22 May 2020
Good afternoon.
Virtual Day Out
On your behalf I would like to thank all of the staff and pupils for making our Virtual Day Out such a fun event. If you have any comments please do pass them on, and if you have any news of things your child made do pass them on to Mrs Ennis too as she will hopefully be producing a press release for this event.
Not something we would like to do on a regular basis I’m sure you would agree but a great ‘second best’ after a busy half term and exam week.
Assessment Week
Just to let you know that pupils will receive exam results from staff over the next few weeks along with some useful feedback and then, towards the end of term, you will all receive an end of year report which will reflect not only the exam result but also your child’s overall performance throughout the year for each subject. There will also be a short form tutor report which will reflect on how well your child has engaged with our distance learning programme.
Next Half Term
As you will have seen from Mrs Tudor’s email earlier in the week, although we are making plans for a return to school we also have to plan for the ongoing provision of remote learning for the next half term.
Until we are told otherwise, everything will continue as it has been except for the teaching of the Humanities (Geography, History and RS) who will be teaching in 3 x two week blocks in order to be able to do some Humanities project work with Years 7 and 8.
The first project will be a Geography project based on the Rainforest presentation in our Virtual Day Out. This project will last for 6 lessons and all of the History, Geography and RS lessons usually scheduled for the first two weeks after half term will be devoted to this project. A ‘Live lesson’ will set the scene for the projects and a second ‘Live Lesson’ half way through the project will help pupils to modify their projects in order to improve the quality. As well as these live lessons staff will also be on hand to answer any queries from pupils although, because of timetable constraints, they may not always be able to offer ‘live’ feedback.
Further details will come from each department as their project time arrives.
May I wish you and your family a happy and safe half term.
Kind regards
Ian Vallance
Deputy Head (Academic)
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20 May 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians
We have had a remarkable time in school over the last two months and all the pupils and staff
are to be applauded for the way they have risen to the different challenges. The assessments
the pupils are currently doing will help us to gauge progress and inform our planning for the
rest of this term, and then for September.
As we approach a much needed break, we are aware of the easing of lockdown and a need to
plan for a gradual return to the school site in the coming months. As I write, the guidance
remains sketchy and it is unclear as to whether we will be able to welcome any pupils onto the
school site before the start of the summer break.
I am sure you are aware that while we are unable to make definite plans until we receive
specific guidance and permission from the government, we are nevertheless thinking about
what we will need to do in preparation. The most likely scenario is that the only pupils we will
be permitted to have on the school site will be those in years 10 and 12. Full attention will be
paid to keeping pupils and staff as safe as possible, this is an absolute priority. Identifying the
type of learning that will bring the most benefit is our focus should we need to re-open the
school site gradually. As soon as this is clear and we have devised a strategy I will be in touch
again with the details.
In the meantime, thank you for your support. I understand that a number of photos have been
sent to Mrs Ennis allowing us to create a gallery of our pupils engaging in home learning. I am
looking forward to seeing all of those.
I do hope that you are all able to stay safe and enjoy the easing of the lockdown for leisure
purposes. And finally, I wish our whole school community a restful and refreshing half term
break.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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1 May 2020
Dear Parents & Guardians,
I do hope that you and your families are healthy and coping well with the ongoing lock down. It is good to
have the pupils back online after the Easter break and I am delighted with the response to the new timetable in
terms of engagement and the work they are doing.
On uploading the Guidelines for Remote Learning, we added a lot of information all at once. Today I would
like to highlight a few points. The first is that in terms of points of contact, the details for these can be found
on the Remote Learning page of the Parents’ Hub (https://www.luckleyhouseschool.org/remote-learning/).
Using these particular email addresses helps us to respond to your queries in a timely manner. In addition, the
school office is staffed every morning and Mrs Hawkins will be pleased to help you.
It has been good to hear that pupils have been keen to sign into lessons and complete the activities set, as well
as engaging in the live lessons. There will be times when pupils don’t immediately know what they need to do.
