Return to School on Monday 15th March

Sunday 7th March 2021

From Monday 15th March we expect all our students back on a phased part-time basis.  This return, for three weeks, until the Easter Break is known as a ‘Blended’ approach as all students will spend time learning in-school and at-home.  After Easter we are planning for a full-time return for all students.

Since the First Minister made her statement on this last Tuesday we have been re-visiting our existing Blended Learning plan, updating it to reflect the context we find ourselves in and making sure it reflects Scottish Government and Education Scotland guidance.    This post serves as an update on our preparations.  A number of factors are impacting on our planning

• the 2m distancing requirement for all is possibly the most significant factor in our planning;  our school is over-capacity which means we have more students than the school was designed for,  as a result we can safely accommodate around 40% of our students in-school at any one time
• we are committed to offering weekly in-school time to all our students
• our Hub provision which has been running since Monday 11th January will continue until the Easter break;  this accommodates on a typical day around 80 students
• students in the Senior Phase, S4/S5/S6,  are at a crucial phase of the school year and will have priority for in-school time, this will ensure that they have the best chance of success in their qualifications under the Alternative Certification Model;  our Senior Phase students will receive a higher level of in-school provision than BGEd, S1/S2/S3, students
• in-school time for our BGEd will focus on students getting used to being back in school and allow them to start seeing friends again, as well as undertaking activities relating to their learning, this is important for their wellbeing;  we are viewing their time in-school as a preparation period for a full-time in-school return after Easter, wherever possible we will work outside with our BGEd students
• as this will be a Blended Learning model, we will also continue to ensure that remote learning is of the highest standard possible;  it is inevitable that as our in-school provision increases, our capacity for staff to deliver an E-learning programme will be affected,  we therefore must ensure that our staff have enough time to work on our E-learning programme 
• our data shows that most of our students have engaged well with our E-learning programme,  however, not all have been able to, usually through no fault of their own;  this means we will target some BGEd students and offer them additional in-school time 

On Monday we will consult on our planned programme with our core Parent Council group.  This will allow us hear their views and if possible adapt our programme.

On Tuesday we will outline our programme on the school website.  We will send parent/carers a GroupCall text to alert them to the information.  Similar information will be placed in Year Group Google Classrooms for students.

From Thursday we will email parent/carers with individual details of the specific days/times that students will be expected to be in school.

In addition, please access the link below to read a letter from Midlothian Council on the return to school from 15/03/21

Parents and Carers 040321.docx