Dear Parents and Carers,

As we approach the end of the week I just wanted to update you on a few issues that have developed over the past few days. 

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has been continuing to work so hard on their school work each day -  students and family members!! Who knew Year 7 Spanish was so difficult - certainly not me  - our Modern Language staff and students make it look easy!  

We have been inundated with a wide range of fantastic pieces of work which we have been sending out through our social media. If you would like to see what students have been up to please go to our sites at:

Facebook: @officialexmouthcollege 

Twitter: @ExmouthCollege

Instagram: @exmouthcommunitycollege

Here you can find a wide range of work across many subjects completed both on computer or handwritten and photographed. As someone who has taught Physics, one piece that caught my eye was a video produced by Dylan in Year 7 and involved exploring the gravity on different planets by simulating driving a car and occasionally crashing it to see what happens. Great fun and very inventive! 

It can be found on YouTube at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cqPPitHrROkanumpB7chOx3fIi6Z4TDf

We are really keen to make sure we are providing the very best home learning experience for the students and their families. 

To help us accomplish that Mr Allen has been ringing random families from different year groups all week to get feedback on how it is going. In addition, Mr Tanner has sent a survey to his Year 12 students and their teachers. Based on this feedback it is great to hear so many students have settled into really good routines and are taking their studies seriously and working hard. Many families are reporting that the work is appropriate both in terms of the amount and difficulty. From this feedback, we have however also picked up some inconsistencies in practice which has then allowed us to investigate further and help to improve things for everyone. Thank you. 

If you feel that your child is not getting the right amount of work, too little or too much, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with the subject leaders for that particular subject. Their emails can all be found at https://www.exmouthcollege.devon.sch.uk/closure-info. 

We are all learning this as we go along together and so your feedback is important and will help us to keep improving the quality of work we are sending out. Please remember to keep your child reading every day!

This week the English team and library staff have been working on a new diary competition for Year 7 and 8 as well as launching Carnegie 2020 for Year 9 students. Please keep an eye out for details! The diary challenge was inspired by an email we received from a year 7 student called Izzy who emailed the following to her Head of Year:

Subject: Izzy 

To Mrs Millman, Ms Thorn and Mrs Lucas

I hope that you and your families are all well

I wanted to give you an update on things that I have been doing. I have been doing PE with Joe wicks everyday except one morning and I have fun doing it with my mum. I have been doing work with my friends Farrah and Bethan over FaceTime as well as having my maths tutor every Wednesday over Skype. I have been doing lots of reading and done the AR tests as well and Im so happy I got 2 ten out of tens. I am now reading Twilight.

During the Easter holidays I was still doing work with my friends I did reading then Joe wicks then two lessons. But now it is back to normal and I am doing full days. Its such a shame that the weather has been so nice but we are not allowed out anywhere except from a walk with your family.Which I do with my mum everyday, and I am very lucky I have a nice big garden so I get to enjoy the outside with my mum and the cat Dexter when we are not working.(my mum is still working from home)

The work I have enjoyed doing the most is the English because it includes drawing things and I love drawing. It is my dads birthday on Friday so I made him a card with a cartoon drawing on it. I never thought I would say this but I actually miss school. I enjoy going to school because I always end up learning a lot of new things everyday and I like seeing everybody. Now that we are in more my mum is practicing cooking more so we have very interesting meals in the night. But tonight we are having fish and chips delivered to us from Krispies and I have been baking every Sunday.

I hope to see you both soon and take care and I will carry on the homework that has been set for me because it keeps my brain working.
Take care.
Izzy x

There were several staff who admitted it bought a tear to their eye since they miss their students and school as well!

To finish with I would just like to leave you with something uplifting for the weekend. I came across this on Twitter and is produced by PiXL, an organisation for schools. I thought it was a great message and gives some hope about how schools, communities, our country and the world could change for the better in a post Covid world. I hope you enjoy it at https://vimeo.com/thepixlclub.

Students, perhaps after watching the film, you might feel inspired to make your family a cup of tea to say thank you for what they are doing to keep you safe and healthy, or do the washing up (without being asked!) for them or, and I know this is hard for teenagers, perhaps even give them a little hug to show them you care! Even adults need some reassurance at times!

Lets all try being a bit kinder, braver and more helpful.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Andrew Davis