped shape our thinking and knowing how you feel has made a very complicated task slightly less so. Moving forward, if you are a parent that we know to be a key worker and/or your child has been classified as vulnerable, you will receive a letter from Mrs Banbery on Monday, 8 June, detailing our ongoing plan.

For the week beginning 15 June, staff at The Canterbury Academy will, as their primary colleagues have, receive training on COVID New Ways of Working. More widely, students in Year 10 and 12 will be invited back to campus for some face to face learning from the week beginning 22 June.

If you are the parent of a Year 10 student you will receive a letter on Monday, 8 June, from Mr Brooke, detailing our plan to offer your child some face to face learning, including the day and time they can arrive from w/b 22 June. Likewise, on Monday, 8 June, if you are the parent of a Year 12 student, you will receive a letter from Mrs Winslow. All of these plans are entirely flexible and fluid; we remain very conscious that things are still changing regularly and rapidly, so we continue to be keen on placing ourselves in a position where our plans can adapt and adjust quickly if needed.

Many of you have highlighted, quite justifiably, your concerns around the use of public transport, and I am afraid I am still unable to advise you further on that. Stagecoach, for example, as we understand it, will not be running any dedicated school buses. However, ordinary bus services are still running. The number 22, for example, stops almost directly outside the campus on Knight Avenue. Students can catch this service to and from the main bus station in Canterbury. I can only continue to advise all parents and carers to check the Stagecoach website on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/south-east/canterbury as regularly as possible, just to make sure that the services you may require continue to run.

For parents of children at City View Pre-School and Nursery and The Canterbury Primary School, Mrs Farrell will continue to keep you regularly updated as our plans develop through Term 6. For parents of children currently in Years 7, 8 and 9 at The Canterbury Academy, it still appears that there will be no return to school until September 2020, at the earliest, unless they are vulnerable or the child of a key worker. I know that our students will continue to access their remote learning timetables and please do remember that our staff remain here to support at any time, as do our Directors of Teaching and Learning, Heads of Learning and Heads of School. For students in Year 11 and 13 due to leave us this academic year, and for any others who would have sat public examinations in the summer, we shall continue to update you separately on the processes through which your grades are being calculated and how you will collect them.

With only six weeks remaining until the end of this term and much inconsistent, conflicting advice still circulating in the press, scientific and otherwise, the government are being urged by school leaders and unions to publish further guidance for September. Suffice to say and in a hope to assure you further, once it is published we will address it together as a Trust community, navigating our way through it calmly, objectively and methodically, and always in the very best and safest interests of all of our children and all of our families.

As I have throughout this crisis, I remain incredibly grateful for all of your support and thank you, in anticipation, as we continue to move forward together.

My very best wishes to you all,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID19 Update - 28 May 2020

Dear parents and carers,

As always, I hope that this message continues to find you and all of your families remaining safe and well.

With another week drawing to a close I wanted to write and briefly update you on a few things, as we continue to plan for the phased re-opening of our schools across The Canterbury Academy Trust.

For those parents of children at City View Pre-School and Nursery and The Canterbury Primary School, Mrs Farrell will be writing to you about the final plans for re-opening further accordingly. I would like to thank Mrs Farrell and her team for all of the work that has gone into preparing to welcome more students back to those sites and, of course, my thanks to all those parents who fed back their questionnaires and thoughts on our proposals. The information, opinion and perspective you shared with us was absolutely vital in shaping our plans. I know how much the staff are looking forward to seeing our students and their families again, as we all begin to adjust to our new “normal.”

As regards The Canterbury Academy, can I also thank the vast majority of parents of students in Years 10 and 12 for the prompt return of their questionnaire. Again, how you and your child feel about any potential return is incredibly important to us and will, obviously, play a huge part in our planning for how we may be able to offer some face to face learning to supplement the remote learning that students will already be doing. If you are a parent of a child in Year 10 or 12 and have not yet completed the questionnaire, please may I ask that you do so and submit it at your earliest convenience.

If you are the parent of a child in Year 10, please follow this link to complete and submit the questionnaire; https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=TxWpPkWAgE264qMS1YZuE8cGAJTexPFOt2F0gx2V3jNUOERNOFMxN0tGWjhZWktPM1pZQTdUSE4yRS4u

If you are the parent of a child in Year 12, please follow this link to complete and submit the questionnaire; https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=TxWpPkWAgE264qMS1YZuE8cGAJTexPFOt2F0gx2V3jNUQVVGTUZZTTYwMUJIUzBCSFVKOUlMMU8yRi4u

With our Trust’s staffing capacity now assessed and parental questionnaires largely returned, the leadership group at The Canterbury Academy will be spending the start of next week planning what our offer for Year 10 and 12 might be, and I will be sure to keep you updated as this develops. There is, of course, a huge amount to consider in our planning and much government guidance to incorporate when doing so; especially in light of the fact that we are only allowed to have up to a quarter of each year group on campus at any one time. Risk assessments are also being finalised alongside all COVID compliancy documentation, and will be published on our website(s) for your information in the coming days. We wish to get things as right as possible, as soon as possible, as safely as possible, and remain incredibly grateful for all of your ongoing support as we continue to plan for this next phase. It is my intention to be able to communicate with you a more detailed plan as to what we can offer our Year 10 and 12 students on campus at the end of next week.

Sadly, however, government guidance would now appear to suggest that for students who are currently in Year 7, 8 and 9, there will be no return to campus possible until September at the earliest, unless your child is deemed vulnerable or you are a key worker. If you fit either of those categories a provision will continue to be available for your child, as it has been throughout, if you wish to accept it. If you are a key worker or your child is vulnerable, although I am obliged to point out to you that the government are now “encouraging” you to send your children to school, I also wish to assure you that, should you choose not to, you will receive nothing other than our support in making the right decision for your child and your own individual family circumstances. For students who are in current Years 11 and 13, and for others who may have been sitting public examinations this summer, we shall continue to update you separately.

As we continue to move forward, if you have any questions about our Phase 3 Remote Learning Plan or wish to now book a place in our provision(s) for your child who may be vulnerable, or you are a keyworker, please contact:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

Finally, this evening’s government briefing was planned to announce their “final” decision on whether schools should re-open to more students or not, although the Prime Minister seemed to announce his definitive intention earlier this week. I shall be in touch next week with an update on our planning and next steps.

My very best wishes to you all, always.

Yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Reopening of Schools - Questionnaire for Year 10 and 12 Parents - 26 May 2020

Dear parents and carers,

I trust that this message will find you and all of your families well, having enjoyed, I hope, a sunny and relaxing Bank Holiday weekend.

I have already outlined to you the planning that we are undertaking, carefully and methodically, as we begin to ramp up our preparations for the possible return of some more of our students. All of these preparations, of course, run alongside our Phase 3 Remote Learning Plan for Term 6, which you will all have received yesterday afternoon. And, as you know, the Prime Minister announced on Sunday evening that he should like secondary schools to provide some face to face learning for students in Years 10 and 12, to supplement that which they are already doing remotely. He has said that this should be available from 15 June at the earliest, and should run alongside the continued provision for key worker and vulnerable children.

As promised, and as part of our ongoing planning, I write to you with a questionnaire that I should be grateful if you would complete. As always, and in an attempt to be open and transparent, it is also important to me that I share with you an honest overview of
the position we now find ourselves in.

Moving forward, the only certainty is that there can be no certainty. Schools will be forced to be very different places for the foreseeable future. I am sorry, but I will not be able to guarantee protection from COVID. I remain unable to make that guarantee for children, parents, my colleagues or our families. As has been reported nationally, the only guarantee of protection is to remain in lockdown and at home until the virus has gone away, if it ever goes away. According to the government’s guidance, it is now about being able to mitigate the risk of COVID transmission whilst at school, and in society more generally, to an “acceptable level.” If they do return to school I cannot guarantee that your child will, in the short term, have access to the usual staff members that teach them. I cannot guarantee they will have access to their full, usual suite of qualifications and they will not be able to take part in certain activities. Equipment cannot be shared and this will have an obvious impact on many of the practical lessons that would normally take place. The beginning and end of the school day will need to be staggered, as will break and lunchtime. Movement around the campus will also be restricted to a minimum. I cannot guarantee that students will socially distance and the guidance acknowledges that for staff to police that will simply be impossible at all times during the day. Neither can I, obviously, make any guarantees of safety for those young people who may use public transport to and from school.

Having said all of that, as our government suggests, I can continue to reassure you that we will take all reasonable steps to mitigate the risk of COVID transmission to an acceptable level to keep everybody safe

Most importantly, we will continue to follow all of the DfE guidance given to us as sensitively and supportively as we can.
Children and adults will continue to be supported fully, either in their learning and work in school, wherever it is safe and possible, or alternatively in their remote learning and work at home.
Thorough COVID risk assessments and adaptions to learning/working practices will be in place for every aspect of this return to school and work. These risk assessments, in due course and in line with government guidance, will also be published on our website(s).
Again, in line with DfE guidance, COVID protective measures will be fully implemented, including support mechanisms and processes. These will cover vitally important areas such as cleaning and sanitising, any movement around the campus and all social distancing guidelines.
Class sizes, groupings and staffing, as well as the organisation and structure of learning and the school day, will be reviewed and adapted sensibly and supportively.

We wish to ensure that the safety and well-being, and not just the education, of everybody remains our highest priority.I do hope that our students will be having a break from their remote learning this half-term week, as we certainly do not expect work to be submitted. Instead, I hope that you will all be able to appraise yourselves of the tweaks to our Phase 3 Remote Learning Plan in advance of it starting on 1 June. Likewise, I hope you will be able to spend some time engaging in a really constructive family discussion around how you all feel about our children possibly returning.

The assessment of our staffing capacity will be complete this week, so it would be very helpful if you could return the questionnaire by Thursday, 28 May, please, coinciding with the next expected government announcement about the opening of schools. At this point we should have a much clearer picture of our staffing availability, as well as the students/parents who notionally wish to engage with what we may offer.

So, if you are the parent of a child in Year 10, please follow this link to complete and submit the questionnaire;

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=TxWpPkWAgE264qMS1YZuE8cGAJTexPFOt2F0gx2V3jNUOERNOFMxN0tGWjhZWktPM1pZQTdUSE4yRS4

If you are the parent of a child in Year 12, please follow this link to complete and submit the questionnaire;

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=TxWpPkWAgE264qMS1YZuE8cGAJTexPFOt2F0gx2V3jNUQVVGTUZZTTYwMUJIUzBCSFVKOUlMMU8yRi4

You will doubtless be reading and hearing much in the press and media about the safety of schools reopening. There is much confusing, inconsistent and conflicting scientific advice circulating at the moment, but, amongst all of it, I want you to be assured that we shall remain here for you; to support you, to listen to your concerns and help however, whenever and in whichever way we can. I want you to be in no doubt at all, that whatever decision you do arrive at regarding sending your child back to school, it will be the right one for your child, you and your wider family context. You will not be pursued for attendance and there will be no penalties. We will support you.

I look forward to collating your responses and will be in touch further at the end of the week with next steps.

