UTC Oxfordshire
Newsletter 8th January 2021
Dear all
I hope everyone is doing ok as we reach the end of this ever-changing week . What a week this has been on a national and Global scale.
What I want to make clear is throughout the last week, UTC Oxfordshire and all schools have been receiving all the announcements about the education system at the same time as all other members of the public. There was no advance warning for any of this. To be able mobilise staff, switch to online learning, plan, setup and start running a Covid-19 testing centre, prepare for and start running examinations and try and keep the whole UTCO community up to date through our communications has taken a monumental effort from the staff.
To you all, thank you for your unwavering support, your patience, your feedback, and your positive comments to us, on social media and to each other, this all helps keep the energy high and the spirits up. If you aren't yet a member of the parents Facebook group please sign up here
Exams Update
BTECs and Cambridge Nationals are going ahead. I know some colleges have decided to cancel these and that is their choice. There is no decision made by the exam boards as to how they will give grades to students who do not sit exams either because the school has cancelled, a student is Covid positive/self-isolating or because the student chooses not to. However, we feel the school is as Covid safe as possible and most importantly, you have worked hard to be ready for these exams. Just because the exam board might say take the exam in the summer instead, does not mean you will be better prepared then. You have been working for these exams this term, you are likely to be working on other units from now so may not be as well prepared for these units now. So, if you choose to do the exams now, we are open and ready for you to do them in as safe an environment that we can provide.
Today: Year 13 Business Pearson BTEC
Monday: Year 13 Engineering Pearson BTEC Unit 1
Tuesday: Year 11 Engineering OCR Cambridge Nationals Unit R105
Tuesday: Year 12 Business Pearson BTEC Personal and Business Finance
Following the challenge of the summer exams of 2020, schools, students, and parents/carers have been trying to keep up to date with the various decisions being made by the government about how the exams and assessments will take place in the summer of 2021.
Since Monday 4th January 2021 we have had a range of updates from the Prime Minister, The Secretary of State for Education, the DFE and awarding bodies. All of this has been confusing, frustrating and upsetting for all those in examination year groups. Rather than spending time looking back over what has come up and changed, I thought best that we focus on what we know now and what decisions we have made at UTC Oxfordshire.
From DFE email to schools – Wednesday 6th January 2021 - The Secretary of State confirmed that we will not be asking students to sit SATs, GCSEs and A and AS Level exams this summer. Together with Ofqual, we will consult next week on how to fairly award all pupils with a grade to ensure they can progress to the next stage of their lives.
What this means for UTC Oxfordshire students in Year 11 and 13 now.
At this stage we must wait and see. As the above is all that we know. There is likely to be a period of consultation where the education profession can provide response to a consultation before the government announces the final approach that is taken.
Pearson (BTEC’s for Year 13) Update as of 7th January 2021
Vocational Qualification (Technical Qualification) exams for January will continue where school/colleges "judge it right to do so". We are getting a lot of questions about this from our centres, below are some key points to support you with related queries from your members:
We are still waiting for information from DfE and Ofqual on what this means for the Feb and summer BTEC exams.
- If students miss the BTEC Jan exams, they may be able to sit later. In the event this is not possible (e.g., they are due to complete and progress before the next exam window), arrangements will be put in place to ensure these learners are not disadvantaged.
- Where a school/college has decided to cancel BTEC Jan exams, we are advising not to withdraw the actual exam entries at this stage, as we do not know yet whether it will impact students' eligibility for the point above.
What this means for UTC Oxfordshire students in Year 13 doing BTEC qualifications now
As you know from previous updates this week, we have pressed on with running the January exams. We are aware that other schools and colleges have cancelled them and that is a decision that each institution has been able to make.
What we cannot do is make decisions on the grounds of public health. But we can make decisions on the grounds of education and on the basis that we believe the measures in place at UTC Oxfordshire meet the level of safety required, the current exams for BTEC’s and Cambridge nationals taking place in January continue.
For reference, we have run the first examination today and all has worked well based on the system we have set up.
We fully recognise the fact that some students and families will not feel that it is safe to come into the UTC to do examinations. If this is the choice you make, then we will support you that decision.
As it states in bullet point 2 above, Pearson are suggesting that for students that miss these exams, provision will be put in place to ensure these students are not disadvantaged.
Until we have received clarification from Pearson, we will not be withdrawing any students from exams. If you chose not to attend the exam, we would record this as not attending.