At these times it is very important that they communicate with their teachers, just as they would in the course
of a normal school day. There are however times when a pupil simply doesn’t read the instructions. This
happens in school and the first thing they need to do is to go back to the task and read it through. This usually
clears up any confusion.
Staff are keeping records of engagement and in the process of doing this we have found a small minority of
pupils who are trying to do other things, such as gaming, when they are expected to be in lessons. I would
therefore like to ask parents to be vigilant in expecting pupils to be working throughout the school day and
not using other app or devices apart from the one through which they are accessing schoolwork. One app that
seems to be causing trouble is called Discord and it should certainly not be in use during the school day.
As a community we have taken on the challenge of managing unprecedented and sudden change with real
determination and resilience. It has been great to hear about staff and pupil efforts to help others, from Niamh
(Year 12) making face masks to Mrs McCafferty, Mrs Cox and Mrs Partner sewing scrubs and other items for
frontline workers. These are just a few examples from the things I know about. Please let me know what else
members of our school are doing as it is great to celebrate these and other achievements. Thank you also for
your support in enabling your children to access the remote learning, this will be helping to ensure their
wellbeing, and in doing so they will be making progress in their lessons.
In the coming week or so we are expecting various announcements from the government regarding the
reopening of schools. As yet we have no details on how this should be done. As with any decision, the best
interests of all pupils will be paramount. When I am able to give you more detail, I will be in touch.
Pupils and staff have worked very hard throughout this week and so I wish our whole school community a
restful weekend.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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17 April 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Firstly, I do hope that you have all had a good Easter Break, even though the circumstances are challenging. The chances are that members of our school community are facing illness and worry about friends and family; my thoughts are with the whole school community.
We are now looking forward to the start of a new term, and over the break we have been working to refine our remote learning for all year groups. Many thanks for the feedback many of you offered through the surveys we sent out at the start of the holidays. We have used your feedback along with guidance from a wide range of sources to adjust the structure of the school day and provide guided expectations for remote learning. Upper most in our minds is facilitating the best progress possible and enabling sustained well-being for all. The details for each year group will be in a letter from Mr Vallance. The Guidance for Remote Learning is on the Parent Hub of the school website: https://www.luckleyhouseschool.org/remote-learning/
Staff have now completed training in the use of Microsoft Teams, and this is how we will be conducting teaching and learning from now on. Further details regarding the introduction of this to all the pupils are in the letter from Mr Vallance.
Term for pupils will start at 9am on Tuesday 21st April with a whole school assembly. Instructions for accessing this will be sent out at the end of Monday.
For pupils in years 11 and 13, there is some real readjustment. The following article from Barnaby Lennon, Chairman of the Independent Schools Council puts the strategy of many schools, including Luckley House, into context: https://ie-today.co.uk/Blog/the-impact-of-cancelled-exams/
All the staff are committed to supporting all year 11 and 13 students through the difficult change they are facing.
While we continue in these uncertain times, I am sure the Luckley community will rise to the challenges and we can look forward to reflecting on what we have learnt.
With my very best wishes.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J Tudor
Head
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7 April 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As you will recall, Luckley House School underwent a full ISI inspection in January. We are delighted to inform you that the report was extremely positive and highlighted several key areas of school life in which the school particularly excels. As with all these reports, there are a couple of areas for us to concentrate on developing over the coming months.
I would like to thank all the parents and pupils who responded to the surveys sent out by the inspectorate, your support and comments are of immense value.
The Key Findings
The School meets the standards in the schedule for the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools 2015 and associated requirement and no further action is required as a result of this inspection.
With the quality of pupils’ personal development being excellent and academic and other achievements good, the inspection highlighted the following in the report:
I am sure you will be impressed with the comments made by the inspectors when describing the pupils.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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3 April 2020
Dear Members of Years 11 and 13 & Parents,
I do hope that you are all well and coping with the strange circumstances we are all in.