With my thanks in anticipation and all very best wishes

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Phase 3 Distance Learning – 25 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

As per my email of last week and as we look forward to the start of Term 6, we wanted to update you with regard to our distance learning programmes.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of yesterday afternoon, it is now clear, as we suspected, that a large number of our students, particularly in current years 7, 8 and 9, will be continuing to learn remotely, from home, and, as such, we have further reviewed and refined our distance learning package.

Additionally, Mr Johnson stated that “up to a quarter” of students in Year 10 and Year 12 should be able to access some “face to face” learning in schools from 15th June; the details of which remain unclear with further guidance promised in the coming days. But, as you know, our planning continues through the ongoing assessment of our staffing capacity, alongside the questionnaire that parents of students in Years 10 and 12 will be sent tomorrow to gauge feeling about a possible return for their children from 15th June. Once further guidance is published and our position clarifies, more news will follow on this later this week.

For Years 7-10, students can continue to access their work via the Show My Homework platform. You may have noticed that there has been a branding change with the app, and this is now called Satchel One; there are no other changes.

Understandably, remote learning does pose many challenges for children and their families, but please do remember that our teachers are available to support our students with their work. Students can contact their class teachers with questions about their work via Show My Homework or via email. Equally, when a task has been completed, this should be submitted to their teacher so that they can then receive feedback and guidance on their next steps. This feedback is vitally important for helping consolidate and shape future learning.

At school, our students are very used to a structured timetable of lessons that helps them organise their day. In order to help them manage their workloads at home, we suggest that they follow the timetable below throughout Term 6. This is based on students completing three study sessions a day. While, of course, this can be flexible, we hope that it will help students and their families help manage chunks of work and structure their week.

Years 7 & 8

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
English	Maths	Geography	Science	French/Spanish
Art	Performing Arts	PE	Technology	Food
RE	IT	History	English	Maths

Year 9

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
English	Maths	Science	Maths	Science
History or Geography	Option Block B	English	History or Geography	Option Block B
Option Block A	Option Block C	Option Block C	Option Block A	Catch Up

Option Block A

Option Block B

Option Block C

French

Spanish

Construction

Food

Textiles

Health & Social Care

Art

Technology

BTEC Sport

Drama

Dance

Performing Arts

Construction

Food

CACHE

Triple Science

GCSE PE

BTEC Sport

Music

Sociology

Photography

Business

Studies

Hair & Beauty

CACHE

Year 10

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
English	Maths	Science	Maths	Science
History or Geography	Option Block B	English	History or Geography	Option Block B
Option Block A	Option Block C	Option Block C	Option Block A	Catch Up

Option Block A

Option Block B

Option Block C

French

Spanish

Construction

Food

Textiles

Health & Social Care

Business

Computer Science

Technology

BTEC Sport

Art

Drama

Dance

Construction

Food

CACHE

Textiles

History

Technology

Spanish

BTEC Sport

Music

Sociology

Photography

Business

Hair & Beauty

Health & Social Care

Work will continue to be set fortnightly by teachers with clear guidance on the tasks and activities that students should be completing and clear deadlines for submission of tasks.

Alongside this, we feel it is important for students to participate in exercise, enjoy fresh air, perhaps engage in activities together as a family such as baking, or family games, and spend time processing the very challenging circumstances that we find ourselves in. As ever, young people’s well-being is vitally important.

For our students in Year 12, they will continue to be set work directly from their class teacher through their existing methods of communication, including via email, Microsoft Teams or Show My Homework. Again, all work should be submitted directly to the teacher so that feedback and guidance on next steps can be received.

If you have any questions regarding your child’s learning, please do not hesitate to contact:

Mrs Shilling, Teaching & Learning: ashilling@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Banbery, Head of the Middle School: abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Mr Brooke, Head of Senior School: jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Winslow, Head of Sixth Form: lwinslow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Mr Hadlow, Director of Post-16 Education: shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Finally, we would like to thank you for your ongoing support through these exceptional and challenging times.

Yours faithfully,

Jon Watson

COVID19 Update - 22 May 2020

Dear parents and carers,

I write to you today, at what would have been the end of Term 5 to update you, as promised, on our planning for the possible reopening of schools across The Canterbury Academy Trust for more of our students.

Firstly, may I remind you that both The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy shall remain open to the children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable through the half-term week, including Spring Bank Holiday Monday on 25 May. We continue to take this stance in order to keep helping key workers get to work, most notably our front line services in the NHS and other emergency workers, and support our most vulnerable young people and their families through this most stressful of times.

If you are a key worker and require a place for your child, please do remember to let us know. Likewise, if we have written to you separately because we believe your child maybe vulnerable, please let us know if you require provision moving forward. You can access the guidance for parents and carers and the list of key workers by following this hyperlink; Key Workers

If you have not already done so and wish for us to make provision for your child through half-term, including the Bank Holiday, please can you let us know by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

To remind you:

If you are reporting to The Canterbury Primary School, Breakfast Club will be open from 7.45am and the school day will start at 9am.
If you are reporting to The Canterbury Academy, including the sixth form, please report to the main school hall for 8.45am.
Students do not have to wear uniform. Normal, casual clothes, will be fine.
A school meal and refreshments will be available as normal.
Please do not bring any PE kit unless you are specifically asked to in advance.
Our school days, as normal, will finish at 3pm.
With regret, there will be no after school clubs available at either school.

For those young people who may travel by bus, may I please advise all parents and carers to check the Stagecoach website on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/south-east/canterbury as regularly as possible, just to make sure that the services you may require continue to run. The number 22, for example, stops almost directly outside the campus on Knight Avenue. Students can catch this service to and from the main bus station in Canterbury.

Likewise, if you would like to be kept informed as to what our Trust community is doing to stay together even though we remain apart, please, if you are able, join our social media platforms:

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

Secondly, I remain very aware that next week would normally be a chance for students to have a break from their learning, and I wish for that to still be the case. Although the uptake across our Trust through all of our on-line and distance learning mechanisms has been brilliant, I do not want our children to feel pressured to keep studying through their half-term. I know that you will continue to find your own way and do what is right for your child, but, please, do not feel that we expect work to be submitted over half-term, or for on-line learning to be accessed as regularly, if at all. We can pick it all up again at the start of next term on 1 June.

As regards our ongoing planning for the re-opening of our schools to more pupils, the government’s briefing of yesterday afternoon gave no further assurances for schools and parents. I suspect we may not hear anything more until a final decision is made on 28 May, leaving only the Friday and weekend for nurseries and primary schools to make final preparations before 1 June. Mrs Farrell will be writing to all parents of children at City View Nursery and The Canterbury Primary School today with the specifics of their re-opening plans. I very much hope you will find the information useful. I thank you, again, for the replies to Mrs Farrell’s questionnaire; your comments and feedback was very much appreciated and hugely informative in shaping our thinking.

For The Canterbury Academy, on Monday, 25 May, all parents will receive an email informing you of our Phase 3 Remote Learning Plan. As has become usual, we have reviewed, acted on parental and student feedback, and tweaked our packages for the final term of this academic year. I hope that this will leave you with plenty of time to read and understand the slight changes to remote learning before they begin on 1 June. But, as always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the appropriate Head of School.

In addition to vulnerable children and those of key workers, as you know, it is the government’s ambition that children in Year 10 and 12 may get some “face to face” contact before the summer break. On Tuesday 26 May, the parents of children in Years 10 and 12 will receive a questionnaire that I hope will gauge how you and your child may be feeling around a potential return to school. With a break from remote learning next week, I hope that you will be able to have some engaging discussion as a family, completing and returning the questionnaire as soon as you are able.

The intelligence we gather from the questionnaire will run alongside our ongoing assessment of the staffing capacity across our Trust, and the eventual and “final” decision that the government will make about the possible re-opening of schools on 28 May. Meaning, I hope, that by the end of next week, 29 May, we shall be in a much stronger position to make some informed, balanced and sensible decisions around the provision we can offer at The Canterbury Academy in Term 6; underpinned, always, by all of our very best and safest interests. So, until we are able to effectively assess all up to date DfE guidance, what provision we can facilitate and who may engage in it, our offer from 1 June at The Canterbury Academy will remain only for those students deemed most vulnerable and the children of key workers, until further notice.

I am sorry that I am not able to provide you with more specific dates and plans at this stage, but with so many variable, moving parts, I should certainly not wish to mislead you with any information that we may then need to rapidly U-turn on. I think we may have all seen enough of that lately. I will be sure, however, to keep you up to speed with all of our planning as it continues to evolve next week.

So, finally, it only remains for me, on behalf of all of the staff across The Canterbury Academy Trust, to thank you for your ongoing understanding and support. I do hope you may have had a chance to read our newsletter this week, updating our community on all of the incredible things that have been going on at school, at home, with our families and in our communities. Our students, our families and all of our Trust community continue to inspire us every day, and you remain constantly in all of our thoughts.

With my very best wishes to you all for a relaxing Bank Holiday weekend.

Yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID19 Update - 20 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

I very much hope that this message finds you and all of your families remaining safe and well.

I hope you will forgive the frequency of my communication with you, but I do wish to further update you around the ongoing planning that is happening to, hopefully, reopen schools across The Canterbury Academy Trust for more of our students.

Firstly, if I may remind you of some of the key headlines from the Department for Education’s most recent guidance documents:

The government has advised schools to plan for the possible return of students in nurseries, year R, year 1 and year 6 from 1 June, if the 5 key COVID tests have been met.

There is an ambition for primary schools to welcome back all year groups before the summer holidays, for a month if feasible, although this will be kept under review.

From 1 June, schools have also been asked to consider how best to provide some “face to face” contact for students in years 10 and 12 before the summer break. It remains unclear what this might look like.

Provision for children of key workers, and for vulnerable students, should continue, alongside remote learning programmes for students who are unable to attend and learn on campus.

Families should be encouraged to send children in the identified categories and year groups to school, if it is safe and possible for them to do so. There will be no fines or penalties for non-attendance.

Schools should review and adapt their curriculums and learning programmes to best support their learners, and all examinations and accountability measures remain cancelled until further notice.

As you know, it has remained the case since lockdown on 23 March that both The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy have been open, including through holiday periods and Bank Holidays, for the children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable. It is now some time since I felt it necessary to remind you of who may fall into these categories, but with the language from central government beginning to change around what will be “expected” or “encouraged” from students and parents from, potentially, 1 June, I felt it pertinent to revisit.

If your child has been classified as vulnerable according to a combination of the government’s and our own definitions, we will already have contacted you privately. However, as I have often said, vulnerability is not always visible and neither can it be simply defined. It remains the case that if you feel your child to be vulnerable please contact us and we will do all we can to support.

If you are classified as a key worker it remains the case that your child, in DfE terms, is also “eligible” for a place in our provision, should you wish to accept it. The government’s definition of key workers remains available via this hyperlink Key Workers for your information.

Where previous DfE guidance stated clearly that;

Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

Going onto ask that parents abide by one overarching principle in the ongoing battle against COVID-19;

If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.

This guidance has now changed to say that;

Now that we have made progress in reducing the transmission of coronavirus we are encouraging all eligible children to attend – it is no longer necessary for parents of eligible children to keep them at home if they can. In particular, as per the existing guidance on vulnerable children and young people, vulnerable children of all year groups continue to be expected and encouraged to attend educational provision where it is appropriate for them to do so.

