Covid-19 Update, 5th January 2021
5th January 21
On Monday 4th January, the UK Government announced a new national lockdown taking effect immediately.
As part of the lockdown, the government announced the physical closure of all schools and colleges until after the end of the February half term. In line with government guidelines we will now deliver learning online until after the February half term for all students.
Abbey DLD online learning will use the same programme of live lessons, tutorials and extra-curricular support sessions which we delivered so successfully last year, and which helped contribute to one of our best ever set of academic results and places at top-ranked UK universities for many of our students.
What does this mean for new and returning students this January?
Many of our students have already arrived in the UK. These students will continue their learning online whilst living and being supported in college boarding houses or with our local host families.
Students who have been unable to travel to the UK due to Covid-19 restrictions will begin their learning online whilst in their home country. Our colleges look forward to welcoming these students in person as soon as possible.
For students unable to travel to the UK at the start of term due to Covid travel restrictions, boarding fees will not apply for the period in which the travel restrictions are in place.
How does this affect end of year exams?
As part of the lockdown announcement, the UK Government has also announced that this year’s GCSE and A-Level exams have been cancelled.
The Government is currently working with examinations regulator Ofqual to identify alternative methods of assessments for students due to take final exams this year.
Last year GCSE and A-Level grades were based on Centre Assessed Grades (CAG) predicted by schools and colleges. We do not yet know whether the CAG system will be used again in 2021, but it is important that all students continue to engage with their lessons fully to achieve the best CAG, and therefore outcomes, should these be used to determine final grades in 2021.
For students sitting their exams in 2022, we expect the normal examination system to be back in place. Again, it remains key that these students engage with their lessons fully for the full duration of their studies.
What does this mean for students hoping to progress to a new course in 2021?
Our colleges will ensure that all students who have remained engaged in their learning are able to progress to the next appropriate course of study in September 2021.
This is a difficult time for us all, but with the rollout of covid vaccinations beginning both here in the UK and around the world we can look forward to better times and a return to normality.
In the meantime our group of colleges are committed to continuing to provide exceptional and safe learning for each one of our students.
Principal's message to parents and students at Abbey College Manchester 5th January 2021
Dear Students and Parents/Guardians,
Happy New Year – I hope you are all well and have been enjoying the winter break.
You are probably aware that yesterday evening the UK Government instructed all secondary schools/colleges to teach remotely until February half term. This is in the interests of safety because this new coronavirus variant, which transmits more easily, has been spreading very quickly in the UK.
I know this will be a disappointment to many of you as it is for us. However, you have all been following a remote timetable to a greater or lesser extent since September and as you know our teachers are very adept at delivering remote classes. There will be no compromise in the quality of the education you are receiving. More about the arrangements for GCSE, IFP and A-level assessment will follow when we have that information.
The first day of term is Monday 11th January and any adjustments to the times of the college day will be communicated to you in a separate email.
In the meantime I hope you enjoy the rest of the college break and I will be in touch again later this week.
Best wishes
Liz Elam
Principal
Principal's message to parents and students at Abbey College Manchester 7th January 2021
Dear Students and Parents/Guardians,
Following on from my email on Tuesday I can confirm the times of the college day will be made uniform throughout the week and will follow the current Tuesday pattern. This means no change to morning lessons which start at 9.40am and finish at 1.20pm.
Afternoon lessons will now run every day as follows:
LUNCH: 1.20pm to 1.50pm
Lesson 6: 1.50pm to 2.30pm
Lesson 7: 2.30pm to 3.10pm
BREAK: 3.10pm to 3.30pm
Lesson 8: 3.30pm to 4.10pm
Lesson 9: 4.10pm to 4.50pm
The following information is a summary of what we know so far about examinations for Years 11 and 13:
A level
- All summer exams have been cancelled and grades will be determined by use of a form of teacher assessed grades with consultation taking place over the next two weeks to decide how these grades will be awarded.
- We will continue to teach the full content for all A level subjects and to support students to complete their A level studies successfully.
- This is important so that students are both fully prepared for any assessments that will be required to decide their teacher assessed grade and are better prepared for making the transition to university.
GCSE
- For Maths, RS, English, Art and Photography and Additional Maths the summer exams have been cancelled and grades will be determined by use of a form of teacher assessed grades with consultation taking place over the next two weeks to decide how these will be awarded.
- HOWEVER for Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Business and French the Cambridge International Exam Board have not yet decided whether these exams will be cancelled or go ahead as planned.
- We will continue to teach the full content for all GCSE subjects and to support students to complete their GCSE studies successfully.
- This is important so that students are fully prepared for any form of assessment required to decide their grades (including possible external exams in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Business and French) and are best prepared for continuing with their education post-GCSE.
IFP/CSP
- Nothing has changed for the IFP and CSP programmes. We will continue as planned to deliver the Unit 2 and Unit 3 content with exams in March and June.
- Due to the lockdown we have decided that the March Unit 2 exams will be done remotely using the same model that was used successfully in December for Unit 1 exams.
- The June Unit 3 and re-sit exams will be taken face to face in college. This means all students must be in college by the start of the third term
We will communicate more detailed information as soon as we have it. The key message here is that all students should work the very best they can from Monday 11th January to cover all the of the content and build the skills and knowledge required.
We look forward to ‘seeing you’ in lessons on Monday
Best wishes
Liz
