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Franklin Sixth Form College's response to the Coronavirus outbreak

COVID-19 UPDATE

Sunday 22nd March

You should not attend College on Monday 23/3 unless it is absolutely necessary for you to do so in relation to your work.

If you do need to attend, you must observe the social distancing and hygiene rules. This means you must keep 2m away from other people and regularly wash your hands or use the alcohol sanitiser units in the College.

 

Students will not be allowed in College after Monday other than anyone invited in specifically relating to safeguarding purposes.

 

Our College buses will operate the service on Monday morning at the usual times, with return journeys leaving the College at 12.30.

 

We will continue to update you regularly and wish you and your family well in this very difficult time.

Take care of yourself.

 

Thursday 19th March

 

Planned College Closure Arrangements:

We have spent the last couple of weeks preparing for the eventuality of temporary closure.

We have been communicating updates with students directly, and on our website and social media platforms on a frequent basis and have worked with students to identify home working contingency plans. In all actions and responses we are following the most up to date advice from the Government.

Teachers have set up communications links with their classes so that they can continue to support students as best they can over the disrupted period and Progress Coaches and other supporting staff are prepared for working from home. We will all try to continue to provide the best service we can.

We will review over the coming days our position in terms of the possibility of partial opening of the building for some student groups to consider whether this is appropriate and safe.

Please note the following is now in place:

• The College will not be running scheduled classes onsite from the end of the day on Friday 20 March.
• On Monday and Tuesday 23 and 24 March, we will be open for students who wish to attend and are not in self-isolation to use the College’s drop-in facilities such as the Library and Study Hubs.
• Our bus services will run as usual on all days up until, and including, Tuesday 24 March. There will then be no Franklin bus service in operation until we reopen.
• There will be limited catering availability on site, via our shop only, on Monday and Tuesday 23 and 24 March.
• The College will fully close to all students at the end of the working day on Tuesday 24 March
• Students who are in receipt of a vulnerable bursary award will continue to receive these payments. In addition, any student currently awarded a Free School Meal will receive a payment to allow them to purchase lunch while they work from home. The payment will be made direct to bank accounts each academic week (not holidays) whilst College is closed.

Our Expectations of students working from home

Wherever possible, staff will be communicating with students through the already notified means at the usual class times according to their timetable. This will be either via email or by one of the learning platforms used such as Google Classroom.

Students are expected to engage with the work set for them, completing tasks and submitting work for assessment as directed by their teachers. We will log as ’absent’ students not engaging with the work and/or not completing it to the best of their ability.

Students should continue to check the website and their College email for regular updates in relation to wider college expectations and advice.

Upcoming Examinations – Summer 2020

Following the Government announcement of 18 March in relation to examinations not taking place in May, we will continue to press the examining bodies and Ofqual for further information.

As soon as we are made aware of any amendments and actions, I will ensure that you are informed. It is highly likely that the mechanism for grade awarding this year will include an element of teacher appraisal of student effort, motivation and work completion. Students in all cases should continue to work to the best of their ability so they are ready for their next steps.

Contacting the College  

Our contact email address is the best means to contact the College during the closure period. Please email college.services@franklin.ac.uk. Alternatively, students can ask their teachers via the learning platforms to get a message to College Leadership members if this is an easier route.

Please be aware that an unusual number of staff may be unwell, or looking after unwell relatives themselves, and so there may be delays in responses at this time. 

Safeguarding/Pastoral Care

As is usual in the approach to any College closure period, our Safeguarding lead, Ben Kirk, will send out important information and contact details for students. Students may also be able to contact their Progress Coach via email for further information should they need to. This should be done within normal college opening hours.  

Anticipated Return Date

Whilst it is uncertain how long the period of closure will be, we hope to reopen the College as soon as is possible, and safe to do so.

The earliest possible reopening date is Monday 20 April, following the scheduled Easter Break. We will, of course, share information on likely return to normal service dates as soon as we can. We advise checking in on our website at regular intervals for updates.

With best wishes to all members of our community at this difficult time, please look after yourselves. We look forward to a return to normality as soon as possible.   

Peter Kennedy

Principal

 

Wednesday 18th March

ADULT LEARNING:

From Monday 23rd March, many of our adult classes at offsite and community venues will be cancelled until after the Easter holidays. For details on specific classes, please see Franklin College's Adult Learning Facebook page or email adult.learning@franklin.ac.uk.  

Tuesday 17th March

YEAR 11 GUIDANCE INTERVIEWS:

Following recommendations and guidance from the government in relation to the COVID-19 situation, we unfortunately need to change the way we conduct guidance interviews for college applicants for the foreseeable future.

• Please be reassured that the current situation will not have any effect on your application to become a Franklin student.

• We will contact you shortly by telephone or email to arrange for a telephone interview to take place so that your future choices can be discussed and logged.

• As soon as we are able, we will invite you into college for a more informative discussion about your options. 

We are here to answer any questions you may have, please contact us via email (admissions@franklin.ac.uk) or via social media on Facebook (@FranklinCollegeGrimsby) or Instagram (franklincollege).

 

Friday 13th March

REMOTE ACCESS:

At Franklin we are actively following guidance from the Department for Education on how best to respond to the Coronavirus situation. We have shared guidance about hygiene, how to respond if students or staff have recently returned from areas with high incidences of COVID-19 and, what action to take if staff or students show signs of infection. We are also actively monitoring student activities such as trips and visits and have cancelled all international trips.

At the moment we are not planning to close the college unless instructed to do so by the Department for Education. We are aware that this is a key part of the year and all of our teams are at their busiest supporting students towards their end of year assessments. We will support students to self-isolate, if that is the recommended course of action, but otherwise we continue to require students to maintain high levels of attendance whilst following hygiene instructions from the World Health Organisation.  

We are contingency planning for any change in the current situation, including significant absences and potential college closure. This includes planning for staff to support students remotely from home via a range of formats.  We will endeavour to keep all members of the college community informed as the situation progresses.  At the moment, we are considering all of the information available so we can continue to provide the best education possible whilst keeping everyone safe.

For further information please consult the guidance for education settings:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

 

Absence Reporting and Remote Access to Resources:

From today, any student developing symptoms which include a new cough, or a raised temperature must self-isolate for a period of seven days. Sickness absences should be reported to College in the usual way.  We will record any absence accordingly so that students self-isolating should not receive reminders.  Also, these absences will not on their own affect their attendance figures.

Work will be made available to complete from home for students who are well enough to complete it. Furthermore, students should remain in contact with their teachers via email, and other learning platforms as advised by teachers.

Instructions to access email online can be accessed here: http://helpme.franklin.ac.uk/email.html

Student documents and shared college files can be accessed through the remote file access web interface here: http://helpme.franklin.ac.uk/working.html

All students have access to the full suite of Office 365 tools and online resources here: http://helpme.franklin.ac.uk/working.html

 

If you have any concerns please feel free to email college@franklin.ac.uk.