18th September 2020

Dear Second Year Students

We are very much looking forward to welcoming you back on site next week.

I am writing to highlight some important information for your return to campus. Please ensure you have read the Principal’s Email sent at the start of term, paying particular attention to the ‘Advice on Keeping Safe’ and also the College Essentials link within his email.

We will be issuing NEW LANYARDS to 2nd Years next week:

·         You should wear your existing ID to college as you will be asked to hand in your old pink lanyard in return for a new yellow and black lanyard, which is the official colour for 2020/21

·         1st Year and Transition students have black lanyards with yellow writing and 2nd Years have yellow lanyards with black writing

·         You will only be issued with a new lanyard strap – your ID card and holder are still valid

·         Staff will be handing out the new lanyards from the quad between the Library and Student Services; at the start of the morning, during break and lunch on Monday and Tuesday

·         Pink lanyards will only be valid until Wednesday of next week, so please make sure you get your new lanyard on the first day you are due to attend college

·         Student Services will continue to exchange lanyards where a student has been unable to attend on Monday or Tuesday due to illness

Please note that the library will not open until 9.15am on Monday, as staff will be helping with lanyard distribution.

Best wishes and stay safe

Andrea John

Vice Principal (Pastoral)

10th September 2020

Our Principal has emailed to all of our students and parents, both new to the college and those continuing with their studies, to confirm final arrangements for our safe reopening on Monday 14th September. Over the last two weeks we have had a very successful enrolment of new first year students and the college will be full as usual from the start of the academic year – testament to the high regard the college is held in across the region for its outstanding results and excellent education. The enrolment process allowed us to test all of the safety measures that we have implemented with smaller numbers of staff and students on site each day and we have carefully considered further adaptations from when teaching starts – for example extra signage, more social space and additional one way systems in certain buildings.

We are fully ready to resume teaching as planned from Monday 14th September in a blended 50/50 model with year groups attending on site in alternate weeks.

For full details of the email sent to students and parents please see below:

Final confirmation of arrangements for September 14th

27th August 2020

Following updated government guidance, we have decided to ask all students, staff and visitors to wear face coverings from 1st September in corridors and communal areas. Emails will be sent today to all applicants for enrolment and a full update for all students and parents regarding reopening will follow in due course as further guidance changes are expected

24th August 2020

I trust this update finds you all keeping safe and well and hope that you have had a chance to enjoy a relaxing summer break.

I am writing today to all current students and those that plan on joining us soon following their enrolment interviews to confirm arrangements for the reopening of the college in September. We are now one week away from enrolment and three weeks away from the beginning of teaching. After such a long period of disruption and adjustment, during which students and staff responded magnificently to the many challenges, I’m sure we are all looking forward to seeing each other again in person and returning to some degree of normality.

Enrolment – Tuesday 1st September to Friday 11th September

For all prospective students and our current students who are moving into Level 3 study, we look forward to seeing you all at your enrolment interview in early September. The date and time has been sent to you already from our Admissions team. All our staff will be back in college from Tuesday 1st September to support enrolment and we have spaced the process across more days than usual to allow for social distancing. We look forward to seeing you all and discussing your future plans.

Start of teaching – Monday 14th September

In mid-July I shared with you the plans for a blended 50/50 approach to reopening with year groups attending alternate weeks. Very little has changed in the interim in terms of government guidance. We are therefore continuing with the same arrangements, like the majority of colleges in the region. Government guidance requires us to separate year groups from one another and at Collyer’s that is around 1,000 learners – so this is the safest way to open the college in a phased way. Our hope is that we can return to full attendance after half term once the guidance relaxes.

Teaching will start from Monday 14th September as planned. Until autumn half term we will adopt a blended model, with 1A and Transition students in one week and 2A in the next. When students are not attending college lessons, they will have distance learning through Collyer’s Online – an excellent platform developed by our staff comprising Microsoft SharePoint and Teams and including video content and online interactive activities:

Arrangements for keeping students and staff safe

During the last few months, we have been focused on responding to the latest government guidance to allow for safe reopening. Details of how we have made arrangements to keep students and staff safe can be found in our FAQ and the college-wide Risk Assessment found at the top of this page.

The Estates team have done a fantastic job getting the college ready for September and you will see changes immediately when you come in such as rearranged classrooms, cleaning and hand sanitisation points, one-way systems and signage. Students can help us keep the college a safe place by:

• Maintaining social distancing in social and public areas
• Using hand sanitisation points whenever entering a new classroom or building
• As far as possible only being on site from their first to their last lesson each day
• Following staff guidance about the staggered break time split by Faculty
• Eating lunch during periods 4 or 5 if they have no lesson to avoid the main lunch hour

We had a very successful limited reopening in June for Progress and Academic Tutorials and I know that for many students that was hugely reassuring after a significant time not being on campus. I’m sure you are looking forward to being on the college campus and thank you for your support as we move in a careful and phased way back to normal again.

20th July 2020

Our college community has spent the last couple of weeks in particular responding to the recently published government guidance for colleges on reopening in September. I know everyone is looking forward to returning to some sense of normality and our staff are really keen to welcome students back into the college. I’d like to provide you with further detail on our current plans for this return. Clearly, they are dependent on possible further updates to the guidance and we will provide a greater level of detail to all students and parents in early September before teaching starts.

Our Enrolment for new students starts as planned on Tuesday 1st September and applicants will have recently received emails confirming their enrolment interview timings. Teaching for all students will start as normal on Monday 14th September. Our current plan, carefully considered, is focused on complying with the government’s guidance and keeping learners as safe as possible. The guidance states: “We strongly recommend that, as a minimum, you plan to keep your year groups or cohorts of learners separate from each other during the course of the day”. A year group at Collyer’s, like at most sixth form colleges, is around 1,000 learners. A significant majority of our learners do three different courses and many of these courses need to be delivered in specialist classrooms or with specific equipment and materials, so students need to move around the site during the day. Like most colleges therefore, we are currently planning to start the academic year with a blended approach to learning – in our case bringing our new students (1A and Transition) in for the first week on a full timetable and then our returning (2A) students in for the second week. When students are not attending at college, they will of course be receiving a full education through Collyer’s Online. Our hope is that this blended timetable will run for as few weeks as possible and that updated guidance will allow full attendance soon.