News

Coronavirus Update

Please see Mr Walker’s latest update below:

Good afternoon. I hope you are well.

On Sunday, the prime minister made specific announcements about starting to educate certain groups of students on school sites. This week, we have been working through the details and starting to think through what this may mean for students and staff at Penryn College. The guidance does not see Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils returning to school until September; we are devastated by this news and feel very sorry that these young people will miss such an important part of their education, and so many great experiences.

Secondly, schools have been asked to supplement the online education for Year 10 students with some face-to-face contact. The government is clear that this will not see all students on site with a full timetable, and it is up to individual schools how they approach this. The government has also signalled that parents/carers of eligible students “no longer need to keep them home if they can”. The government has asked for this additional support to start after the 1st of June, at the earliest, depending on continued progress in the fight against COVID-19. Our current arrangements for students who are eligible to attend school will stay in place until further notice. If you have any further questions about this, please contact tschouten@penryn-college.cornwall.sch.uk.

Our key priority in responding to these changes is the safety of everyone: students, staff, and the community. We will be working hard to get this right, using the guidance we have and future guidance that is promised.

We are pleased that our online learning is robust and strong, and we would like to thank you for your support in making this work. We need to retain the quality of this work, as it underpins the education for all of our students. We will also be working really hard to find good solutions to the following four challenges that we face, while ensuring everyone is as safe as possible:

·         Ensuring our online work remains high in quality, engaging, and introduces new learning;

·         Ensuring we have the capacity for increased numbers of eligible students in school;

·         Supplementing Year 10 online work with some face-to-face contact;

·         Ensuring we are able to provide a suitable transition program for Year 6 students coming to Penryn College.

I am sure you will understand that the planning to ensure this is safe and purposeful will take a little time to get right. We will continue to provide regular updates of our plans. As always, if you have any views or ideas, please let us know.

Have a lovely weekend and take care.

Paul Walker

Headteacher