With that said we shall continue to keep our schools open and offer provision, at this time, for those eligible children through the May half-term, including the Spring Bank Holiday on Monday 25 May. If you have not already done so and wish for your child to attend through the holiday period, w/b 25 May, please can you let us know by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

It remains the case that Stagecoach are not running any dedicated school buses. However, ordinary bus services are still running. The number 22, for example, stops almost directly outside the campus on Knight Avenue. Students can catch this service to and from the main bus station in Canterbury. I can only advise all parents and carers to check the Stagecoach website on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/south-east/canterbury as regularly as possible, just to make sure that the services you may require continue to run.

As regards the government’s proposed date of 1 June, you will be aware that there remains much discussion between teaching unions and central government around the reopening of schools to more children. At the time of writing this message I understand there to be around 1,500 primary schools nationally who do not feel they are able to open safely on 1 June. Likewise, there is a growing number of regional councils up and down the country who do not feel they can support the government in safely opening their schools on the same date. The press, media and social media coverage of this, of course, will not be helping the situation for anybody; but most importantly it will not be helping our children and our families in terms of the assurances we all need. Whilst we continue to acknowledge and respect the decision making of others, The Canterbury Academy Trust shall also remain consistently and positively focused on the health, safety and very best interests of the children and families that we serve across our Trust community, as we have tried to throughout this crisis: our students, our staff and all of our families and loved ones.

The only certainty, horribly, is that there can be no certainty. I hope that you will continue to support my honesty when I remind you that schools will be forced to be very different places for the foreseeable future. Further to my previous message around what schools and educational settings will or will not able to do and the precautions we will take, I must tell you now, and I don’t like myself for saying it, but I will not be able to guarantee protection from COVID. I cannot make that guarantee for children, parents, my colleagues or our families. As has been reported nationally, the only guarantee of protection is to remain in lockdown and at home until the virus has gone away, if it ever goes away. I cannot guarantee that students, some as young as four years old, will socially distance or even begin to understand the concept when their entire curriculum should be underpinned by social interaction and communication. I cannot guarantee that one child will not go near another, fall over and need to be picked up, treated with first aid, hugged and comforted. The only thing I can do is to continue offering assurances that we will take all reasonable steps to prevent it:

Most importantly, we will continue to follow all of the DfE guidance given to us as sensitively and supportively as we can.

Children and adults will continue to be supported fully, either in their learning and work in school, wherever it is safe and possible, or alternatively in their remote learning and work at home.

Thorough COVID risk assessments and adaptions to learning/working practices will be in place for every aspect of this return to school and work. These risk assessments, in due course and in line with government guidance, will also be published on our website(s).

Again, in line with DfE guidance, COVID protective measures will be fully implemented, including support mechanisms and processes. These will cover vitally important areas such as cleaning and sanitising, any movement around the campus and all social distancing guidelines.

Class sizes, groupings and staffing, as well as the organisation and structure of learning and the school day, will be reviewed and adapted sensibly and supportively. We wish to ensure that the safety and well-being, and not just the education, of everybody remains our highest priority.

As we prepare together for this next phase, all of these important aspects and sources of information continue to be collated calmly, carefully and methodically. I would like to thank the parental body at The Canterbury Primary School for so promptly replying to Mrs Farrell’s questionnaire. Your views, opinions and thoughts are very much welcomed and incredibly useful in shaping what we can offer from, hopefully, 1 June. As we continue to assess the capacity of our staffing levels across the Trust, it will be our intention in the coming week to voice the parents of children in Years 10 and 12 at The Canterbury Academy, to get a sense of how they are feeling about their children potentially returning to school at some point in June, in line with the government’s ambition to have some “face to face” contact before the summer break. All of this valuable information will allow us to make informed, balanced and objective decisions, underpinned by all of our very best and safest interests.

With everything being considered by our government, teaching unions, councils, The British Medical Association and various sources of scientific advice, all of this planning, of course, must remain completely flexible and fluid. It is expected, I believe, that there will be more announcements around the proposed opening of schools by the government tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. With the ultimate caveat that they will make a “final” decision on whether schools should open or not on 28 May, the Friday of half-term, and leaving only that weekend before 1 June.

I certainly do not envy the government their task and I should not wish to try and second guess their next decision. All we can do, as a Trust community, is keep on keeping on; calmly, sensibly and safely.

I shall write to you all again at the end of this week, which would have been the end of term 5, with a further update on our planning and any more news following the government briefing of Thursday afternoon.

My very best regards to you all,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID19 Update - 14 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

As promised, I write again with further updates following the Prime Minister’s announcement on Sunday evening about the proposed return to schools for some students.

Firstly, there are some key documents that have this week been published by the Department for Education beginning to detail their plans for schools to re-open:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-plan-to-rebuild-the-uk-governments-covid-19-recovery-strategy

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/actions-for-education-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/opening-schools-for-more-children-and-young-people-initial-planning-framework-for-schools-in-england

Obviously, I do not expect you to read them all but, in an attempt to be helpful, I wish to lay out some of the key headlines from them:

The government has advised schools to plan for the possible return of students in nurseries, year R, year 1 and year 6 from 1 June, if the 5 key COVID tests have been met.

There is an ambition for primary schools to welcome back all year groups before the summer holidays, for a month if feasible, although this will be kept under review.

From 1 June, schools have also been asked to consider how best to provide some “face to face” contact for students in years 10 and 12 before the summer break. It remains unclear what this might look like.

Provision for children of key workers, and for vulnerable students, should continue, alongside remote learning programmes for students who are unable to attend and learn on campus.

Families should be encouraged to send children in the identified categories and year groups to school, if it is safe and possible for them to do so. There will be no fines or penalties for non-attendance.

Schools should review and adapt their curriculums and learning programmes to best support their learners, and all examinations and accountability measures remain cancelled until further notice.

Further to my message to you all of Monday, I would like to share with you an honest, simple and ongoing assurance that we shall continue to do all we can to support our students and families as we plan for this next difficult phase. However, you will doubtless have noticed that the language from central government has begun to change around what will be “expected” or “encouraged” from students and parents from, potentially, 1 June. You will also be aware that there is much ongoing discussion between teaching unions and central government following the announcements from the Prime Minister on Sunday evening. Likewise, there still continues to be much speculation and conjecture in the media, with many school leaders and teachers having taken, passionately, to social media.

Whilst acknowledging all of this, The Canterbury Academy Trust shall also remain consistently and positively focused on the health, safety and very best interests of the children and families that we serve, as we have tried to throughout this crisis. And, to be clear, when we talk about families, we talk about our entire Trust community; our students, our staff and all of our families and loved ones.

So, with all of this in mind and in an attempt to give some more detailed assurances, I would like to share with you some of the initial planning which has been happening in the lead up to this next phase:

Most importantly, we will continue to follow all of the DfE guidance given to us as sensitively and supportively as we can.

Children and adults will continue to be supported fully, either in their learning and work in school, wherever it is safe and possible, or alternatively in their remote learning and work at home.

Thorough COVID risk assessments and adaptions to learning/working practices will be in place for every aspect of this return to school and work. These risk assessments, in due course and in line with government guidance, will also be published on our website(s).

Again, in line with DfE guidance, COVID protective measures will be fully implemented, including support mechanisms and processes. These will cover vitally important areas such as cleaning and sanitising, any movement around the campus and all social distancing guidelines.

Class sizes, groupings and staffing, as well as the organisation and structure of learning and the school day, will be reviewed and adapted sensibly and supportively. We wish to ensure that the safety and well-being, and not just the education, of everybody remains our highest priority.

As we prepare together, as a community, for this next phase, all of these important aspects and sources of information are currently being collated calmly, carefully and methodically. We will then make informed, balanced and objective decisions, which we shall share with you in a structured and planned way over the coming days and weeks. In line with this, the thoughts, reflections and opinions of our parental body remain very important to us, and I continue to be incredibly grateful for all of the messages of support and best wishes I have received for our community throughout this situation. As we seek to continue gathering facts and opinions, Mrs Farrell, our Trust’s Executive Vice Principal for our Primary Campus, will be contacting all City View Nursery and Canterbury Primary School parents with a brief survey to complete; the contents of which will be very helpful in shaping our thinking and possible provision in our nursery and primary school from 1 June.

As we now plan for the ‘beginning of the end’ of this horrible virus and a time when we may all return to school, I feel obliged, candidly, to remind you that our new ‘normal’ will be vastly different from the old. What schools will be able to teach may be different; class sizes will be smaller; lesson timings may need to change; certain equipment will no longer be allowed to be used; certain activities may no longer be permitted; break and lunch times may need to be staggered; handwashing and sanitising more structured; and movement around our campus restricted in line with social distancing guidelines. But, you have adapted magnificently to our challenges so far, and we shall continue to adapt. We will innovate, create, change and evolve together; in our families, in our schools and in our communities.

We are the human race; we are resilient; it is what we do.

I shall be in touch with you all again at the start of next week, once the possession of further facts permit me.

Yours ever,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID19 Update - 11 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

I write to you today, as promised, following the Prime Minister’s announcements to the nation of yesterday evening.

As best I can penetrate what he said, there remains many ‘ifs’ attached to the potential ‘roadmap’ and the timelines he outlined. I completely appreciate that many of you will have been left more confused and frustrated by what was said, or not said, as the case may be. I know that there will be multi-faceted challenges that our families are facing right now, ranging from professional, personal and financial issues, through to the ongoing home education of our children; and many of these will be inter-linked in some way. But, in my message, I wish to try and provide you with some clarity, consistency and assurance from our perspective at The Canterbury Academy Trust, and for the young people and families we have a responsibility for.

Mr Johnson spoke of his desire to have children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 return on 1 June, “IF” he is satisfied that the 5 Point COVID Checklist has been met. He then went onto say that he “hoped” secondary school children who “will be facing exams next summer” may get some time with their teachers before the summer break, but mentioned no specific timeframe. There was no mention of any other year groups or what provision in Nurseries and Pre-Schools might look like.

There has been the promise of a more detailed plan and clearer guidance for schools to follow later today, once Mr Johnson has addressed parliament this afternoon. You do not need me to tell you that we as a Trust and, indeed, you as parents, need much more definitive detail on how we should reopen before we are able to contemplate, in any degree of detail, how that could work and what that could look like. You will doubtless be aware that many schools up and down the country have already taken to social media and, in many cases, written to their parental bodies to inform them, most certainly, that their schools will not re-open on 1 June. Those decisions, of course, are entirely their prerogative. They will have been made based on the information they are in possession of and always with the very best interests and safety of the children, staff and families in mind.

For us across The Canterbury Academy Trust, our stance will remain absolutely consistent with that which it has been throughout this crisis, and I will not allow media reporting and political rumour mongering to distract us. As I said in my message of Friday evening, the reality is that the new ‘normal’ will be vastly different from the old, and we have been considering the logistics and intricacies of our students and staff returning for some time. As you will appreciate, there are countless scenarios and mechanisms through which this could be achieved, and I wish you to remain assured that we are considering all of these very carefully and thoughtfully, all underpinned by the safety and health of our young people, colleagues and all of our families. With 1st June only being some three weeks away, let’s hope that the government are able to move as quickly as they expect schools to in providing their expectations. When that clear, precise and definitive guidance is produced by our government, plainly outlining what is expected of us all as we move into this new ‘phase,’ we will, of course, share it with you as soon as we are able.