I am sure you will have heard in the news that the Guidance for Summer 2020 public examination grades has been published today. This outlines some of the dates and gives an idea of the sort of evidence we will need to produce in order to arrive at the grades. While parts of it are quite detailed, much is still to be determined and that detail is due to be in schools by Easter.
Ofqual has released two documents for parents and pupils. The first is a summarised version of the instructions for schools and colleges. The other document is a letter for students.
An important theme running through both documents is a commitment to fairness and enabling all students to follow the next stage of their education. As a school, we will continue to work for the best interests of all our students, within the regulations that are set by Ofqual and the Department for Education.
As for the next steps, I would like to urge all the students to take a well-deserved break in the next two weeks. In the new term we will be starting the A level programme for all year 11 students, and an enrichment programme in preparation for the next stage of education for year 13 students. More details for these programmes will be available at the start of the new term.
For year 11 students, we are looking at ways in which we can plan some proper fun into the Autumn Term. As time goes on, we hope to give more details.
In conclusion, this has been a tough time for students in the exam years, all have worked hard and need a break. While we still lack a lot of the details, I am confident a robust process will deliver fairness. Reading back over this letter, I am aware that fine details are still missing, as soon as it becomes possible, I will be back in touch to fill in all those gaps.
In the meantime, may I wish you a happy and safe Easter.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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30 March 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians,
Now that we have got to the end of an eventful term it is time to recharge batteries and, in time get ready for the next term. As we go through the three weeks I will be looking to stay in touch. There will be updates to be communicated regarding the summer qualifications, and these will go directly to those year groups affected. However, since this is the Easter holidays I will be looking for more light-hearted ideas to share, so please look at the website and our Facebook page. I am starting with some riddles to get the brain cells going each day.
We have also come to the end of our first week of working remotely. It has been a very steep learning curve for all of us, but at this point I would like to thank the staff for the efforts they have put into getting work online for all their classes. This is just the beginning and we all have much to learn. While working from home has been on the rise for several years, until two or three weeks ago, schoolteachers would never have imagined they would be doing so for any length of time. Every member of staff at Luckley is committed to the best possible outcomes for all their pupils and I know they will be working hard to achieve that. My prediction is that as the weeks go by, we will all get better at this and settle into a productive rhythm of work, and that will be good for all of us.
In order to have all the information possible to inform our work I would be grateful if all who are taking part in remote learning from our school to complete a survey. There are separate ones for pupils, parents and staff and they should not take more than 5 minutes to complete.
Parent: Luckley House School – Home Learning Survey (Parent)
Pupil: Luckley House School – Home Learning Survey (Pupil)
I do hope all our school community is able to stay safe in the coming weeks. I will be back in touch.
With my best wishes.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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27 March 2020
Dear Parents of Pupils in Years 7 – 9
I would like to start by congratulating all for the engagement we have seen in these first four days of remote learning. It really is a complete change of working for all of us. I have dipped into the materials and heard from staff as to how things are progressing and while it is early days, I have heard reports of good work and engagement. It has been great to see pictures of cakes baked and science experiments taking place on kitchen tables. Not to mention some pounding up and downstairs in a PE challenge.
I am very pleased with the way in which the school community has embraced this significant shift in how we all work. I am also aware that there have been some glitches in the technology, particularly on Wednesday when OneNote decided to slow down as the day went on. Given these had disappeared by Thursday morning, it seems that whatever was going on had been fixed. Some feedback from families has indicated that home broadband can’t always accommodate all members of the family taking part in ‘live’ activities. This is something we will need to consider in our planning, as we aim to have more live lessons.
In school we will be using the time afforded by the Easter break to move to using Microsoft Teams as our central platform. The beauty of this is that it incorporates OneNote and enable collaboration more easily.
With the move to MS Teams we are looking to increase interaction and touch base more often with all pupils, this will include form time and assemblies to reinforce school routines and bring our community together. I will be able to give you more details nearer the start of next term. I may even manage to start my on-screen career in a Kitchen Assembly!
