Dear Parents/Carers,

First of all, well done to all of you on successfully completing another half-term of home schooling!  I hope that you and your families/households are keeping well.

Please see below for updates and information from us as this half-term draws to a close.

Year 10 and 12 students

If you have a child in Year 10 or 12, you will by now have received separate correspondence from us regarding changes to our educational offer for them from the week beginning June 8^th.  If you would like to be kept abreast of developments here, even if you do not have a child in either of these year groups, you can see our correspondence with relevant parents and our safety plan here.

Celebrating our community: summer flyer

It has been heartening to see the wonderful work of our students across a range of online platforms recently.  There were many spectacular responses to our eco-photography competition, many students continue to take on the weekly PE challenges with gusto whilst others are documenting their cooking, painting, fairy-garden making, break-dancing, sewing and all manner of creative activities.  We’ve even had the pleasure of watching a Lego animation of Doctor Who!  Staff have really appreciated students sharing their work, both curricular and extra-curricular, through the various online platforms.

Although we can’t feature everything, we have begun to collate a selection of students’ submissions for perhaps our largest ever Cheam High Flyer which we will release before the summer break to celebrate what has being going on across the school community during school closure (including a special section to showcase the hidden talents of staff that have been revealed under lockdown…!).

Please continue to email us with anything you’d like to share.  Extra-curricular activities can be sent to office@cheam.sutton.sch.uk, to the linked subject area or to Year Teams.  All contributions are gratefully and enthusiastically received.

Show My Homework and Remote Learning

Please note: there will be no work set over the half-term break.  This is to ensure that all students, families and households have a proper break before the final half-term.  In the unlikely event that work does appear, please reassure your child that they do not have to complete it.

Some students may wish to use half-term to catch up on work, or complete their own studies.  We encourage this as long as they are also having down-time and giving themselves a break.

We will be looking at the whole Show My Homework system over the break in an effort to make some aspects of it more user friendly.  We are, of course, limited by the software to a large extent but will communicate any changes with you as soon as possible after the break.

In the meantime, we thank you for your continued efforts to support your children with their learning and for the many positive responses to staff contact.  This has been very much appreciated.

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you are experiencing any issues which we may be able to assist with.

Support with Teenagers from the Children’s Wellbeing Service

As many of you (and our staff) are aware, parenting teenagers can be challenging at the best of times, perhaps more so given current circumstances. 

The Sutton Children’s Wellbeing Service is offering free support to parents and carers.  Support will focus on how you can help your teenager manage their thoughts and feelings in the current situation and communicate more effectively with them. 

The sessions will be run remotely and aim to help parents connect with their teenagers and understand them better during these trying times.  If you feel this is something that you may be interested in, please click here for further details.

Support for students with English as an additional language

The website Mantra Lingua​ is offering free access to over 550 ebooks. This offer is aimed at students who speak English as an additional language and includes texts up to the reading age of 15. These are dual language books and there are 38 different languages to choose from. Each book has a video and a set of activities to develop English language skills.

Please click here for details on how to access resources.

Safety and Wellbeing

As always, the safety and wellbeing of our students takes highest priority.  Please continue to contact your child’s Year Team if you have any concerns in these areas. 

Please note that school staff may not be answering emails over the half-term break but you will find a list of services that will be able to offer you, or your child, support during the break here.  You will find further information about many of these services on our website.

Software Issues

It has come to our attention that whilst some students have access to computers at home, they may not have Microsoft Office installed on their device.  This means that uploading work to Show My Homework can prove a little difficult and teachers can’t always open work submitted. 

If this is the case for your child, please contact their Year Team.  In many cases, we are able to remotely install Microsoft Office onto students’ computers and will do all we can to help where possible.

Finally, I wish you and your families/households a restful half-term break and, again, thank you for your patience and perseverance during this trying time.

With best wishes,

Mr Vosper