Dear Parents and Students,   Update as of 16.22 on Weds 1 April Did anyone spot any April fool’s today?  I didn’t.  Everything is so surreal at present that if someone had told me this morning that aliens had landed at Beauport I would have had to think twice before dismissing it.  I do hope you and your loved ones are well and you are making the most of this wonderful weather whenever you can.   What are we doing?   Year 11

• Getting ready for A level bridging work:  Mr Milner will be sending you information about how you can begin to prepare for your A level studies.
• After Easter you will receive a weekly entry on SMHW of approximately 2- 3 hours’ worth of suggested independent bridging work to help you prepare for their A level courses.
• Miss Lea will send an email reminder of A level Options choices.
• The work will be posted through current Year 11 classes on SMHW in case you wish to continue learning the subject for a little longer, even if you have not selected it as an option.
• There will be no expectation for you to submit work on a weekly basis but teachers will acknowledge any work that you submit during the bridging period.
• To help you get ready, Ms Hopkins will also be sending you an access code for a course which I would like you to do.  Eton College have kindly given us free access to their EtonX course entitled ‘Resilience’.  Not only do we need to be resilient now, it will help you develop your mindset for successful A level study.  I hope you enjoy it.
• EPQs: some of you have been in touch about beginning your research for an EPQ.  This is an elective in Year 12 but now may be the perfect time to start considering it.  Please do contact our EPQ Coordinator Mr Aguiar (j.aguiar@jcg.sch.je) for more information.

• Similarly to Year 11, Mr Milner will be sending you an access code to the EtonX course entitled Research Skills.  This is excellent preparation for your future studies.

• We expect to hear by the end of the week of the process we should follow for GCSE and A levels in order for the exam boards to provide a calculate grade.

• After Easter, students will study Core subjects and GCSE Options only. You will not be starting the GCSE courses but only continuing the Year 9 programme in Core subjects and your chosen options.
• Miss Lea will send an email reminder of GCSE Option choices and your new timetable.
• End of Year exams will include Core and Option subjects only.

• While our students may be working from home, I know how hard they and their teachers have been working.  They all need to take a break.
• There will be no lessons and no work will be put on SMHW to be done over Easter
• The only year group that is slightly different is Year 12 who should be completing the revision tasks as they would have normally done.  This should be a much lighter load than they have at present.

• Please remember that if your daughter is struggling with a learning concept or her motivation is simply flagging, please talk to her about contacting a study buddy.  Our students are there to help our students. (I sent you the index of study buddies on Friday.)

• CoFight19.com is a GSA supported initiative; a 19 day campaign offering advice for parents, support for students and innovative and creative activities for families.  I know there is a mountain of such things online at the moment though this looks good and could be helpful to you.

• Today, we would have had our Easter Service.  So here’s our JCGTV alternative.  Thank you to Mr Bowley, Mr Crespel, our string players and Chamber Choir for a hurriedly arranged recording which we did before we were closed and before we all had to stand 2 metres apart.  (I somehow feel nostalgic when I see the choir standing next to each other.) Thank you also to Bethany for her prayers.  I hope you and your family might find a moment of peace and enjoy watching this.

• We have donated all our goggles and latex gloves to the health workers
• Our 3D printers are now in the homes of Mr Coxshall and Mr Jones and are working 24 hours a day to make essential face visors (the machines, that is, not the teachers!).  We already have GPs asking for these.
• One of our parents in Shanghai has kindly donated a shipment of 1000 face masks which we will give to our Health workers once they arrive.
• Remember the best thing our students can do is to stay at home with their family.

In amidst all the extra shopping we seem to have been doing, I hope you have remembered Easter Eggs. Chocolate goes a long way to making a strange day somehow manageable!   Take care. Yours, Carl Howarth Principal