Life @ EA

Wednesday 25 March

Coronavirus update

Dear Members of the Edinburgh Academy Community,

Apologies for this being a big News Sheet! They say a week is a long time in politics… well, it seems half a week is an even longer time in education!

I hope that this first week of school closure and the move to online ‘virtual education’ is working as well as it can. I appreciate there have been some issues with Firefly for some and for that I have to apologise. This is an issue beyond our control at the moment, mostly caused by every Firefly School in the UK trying to access the platform at once and so please do continue to have patience and bear with us. With Firefly out of action again this morning (Wednesday), teachers have been asked to set work for classes on Microsoft Teams. For many, this will be a steep learning curve, as our original plans for remote learning focused on best use of Firefly, a platform with which we are all familiar. If you could just bear with us a little bit longer, we’ll make sure that Teams are up and running as soon as possible for most, if not all, classes. This should enable us to communicate consistently with pupils and check progress. I know that Firefly are working hard to resolve their issues so would hope that you will all have consistent access to this platform very soon. The Firefly pupil app seems to be working at the moment, so you should use this where possible.

I know from many reports from parents that work is getting through: sometimes too much, sometimes too little. I know for instance that my first try at setting work may have been too ambitious and challenging. I will do better next week. This is a period of education for all of us and so please have patience, understand that we are adapting, improvising and trying to overcome. This is a new period of education for every school in the UK and we are doing our best. Thank you so much for those of you who have been kind enough to write in and suggest other platforms and ways to manage this period of virtual learning. I now have a range of options to choose from should this ever happen again! My favourite is still a full squadron of EA homing pigeons, trained to deliver work individually and then return to the Main Hall for refuelling, but I am not quite there yet!

We very much hope to work in partnership with all our families as we shift from traditional face-to-face education to a period of online 'remote learning' and step into uncharted waters. Should you have any concerns about the unfolding educational programme, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us using the communication pathways discussed here:

Senior School: Senior School Contacts
Junior School/Nursery: Junior School Contacts

If Firefly is down please contact: parents.ict@edinburghacademy.org.uk
 

Advice for our Seniors: 5ths–7ths

SQA Advice first for all our exam cohorts: https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/93658.html

This was the most recent update from the SQA, published last night; I have highlighted the section most pertinent to all our 5ths–7ths:

“Following the announcement by the First Minister on Sunday, that no young person with SQA coursework to complete should attend school to do so, we continue to work hard on how we should take coursework evidence into account, in determining young people’s final grades. Everyone here at SQA will do their utmost, given the current situation, and with the support of the education system, to ensure that learners’ hard work is rightly and fairly recognised and allows them to proceed to further learning or work. The current public health advice has meant that we have had to make some really difficult decisions about coursework. This means that for this year, schools and colleges are not required to submit learner coursework for marking, in Higher and Advanced Higher courses. We have taken this difficult decision to be as fair as possible to all Higher and Advanced Higher candidates, whilst taking on board the current public health advice, the many varied coursework requirements across different subjects, and how these are managed in schools and colleges across the country. I appreciate that some learners may have already completed their coursework for Higher and Advanced Higher courses. This work can still be used as part of the suite of evidence for teachers and lecturers to draw on as they consider estimated grades. We have received coursework for a range of National 5 subjects and have contacted National 5 coursework markers to confirm marking arrangements. All National 5 coursework, due to be uplifted in April and May, will not be submitted for marking. We will provide further details on the estimation of grades, that we will need from teachers and lecturers to inform certification, and fuller details of our approach to certification, as soon as possible. This is an unprecedented situation for us all, and circumstances are rapidly changing. With every change in circumstances, we continue to consider how best to recognise learner achievement in as fair a way as possible. Please be assured that everyone here at SQA is fully committed to working with you to deliver for Scotland’s young people. Thank you for your patience and continued co-operation.”

So, for any 5th–7th who are still to complete coursework/assignments/orals etc, you will find Departments will be making contact with you to set up processes to still collect this finished work. We know that this work will not be externally assessed by SQA examiners BUT it is useful evidence of progress, capabilities and signs of what you could have achieved with continued progress, support, revision sessions etc – as you would have done in the run up to the exams. The School will need this evidence, especially for those of you who are concerned about your Prelim scores. Our Departments are working on this and will be making contact. Please do not get overly concerned and panic. We will reach out and provide whatever assistance that we can. If you have coursework/assignments/work ready to go, or a deadline approaching – meet that deadline – do the work, get it as good as you can and make sure you submit the work to your teachers – it can all be used by the school as evidence and to guide our predicted / estimated grades – which will be used by all exam boards now that the real exams are not happening. You may find Departments will set some further mini-tests, again to gather whatever evidence that they can. Do as well as you can, do them in ‘exam conditions’ or as close as you can to that, and submit them – all this work will help.

