Petchey News

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week the Prime Minister confirmed that schools and colleges will not return to full face-to-face education until 8th March at the earliest. This is far from ideal for learners of all ages, not to mention for parents and carers, and we understand how challenging it is to keep students motivated with their studies whilst at home. We are committed to ensuring that our students receive the right balance of work that's accessible to everyone but also stretches and challenges the most able. Following feedback from the remote learning drop in last week, slides for lessons should include a slide that outlines the expectations of students from each lesson. Homework should not be being set at this time because it's all home work, and we do not want to add increased levels of stress to students who may already be feeling anxious, or get demotivated. You can find more information about our remote learning provision and some how to guides on Google Classroom and SMHW on our dedicated Remote Learning page here https://www.petcheyacademy.org.uk/1251/remote-learning

Next week we will be holding a Progress Review Day for students in years 11 and 13. We can't hold parents' evening as we would in more normal times so instead parents and carers of students in these year groups will be invited to book a slot for a telephone call with each of their child's subject teachers on Friday 5th February. Bookings for calls can be made using our simple online booking system, parents and carers of students in years 11 and 13 will receive the link to book later on today. Students in other year groups will not receive their normal timetable of lessons on this day so they should use next Friday as a day to catch up with all of their outstanding work and do some independent study.

Reading for pleasure is good for mind, body and soul, and lockdown is the perfect opportunity for getting stuck in to a good book. The academy has signed up to an online library service called Myon which enables students to access over 5,000 books completely free. Books are available for children of all ages, from primary school to sixth form so please watch the short film below from Ms Durber to find out how to get started. If you haven't already seen it, the team from the Arts & Sport are setting the student challenges each week on Instagram, these include creative challenges and physical challenges to keep students active in mind and body. Do have a look at https://www.instagram.com/petcheyacademy/ or https://www.facebook.com/petcheyacademy and encourage your child to get involved.

Lastly, please can I ask all parents and carers to make sure that we have the correct emergency contact information for your child. Legally we require 2 for each student including a contact telephone number and an email address so we can reach you. This is equally as important whilst schools are closed to enable us to make contact with your child.

Warm regards

Clare Borrill

This week's Creative Challenge & last week's winner of the One Line Drawing Challenge by Ben Bediako, year 8.