In the coming weeks I will be keeping in touch. In the meantime, I hope that you are all staying well and coping with these unprecedented times.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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Dear Parents of Year 10 and 12 pupils,
I would like to start by congratulating all for the engagement we have seen in these first four days of remote learning. It really is a complete change of working for all of us. I have dipped into the materials and heard from staff as to how things are progressing and while it is early days, I have heard reports of good work and engagement.
The situation we have found ourselves in has called for a review of how we ensure continued progress through the courses scheduled to be examined in just over a year. In normal circumstances teachers would look to intersperse teaching content with the development of skills. While it is possible to develop skills through remote learning, this can be limited by the barriers that navigating technology can produce. For this reason, teachers are being encouraged to focus on content with a view to making sure there is time to develop skills in the context of a normal classroom.
As I have indicated, it is early days and I am very pleased with the way in which the school community has embraced this significant shift in how we all work. I am also aware that there have been some glitches in the technology, particularly on Wednesday when OneNote decided to slow down as the day went on. Given these had disappeared by Thursday morning, it seems that whatever was going on had been fixed. Some feedback from families has indicated that home broadband can’t always accommodate all members of the family taking part in ‘live’ activities. This is something we will need to consider in our planning, as we aim to have more live lessons.
In school we will be using the time afforded by the Easter break to move to using Microsoft Teams as our central platform. The beauty of this is that it incorporates OneNote and enable collaboration more easily.
With the move to MS Teams we are looking to increase interaction and touch base more often with all pupils, this will include form time and assemblies to reinforce school routines and bring our community together. I will be able to give you more details nearer the start of next term. I may even manage to start my on-screen career in a Kitchen Assembly!
In the coming weeks I will be keeping in touch. In the meantime, I hope that you are all staying well and coping with these unprecedented times,
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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Dear Parents and Pupils (Year 11 and 13)
Well done on getting to the end of what can only be described as a hugely challenging term. To have these unprecedented events occurring in such a significant year is tough, but I have seen a real determination to carry on and you are to be congratulated for that.
As Mr Vallance has indicated in an email to all of you, there has been a further update to the announcement regarding the qualifications (which can be found in the link https://www.gov.uk/government/news/further-update-on-2020-exams?_cldee=amFuZS50dWRvckBsdWNrbGV5Lndva2luZ2hhbS5zY2gudWs%3d&recipientid=contact-bc9c80ea9209e3118b6278e3b519b0a5-1e00ee1dd6594965872980c73f7e3d73&esid=6906efe9-4670-ea11-a811-000d3a49074b) indicating that the details of the evidence that will be collected will be made available next week, with grading details by Easter. This is still very vague, but we feel the best response to this is to encourage you to continue to complete work set through next week as this coincides with the end of term in state-maintained schools.
I would like to emphasise now that you have already been working hard and made progress since the mock examinations in January, and it is now very important that you pace yourselves through the next week. Spend the time set aside in the timetable for each subject, with some normal homework time to complete the work set. The teaching staff have been told to expect this level of work, and no more. If the pupils in the household are inclined to spend too long and become stressed and tired because of this, we need to ask parents to moderate the time spent working. You can only do your best work if you are not too tired. As staff we will be working towards the best possible outcomes. If you are feeling unsure, please contact myself, Mr Vallance or Mrs Gilding Brant and we will be happy to help you through. I suggest that you do take a break over this weekend, everyone needs time to rest and recover.
Please be assured that I will be in touch as soon as more details become available. I do hope that you are able to stay safe and well.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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25 March 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As I write to you now I have no further guidance or instructions following the lock down instigated by the government yesterday. The same is so for the GCSE and A Level examination years. As soon as any information is available I will be able to explain what will happen.
In the meantime, we are into our first week of remote teaching and learning, and it is safe to say that we are all learning. In the light of this, I would like to direct you to a very helpful video compiled by our Deputy Head Student by following this link to our Parents’ Hub https://www.luckleyhouseschool.org/parents-hub/. You will also find some interesting links to support and activities to help us all through the coming weeks.