Although we cannot control the decision making of central government, we can control the way in which we respond as schools, as families and as a Trust community. I remain in awe of the way you have coped with what COVID has thrown at us. How you have adapted, been resilient, the ingenious ways in which you have approached the challenges of home schooling, the balances you have found amongst all of it and, overall, the empathy you have shown for each other, your families, your friends and our communities. So, until we get more detail nothing will change. We shall continue unphased, calmly, objectively and carefully, with our new, flexible and always evolving ways of learning; keeping calm and carrying on.

We will all be listening attentively for further, definitive updates, and I will be back in touch with you to share our planning as soon as possible.

Thinking of you all.

Yours faithfully,

Jon Watson

Trust Executive Principal

75th Anniversary of VE Day - 8 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Firstly and most importantly, I do hope that this message finds you and all of you families still safe and well.

I write to you on this Bank Holiday, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe. Although I think we all agree we should be careful to not draw too many comparisons between the ongoing situation with COVID-19 and what the generation involved in the Second World War endured, this year’s commemoration of that which was sacrificed by so many for the freedoms we are afforded today does seem more poignant than ever. Each of us will have our own very personal reasons for remembering family and friends who may have fought, served and been affected by conflict; and for some of us these may be feelings we are experiencing again today as the battle against COVID goes on.

I hope you will already be aware of the work that we are doing across our Trust to celebrate VE Day, and we look forward to seeing as many entries as possible in our ongoing Head of House competitions. You may also now have seen our Trust’s wonderful ‘We’ll Meet Again’ tribute which was launched this morning on our social media platforms:

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

A huge thank you to our Director of Performing Arts, Mrs Watson, for the initial idea and the care, attention and tears (literally!) that went into producing it. To see so many young people and families from across all areas of our Trust come together, even though we’re apart, to sing this iconic song, was quite a moving experience; I hope you have enjoyed watching it as much as me.

In fact, Mrs Watson was approached by BBC Radio Kent this week to ask if our song could appear as part of their VE Day Commemoration programme this evening, starting at 8.30pm. Furthermore, after the Queen’s speech at 9pm, you will be able to hear the staff and students that were on campus today singing ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ recorded live this morning, as an introduction to the entire county’s radio sing-a-long. Please all try and tune in and sing-a-long if you can!

Continuing the theme of when we may meet again, we eagerly await the Prime Minister’s announcement on Sunday evening, sketching out the ‘Road Map’ and potential easing of lockdown restrictions. For most of us we have been locked down now for seven weeks and, for some, even longer. We have come so far during that time and I know you will be as keen as I to continue following all government guidelines until such time as ‘easing’ becomes possible. There is still much media speculation around the possible re-opening of schools and my stance remains that such reports are both unhelpful and distracting. As the virus appears to now be through its first peak and we may have reached ‘the end of the beginning,’ I wish to assure you that, behind the scenes, our Trust is planning for the ‘beginning of the end’ and what a potential return to school might look like for our students and staff. However, the reality is that the new ‘normal’ will be vastly different from the old, with the logistics and intricacies of this already being very carefully considered. When clear and legitimate guidance is produced by our government and the Department for Education for schools to follow we will, of course, share it with you as soon as we are able. Until that point we shall continue with our new, flexible and always evolving ways of learning; in true VE Day spirit, keeping calm and carrying on.

As our schools remain open to those students who are vulnerable and children of key workers, it has been another busy week. At The Canterbury Primary School it is brilliant to see some of the tasks and activities that are being completed via Class Dojo and emails. The positive response we continue to receive from parents sharing work that is being completed at home is overwhelming, with parents creating their own worksheets for their children to complete, cooking, baking, learning to play instruments and conducting their own investigations and experiments. It has been even better to be able to celebrate these achievements through dojo points and sharing photos on our Facebook page.

At The Canterbury Academy, likewise, we continue to offer, as best we can, a provision that is rich and varied. This week, students have been creating their own obstacle courses with Miss Patel, studying character development in short films with Miss Davies, baking cinnamon buns with Ms Lewis, and creating felt hearts to give to patients and families who have to be apart from one another with Miss Uttley. They have also participated in PE on the track with Mr Piddlesden, worked through a VE Day themed session with Ms Allison and Mr Johnstone, and have been cooking again with Mr Pennec, this time making Japanese cotton cakes.

I must again publicly thank the staff who have now made, staggeringly, over 3,000 face visors and hundreds of disposable pillowcase bags for our front line NHS and key workers. This valuable Personal Protective Equipment has been distributed to hospitals all over East Kent, Kent, Medway and has even reached as far as London! Mrs Holman, Mrs Vinn, Miss Khatkar and Mr Onions have worked tirelessly on campus, but there have been many staff that have worked hard at home too, with special mention going to Mrs Douglas for the scores of bags she was able to produce. I’d like to thank everybody across our community who has been able to donate to this cause; it has been hugely appreciated by us, but even more so by the hospital staff, doctors, nurses, midwives, GPs, care home workers, pharmacists and other key workers who have benefited from them.

As you know, the distance learning programme we are running operates through our Show My Homework platform and this week, again, has seen students from all years submitting work they have laboured tirelessly over. There continues to be so many excellent examples, both at the primary school and the academy, that we have devised a GDPR compliant way of being able to share some with you in a weekly newsletter, the first edition of which you will receive next week. But, until then, and to name just a few from this week, we have seen amazing examples of architecture and house design inspired by favourite artists, new pairs of trainers designed to reflect the creator’s identity, examples of set design, scripts, storyboards and some beautifully crafted poetry. Each and every piece of work showcases our students’ love of learning and individual gifts, talents, abilities and skills; all underpinned by their dedication, commitment and pride.

My final word on this day of days, the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe is for you; our parents, carers and families, who remain an inspiration to all of our staff across the Trust through your resilience and unwavering support during this crisis. As we continue to live through the biggest challenge we have faced since the end of World War II, as a Trust community we remain resolute in our message. There is, and will continue to be much to cope with for all of us during this pandemic and beyond it. Our world may not return to ‘normal’ for quite some time, and we will all, in some way, bear the scars: economically, financially, professionally, physically and, most significantly, emotionally. As I type this message to you I can only thank you, profoundly, for what you are doing in finding the right balance for your children. Thank you for supporting them. Thank you for being flexible in your approach to their learning at home. Thank you for cooking with them, baking with them, walking with them, gardening with them, exercising with them, painting with them, creating with them, reading with them and teaching them new skills. But, most of all, thank you for talking with them, being with them and helping each other understand how you feel at the moment. These times spent together, amongst everything else, will never be forgotten.

Let’s see what the announcements on Sunday evening bring us and I shall be in touch again next week.

For now, and at least for today, lest we forget…

Yours faithfully,

Jon Watson

Executive Principal

Start of Term 5 - 17 April 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,
I do hope that this message finds you and all of your families still safe and well, as what would have been the start of term 5 draws near on Monday, 20th April.

You will all now doubtless be aware that our government have, last night, extended lockdown for a further three weeks at least. This means that there is still no hint of schools reopening, or when lockdown restrictions may be eased. Much has been written and commented on this in the media, and it remains my view that such speculation is unhelpful. Please remain assured that our Trust, as it has done throughout this crisis, will continue to follow all relevant guidance from Public Health England, the NHS, Kent County Council, the Department for Education and our government.

As lockdown continues I can’t reiterate enough how impressed and immensely proud we are of the resilience our young people across our schools have shown during these enforced changes, and the maturity with which they have dealt with it all. We’ve had reports of students, and even communities of families, setting up social media groups so they can attempt certain learning tasks together. We’ve also heard stories of children and families spending more time together learning new skills, with some of our students teaching their parents about topics they are covering at school. There have been examples of students helping out around the house; taking responsibility for a pet and learning new practical skills through DIY, tiling, painting, gardening and cutting the grass. There have been lots of cakes baked and new recipes tried. There has even been an attempt at a tie-dyed t-shirt!

But, most pleasingly, these have all been done together as families, and the common theme flowing through all of this feedback is that we appear to be talking more. We’re talking about our hopes and dreams, our fears, anxieties and emotions; many of which, right now, we may not have experienced before. So, if it is even possible to find positives as this horrible situation continues, it may be that we are discovering, and maybe re-discovering, who we are and what is really important to us as individuals, families, friends and as communities. Proving further that the Coronavirus will not defeat the human race. It will only serve to bring us closer together and make us stronger.

Moving forward and into term 5 you will all now, I hope, have read my message about the continued tweaks we are making to our distance learning packages. Remember, please, if you or your child have any questions don’t hesitate to contact the specific subject teacher, their Director of Teaching and Learning or, ultimately, the appropriate Head of School.

It has been great to have students in our schools through what would have been the Easter holidays and I thank you all, again, for continuing to observe the DfE guidelines in only seeking provision for your child if you are a key worker or your child is vulnerable, with you not able to keep them at home. For the start of next term, if you have not already done so and wish for us to make provision for your child, please can you let us know by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9, 10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the Sixth Form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

Throughout the Easter holidays our students have not been expected to wear school uniform, and they were delighted to find out today that I’m happy to continue this arrangement moving forward until further notice. I hope that this decision may relieve any additional pressure for those parents who, on top of long shifts as key workers and other commitments, will now not have the added worry of getting school uniform washed and ironed as this situation continues. Other than that our expectations, which you will now be used to reading, remain the same:

If you are reporting to The Canterbury Primary School, Breakfast Club will be open from 7.45am and the school day will start at 9am.
If you are reporting to The Canterbury Academy, including the sixth form, please report to the main school hall for 8.45am.
Students do not have to wear uniform. Their normal, casual clothes, will be fine.
A school meal and refreshments will be available as normal.
Please do not bring any PE kit unless you are specifically asked to in advance.
Our school days, as normal, will finish at 3pm.
With regret, there will be no after school clubs available at either school.

A huge thank you to all those families who were able to get involved in our ‘We’re Still Standing’ tribute to all NHS and key worker heroes, alongside anybody who may have inspired us at this time. We launched the video on our YouTube channel on Easter Sunday and the response has been overwhelming, with over 4,000 people already having viewed it! If you have not yet had the chance to see it please follow one of our social media platforms:

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

Or, go directly to our YouTube channel to view it on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Aqm9CB-fKTb70CbVTTByQ/videos?disable_polymer=1
Likewise, the response to our appeal for pillow cases has been phenomenal from across Canterbury and beyond. The way that streets and communities have pulled together to get them to us has been brilliant. We already have hundreds ready to be made into disposable bags for NHS and frontline workers but, please, if you are able to donate more, or know anyone who can, and you are able to safely get them to us, we and our NHS would be incredibly grateful.
As regards Personal Protective Equipment, Miss Khatkar, Mrs Holman, Mrs Vinn, Mr Onions and their production team of students have already made around 1,000 face visors, which continue to be distributed to hospitals across East Kent, medical practises, care homes, pharmacies and hospices. Next week, our staff and students will be meeting the ongoing demand for hundreds more and it was lovely to see their hard work and determination to provide our NHS with PPE recognised by BBC South East News on Wednesday evening, with both Ollie Scott in year 7 and Abi Holman in year 10 talking proudly about what they are doing.

