Covid-19

Sent 19 March 2020 (previous emails can be found below)

If you are a non-English speaker and have any difficulty understanding this letter, please contact office@dwightlondon.org so that we can provide you with assistance. 

Dear Parents,

Following my letter Tuesday evening, there have been new developments in the rapidly evolving Coronavirus situation. Yesterday the Secretary for State for Education confirmed that schools in England will close from the end of the school day on Friday 20th March until further notice to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. We will therefore be closing the school buildings from 4pm Friday 20th March until further notice except for vulnerable children and children of parents who are key workers.

If your child is vulnerable, or if you are a key worker, please complete this form so that we can ensure we have appropriate provision for your child from Monday 23rd March. 

Provision will be made for our D2 students to complete Monday's proposed exams remotely and Mr Bowry will be in touch with these students and their families regarding arrangements for the mock exams and ongoing support for our D2 students.  

Although our buildings will be closed, the learning will continue. We are currently following our remote learning protocol as set out in my previous letter, the only change from Monday 23rd March will be that all students, except those with EHC plans or whose parents are key workers,  will access their learning from home. Further details about Lower and Upper School specific remote learning plans from Matt Parkin and Chris Beddows have been emailed out today. We will continue to set remote learning for all students until Friday 3rd April. We then encourage all students to take a break from their screens and their lessons during the Easter break. Remote learning will commence again on Monday 20th April.

In anticipation of a potential longer-term closure, we are well-prepared to continue with remote learning for as long as necessary. Apart from the health and safety of our community, our greatest focus is on mitigating any disruption to student learning. We fully expect that together with you, we will minimise any potential learning loss. We recognise that the new learning experience may require a small adjustment period for both students and teachers. Our innovative methodologies as IB educators only reinforce the strength of our practice in a virtual setting. We ask for your patience, collaboration, and constructive feedback as we head into an extended period of remote teaching and learning. In the  week beginning March 30th, we will be sending a survey to children and parents to collect feedback to help us to continue to improve the remote learning provision.

Whilst school remains open until Friday afternoon, I would like to remind all parents who are choosing to keep their children at home to contact the Upper School or Lower School office to confirm this arrangement so that we can authorise the absence.

While the length of school closure is uncertain, we are committed to staying in contact with you via our weekly bulletin, email updates and dedicated website page. We will continue doing everything we can to minimise the impact on our community.

With this quickly evolving situation, I want to thank you all for your continued understanding and flexibility. I've written before of my gratitude to be part of such a compassionate and resilient community, and I can only reiterate that again now.

Kind regards
Alison Cobbin

The International Baccalaureate Organization has announced that the May examinations for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program will not be held this year due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. 

As an organization, it is critical for the IB to ensure that the options it provides its global community of IB World Schools are based on compassion and fairness for the difficult circumstances that its students and educators are experiencing. As a result, based on considerable advice from stakeholders across the globe, including schools, students, universities and official bodies, the IB has determined what it believes to be the most responsible and ethical way forward. 

The May 2020 examinations as scheduled between 30 April and 22 May for Diploma Program will no longer be held.  

Depending on what they registered for, the student will be awarded a Diploma or a Course Certificate which reflects their standard of work. This is based on student's coursework and the established assessment expertise, rigour and quality control already built into the programmes.  Universities and colleges both here in the UK  and overseas are aware of the IB decision and are supporting schools and families through this unprecedented situation.

We know parents and students will have many questions. The IB will share full details and FAQs with us and on their website by 27 March 2020. We are working closely with the IB to determine any final requirements our students may need to complete with their teachers over the next few months, and as soon as we have more information, we will share that with you. This will clearly be done by distance learning and we will ensure that our students  have the best support possible. Over the next few weeks we will also be working with UCAS and university admissions departments to see how this decision supports student offers. As mentioned previously, higher education institutions globally are supporting the IB decision and we will share with you more information about that, as it comes to us.

For any other questions, please contact William Bowry: wbowry@dwightlondon.org  (DP Coordinator) or Chris Beddows cbeddows@dwightlondon.org  (Upper School Principal)

Thank you and stay well.

Alison Cobbin
Head of School
 

These are difficult and unpredictable times, and circumstances and conditions change so quickly... We had prepared and arranged to open Conservatory this Saturday for individual one to one instrumental lessons. However, as we have all seen in the news, all schools are now required to close tomorrow, Friday 20th, by the end of the school day. This leaves us with no option but to cancel Conservatory on Saturday and stay closed for as long as it takes. 

We are currently exploring possibilities for online instrumental music instruction during the time of the school closure. This would allow us to provide continuous support to our students and would also help to structure and enrich the amount of time spent indoors at home in the coming weeks in a meaningful and proactive way. I will be in touch with more details shortly.

In the meantime, I wish you all the best. 

Kind regards,

The Conservatory Music Team