27th May 2021
Heath Lane Academy – Update on changes from Monday 21st June
Dear Parent/Carer,
I am writing to update you on exciting plans at Heath Lane Academy from Monday 21st June 2021. As you will be aware, this date marks the next step in the government Covid 19 roadmap. The changes in the Covid restrictions will allow us to make changes to our way of working and set the school up for a successful start to the next academic year.
Throughout the pandemic our priority as a community and as a school has remained on keeping us all safe and ensuring our young people receive the best education possible. This year, with your support, we have adapted to working in bubbles, to remote learning and to changes in our working routines in school. The superb response of our staff and pupils have allowed us to keep up with our curriculum, make superb progress and stay as safe as possible in the circumstances. It has been a huge effort from our whole community. We continue to look for ways to give the young people in our community the best chance to succeed and ensure Heath Lane Academy is at the heart of our communities’ recovery from the pandemic.
As part of this vision, we want to maximise the learning time remaining this academic year and set up our pupils to make the best start possible to the next school year. Therefore, we are going to put in place the following:
- We will be moving back to a common start and finish time for all pupils from Monday 21st June. The school day will begin at 8.45am and finish at 3.10pm for all year groups
- Pupils will effectively move up to their new Year for the final three weeks of this year, Eg Year 7 will become Year 8
- Pupils will attend lessons in department areas again, moving out of their bubbles to allow our subject experts to deliver engaging and exciting lessons using our specialist facilities
- Pupils will continue to enter and leave school through designated doors and have their break and lunchtimes in designated zones and dining areas.
By making these changes from the 21st June we hope to prepare pupils for next year and allow us to train them in our expectations and how we work when we can move beyond our bubbles. Investing time at the end of this year will enable us to make a smooth start to next year by allowing us to walk pupils through the changes and explain to our most vulnerable pupils how we will work ahead of the new school year. This will help to alleviate any fears or anxiety around these changes. Our plans are subject to change if the national or local Covid restrictions change before Monday 21st June.
We will be contacting our bus companies to ensure bus journeys are adapted to meet the updated timings. Pupils will continue to attend school in their PE kit on days when they have PE on their timetable, for the remainder of this school year. We will write to you ahead of the 2021-22 academic year to update you and confirm plans for the next academic year.
If you have any questions regarding these changes please contact the school on officestaffHLA@midlandat.co.uk .
Throughout this year the support of our parents, carers and our community has been superb. We have all worked together to get our young people and our community through the pandemic. Thank you for your continued support,
Yours sincerely
Mark Trimingham
Principal