Finally, I’ll finish where I started, with last night’s announcement of lockdown being extended. This will continue to be a very tough time for many of us, and even with all of our incredible efforts in pulling together to support each other and our communities through this, I hope that we will all still recognise that, simply put, it’s ok to not be ok. It’s ok to talk about what is worrying us: it’s ok to talk about how we feel; it’s ok to ask for help and say that we might feel vulnerable. Our staff, of course, are here for you and your families and will remain so as long as our battle against COVID-19 goes on, and beyond if needed. But, I also recognise that sometimes it might be easier to talk to somebody else, so wanted to draw your attention to a service that is being offered across Kent to support families at this time. Kent County Council has launched a new 24 hour helpline called ‘Kent Together’ to support vulnerable people in Kent who need urgent help, supplies or medication. The helpline will provide a single, convenient point of contact for anyone in the county who is in urgent need of help during the Coronavirus outbreak. It is a collaboration between KCC, central Government, District, Borough and local councils, the voluntary and community sector, the NHS, emergency services and other partners to ensure help is at hand.

If you feel vulnerable and have an urgent need that cannot be met through existing support networks, or are concerned about the welfare of someone else, you can contact the Kent Together helpline at www.kent.gov.uk/KentTogether or by calling on 03000 41 92 92. It is a 24 hour service.

We shall all keep going, we must, as families and communities, working together. We will get through this.

My very best wishes to you all.

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID19 Update - 10 April 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

I do hope that this message finds you and all of your families safe and well.

Although it is technically a Bank Holiday, our schools remain open and I just wanted to write and update you on some of the work that colleagues across the Trust have been doing to help our heroes in the NHS at this most challenging time.

In the last two weeks we have been working collaboratively with the NHS and Kent County Council to coordinate our responses, along with other schools, to the NHS’s desperate need for personal protective equipment. I strongly believe it is our duty to do all we can to support our public service colleagues during our nation’s hour of need, and I hope that what we have done so far will fill our Trust community with a sense of commitment, purpose and pride, as the fight goes on against COVID-19.

So far:

We have offered our mini-buses and, potentially, some of our volunteer drivers to the NHS for the transportation of NHS personnel.
We’ve arranged for every usable pair of science goggles to be given to the NHS as PPE.
Miss Khatkar, Mrs Holman and other staff have already produced over 300 protective face masks for NHS workers using a 3D printer, with the offer of hundreds more to come. (see photos attached)
We have donated rubber cleaning gloves to NHS workers as PPE.

In addition to this, we have been asked to make disposable bags for NHS personnel to use. Mrs Molloy has already started to make many of these from her home, but we will need more material. To this end, I’d like to make an appeal to you. If you have any old or unused pillow cases, please, if you are able, can you donate them to the Trust so that we can continue to make as many bags as possible?

Mrs Molloy and others will be making more disposable bags from our campus on Monday, 20 April. So, if you are able to donate any pillow cases, please, without breaking any social distancing guidelines or making any unnecessary, non-essential journeys, can you make arrangements to get them dropped off in main reception at The Canterbury Academy before that date. I completely appreciate that this will mean you’ll have to think differently about getting them here and, I’m sorry, I don’t feel able to best advise you on how you might do that, given I would absolutely not wish to compromise the current guidelines in place from our government.

Both Mrs Holman and Mrs Vinn are happy to help try and coordinate things and/or answer any questions that you might have on vholman@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or evinn@canterbury.kent.sch.uk

Let’s, please, continue to do all we can to support our NHS heroes. Thank you very much in anticipation.

Continuing the theme of positivity and support, as you know, our Trust’s performing arts team have been working with you all to develop our ‘We’re Still Standing’ tribute, to thank and show appreciation to those of our friends, families and colleagues that are going above and beyond during this testing time. The response from you all has been quite staggering. Mrs Watson was inundated with videos of you all: children, brothers, sisters, cousins, mums, dads, aunties, uncles, grandparents, our entire community all still standing together, dancing, singing, playing instruments and doing your very best Elton John impressions. Well, now, I am delighted to say that the video has been edited and is ready for its premiere. IT. WILL. BE. EPIC!!!

So, on Easter Sunday, we will be releasing our Trust community’s ‘We’re Still Standing’ video across all of our social media platforms. Please, if you have not already done so I hope that you will now join one, or all, of our social media channels;

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

I might, possibly, maybe have had a sneaky peak at the trailer, and I hope that once you have seen the video you will feel as passionately as I do that it represents everything we stand for as a Trust community.

Moving forward, just a quick reminder that If you have not already done so and wish for us to make provision for your child through the Easter holidays, including Bank Holiday Monday, please can you let us know by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

Please do enjoy a restful and healthy Bank Holiday weekend. We are here for you all and please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, for any advice or even if you would just like a chat.

We’ve come so far already, so please do continue to stay well, stay safe and stay home.

My very best wishes to you all,

Faithfully yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID-19 Update - 3 April 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

As lockdown now nears the end of its second week across the country, I wanted to share with you some of the wonderful things that our young people have been doing across our Trust community; both in our schools and whilst working remotely at home. I also want to remind you of the provision we will be offering across the schools in our Trust for the Easter holidays.

On our campus, the provision for some of our most vulnerable students and the children of key workers has continued. The children who have used this provision have engaged with a range of exciting opportunities, from dance with Miss Winter, baking a chicken pie with Mr Pennec, bricklaying with Mr Wall, to black out poetry with Miss Love, with a whole host of exciting activities in between. Alongside this, the quality of work we are seeing through Dojo at our primary school has been fantastic and the number of students accessing their on-line learning at the secondary school remains very high, with lots of examples of staff and student communication through the Show My Homework platform. Given the forced adjustments we are all having to make to our teaching and learning it has been brilliant to see some of the work submitted, coupled with the level of marking and feedback returned by staff.

Furthermore, the determination and resilience of our students, despite all that is going on around them, remains ever humbling as they continually strive to be the best that they can be. We have just received news that two of our Year 12 students have been accepted on the Kent Space Programme Residential this summer at Kent University. Also, over the next weekend, five of our Year 11s will be taking part in their Oxford University residential course virtually. This is very exciting for those young people and great news for our Trust community.

It may have been forgotten amongst everything that is going on, but today would also ‘normally’ mark the end of term 4 for our students. As you know, it is our Trust’s intention to continue offering provision for the children of ‘key workers’ and those that are vulnerable through the Easter holidays of 6 to 17 April, inclusive. Our schools will also be open and offering provision on both Bank Holidays; Good Friday, 10 April, and Easter Monday, 13 April. We have taken this decision so that we can continue to help key workers get to work, most notably our front line services in the NHS and other emergency workers, and support our most vulnerable young people and their families at this most stressful of times.

If you have not already done so and wish for us to make provision for your child through the Easter holidays, including the Bank Holidays, please can you let us know by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

If you would like to be kept informed as to what our Trust community is doing to stay together as we face these unprecedented challenges, please, if you are able, join our social media platforms. Likewise, it would be great to hear from you and see what you are doing;

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitte r.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

One thing that we would love our whole Trust community to get involved in is our ‘We’re Still Standing’ video campaign. Led by our Performing Arts team, we want to make something to thank and show appreciation to those of our friends, families and colleagues that are going above and beyond during this testing time. So, we’re going to create a video entitled ‘I’m Still Standing‘ to the music of Elton John’s classic song (we might have to explain to our children, but we all know it is a great tune) and YOU could be the stars of the show!

If you have anyone you want to thank, be them nurses, doctors, carers, police officers, supermarket workers, delivery drivers, pharmacists, parents, colleagues, teachers or even our friends and neighbours; simply anyone that has inspired you, moved you or cared for you during this Coronavirus fight – we need to let them know.

If you are able, please video yourselves for around TEN to FIFTEEN SECONDS doing any or all of the following:

A message to camera stating your chosen person’s name and why they deserve a shout out
A written message on a large piece of paper to camera
A drawing or piece of art, with the name of the person it is dedicated to, recorded on camera (feel free to wave and blow kisses!)
A recording of you singing the lyric line ‘I’m still standing; yeah, yeah, yeah!’ (lots of these needed; feel free to have a boogie!)

We would love to have as many of you involved as possible, as we really want to create something positive as a community in the midst of these tough times for everyone. Please send all of your recordings to Sarah Watson: swatson@canterbury.kent.sch.uk by Tuesday, 7 April.

For GDPR purposes and if your children are taking part, please can you state the following in the body of the email: ‘I give permission for The Canterbury Academy Trust to use pictures and recordings of my child (insert name) online and all social media accounts held by the Trust.’

As regards our provision through the Easter holidays I am very aware that this would normally be a chance for students to have a break from their learning, and I wish for that to still be the case. Although we remain delighted with the uptake across our Trust through all of our on-line and distance learning mechanisms, I do not want our children to feel pressured to keep studying through the Easter break. Until things begin to settle down again, dealing with the fear and anxiety that COVID-19 may be causing could be challenging enough. I have already heard of so many examples of the incredible jobs you, as parents and carers, are doing for your families, loved ones, elderly neighbours and our communities; the routines you have settled into and the time that you have spent together. I know that you will continue to find your own way and do what is right for your child, but, please, do not feel that we expect work to be submitted over the Easter break, or for on-line learning to be accessed as regularly, if at all. We can pick it all up again at the start of next term on 20 April. Instead, in the face of all the negativity at the moment and the hectic world we live in, we may simply just want to enjoy each other’s company again.

For those young people that will still be with us over Easter we have decided that, as they would not normally be wearing school uniform during the holidays, they will not have to wear it to school either. The students were told this today and, you won’t be surprised to hear, were quite excited! Other than that our expectations remain the same:

If you are reporting to The Canterbury Primary School, Breakfast Club will be open from 7.45am and the school day will start at 9am.
If you are reporting to The Canterbury Academy, including the sixth form, please report to the main school hall for 8.45am.
For the Easter Holiday period only, students do not have to wear uniform. Their normal, casual clothes, will be fine.
A school meal and refreshments will be available as normal.
Please do not bring any PE kit unless you are specifically asked to in advance.
Our school days, as normal, will finish at 3pm.
With regret, there will be no after school clubs available at either school.

Please do remember to stay in touch with us and each other. We continue to face these challenges as a Trust community together, side by side, and I will not tire of reminding you that our staff are here for you; to support, help or even just to chat. We shall continue to do all we can.

As always, you remain in my thoughts.

My very best wishes to you and all of your families.

Faithfully,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID 19 Update - 1 April 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that this message finds you and all of your families well.

I am writing to you to let you know of our Trust’s intention to continue to offer provision for the children of ‘key workers’ and those that are vulnerable, through the Easter holidays of 6 to 17 April, inclusive. The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy will also be open and offering provision on both Good Friday, 10April, and Easter Monday, 13 April. We have taken this decision so that we can continue to help key workers get to work, most notably our front line services in the NHS and other emergency workers, and support our most vulnerable young people and their families at this most stressful of times.

If you are a key worker and require a place for your child, please do let us know. Likewise, if we have written to you separately because we believe your child, through our own definitions, maybe vulnerable, please let us know if you require provision moving forward. You can access the guidance for parents and carers and the list of key workers by following this hyperlink; Key Workers

As regards our most vulnerable young people, we remain acutely aware that despite the government’s definition, vulnerability, for both young and old, is often not visible or ‘labelled,’ especially at times of such anxiety. If you believe your child to be vulnerable and have not already been contacted by us, please let us know and we will do all we can to support.