OCR (Cambridge Nationals in Engineering for Year 11 students) Update as of 6th January 2021
We have had further discussions with the Department for Education (DfE) who confirmed on 5 January 2021 that schools and colleges can continue to offer vocational exams, ‘where they judge it right to do so’. The DfE guidance for schools and colleges is available to help manage this.
We know this is a challenging time for you and your students and we will work to support you whatever decisions you reach which will depend on the circumstances of each school or college.
Our priority is to ensure students are not disadvantaged. We know students and teachers have been working hard towards the January exams and many will want to take the opportunity to sit them.
If your students do not take our exams this January, there are options:
- There may be an opportunity to take their assessment at a future date. If this is not possible due to arrangements still to be announced for this summer, we will work with the DfE and Ofqual to make sure they are treated fairly.
- If students were going to certificate in January, we will award a grade to a student if there is enough evidence, to help them progress.
If exams do not go ahead at your school or college, you can withdraw entries and we will refund you. We will continue to engage with the DfE and with the regulator Ofqual on the approach to awarding all qualifications this school year so students taking different qualifications are treated equally.
We would also like to confirm arrangements for submitting your students’ coursework for moderation. We encourage schools and colleges to submit completed coursework for January as soon as possible so we have evidence of your students’ work. To give you more time, we are extending the 10 January submission deadline for Cambridge Nationals by an extra two weeks till 24 January 2021. This will impact on our results days this spring and we will provide an updated results timetable as soon as we can.
What this means for UTC Oxfordshire students in Year 11 doing Cambridge National in Engineering Qualifications Now.
There is an exam scheduled to take place in the January examination window for this course for year 11 students taking it. Again, this is going ahead as planned for the same reasons as specified in the BTEC explanation. We believe we have made the site safe to use to run the examination, but we will support students and their families if they chose not to attend the examination.
Please note again that you can review the examination procedure for January in the update sent out on 6th January 2020
Please also note that the final paragraph above in italics in relation to coursework it not relevant to any student in year 11 on taking this qualification because our submission deadline for the coursework is May 2021. Teacher of this subject will be support student to complete this coursework as part of their online and remote learning
EAL (Level 2 Diploma in Engineering and Technology) for Year 13 students as of 7th January 2021
EAL have said that are not changing what they do as they are a professional body. For students certifying this year, they will need to complete all assessments and synoptic with evidence for this.
What this means for UTC Oxfordshire students in Year 13 students doing EAL (Level 2 Diploma Engineering and Technology)
This is very similar to how this awarding body operated last year so we do have some experience of this. The students will be taught via the online lesson to complete the work required for the synoptic assessment. All the work to be completed for the assignments will take some further planning as it is likely to involve being on site to achieve this and access our engineering facilities. We will continue to engage with EAL and one of our ALET Trust schools, UTC Heathrow who are doing the same qualification with their students. We will update you on this in due course.
Covid-19 Testing Centre
I am pleased to let you know that we have managed to set up our testing centre as per the guidelines. This means that we have a team of staff fully trained to supervise the Covid Lateral Flow tests for all staff and students who are on site regularly and in preparation for what is likely to be a mass testing programme on return to school after lockdown. More information when available.
All staff, onsite students and invigilators have had their tests.
Before testing can take place, consent must be given. In anticipation of students returning to site regularly please can the form be completed including a non-consent if that is the case
The link to the form is here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Xt6XlQthEEGJQ5eU1CTGhk0O-Jdqca1KkTWXO-wJ51BUMVQ3ODI2MlRWNlMxNlgyT1ZWR0M3S0pYVS4u
And Finally ......
I hope the following tips will help us through this lockdown as they definitely were helpful last time. They are simple but perhaps are simple but might just help when setting up for the challenges ahead:
- Find a small daily routine that works for you
- Expose yourself to nature Every day, even if you just stare at a tree
- Move your body each day, even for just 5 minutes
- Call a friend or relative each day
- Have 10 minutes of intentional solitude. Sit with your thoughts, do not distract yourself with media, allow yourself to really experience what you are feeling
- If you must watch the news, only watch once per day, and do not watch 2 hours before bed
- Write down three things you are grateful for each day
- Do not beat yourself up if you feel down. Its ok not to be ok
- If working from home, enforce boundaries between work time and home time. Where possible, change rooms, shut your laptop etc.
- Remember this too shall pass.
Stay safe
With good wishes
Sam