RE: PARTIAL SCHOOL CLOSURE - YEARS 7, 8 and 9 - THURSDAY 19 MARCH 2020 ONWARDS

As of today, school attendance is 75% and we have 15 staff absent. This figure is rising all the time and we have sent further students and staff home today. The situation will only further deteriorate.

Unfortunately, it has become impossible to run the school safely and effectively with the current staff numbers and therefore I have taken the decision to only admit Years 10 and 11 from Thursday 19 March 2020 onwards. 7, 8 and 9 should remain at home and not come into school*. I fully appreciate that this will cause disruption to your normal family routine and I would like to thank you in advance for your co-operation in this matter. We are trying to arrange appropriate distribution of lunch for FSM students and this will be communicated separately.

Students in Years 10 and 11 should attend at normal time, in full uniform, ready for normal lessons unless they are unwell, showing symptoms or need to self-isolate as a result of underlying health conditions or family circumstances.

*For parents of students in year 7, 8 and 9 who work in the emergency services (Police, Fire and Ambulance) or who are working in the NHS as part of the direct Coronavirus response, we are attempting to provide a ‘skeleton’ childcare service for the next two days and will accept these children into school. We believe this affects approximately 70 parents. If you feel that this would be beneficial and you would welcome this childcare support please email us directly to info@summerhill.dudley.sch.uk with your child’s name and year group no later than 7.30am tomorrow morning. Please put ‘NHS WORKERS’ in the subject line. This is ONLY for parents in these services to try and help alleviate the initial impact of the decision to close. We will operate a skeleton staff to look after these children and cannot accommodate additional students. They will not be in taught sessions.

During the closure period, work will be set online via Show My Homework (SMHW) on a daily basis. Students should log in via the RM Unify link on the school website. The login details will be their usual username and password used every day in school. If any student has an issue with logging into the system, they should email support@summerhill.dudley.sch.uk with their full name, date of birth, year group, postcode and form tutor. We are aiming to issue online work from next Monday, 23 March for Years 7, 8 and 9.

Yours sincerely

Martyn Palfreyman
Headteacher