I am, however, obliged to remind you again that The Department for Education remain very clear in their guidance to schools;

Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

The DfE continue to ask that parents abide by one overarching principle in the face of the ongoing battle against COVID-19;

If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.

So, with all of that in mind, if you have not already done so and wish for us to make provision for your child through the Easter holidays, including the Bank Holidays, please can you let us know by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

To give you a flavour of what the young people that continue to access our provision have been doing, they have been taking part in the Joe Wicks PE lesson, designing murals AND designing houses; even building a wall! They have been dancing, directing and acting in short films, writing, baking and even doing some maths. If you would like to see some of the things that our students have been up to across our Trust and some of the wonderful stuff that has been keeping our Trust community together, it would be great if you could join our social media platforms:

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

Although we have been delighted with the uptake across our Trust through all of our on-line and distance learning mechanisms, please also remember what I said on Friday about our children studying at home. They and, indeed, all of us, may be experiencing fears and anxieties that we have not felt before. Consequently, we do not want our children feeling pressured to study, or for it to cause tension and upset for families. We certainly do not wish for them to be on-line learning all day, every day. After all, that would not be reflective of the time they would spend at school with structured breaks, doing some of the physical, practical, creative and vocational activities that we mentioned earlier. Three separate study sessions at home, Monday to Friday, focusing on different areas of their curriculum, punctuated with regular breaks would be great. No more than an hour per session, as I’m not sure any of us can concentrate much longer than that!

If you are able to build family time in around these sessions it would be fantastic. Possibly playing games, board games, reading books, maybe some household chores, a bit of gardening or gong for a walk – applying all social distancing guidance, of course. You can also now, as a whole family, get involved in our ‘We’re Still Standing’ video campaign, as detailed yesterday. Thank you so much to all those families who have already thrown themselves into this and returned their clips.

Remember too, the simple idea of keeping a journal, scrapbook or a diary recording these unprecedented events is genius, and maybe something that we could all share when we get back to school. I’m convinced that through all of this, the feelings and emotions we experience and share with our friends and families, how we care for each other and how our communities pull together, will be remembered much more than any academic work or study completed.

Please do continue to stay in touch, talk to us and each other.

Stay well, stay safe and stay home.

My best to you all,

Faithfully yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID-19 Update - 27 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

As our first week of lockdown draws to a close, The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy continue to offer a provision for the children of key workers and those that are vulnerable. It has been so fantastic to see how our Trust community has pulled together and continues to support each other through this most worrying time, so it is my intention to drop you all a quick line on a Friday to summarise the week and the wonderful things our community has been doing.

If I may remind you again, first of all, that if you are a key worker and require a place for your child, please do let us know. Likewise, if we have written to you separately because we believe your child, through our own definitions, maybe vulnerable, please let us know if you require provision moving forward. You can access the guidance for parents and carers and the list of key workers by following this hyperlink; Key Workers

If you have not already done so and you wish for us to make provision for your child, please can you let us know by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

As you will all now be aware, there will be no public examinations taken by students this academic year. This will be causing, quite rightly, high levels of upset and worry for those young people who will receive exam grades in the summer, how they will receive them and what they may mean for their futures. Although there remains no clear, definitive guidance on how these grades will be determined, or how onward destinations like sixth forms, colleges and universities will be assured; for those this is affecting I can tell you that all relevant authorities are working to provide you with the answers. It will be ok. It must be ok. I will write directly to all those who may be affected, with what we know so far, at the beginning of next week.

In the meantime, it remains the case that on-line and distance learning mechanisms are in place for all students across the Trust, and have been communicated with you on a bespoke basis through your child’s individual school. I have been delighted with the feedback through Dojo at our primary school and it has been brilliant to see that nearly 1,000 students accessed their on-line learning at the secondary school in the first two days of this week alone! It was only ten days ago that school closures were announced, so to see how positively our students, parents and staff have adjusted to these new ways of learning and working has been quite phenomenal. I know that many staff have been in contact with their students too, via the Show My Homework platform and/or email, answering questions and challenging learning.

This has been, and will remain, a significant challenge for all of us, as we continue to re-align and discover new ways of learning. The immediate focus for teaching staff was to provide some consistency of learning, whilst also being cognisant with the fact that some of us may not have access to internet and on-line learning platforms at home. I wish to assure that we are continually reviewing our offer for the longer term and, after Easter, will be in a better position to refine it and improve, where appropriate, our levels of sophistication. As always, we should be very grateful to receive any parental feedback, so we can continue to make our students’ learning purposeful.

During this interim period and as we settle into our adjusted routines we, as a Trust, feel that the best thing we can all do is look after each other. We do not wish for our young people to feel pressured into studying. We certainly do not wish for them to be on-line learning all day, every day. After all, that would not be reflective of the time they would spend at school, with structured breaks, physical, practical, creative and vocational activities built in alongside their ‘pillars’ and core lessons, based on their own individual gifts, skills, aptitudes, abilities and talents. Maybe three separate study sessions at home, Monday to Friday, focusing on different areas of their curriculum, punctuated with regular breaks would suffice. We all know that to concentrate for much beyond an hour in one chunk can be a challenge; it certainly is for me! Maybe around these study periods time could be built in for other activities, possibly as a family and together. There are lots of ideas out there at the moment, some of which could be playing games, board games, reading books, possibly some household chores, a bit of gardening or gong for a walk – applying all social distancing guidance, of course. Somebody even suggested to me, which I think is a fantastic idea, about keeping a journal, a scrapbook or a diary, recording these unprecedented events as they unfold. As we have previously said, with this being the biggest challenge our nation has faced since World War II, it will be talked about for generations to come. Recording and gathering photos, newspaper headlines and articles, key events and even, may I suggest, our own feelings. This is something that we will talk about with our children, our grandchildren, and even our great grandchildren; many of whom will struggle to comprehend what happened. A diary, journal or scrapbook, would be a great way of showing them.

During these such stressful times please do not worry too much about your child’s learning. I know that is easy to say, and although every family and every child is different, we are all currently in the same position; up and down the country and all around the world. We absolutely do not wish for parents to feel that they must be teachers and for learning at home to become pressured, tense and upsetting for families. We will continue to do all we can to keep our on-line and distance learning packages moving forward, and I assure you that once we are all back together in our classrooms and in our schools we will pick things back up and move forward again, as classes, as year groups, as friends, as schools and as a community.

So, with that in mind and in an attempt to keep us all together, please do join our social media platforms, where we will be sharing as much good news as possible, things that families can do together, tips on keeping fit, recipes, cooking, arts, crafts and much more. It would be great to hear about what you and your families have been doing too;

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

One thing, I believe, is for sure; the feelings and emotions that we will experience and share with friends and families, how we care for each other and how our communities pull together, will be remembered much more than any academic work or study that is done.

I am very conscious that all of my communication to you has been about our children and that is, of course, entirely as it should be. But this is tough for all of us. It will likely get worse before it gets better and I hope that you, all parents and carers, are looking after yourselves as well. Everyone needs a break sometimes and I do hope that you are able to get one during this difficult period. I want you to know I am thinking of you all, and the incredible jobs you are doing for your families and loved ones.

I’ll leave you this week with a beautiful mural that our students produced. I hope it will speak for itself;

Our Trust and our staff are here for you. Stay in touch, be safe and take care.

My thoughts and all very best wishes remain with you and your families.

Faithfully yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID-19 Update - 23 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

It is with a heavy heart that I write to you this evening as we closed our doors across our Trust to most of our students on Friday evening, in the face of the world’s ongoing fight against COVID-19. We have been delighted to see some of our students back today but, needless to say, it has been quite a strange feeling across our Trust’s community. As you know, I wrote to you all on Friday afternoon regarding the provision that our Trust’s schools and divisions are able to make from today, Monday, 23March, for those young people that are either the children of ‘key workers,’ or children that are deemed ‘vulnerable.’

This evening, I write to remind you of the list of ‘key workers’ that our government has published enclosed below, taken directly from The Department for Education;

Health and social care

Includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment

Education and childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach

Key public services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines)

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors

Please remember that if you believe you fall into one of these categories, as of today, Monday, 23 March, there will be a provision made for your child/children across the schools of The Canterbury Academy Trust, including The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy, should you wish to accept it.

However, I am obliged to remind you that The Department for Education are also very clear in their guidance to schools, in saying that;

Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

The DfE go onto ask that parents abide by one overarching principle in the face of the ongoing battle against COVID-19;

If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.

If you have not already done so, please can you let us know if your child will be attending school this week by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

Can I remind you also, please, that if you have not already received a direct message from us regarding your child’s vulnerability, forgive me, but we have not currently termed them in this category. However, I remain very aware that despite the government’s definition, vulnerability, for both young and old, is often not visible or ‘labelled,’ especially at times of such anxiety. So, please, if you have not been contacted already and, having read this message again, believe your child to be vulnerable, you must be sure to contact any of the Heads of School listed above. Your child will, without doubt, be more than welcome to join our provision from today, Monday, 23^rd March.

On-line and distance learning mechanisms remain in place for all students across the Trust, and have been communicated with you on a bespoke basis through your child’s individual school.

As for those students who were due to sit public examinations this summer, and further to my messages of last week, it is now the case that there will be no public examinations taken by students this academic year. As I write to you there remains no confirmed further information on how entry will be assured to sixth forms, colleges of further education and universities. I have been told that these answers will come in time and for those young people that this will affect, they must be assured that things will be ok. We do not yet know how and we must not be drawn into speculation, but I am hopeful that this will be resolved positively and sensibly in the coming days. As soon as we know more we will be sure to pass it on.

As regards transport to and from our Canterbury Campus from Monday, 23^rd March, it remains the case that Stagecoach will be running no dedicated school buses until further notice. However, ordinary bus services are still running. The number 22, for example, stops almost directly outside the campus on Knight Avenue. Students can catch this service to and from the main bus station in Canterbury. I can only advise all parents and carers to check the Stagecoach website on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/south-east/canterbury as regularly as possible, just to make sure that the services you may require continue to run in the midst of this unpredictable situation.

As regards those students who are continuing to attend school:

If you are reporting to The Canterbury Primary School, Breakfast Club will be open from 7.45am and the school day will start at 9am.
If you are reporting to The Canterbury Academy, including the sixth form, please report to the main school hall for 8.45am.
Students across our schools should arrive in normal school uniform.
A school meal and refreshments will be available as normal.
Please do not bring any PE kit unless you are specifically asked to do so, as our new timetables begin to take shape.
Our school days, as normal, will finish at 3pm.
With regret, there will be no after school clubs available at either school, at this time.

In the meantime, it is our intention to share as much good news as possible through our social media platforms, keeping our Trust community in touch;

You can follow us on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/TheCanterburyAcademy/
We are on Twitter too, go to https://twitter.com/CantAcadTrust
And, our Instagram page is on https://www.instagram.com/the_canterbury_academy_trust/

We will be sharing student successes from this term and beyond, things that families can do together at this most difficult time, tips on keeping fit, recipes, cooking, arts, crafts and much more.

