19/03/2020 

Dear Parents/Carers,

Re: Academy Closure to majority of pupils due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

Following on from our last update, we are now writing to let you know that we have now been instructed to close the Academy to almost all children after this Friday (20^th March 2020) until further notice. This in turn means that activities, such as, internal exams and enrichment activities, such as academy trips and clubs will be cancelled until we receive further guidance.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for any children of key workers (we are still awaiting clarification on this term) and children with specific needs. We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your child may fall into one of these categories. We have published a link on our website and social media channels for you to be able to provide us with this information and will clarify key worker roles when possible. If you complete the online form and your child is eligible, we will be in touch, please keep your child at home until you are contacted.

All other students will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into the Academy from Monday onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by all official Academy communication methods (text messages/website/official social media channels). We ask that you frequently check our website for more information as we will update this regularly during our closure.

Your child’s learning is of course of great important to us, so we’ll continue to help your child to learn during this closure. Please see overleaf for brief details of our Offsite Learning Provision, more detailed information is available on our website. Where possible students have also been provided with paper based resources if applicable for their subjects.

If your child usually receives free school meals, we will also be in touch with more information about how we will continue to provide this, details will be published on our website, as soon as we have them.

Unfortunately, this is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your families and it is far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops. If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via postbox@josephleckieacademy.co.uk or visit the website for key staff contact details.

If you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please go to 111.nhs.uk.

Thank you again for your continued support, we will be in touch with more information when we can.

Yours faithfully,

Keith Whittlestone

Academy Principal

Offsite Learning Provision

During the government sanctioned school closures, the Academy will use Office 365 and Ruler Classroom to continue to provide educational resources for our students, as well as, set and collect assignments.

All students are expected to complete work and assignments set by Academy Staff and return them by the due date via Ruler or email.

On our website we have published Student Learning Plans for all departments, this gives a brief overview of what our students should be studying. Our website also has a Key Contacts page to allow students/parents to get in touch with heads of department or other key staff as necessary. Students email accounts have now been enabled for communication between staff and students. A brief explanation of this is also included in the attached handout.

All students at Joseph Leckie Academy have an Office 365 account. To access their Office 365 account students will need their username* and password.

*usernames will be your network username followed by: @students.jlacademy.co.uk

e.g. a.student20@students.jlacademy.co.uk

Students can reset their password by visiting the Joseph Leckie Academy website and completing a ‘Student Office 365 Password Reset Request Form’. The password reset form can be found at www.josephleckieacademy.co.uk in the ‘Contact Us’ section.

If there are any issues, please email JLAITSupport@josephleckieacademy.co.uk. Please include your contact details, so that we can look into an alternative way of providing a new password to your child.

Once logged into their Office 365 account students will be able to access:

Outlook

Students will have access to and Joseph Leckie Academy email address, this should be used to communicate with Academy staff regarding resources and assignments.

Academy staff will not be expected to answer student emails outside of their regular work day (9am – 4pm), although they certainly may do so. 

Please see the ‘Email Dos and Don’ts on the Student Noticeboard, this can be accessed via ‘Quick Links’ on the Joseph Leckie Academy website www.josephleckieacademy.co.uk.

Ruler Classroom

Academy staff will continue to set homework using Ruler Classroom. Guides on how to use Ruler can be found on the Student Noticeboard.

The Student Noticeboard can be accessed via ‘Quick Links’ on the Joseph Leckie Academy website www.josephleckieacademy.co.uk.

SharePoint

Each Department has their own SharePoint site where they will upload resources for students to use while they are off site. To access these resources please use Curriculum page on the Student Noticeboard.

The Student Noticeboard can be accessed via ‘Quick Links’ on the Joseph Leckie Academy website www.josephleckieacademy.co.uk.

In addition to the above, students will have access to a number of other online resources, including: OneDrive (cloud storage), Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), Issues Online, Complete Issues and VLeBooks. Departments also have digital resources, details of these will be available on Department SharePoint pages.