Dated: 6th January 2021 – Statement regarding recent Government announcements
Following the announcement by the Prime Minister on 4th January to initiate a third national lock down and to cancel GCSE and A-Level examinations. With effect from Tuesday 5th January until further notice we will be reverting to remote delivery across all campuses. Students are expected to attend all virtual timetabled classes and engage in regular dialogue with their subject tutors, support tutors & progress coaches, this will include all Maths and English lessons, tutorial provision and any support sessions that may have been scheduled.
Examinations
The safety and wellbeing of students and staff is of paramount importance, and with a surge in local infection rates together with the volume of students who travel from outside the immediate area to sit the examinations, we have taken the difficult decision to postpone BTEC Health & Social Care and Business and OCR IT examinations that were scheduled to take place at Buxton & Leek College during January.
Whilst we await further guidance from the government and awarding organisations we ask that all students continue to engage in their virtual timetabled sessions. We will communicate the position with students due to sit exams on-campus / online with other awarding organisations as soon as we have further information available.
Remote Learning
As a result of the cancellation / postponement of examinations it is vital that students continue to engage with remote learning and assessment as evidence produced during this lockdown period and remainder of the academic year will be used by tutors to make a judgment on a students’ performance in all subjects studied and as part of teacher assessed grading.
It is essential that students access the main systems for remote delivery and their college email but if assistance is required please contact your tutor or Progress Coach in the first instance.
If students are struggling with access to technology and have not already communicated this to their tutor or Progress Coach, please do so as soon as possible.
Study Programme Students who are classed as vulnerable or whose parents are keyworkers
Following the announcement from the Government regarding the closure of schools and colleges, Buxton & Leek College has moved to remote learning. In order to ensure all students are supported we intend to offer some limited on-campus activity. This will primarily be for students with Education, Health and Care Plans, young people who are in care/looked after or have an assigned social worker. The on-campus activity will not involve regular lessons, as these are all online, but will enable students to access IT resources and we will offer a small number of in person wellbeing sessions. The on-campus provision will take place on Tuesdays 9:30-3:30, our team will be contacting you in the coming days.
For the safety and wellbeing of our staff and learners we are only able to open the campus to learners in these categories at the moment. Due to transport restrictions students will need to make their own travel arrangements during this lock down period.
Students who are in receipt of bursary payments will continue to receive payments covering the full period of College closure.
Apprentices & employers
Apprentices who attend college for their off the job training will now be asked to engage in remote learning following their normal timetable.
Employers will have individual policies & procedures in place for this lockdown period, but if apprentices have any concerns or queries regarding these they are encouraged to speak to their Instructor or tutor immediately.
Apprentices who have End Point Assessments or functional skills examinations taking place in January will be contacted by their Instructor with further information.
During this time, we will continue to follow advice from the Department for Education and Institute for Apprenticeships, and should guidance change over coming weeks, we will continue to support apprentices and keep our employer partners updated. blc.ac.uk/employers/covid-19-employerapprentice-information/
If employers have any immediate queries, our Work Based Learning Team can be reached by emailing: feapprenticeships@blc.ac.uk
Recreational adult courses
Adult education courses will switch to remote learning with immediate effect. However practical courses which cannot be delivered remotely will be postponed until on-campus learning resumes. A member of the adult education team will be in touch with learners directly to confirm plans.
Student Wellbeing
The college will continue to provide wellbeing support for students, for more information please visit our Essential Student Support page.
Applications for study in 2021/22
Our virtual open events will continue to take place as planned. Our recruitment team will continue to work with schools, parents and prospective students to provide advice and guidance on future careers and programmes of study.
Please monitor social media and the college website for details: blc.ac.uk/our-events/
