We are very much looking forward to welcoming our new and existing students to school this term.

All information has been sent to you via Parent Hub about school opening. New arrangements will be explained to students during their Form Tutor start-up sessions on Thursday and Friday, and they will be supported by staff in adhering to the COVID-19 expectations in order to reduce the risks of virus transmission whilst in school.

School will feel very different for us all this term. Students will largely be in year group ‘bubbles’, safely moving only for teaching in specialist rooms and at staggered break and lunchtimes. Maintaining these bubbles, regular handwashing and good hygiene are essential and will be regularly reinforced with students.

A reminder that the starts and end of days will be different this term. On arrival, students will go immediately to their first lesson at 8:30am, which means being on time is really important. Departure for students is at 2:35pm to allow for additional end of day cleaning and preparation.

Thank you for all your support during the lockdown period and we look forward to working together to make a success of the ‘new normal’ during the next months.

Mr C. Hart

Headteacher

How will work be organised?
The school has created a series of online learning spaces, called google classrooms (GCs). Each year group and subject has their own GC, for example Year 7 French, Year 9 Maths, Year 10 Geography or Year 11 Media Studies. Each GC will also be allocated one or more specialist teachers – usually your son/daughter’s normal class teacher. There will not be one GC for each school-based class; as each class is taught the same content, it is much simpler to group them online into one space per subject and year group.

How much work will be set?
Each GC will have work equivalent to a fortnight set for all students in the first instance; if students are off for longer, more work will be set. This work will be timed to appear to students at the start of their time away from school, and have a two week deadline set. Attached to the recent letter, in Appendix 1, is a learning timetable that should guide students as to when they should be completing their work; for example, Year 8 students should be accessing and working on their maths tasks from the Y8 Maths Google Classroom on Tuesday morning. This guide is to help parents support students with
their learning; they should only be working on a maximum of two subjects per day.

What kind of work will be set?
The same files that teachers use to teach normally – primarily google slides, documents and sheets –
can be communicated to students so that they can view the instruction files; files that students need to complete are sent as an individual named copy for each student so they can hand their own work in. The GCs have the ability to allocate different tasks to different students so work of an appropriate level can be directed at an individual level.

How can students get help with their work?
Each GC has what is termed a “stream” which is in essence a message board, which is live. Students can ask questions or post comments, to which the teacher can respond in real time. As all students in the GC can see all the comments and posts, they can also get help from other students’ questions and responses.

How will work be marked?
As students send work in via the GC, this work will be fed back on by the teachers using the dedicated feedback tool embedded within google classroom. This can include marks, grades and personal comments, and all this is private to the individual (and any invited guardians – see below). It is also live, appearing immediately as soon as the teacher sends it.

How can students access the work?
Google Classroom can be accessed at classroom.google.com, where students will need to sign in with their school google account and click the plus sign on the top right of the screen, selecting “join class” and entering the appropriate class code from table 1 (at the end of this letter). All students were reminded of their google account details in tutor time recently, but an example username for a year 7 student named Alfred Jones would be S19AJon@carterton.oxon.sch.uk (S followed by 19 (year of joining the college) followed by initial of first name followed by first three letters of surname, all followed by @carterton.oxon.sch.uk. Year 8 prefixes are S18, Year 9 prefixes are S17; Year 11 prefixes are S15. Year 10 usernames are slightly different, in the following format – S16JonesA@carterton.oxon.sch.uk (full surname followed by first initial). Passwords are only known to students; they can be reset by trying the “forgotten password” link on the sign in page, or if this doesn’t work, see the help section below.

What about homework?
As students will be working from home, there will be no normal homework set by teachers for those students who are not in school. There may be homework set on ShowmyHomework for those students who are not at home and for whom school continues as normal. (https://www.satchelone.com/login?subdomain=carterton)

What about students without computer access?
Printed packs of work will be made available for all students who need them, to be picked up from school.

Who can I contact to get help if I need it?
For help with google classroom generally – Mr. Brodhurst, Assistant Head
ebrodhurst@carterton.oxon.sch.uk
For help with the individual work – please ask your son/daughter to post a message on the GC stream

Should you feel that your family needs additional support during these challenging times, please contact the school. All pupils, as is normal practice, can be supported by their Form Tutor, Head of House, and staff in our Student Services Department.

Please use the “contact us” web form, filling in the name of your son/daughter’s tutor or other member of staff at http://www.cartertoncc.oxon.sch.uk/contactus/contact-college-staff/