Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope that this letter find you and your loved ones well.  Please see below for updates from Cheam High:

Year 10 and 12

It has been an absolute pleasure this week to welcome students in Year 10 and 12 back for some face to face learning.  Students’ behaviour has been exemplary and teachers have been extremely complimentary about their learning attitudes in class. 

We are very proud of all of them and thank parents and carers for supporting the school community with this process in ensuring that students have arrived punctually and equipped for learning.  This has been critical to ensuring that all necessary safety protocol has been followed and we hope that students have enjoyed their time in school despite the strange circumstances.

Of course, we very much hope that we are able to broaden our on-site learning offer sooner rather than later and, as always, will keep you posted on any developments in this area. 

We look forward to seeing more of our Years 10 and 12 as the weeks progress.

Catch-up Day

On Friday 26^th June we will be holding a virtual catch-up day for all students.  This means that no work will be set on SMHW on this day and students can use the time to catch-up on any work that they have outstanding.  Additional learning activities and links will be provided and students can access these as appropriate.  We hope that this day is a real help to students worrying about being behind in aspects of their work.

Show My Homework

As noted in correspondence before half-term, we have now reviewed the functioning of the Show My Homework system in an effort to make things more user-friendly.  We had hoped, for example, to be able to remove whole school messages that have been posted there such as messages regarding PE challenges, once students have had a chance to read them.  However, for reasons outside of our control, the tweaks we wished to make are not possible. 

Please make sure that when your children use the system they click on the Calendar rather than the List option.

This will show them what work has been set by days of the week.  They can then focus on what they have been set on each day, rather than see a list of all work set which some students may find overwhelming.

Summer competition: students’ visions for a brighter future

We have been contacted by Open Democracy, an independent media organization which seeks to encourage democratic debate and discussion amongst young people across the world. The pandemic has raised lots of questions about how our societies are organized, how public health issues should be tackled and how we improve our relationship with the natural world.  They want to know what young people think the world should look like in the future.  In their words, they want to find the ‘best ideas from the next generation’ and make sure that young people have a real voice in shaping their future societies.

They have teamed up with University College London (UCL) to host a competition for young people to create and share their visions of the post-Covid world. 

The competition is open to all young people over the age of 14 and they can enter in a range of ways: with photographs, video or in written form.  Their work should show what they think a better world would look like and what we should learn from the current situation.

You can find out more about the competition here: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/world-after-covid/ and we encourage all of our students to take a look!

Any student entering should also forward their entry to secretary@cheam.sutton.sch.uk by Wednesday 1^st July 4pm where we will also be hosting our own competition for all students with no age requirements for entry.  Students can send us their visions of a brighter future in whichever format they choose: artwork, poetry, prose, photography, song – however they wish! 

Final reminder

As always, a reminder from us that we continue to run emotional support and pastoral services remotely.  Please contact your child’s Year Team via the usual channels if your child is experiencing any difficulties or there is anything that we may be able to assist with.

I hope that you are all keeping well and we continue to thank you for your ongoing efforts with home learning and your patience with the general situation.

I’m sure many of you are following the government updates regarding schools closely.  We will, of course, update you as soon as we are able to make any changes to our current provision.

With best wishes,

 

Mr Vosper