23rd April 2020

Dear Parent/Carer,

I hope this letter finds you well and that the start of the new term in these challenging times has been as smooth as possible. Thank you for all your tremendous support as I return to school, it has really helped and is very much appreciated. For those of you who are unwell, self-isolating, or affected by family members who are unwell at this time, we send you our thoughts and best wishes.

SNS Home Learning

The curriculum plans for this half-term are on our school website. The tasks as you know are set through the Show My Homework platform. If you have any queries about any subject material, please contact the named person for that department. We recommend students study a maximum of four hours per day and please also include some breaks and of course some fresh air and exercise.

We are continually reviewing and refining our Home Learning package. Presently, all work is set through Show My Homework. This is supported by document libraries and collaboration spaces in Office365 (SharePoint) and for the Sixth Form, we also use Microsoft Teams. There are many other social media teaching platforms available, a number of which we are exploring, however when deciding on which ones will best serve our community, we are mindful that we need to consider a number of factors including student access and of course safeguarding implications. That said, we are actively exploring these mediums as we want to be as creative and impactful as we can be in our approach. I will update you as soon as I have more information in this regard.

Please do remind your son/daughter to keep in touch with their tutors. This gives us an opportunity to provide tutees with pastoral support during the SNS Home Learning phase. From Monday 27th April, Y7-Y10 and Y12 tutors will check in with their tutees through Show My Homework. If additional support is needed, we will do our best to either provide it or put you in touch with other agencies that might be better placed to help.

Wellbeing

There is no doubt that our mental health and our state of wellbeing are challenged in these difficult times. We all have our own individual coping methods. However, we may sometimes find ourselves feeling overwhelmed which is totally understandable and there are several organisations that can help. I have attached some of these agencies along with this letter.

Young Hackney Youth Activities

Young Hackney have also devised a packed programme of virtual activities to get involved in, please do explore. https://www.younghackney.org/campaign/online-youth-hub/

GCSE and A Level Grading Process

I know this process will be causing our students and their families some angst and concern. Please rest assured that the teachers are working very hard to ensure we follow Ofqual’s guidance for the arrangements of the summer grades in order to be fair and consistent to all students. As stated by Ofqual “Schools and colleges will not release grades or rank orders to students, parents or carers, so please don’t ask them to.” I kindly ask that you do not contact departments to discuss your son/daughter’s grades as we are not able to do so. Thank you for your support in this matter.

SNS Home Learning Project

Following my email of yesterday, don’t forget to send in your photographs capturing our young people clapping for carers and the NHS. Once again, we would like to convey our thanks and appreciation to all our key workers. Can I take this opportunity to remind you to follow government guidelines on washing hands frequently, social distancing and only leaving home for exercising and essential tasks.

Lastly, we wish those of you who start Ramadan this week, a safe and blessed month. The coronavirus restrictions will mean turning to online platforms and finding alternative approaches to communicate with family and friends. This will make it a different experience, but I hope one that is just as fulfilling.

Our theme of the week is courage. I shared with staff the quote below from Captain Tom Moore - who has captured our hearts by walking 100 lengths of his garden for the NHS celebrating his 100th birthday - with staff and thought I would share it with you also:

“For all those finding it difficult: the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away”

Wishing you all the best. Stay safe.

Zehra Jaffer