Letter to Students Parents And Guardians From The Principal

Dear Student (cc: Parents/Guardians)

Further to my correspondence to you over the Easter period, I felt it necessary to provide an update on the College’s continued expectations regarding students’ engagement with their remote learning.

The College’s priority, to enable students to continue to learn and be able to be in the best possible position to complete their qualifications at the end of the year, hasn’t changed, and this is why we have and continue to place so much emphasis on students remaining engaged via Plumpton On Line (POL).

Having clearly announced the method by which grades would be awarded for GCSEs and A Levels prior to Easter, we still await the exact confirmation from Ofqual and the awarding bodies (such as BTEC and City and Guilds) regarding the qualifications you are studying.  Ofqual’s announcement last week regarding their consultation on some different ways of doing so is purely that, and is designed to enable providers, such as the College, to feedback on what we feel would be the fairest way of doing so for the range of different qualifications we offer.

I recognise that in the meantime, being in a position of uncertainty is causing some anxiety for many of you and I know that some of our curriculum teams have tried to clarify the current position further.  It is my firm opinion that whilst we await that confirmation, students, parents and college staff do not try and jump to conclusions to which that might be.  But as I stated in my previous letter, the one thing you can all continue to do over the coming weeks is to access the remote learning available to you on POL, complete the assignments set for you by staff, and take advantage of the support available to you from our curriculum and support staff.

Whatever the outcome of the current consultation, it is highly likely that the work you continue to produce will still contribute to your final grade, and therefore, with the support of your staff, completing this to the best of your ability will stand you in good stead for the coming weeks.

As soon as the current Ofqual consultation closes (8^th May) and that guidance and clarity is given to colleges, I will write to confirm exactly how your staff at Plumpton will be awarding your grades and in what timeframe.

In the coming week, I will start conducting a weekly webinar to share important information and key messages for parent/guardians and students to join and importantly, give you the opportunity to ask questions. Details of the first webinar will be sent next week.

In the meantime, thank you for your incredible response to date and good luck with your continuing studies.

Yours sincerely

Jeremy Kerswell

Principal 

Categories: Updates from the Principal, Covid-19