Dear Parents/Carers

It has been a challenging start to our year with Covid 19 testing and now the closure of schools. Although we understand the Government position it was wonderful to see so many of our students arriving into the academy on Monday and quite sad to now not see most of them in person before February. We do have a light at the end of the tunnel with a vaccine now available and I hope that before long that we can be back to some sort of normality.

So to keep you updated I wanted to let you know what we are doing at Stone Soup Academy to continue to support our students and you, their parents and carers.

From Wednesday 6th January, the academy will continue in two ways, remote learning and onsite learning.

BTEC exams will continue as planned in January. We will have our first media exam on Wednesday 6th of January.  Students involved in this exam will need to arrive at Richmond House at 8.55 a.m. The exam will last 1 hour after which time the students will be asked to return home.

Students of Critical Workers and Vulnerable Students

Onsite learning will be available for all students identified as vulnerable and those children of critical workers. We have spoken to these parents and established who will be present in the academy from Wednesday and a personalised curriculum will be in place for them.

Year 11 students coming into the academy will need to arrive at 9.30 and their day will end at 2.30. 

Year 10 students will need to arrive at 10.40 and their day will end at 2.30

Meals will be provided for all students onsite.

Remote learning

All other students will be educated remotely using either hard copies of work posted to you, if you do not have access to a computer, google classroom and live lessons delivered through google.

The timetable for students on remote learning will be the same as the student would have received whilst at school.

We are aiming to deliver live lessons alongside google classroom and hard copies of work. This will be using our google system. For safeguarding purposes students will be expected to be appropriately dressed and preferably not in a bedroom for live lessons.

The times of the day for remote learning will be 9.30 – 2.30 p.m.

Your child’s personal coach will contact you twice a day, the first will be between 8.45 and 9.30 a.m. Your child is expected to have logged onto Google classroom by 9.30 each morning to achieve their Dojo points. They will contact you again in the afternoon.

Work Packs

Hard copy work packs are being posted out to all students who have been identified as not having access to a computer. These will provide work for each subject for two weeks. If you need a work pack and you haven’t received it, then please contact your child’s personal coach.

Online Resources

Online resources for learning can be found on google classroom and on the academy website. www.stonesoupacademy.org.uk.

Free School Meals

Free school meals will be provided as food parcels, giving parents enough food to make meals for 1 week. They will be completed and given to parents who collect them from our High Pavement site each Thursday, from 2 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. If you are not eligible for free school meals but you are struggling, then please contact your child’s personal coach.

Access to a Computer and Internet Access

Remote learning is often reliant upon the use of a computer and internet access. If this is an issue for you, please contact your personal coach and we will see if we can assist you in any way.

Covid19 Testing

Rapid Flow testing will continue for all students and staff who attend the academy.

I know that there is a lot of information to take on board, when I am sure that you are already juggling many other challenges. Please do contact us if you have any concerns or questions that we can help you with. We are always more than happy to try and support you and your child’s personal coach will always be available to help.

Thank you again for your continued support and I know that together we can get through this.

Keep safe

Kind regards

Kerrie Henton

Principal

khenton@stonesoupacademy.org.uk