So, as we continue to face this most incredible of situations together, our nation’s biggest challenge since World War II, we must take every opportunity to remind ourselves and our young people that we will get through this. And, when we do, and when they return to our campus, hopefully in the not too distant future, we shall be waiting for them with huge smiles and open arms, welcoming them back.

It is no longer my intention to write to you quite as much as has been necessary so far, but we will continue to update you as and when needed. With that said, and through beautiful coincidence, the day that we were forced to close our doors to many of our young people happened to coincide with Dame Vera Lynn’s 103rd birthday, the 20 of March. It was Dame Lynn’s voice and lyrics, of course, that sang many of our grandparents and great grandparents through some deeply troubling times over 75 years ago. I’ll leave you with some words from probably her most famous song, the lyrics of which seem as relevant today as they did all those years ago;

But I know we’ll meet again some sunny day
Keep smiling through
Just like you always do
‘Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away

On behalf of all of the staff across our Trust we remain incredibly grateful for all of your ongoing support.

My thoughts and very best wishes remain with you and your families.

Faithfully yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID-19 Update - 20 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

I wrote to you all yesterday regarding the provision that our Trust’s schools and divisions are able to make from Monday, 23 March, for those young people that are either the children of ‘key workers,’ or children that are deemed ‘vulnerable.’

In my letter I attempted to offer some help in terms of who may be classed as a key worker at this difficult time. However, we have now, this morning, been given guidance from the Department for Education as to what and who a ‘key worker’ is. I enclose it below, taken directly from the DfE;

Health and social care

Education and childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach

Key public services

Local and national government

Food and other necessary goods

Public safety and national security

Transport

Utilities, communication and financial services

I am very aware, as many have already pointed out nationally, this list is not particularly clear and may not be, in some cases, very useful in determining if one feels they are a key worker or not. But, we are where we are and if you believe you fall into one of these categories, as of Monday, 23March, there will be a provision made for your child across the schools of The Canterbury Academy Trust, including The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy, should you wish to accept it.

However, the Department for Education are also very clear in their guidance to schools today that;

Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

The DfE go onto ask that parents abide by one overarching principle in the face of the ongoing battle against COVID-19;

If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.

To this end, please can you let us know if your child will be attending school next week by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

In order to allow us to plan for Monday, we had asked that parents and carers respond to this message by 3pm today. However, in light of the new guidance, we would now ask that you just let us know as soon as you can.

I am sorry to say that I still have no clear guidance from our government as to what may constitute a ‘vulnerable’ child. And, in light of that, you are aware that we have written to the parents and carers of children across our Trust who we have, using our own mechanisms, termed as ‘vulnerable.’

Can I remind you, please, that if you have not already received a direct message regarding your child’s vulnerability, forgive me, but we have not currently termed them in this category. However, I remain very aware that vulnerability is often not visible or ‘labelled,’ especially at times such as this. So, please, if you have not been contacted already and, having read this message again, believe your child to be vulnerable, you must be sure to contact any of the Heads of School listed above. Your child will, without doubt, be more than welcome to join our provision from Monday, 23March.

On-line and distance learning mechanisms are now in place for all students across the Trust and have been communicated with you on a bespoke basis through your child’s individual school.

As for those students who were due to sit public examinations this summer and further to my message of yesterday, it now appears that there will be no public examinations taken by students this academic year. As I write to you there remains no further information on how entry will be assured to sixth forms, colleges of further education and universities. I have been told that these answers will come in time and for those young people that this will affect, they must be assured that things will be ok. We still do not yet know how, but I am positive that they will. As soon as I know more I will be sure to pass it on.

As regards transport to and from our Canterbury Campus from Monday, 23 March, we have been told by Stagecoach that there will be no dedicated school buses provided by them until further notice. However, ordinary bus services are still running. The number 22, for example, stops almost directly outside the campus on Knight Avenue. Students can catch this service to and from the main bus station in Canterbury. I can only advise all parents and carers to check the Stagecoach website on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/south-east/canterbury as regularly as possible, just to make sure that the services you may require continue to run in the midst of this unpredictable situation.

Finally, as regards what students should do on Monday, 23 March, if they are attending school:

If you are reporting to The Canterbury Primary School, Breakfast Club will be open from 7.45am and the school day will start at 9am.
If you are reporting to The Canterbury Academy, including the sixth form, please report to the main school hall for 8.45am.
Students across our schools should arrive in normal school uniform.
A school meal and refreshments will be available as normal.
Please do not bring any PE kit on Monday, but you may be asked to at a later date and as our new timetables take shape.
Our school days, as normal, will finish at 3pm.
With regret, there will be no after school clubs available at either school, at this time.

One day, hopefully not too far away, we will be able to look back and reflect on how we were part of a very difficult period in our world’s history. We shall look forward to seeing some of our young people on Monday and await, eagerly, for us all to be reunited once again as schools and a Trust community.

On behalf of all of the staff across our Trust we remain incredibly grateful for all of your ongoing support. I will continue to provide further updates as and when I have them.

All very best wishes to you and your families.

Faithfully,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

COVID-19 Update - 19 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

As promised, I write to you all this afternoon to provide, as best I can, a definitive position for the schools and divisions across The Canterbury Academy Trust, following the announced closure of all schools and educational settings in England, to all students, except those that are ‘vulnerable’ or the child of a ‘key worker.’

Today, again, staffing has remained relatively stable across the Trust, with colleagues resolute in their desire to continue to provide, as best they can, for those young people who are still able to attend our schools. However, pupil attendance, quite understandably, continues to decline as parents self-isolate with their children in light of the ongoing pressure the COVID-19 outbreak places on our students, their families, our staff and our communities.

As you are aware, our schools will remain open for the children of ‘key workers.’ At the time of writing to you, and despite having just listened to our Prime Minister’s press conference, I still have no definition from our government as to what or whom a ‘key worker’ is. To be honest, to define this term saddens me and our staff immensely. It goes against all that we believe in as a Trust which wishes to recognise the different gifts, talents, abilities, aptitudes and skills in our society equally. To say that any one ‘worker’ is more important than another is not something I feel at all comfortable doing. However, I am afraid we are where we are, and in an attempt to be helpful to parents, at this time, I can provide an idea of what I believe a ‘key worker’ to be, in the current climate, below:

National Health Service
Armed Forces
Teachers and childcare staff
Care home workers
Social workers
Police officers, community support and civilian staff
Prison officer or other probation staff
Firefighters
Local authority planners
Environmental health officers
Highway Agency traffic officers
Delivery staff

In the face of the ongoing lack of clarity from our government this is, of course, by no means a definitive list, and serves only as an attempt to provide guidance. If you believe that you fall into one of these categories, as of Monday, 23^rd March, there will be a provision made for your child across the schools of The Canterbury Academy Trust, including The Canterbury Primary School and The Canterbury Academy, should you wish to accept it. It is with regret that, at this time, I am not able to tell you exactly what this provision will look like. Suffice to say we will not be able to offer what students are used to, but I can assure you that your child will be safeguarded, looked after, fed and engaged. It is, of course, your choice should you not want to accept this offer and wish to make alternative child care arrangements.

To this end, please can you let us know if your child will be attending school next week by contacting:

If you attend The Canterbury Primary School, contact bfarrell@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 462883
If you are in years 7 or 8 at The Canterbury Academy, contact abanbery@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in years 9,10 and 11 at The Canterbury Academy, contact jbrooke@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971
If you are in the sixth form at The Canterbury Academy, contact shadlow@canterbury.kent.sch.uk or call 01227 463971

In order to allow us to plan for Monday, we would very much appreciate a response to this message by 3pm tomorrow, 20March.

As I write to you, neither have I been provided with any clear guidance from our government as to what may constitute a ‘vulnerable’ child. To me, and all of the staff across our Trust, every young person and, indeed, many adults, are vulnerable. But, in light of, again, the lack of clarity from our government, we have written to all those parents of children across our Trust who we have, using our own mechanisms, termed as ‘vulnerable.’

If you have not already received a message under a separate heading regarding your child’s vulnerability, please forgive me, but we have not currently termed them in this category. However, I am very aware that vulnerability can often not be recognised or ‘labelled.’ So, please, if you have not been contacted already and, having read this message, believe your child to be vulnerable, you must be sure to contact any of the Heads of School listed above. Your child will, without doubt, be more than welcome to join our provision from Monday, 23 March.

On-line and distance learning mechanisms are now in place for all students across the Trust and will be communicated with you on a bespoke basis through your child’s individual school.

As for those students who were due to sit public examinations this summer, there remains no guidance from our government on how long these may be delayed for, if indeed they will be sat at all. At the time of writing to you there is no further information, either, on how entry will be assured to sixth forms, colleges of further education and universities. I am sure these answers will come in time and for those young people that this will affect, they must be assured that things will be ok. We do not yet know how, but I am positive that they will be. I will be sure to update you as soon as I have further news.

As regards transport to and from our Canterbury Campus from Monday, 23 March, we have been told by Stagecoach, today, that there will be no dedicated school buses provided by them until further notice. However, ordinary bus services are still running. The number 22, for example, stops almost directly outside the campus. Students can catch this service to and from the main bus station in Canterbury. I can only advise all parents and carers to check the Stagecoach website on https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regional-service-updates/south-east/canterbury as regularly as possible, just to make sure that the services you may require continue to run in the midst of this unpredictable situation.

I remain incredibly grateful for all of your support and will provide further updates as and when I have them.

All my thoughts and best wishes remain with you and your families.

Faithfully yours,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Important Information for Parents and Carers - 18 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are living through unprecedented times. One day, hopefully not too far away, we will be able to look back and reflect on how we were part of a very difficult period in our world’s history. Doubtless you will all now be aware that our Prime Minister has just announced the closure of all schools and educational settings in England, to all students, except those that are ‘vulnerable’ or the child of a ‘key worker.’ At this time both those categories remain undefined by our government. The closure of schools will start from Monday, 23March.

Until this point, today, staffing has remained relatively stable across the Trust, and the commitment from colleagues has shone through as characteristically stoic and pupil centred. It was my intention to write to you all this evening to inform you of our two phase plan to cope with the ongoing pressure the COVID-19 outbreak has placed on our students, their families, staff and our communities. Obviously, given this most recent announcement, we will need to reflect and revisit these plans in the next 24 hours, but they were to be as follows:

Phase 1:

We were to continue to cover classes for absent colleagues in the way that we would normally. This has been happening on an ongoing basis across all schools and divisions of the Trust. As we remain in phase 1, for the next two days at least, some parents, however, have either taken the decision, or been advised to, self-isolate for a period of between 7 and 14 days with their children. On-line and distance learning mechanisms are in place for those young people and will be communicated with you all, on a more bespoke and contextual basis, through your child’s individual school.

As a Trust, all schools and divisions were to remain in phase 1 until further notice, or until such time that it became untenable so to do.

Phase 2:

It was to be our absolute desire to keep our schools and divisions open, unless instructed to close by Public Health England or the government. We are public servants and I believe that we should continue to offer a service to our communities at this most difficult time. At this moment, as I write to you, I am genuinely unsure how I will be able to tell some families that their children can continue to come to school because they are the children of ‘key’ or ‘important’ workers as defined by our government, whilst others are deemed not. Also, I am not sure how I can accurately label a child ‘vulnerable’ and in need of our support, yet another not. I cannot see, at this moment, how this will not contradict everything that we stand for and believe in as a Trust.