Thank you for the feedback you have been giving us. It is becoming difficult to respond to all of the communication in person, but we are looking at everything you raise, so even if you don’t receive a direct response, please be assured that we are considering all your comments in our forward planning.
I am also aware that there have been some technical glitches, in particular with OneNote. We currently have a ‘ticket’ in with Microsoft support, as we are under the impression this is not confined to our school, and hope to have some answers soon. In any case the hope is that all will be well in the morning.
Please pass on my encouragement and congratulations to all you children for the way they have engaged with the lessons and work they have been set. I am sure we are all looking forward to a well-deserved break over the Easter holidays.
I am sure I will be in touch again soon.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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24 March 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians,
It seems to me that we are in a different place from where we were 24 hours ago. While I have just a few things to tell you about this evening, I hope that everyone is coping with this strange situation.
Lessons have carried on through the day and I gather that teachers are developing their skills in different areas of the school. This will be matched by pupils doing the same, and so they all need to be congratulated on a good day’s work. It is also coming to light that some lessons have too much to do in the allocated time. It is quite tricky, even in normal circumstances to gauge how much can be done in the time available. If this is the case for your children please reassure them that so long as they have worked well for the time of the lesson it is not a problem if they don’t finish everything. It would help in those circumstances if they could let their teacher know to inform future planning.
It is possible that some of you will have noticed a number of staff using Microsoft Teams to deliver lessons throughout today. The plan is to move all teaching to Teams after the Easter break, enabling more interaction. On sharing ideas with colleagues in other school I have found that this will be a good way to operate in a sustainable way.
Can I also encourage you to look at the Parents’ Hub on the website? We have already put some useful resources on, along with ideas for things to do when the lessons are done for the day. We would like to see this part of the website become a place to share ideas to keep us all connected and going through a potentially long period of time.
We are keen to know how things are going and to pick up difficulties as quickly as possible. To enable us to manage your queries efficiently we have created a form, also on the Parents’ Hub for your feedback, comments and questions. It would help us if you could use this facility.
Finally, thank you so much for the feedback and encouragement we have been receiving. We are committed to improvement, and with a little time, we will build on the successful start we have made.
As I have said in earlier letters, I am convinced that the ingenuity, resilience and positivity of our school community will shine through.
With my very best wishes.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Head
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23 March 2020
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I do hope that things have gone smoothly on this first day of fully remote learning. Having said that, it is likely that some things may have arisen throughout the day. If we can be of any help, please let us know. It is early days, and as we build up our experience in this new way of working, I am sure we will all get better at it. In fact, I am looking forward to the sort of innovation we see at Luckley really coming to the fore in the coming weeks.
As time goes on we will be adding helpful resources to the Parent Hub section of the website. Do take a look as there are some helpful tips for maintaining wellbeing from a very well respected source.
We are still awaiting clarity on arrangements for examination groups, as soon as this information is available we will be in touch.
Some pupils and parents have been asking if they can access the school site to collect belongings. This is fine but must be by arrangement with the Bursar. Can I ask that parents get in touch on bursar@luckleyhouseschool.org.
Throughout the day we have had some photos of pupils setting themselves up to work, or showing off something they have done as part of the lessons they are doing. It would be great to share more of these so that we can stay connected. If you would like to share photos and ideas please be in touch with Mrs Ennis on desni.ennis@luckleyhouseschool.org.
No doubt I will be in touch again soon, in the meantime I hope you are all able to stay well, or get well soon if any of your loved ones are ill.
With my best wishes.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J M Tudor
Day and date |
Year groups not in school |
Thursday 19 March | 8 and 10 |
Friday 20 March | 7 and 9 |
Monday 23 March | 8 and 10 |
Tuesday 24 March | 7 and 9 |
Wednesday 25 March | 8 and 10 |
Thursday 26 March | 7 and 9 |
Friday 27 March | 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 |
Yours sincerely
Mrs J Tudor
Head
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Friday 13 March 2020
Yours sincerely
Mrs J Tudor
Head