Weekly Bulletin 05.02.2021 - Message from the Headteacher . - The Boswells School

Weekly Bulletin

05.02.2021
Message from the Headteacher…..
Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you’ve managed to have a good week.

As you will be aware, we had a glitch yesterday with respect to the delivery
of live lessons on Microsoft Teams. Strangely, it seemed to affect some
students and staff but not others and we worked with Microsoft support
yesterday to resolve the issue. Thank you for your understanding with this.
We hope there are no further issues in the future, but should there be any,
Satchel One (Show My Homework) will always be the default. Thankfully
Year 12 Parents’ Evening had no such glitches last night and went
extremely well. I hope all parents that attended remotely found the
evening very informative and supportive.

Parent Survey

Please can I thank all parents that responded to our survey last week. We
had nearly 500 responses. An overview of the feedback is included later in
this newsletter. There was certainly a recognition of the strides that have
been made since the first lockdown. Live lessons have been particularly
popular, with the students following their normal timetables offering
structure to the day. I was also extremely pleased to see that our staff are
responding quickly with any queries. I cannot thank them enough in how
committed they have been to ensure our provision is as good as it can be,
with many working well out of their comfort zone. Many parents and
students appreciated the balance between live lessons and pre-recorded
material, which enable students to work at their own pace. We will use
your feedback to continue to develop our provision. Some queries did
come out of the survey and hopefully the information below will help
moving forwards.

Remote Learning

During the lockdown period students and teachers are working hard to
maximise the progress that students can make whilst working at home. Live
lessons continue to be successful and staff are utilising more functions on
Microsoft Teams to add variety to the experience offered virtually. In
addition, pre-recorded lessons have been successful in aiding students to

Message from the Headteacher…..(continued)

work at their own pace and to access materials in line with when they can access devices at home. Staff are
continuing to adapt and tweak resources to improve the learning experience for all, with excellent practice across the
breadth of the curriculum. Within this period of remote learning students are submitting a tremendous amount of
work via email and Satchel One. As with work completed in lessons at school it is not possible for class teachers to
mark and feedback on every piece of work completed, but they are reviewing the work produced to inform planning
and whole class feedback as they would in school in line with our Marking and Assessment policy. Staff are
incorporating regular assessment opportunities into their lessons using quizzes on Teams and Satchel One, Kahoot
activities, Microsoft Forms and many more methods. Students have been and will continue to undertake more formal
assessments across the curriculum in line with subject assessment schedules which will lead to individual feedback
and flightpaths for students.

Submitting work on Satchel One (Show My Homework)

Several parents and students commented on issues relating to submitting work via Satchel One in the recent surveys.
Please use the link here to access a guide to the submission of work on Satchel One.

Satchel One also has some other guides that students and parents may find useful.

Summer GCSE and A-level Examinations

The government consultation on how GCSE and A level grades should be awarded in summer 2021 closed last Friday.
We are hoping to receive guidance from the government shortly on how grades will be awarded. We appreciate how
stressful this is for our students and their parents and carers, and we hope to be able to provide some clarity soon.

Parents’ Evenings

The Year 12 Parents’ Evening went ahead last night with great success using the School Cloud Platform. It was great
to see and speak to so many of you.

We are looking forwarded to meeting with students and parents on the upcoming Parents’ Evenings:
       11th February – Year 10 Parents’ Evening
       25th February – Year 13 Parent’s Evening

Sixth Form Interviews

We will be running interviews for Year 11 students that have applied to our Sixth Form on Monday 8th and Tuesday
9th February. Students that need to have an interview will have received their invitations. Please contact Mrs
Cherry, Sixth Form Coordinator, if you require further details KCY@boswells-school.com

Year 9 Options Process

We are pleased to inform you that we will be launching our Year 9 Options process on Monday 1st March. There will
be a live launch event for parents and students starting at 6pm on that evening and Mr Jones will be writing to
parents of Year 9 students next week with further information. Students will be provided with comprehensive
guidance and information to help them make an informed decision on the subjects they can select for GCSE study.

In-School Provision

        Please note the in-school provision will not open on Monday 22nd February as it is an INSET / Non-Pupil day.
        If you want your child to access the in-school provision because you are a critical worker (and you have no
        alternatives for childcare for your child(ren)), you will need to contact Mrs Wendy Brooks, Attendance Officer
        attendance@boswells-school.com to discuss this.
        Prior to your child attending the provision for the first time we request that you ensure your child has had a
        PCR test before they to attend. You can book this via the Government website: https://www.gov.uk/get-

coronavirus-test. In order to secure a free test, in response to question 5 ‘why are you asking for a test’ you
        will need to choose the following option:
        “My local council or health protection team has asked me (or someone I live with) to get a test, even though I
        do not have symptoms”
        Once they have commenced the in-school provision they will be able to access the in-school testing facility
        once you have consented for this to happen.

Testing Positive for COVID and Testing in school

Please can you ensure that you let the attendance team know through email attendance@boswells-school.com if
your child tests positive for COVID and on what date the test was confirmed. Can you also let them know the date at
which the 90-day period following the result ends as this will help us when it comes to testing students in school.

Presentation Evening

Our annual Presentation Evening will be hosted remotely via Microsoft Teams on Wednesday, 10th February. This
year’s award winners will be informed by the end of today. Parents and carers will receive further details via InTouch
and the student will receive an actual Microsoft Teams meeting invitation from Mr Butler inviting them to attend this
virtual event to celebrate their success.