Remember your teachers know you, have taught you for at least a year most likely, know your strengths, know what you struggle with, know how you would have responded to guidance and revision – their estimated/predicted grades are made on their own knowledge, experience, understanding of the exam process and confidence in the revision sessions they would have run. We have a track record of proven success, clear evidence of excellent exam results spanning many years and data to show the strength of our educational programme. Do not panic. Our Departments are working hard to make sure they can support you as much as they can.

For those following GCSE and A Levels please see HERE for the recent statement to Parliament on the GCSE, A and AS level process.

Apologies to those parents who feel we have been slow to get processes in place to support the 5ths–7ths in this time of uncertainty. I hope you understand that things have changed incredibly quickly and are continuing to do so. It was only recently that the DFM was telling us that exams would continue and S4–S6 were allowed in school. We are working hard to respond to ever-changing guidelines and still await clarification from all UK exam boards about how they wish the predicted/estimated grade process to unfold. Please do not contact individual teachers or Heads of Department to complain or express frustration. Please contact me on rectorsoffice@edinburghacademy.org.uk and I will try to help. My teaching staff are trying to manage their individual teams in providing ongoing virtual education to the whole school and I wish to protect them from this level of communication.
 

For 7ths

UCAS advice has been developing in the past few days also. The latest updates online is HERE.

Most important for our 7ths is the advice below from UCAS:

“Following the Government's announcement, asking universities and colleges in England to hold back from making unconditional offers or amending existing offers to students for up to two weeks, we are extending May’s decision and reply deadlines for UCAS Undergraduate applications by two weeks. We will email affected applicants to let them know, and share new dates once they’ve been confirmed. This extension will give your students and their chosen universities and colleges the extra time they need to fully consider any decisions and offers, and ensure fairness in admissions is maintained. It also gives more time for further information to be shared on the awarding of grades for examinations and assessments which have been cancelled. When results are confirmed, we expect to run a Clearing process, giving applicants the flexibility to make choices throughout the remainder of the cycle. I want to reassure you that we remain focused on making sure no applicant is disadvantaged during this time of uncertainty, and we will continue to be on hand to support you and your students each step of the way.”

UCAS will be communicating the following message to all 7ths:

“Following the cancellation of examinations and assessments, the Government have asked all universities and colleges in England to stop making unconditional offers or amending existing offers to students for two weeks. The Government wants to reassure students that you will get grades. It says “no student should feel pressured into making a quick decision which may end up not being in your best interest”. It is important that you have all the information available to you when making decisions on your offers and understand how awarding of qualifications will work this summer. To give you more time to make your decisions, we have decided to extend the May decision deadline (the date by when you need to make your firm and insurance choice) by two weeks. We will confirm your new decision deadline this week. When you receive your results and universities and colleges make decisions, our Clearing service will still available to you, as it is for tens of thousands of applicants each year. Our team, although now working remotely, continue to be on hand to support you. You can find the latest information regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) on ucas.com.”
 

Advice for all Students

I know members of the Pastoral Team, as well as Class Teachers are working hard to stay in touch and act as a further level of support at this difficult time. The Year Head Team and Counsellor are continuing to offer a level of pastoral support, even at these most challenging of times and I must thank them for all the work they are doing. CEOPS have been in touch with their CEOPS ambassadors in schools across the country to highlight to them that advice and help exists for parents and teachers at this disrupted time. All relevant information is contained within the parent information sheets that can be found by clicking on this link: THINKUKNOW

Many thanks indeed to all members of our community for managing this very difficult transition process. I very much hope that you are healthy, safe, looking after one another and balancing family time with the virtual education that the Academy is offering. Please keep communicating, letting us know how things are going, letting us know how we can support or help further. This is new for all of us and, although desperately difficult for many, it is a wonderful opportunity to develop new skills and refine ways of doing things. As they say, education never stops!

With very best wishes,

Barry Welsh
Rector