Our phase 2 plan was to move to a ‘diluted’ offer for some students across our Trust. For example, classes could have been combined at The Canterbury Primary School and at The Canterbury Academy in our Middle School/KS3 (years 7,8 and 9). Groups could have been combined and subject/faculty areas asked to cope with larger groups of students by working collaboratively and collegiately. For some parents you may be familiar with these practises as we have often used them on ‘snow days’ whilst remaining open. This would have meant that students in years 7, 8 and 9, for example, may not have been taught in ‘normal’ lessons, but they would be safeguarded, looked after, fed and engaged. By doing this, it would have meant that parents, undefined in terms of their ‘importance,’ could still get to work and go about their daily lives as best they can.

We would have attempted to first prioritise teaching for students, for example at The Canterbury Academy, in years 11 and 13, who may still face examinations, albeit we do not now know when or how these will take place. The Canterbury Academy would then have attempted to second prioritise the teaching of years 10 and 12 students, some of whom, also, may still face examinations at a point yet to be defined. For the next two days, at least, the Trust will remain in phase 1 of our plan.

As I say, in light of the government’s most recent announcement and the uncertainty it will have caused for families, I will be in touch with you again in the next 24 hours with our Trust’s definitive position for your child’s ongoing education post Monday, 23March.

In the meantime, on behalf of all our staff across the Trust, I cannot emphasise enough how grateful we are for the ongoing and unwavering support our Trust community has received during this most difficult time.

Again, my very best wishes to you and all of your families.

Faithfully,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Health Advice - 13 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

As you will all now doubtless be aware, our government has moved to the ‘delay’ phase of their four point plan. The government coronavirus action plan sets out what the UK has done to tackle coronavirus (COVID-19), and what they plan to do next. The situation is constantly reviewed and actions are informed through expert science and advice, guided by the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser.

The action plan can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan

It remains the case that no school should close in response to a suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19 case, unless advised to do so by Public Health England. Indeed, advice received today from The Department for Education states that;

“The Chief Medical Officer has advised that the impact of closing schools on both children’s education and on the workforce will be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. Decisions on future advice to schools will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group.”

Nevertheless, as a result of this move to the ‘delay’ phase, the Trust has considered, and will continue to review, the necessity of events scheduled to take place over the coming weeks. We have arrived at decisions around ‘non-essential’ events based on an attempt to limit, or avoid, large groups of people congregating together.

So, and for your information, the following events have been postponed for the period Monday 16 March until Friday 27March, inclusive :

The Canterbury Academy Trust’s annual ‘CHOscars’ on 17March has been postponed until later in the academic year. Date to be confirmed.
Year 11 Parents’ Evening on 24 March has been postponed. Mr Brooke, Head of Senior School, will be in touch with all year 11 parents and carers separately to provide further information.

For those parents/carers who have a child due to go on our ski trip to Austria during the Easter holidays, we shall be in touch with you separately next week with further news. You will, of course, be aware of the most recent government advice around school trips abroad. Please be assured we are in close communication with all relevant agencies so we can appraise you of the absolute and most up to date information.

The leadership of the Trust will continue to review planned, ‘non-essential’ events, on a regular basis, and update you as far in advance as possible. We understand this may be inconvenient, frustrating and upsetting, but please be assured these decisions have not been taken lightly and, we believe, are in the best interests of all parties.

As a nation we are aware that this is a rapidly changing situation and I wish to assure you, also, that the schools and divisions across The Canterbury Academy Trust are making all necessary plans for any potential school/divisional closure. Albeit, it would appear currently, this remains some way off. The Trust continues to be in close discussion with, and is following advice from, Public Health England. At this time there remains no further action for our schools to take. Should this situation change, Public Health England will be working closely with the Trust and we will inform you of any updates.

This will continue to be a challenging and worrying time for us all. On behalf of all of our staff teams across the Trust, we remain incredibly grateful for the way in which you are working with us, as a community, during these testing times.

As always, yours faithfully,

Yours faithfully,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Heath Advice - 6 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

After what has been a challenging and worrying week for us all, I write to thank you for the way in which you have worked with us, as a community, through this testing time. The amount of messages of best wishes we have received for our school community have been humbling, as has the level of support we have had from you around our handling of this difficult situation.

As of writing this message to you, the member of our school community, who continues to self-isolate at home as a precaution, remains well and continues to display no symptoms. I can further assure you that the school remains in close discussion with, and is following advice from, Public Health England. It remains the case that, at this time, there is no further action for the school to take and Public Health England have confirmed that there is no need for anybody else to self-isolate unless they have been contacted directly by them. However, if you are concerned or have any questions please contact NHS111 for advice. Should this situation change, Public Health England will be working closely with the school and we will inform you of any updates or required action.

As we have already mentioned, at this time of year there are many respiratory illnesses circulating. You can continue to protect yourself and others by:

· Catching your cough or sneeze in the crook of your elbow or using a tissue. Then bin the tissue and wash your hands, or use an alcohol-based sanitiser gel.

· Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after using public transport. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based gel until you can wash your hands.

· Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.

You can continue to help by following the DfE guidelines already passed to you about sharing simple and effective hygiene messages from https://twitter.com/NHSuk/status/1235112744917049346 or https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101-coronavirus-/resources

I would also like to remind you of the newly formed Department for Education Coronavirus helpline for staff, parents and young people:

Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

Furthermore, you can continue to access all of the latest information by visiting:

Updates on COVID-19:

· https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Guidance for educational settings:

· https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas:

· https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

My very best wishes to you all for the weekend and, again, my sincerest thanks for your ongoing support.

Yours faithfully,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Health Advice - 4 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

As you are already very aware, The Canterbury Academy remains in close discussion with, and is following advice from, Public Health England. A member of our school community continues to self-isolate and, at this time, there is no further news or action for the school to take. Should this situation change, Public Health England will be working closely with the school and, as promised, we will inform you of any updates.

However, I thought you should also be made aware of the most recent guidance issued by The Department for Education, updating you on the government’s response to Coronavirus, COVID-19, below;

Government Coronavirus action plan

Yesterday, the Coronavirus action plan was launched. This document sets out what the UK as a whole has done to tackle the Coronavirus (COVID-19), and what it plans to do next.

The action plan can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan

The document includes:

· what we know about the virus and the disease it causes

· how we have planned for an infectious disease outbreak, such as the current coronavirus outbreak

· the actions we have taken so far in response to the current coronavirus outbreak

· what we are planning to do next, depending upon the course the current coronavirus outbreak takes

· the role the public can play in supporting this response, now and in the future

Current advice remains in place: No school should close in response to a suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England.

The importance of hygiene

Personal hygiene is the most important way we can tackle COVID-19, especially washing hands more; and the catch it, bin it, kill it strategy for those with coughs and sneezes.

Please help us in sharing simple and effective hand hygiene messages.

https://twitter.com/NHSuk/status/1235112744917049346

Public Health England has a dedicated webpage with a range of posters and digital materials at:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101-coronavirus-/resources

Department for Education Coronavirus helpline

On Monday we launched a new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

Where to find the latest information

Updates on COVID-19:

· https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Guidance for educational settings:

· https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas:

· https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

I hope you will continue to find these updates useful.

My thanks, again, for your ongoing support at this difficult time.

Yours faithfully,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Health Advice - 3 March 2020 update

Dear Parents and Carers,

Further to my previous message to you of this morning, I wish to thank you for the support we have received regarding the way in which we have handled what has been a difficult situation for everyone. To remind and update you, The Canterbury Academy was made aware that a family member associated with our school community is now a confirmed case of Coronavirus, COVID-19. The member of our school community is still well, continues to display no symptoms, and is self-isolating at home as a precautionary measure for 14 days.

The school remains in close discussion with, and is following advice from, Public Health England. At this time there continues to be no further action for the school to take. Should this situation change, Public Health England will be working closely with the school and, as promised, we will inform you of any updates.

You can continue to access the ‘COVID-19: guidance for educational settings’ for your information, should you wish to on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

You can also continue to track further information regarding Coronavirus on the Public Health England blog https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/

As I mentioned earlier, Public Health England have confirmed that there is no need for anybody else to self-isolate, unless they have been contacted directly by them. However, if you are concerned or have any questions please contact NHS111 for advice.

Further to this, the Department for Education have contacted schools nationally today with some additional information for those who are concerned about Coronavirus:

Department for Education Coronavirus helpline

The DfE have launched a new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

No school should close in response to a suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19 case, unless advised to do so by Public Health England.

Where to find the latest information

Updates on COVID-19:

· https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Guidance for educational settings:

· https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas:

· https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

I hope you will find this useful.

I remain very grateful for your ongoing support.

Yours faithfully,

Jon Watson
Trust Executive Principal

Health Advice - 3 March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

The Canterbury Academy has been made aware that a family member associated with our school community is now a confirmed case of Coronavirus, COVID-19. The member of our school community is well, continues to display no symptoms, and they are self-isolating at home as a precautionary measure for 14 days.

The school has been in close discussion with, and is following advice from, Public Health England. At this time there is no further action for the school to take. Should this situation change, Public Health England will be working closely with the school and we will inform you of any updates.

We have enclosed the link to the ‘COVID-19: guidance for educational settings’ below for your information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

Further to my previous message, please be assured that we will continue to monitor the situation and we will advise you should anything change.

As you will be aware, at this time of year there are many respiratory illnesses circulating. You can protect yourself and others by:

· Catching your cough or sneeze in the crook of your elbow or using a tissue. Then bin the tissue and wash your hands, or use an alcohol-based sanitiser gel.

· Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after using public transport. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based gel until you can wash your hands.

· Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.

Further information regarding coronavirus can be found on the Public Health England blog https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/23/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know/

Public Health England have confirmed that there is no need for anybody else to self-isolate unless they have been contacted directly by them. However, if you are concerned or have any questions please contact NHS111 for advice.

Jon Watson
Executive Principal
The Canterbury Academy Trust

Health Advice - 28 February 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Now that the advice on how to deal with any potential spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) appears to have become more consistent, I felt it pertinent to write to you to offer some assurances around the advice we may need to follow, should there be any issue across the schools and divisions of The Canterbury Academy Trust.

The Department for Education has regularly provided us with updates from Public Health England, which advises schools and parents on what they should do if staff, students or pupils have travelled to an area that is designated as having a risk of contagion from the Coronavirus strain, COVID-19.

As a Trust we fully support these messages, and we also suggest that, because the situation is changing daily, you may wish to check the Public Health England website to ascertain the latest advice on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

We shall continue to apply all common sense approaches to dealing with any potential virus that schools could face at this time of year through general good hygiene practises, and this will also be happening, of course, in homes and other places of work.

Please be assured that we will continue to regularly monitor the advice that is being given and will contact you further should the need arise.

As always, thank you in anticipation of your ongoing support.

My best regards,

Jon Watson
Executive Principal
The Canterbury Academy Trust

Community Cafe now open

The Canterbury Academy Trust is pleased to announce the opening of the Community Cafe

The cafe opening times are Monday – Friday 8am – 9.15am

Coffee, Tea and Hot Chocolate, Snacks and Cold Drinks.

Located in The Professional Learning and Community Centre, City View, Franklyn Road, Canterbury, CT2 8TP

Pillars of Excellence Newsletters