We hope to be back in Chelmsford Cathedral next year to celebrate together in person.

Student safeguarding and wellbeing survey

On Monday students will receive their second safeguarding and wellbeing survey. Please can you ensure your child
submits their responses by 3.00pm on Monday, 8th February.

Live Lesson with Tutor

On Thursday during Personal Development which is Period 4 for all year groups, students will have a live lesson with
their tutors. In this session they will get to talk with their tutor and ask any questions they may have. It is compulsory
that all students attend this session. They will receive a Teams invite from their tutor prior to Thursday.

Literacy Newsletter

Mr Keech has sent out a literacy newsletter via email to all students today, please encourage your child(ren) to log on
to their school emails and take a look.

Attendance

It is really important if your child is unable to participate in the online learning due to illness that you contact the
school absence line as normal. In addition, please do continue to let us know should your child receive a positive
COVID test.

ABSENCE LINE: 01245 264451 Press 1 or via Email: attendance@boswells-school.com

Terms Dates

Just a reminder that Spring Half term is Monday 15th February to Friday 19th February 2021, and Monday 22nd
February is an INSET / Non-Pupil day.

Best wishes,

Steve Mansell
Headteacher

Upcoming Events

Thursday 11th February – Year 10 Parents’ Evening
Monday 15th February to Friday 19th February 2021 – Spring Half term
Monday 22nd February – INSET Day / Non-pupil Day
Thursday 25th February – Year 13 Parents’ Evening

Keeping up to speed

As well as our website, you can keep up to speed with everything that is happening at the school by following us on
Twitter (@BoswellsSchool) or on our Facebook page (The Boswells School Official). You can also sign up to receive
our press and media releases direct to your email address. This service is free of charge and can be accessed by
emailing boswellsnews@gmail.com and asking to be added to the distribution list.

Attendance

Please remember you are required to call The Boswells School absence line every day your child is absent by 8.30am,
unless pre-authorised absence or COVID related AND you have informed us you are self-isolating following a positive
test OR in quarantine after returning to the UK.

Attendance will need to see evidence of a test result – either to show a child is positive and authorised to be off
school and subsequently a negative result to enable them to return to school.

ABSENCE LINE: 01245 264451 Press 1 or via Email: attendance@boswells-school.com

Department for Education coronavirus (COVID-19) helpline

The Department for Education coronavirus (COVID-19) helpline is available to answer questions about coronavirus
(COVID-19) relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline
by calling:

Phone: 0800 046 8687

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm
Saturday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm

Whole School Challengers of the Week

Jack Petchey Award Ceremony 2021
Jack Petchey himself sent a
celebratory message to the students
of The Boswells School who were
successful in being award winners for
many amazing reasons.

Jack says “If you think you can you
can!” and our students definitely
have demonstrated that mindset
over the last year.

                                        The Award ceremony, although
                                        a little different this year, was
                                        introduced by Philip Allinson
                                        from JP and The Mayor of
                                        Chelmsford.

                              The Boswells School Award Winners 2021:

Well done to all the students who also got nominated during the last year, you are a credit to the
school. A special mention to Mrs D Layton-Smith who was awarded the Leader Award for the
incredible role she does in Pastoral. Another special mention and thanks must go to Mrs Self who is
the Jack Petchey Administrator and who works extremely hard in organizing and coordinating this
award for the school.

As Jack Petchey Coordinator I am very fortunate to know many of these students and I am incredibly
proud of them. I look forward to another great year working with the Jack Petchey Foundation to
celebrate the amazing achievements of our students.

Miss Cater (Jack Petchey Coordinator)

Healthy Eating
We appreciate that during lockdown maintaining a healthy diet may be a challenge. We wish to remind you of the
Healthy eating section on the school’s website which can be found on the link here.

In addition, you may wish to watch the following clip for some ideas on how to keep the diet healthy, practical and cost
effective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXksVE9lDfQ Eating Healthy during Lockdown

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/20-tips-to-eat-well-for-less/ 20 tips to eat well for less

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/quick-and-healthy-recipes 15 recipes

Remote Learning
For further information on Remote Learning please visit our school webpage for more information

Contact Details
It is important that the school have up to date contact details for all parents and carers. The easiest way to update
your contact details is via the Data Collection section of the SIMS Parent App.

If you have not received an invite to sign up to the app or if you experience any issues with the app please email
simsparent@boswells-school.com

The Boswells School House
System
Congratulations to Bronte House – Last
Week’s Winners

Family Learning are offering:
Free Training on Teams session for Parents
https://www.facebook.com/100050770882560/videos/250000840035610/

Is your child using Teams for remote learning? Are you frozen in fear about helping them as Microsoft Teams for
Education is alien to you, and your child? Do you feel like it is just too scary to even try and get your device ready for
them to use? Come to 2, two hour sessions where we will help answer any questions and give you a guided explore
around TEAMS and any questions you or your child have. The first session will be offered online through ZOOM, just one
click and you will be on, and the 2nd session we will get you online onto TEAMS, so you can experience what your
children will access for their learning. This will open up doors for your children to learn, whilst remote learning is in
place as well as help you to access online support that may be holding you back as a parent.
What have you got to lose? Give it a go!

Free Training on Teams session for Parents
Booking open:

http://bit.ly/trainingonteams4Feb
http://bit.ly/trainingonteams11Feb