18th March 2020

Dear Parent/Carer,

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update

Following this afternoon’s government briefing, I write this evening with a further update. From Monday 23 March, schools will be closed to everyone except children of key workers and vulnerable children, as part of the country’s ongoing response to Coronavirus.

Examples of the key workers include NHS staff, police and delivery drivers who need to be able to go to work. Vulnerable children include those who have a social worker and those with Education, Health and Care Plans. I remind parents who are key workers and require childcare during the period of school closure to contact admin@sns.hackney.sch.uk.

For the rest of this week, we will continue with our plans as communicated to you in my earlier letter today.

  • Thursday 19 March: School will be CLOSED for Years 9, 10 and 12 until further notice. We will remain open to Years 7, 8, 11 and 13.
  • Friday 20 March School will be CLOSED to ALL students EXCEPT Year 13 sitting their mocks.

The government has confirmed that external assessments and examinations will not go ahead this summer (May/June), and that they will not be publishing performance tables for this academic year. The government will work with the education sector and Ofqual to ensure children get the qualifications they need. Whilst we now know that exams will not go ahead, this decision also raises questions about how grades will be determined. It is therefore important teachers have as much evidence as possible of the working grade of a student, in order to best predict the outcome, should it be that schools are asked to produce predicted grades to help with the awarding of grades.

With all that in mind, the Year 12 maths mock on Thursday 19 March and the Year 13 mocks scheduled for Friday 20 March will go ahead as planned. Rigorous and extended hours cleaning is still taking place throughout the school and the gyms in which mock examinations are taking place, are being thoroughly cleaned before and between each sitting. Additionally, the desks are spaced well apart to support social distancing.

Please be assured that as soon as hear more about external examinations I will relay this information to you,

As already communicated, this is such an uncertain time for all of us. I am very proud of how our community has rallied together, thank you once again for your support and to the staff for all their efforts.

Yours faithfully,

Zehra Jaffer