Although advice regarding actions to be taken to limit the spread of Coronavirus is changing daily, in order to minimise the potential impact on our students’ learning, in common with many Colleges across the country, Buxton & Leek College has taken the decision to move to remote and online learning for all students, commencing Monday 23rd March.
As a result, students and apprentices should not attend College premises but should continue to study using remote and online work provided by our teaching staff. In order to minimise the impact as much as possible, the College will also commence the Easter break period one week earlier than originally planned, on Monday 30th March but we also plan to return to normal operations a little earlier, on Wednesday 15th April. This return date is clearly subject to any changes in Government guidance at the time and should there be continued disruption, further guidance will be issued by the College nearer the date.
Despite this change in delivery methods, the College is not fully closing. Our staff will seek to provide remote support in line with the current timetables and, unless they are ill themselves, should be available to support you via the College’s online communications methods (email, eTrackr, Blackboard, Microsoft Teams, telephone, Smart Assessor, etc.). Student should contact their tutors and/or Progress Coach to confirm the arrangements for their programme.
Students who are unable to access remote or online learning should liaise with their teaching staff this week in order to arrange for alternative methods such as printed and/or telephone support.
Students need to check that they know how to access their College email from offsite, so that they know how to get hold of important information. They might already follow us on social media, so they can keep up to date with what’s going on at the College.
We are working to put in place arrangements for those who receive a financial bursary, including free College meals. A member of staff from the Financial Support Fund Team will contact them to let them know the plans for this, should they be affected.Alternatively should you have any queries or concerns please contact the team on:Financialsupportfund@blc.ac.uk
The health, safety and wellbeing of our students and staff is very important and we are determined to minimise the inevitable impact this global pandemic will have on our students. Our staff are committed to providing as much support and guidance as possible, within the national guidelines provided by Public Health England. By moving to this approach, we hope to continue to support our students with the least disruption possible for as long as it takes for the College operations to return to normal.
If you are worried about what to do to keep yourself or your family as safe as possible, please refer to the latest government guidelines available online.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-guidance
If you have any specific concerns as a student, parent or carer, please contact us via our dedicated email address – phconcerns@blc.ac.uk
