Following the latest Government announcement on 22nd February 2021, face-to-face delivery will be recommencing at Reaseheath College and University Centre Reaseheath from Monday 8th March, replicating the arrangements in place for the autumn term.

Yes, any students studying at one of our outreach centres, including Croft End and Burrows Lane, will follow the same guidance.

Our transport fleet will be running as normal from Monday 8th March and once again face coverings will be required to travel.

If you haven’t done so already, you will need to purchase your term 2 bus pass now, which you can do on the transport web page under the ‘Pay for College Transport’ section. You will only be charged from 8th March to the end of term for this.

Please remember: do not travel to campus if you have any symptoms of COVID-19. Instead you should inform your tutor that you are unwell, stay at home, arrange for a test and self-isolate for the required length of time or until you receive a negative result

Residential students will be returning from Thursday 4th March on a phased basis and will be tested on return.

All residential students should have already received a message from Student Services via Microsoft Teams with information on their return slot.

We have also now recalculated accommodation fees and we are currently in the process of contacting students to discuss payment plans and any refunds that may be due.

In line with the latest guidance, students will be required to wear face coverings when indoors at all times, including classrooms and college transport, until at least May half-term, at which point we will review our COVID-19 policies and procedures again.

More information on wearing face coverings can be found below.

Classrooms, Corridors and Communal Areas

Wearing of face coverings in all classrooms, corridors and communal areas will remain compulsory (unless exempt). Face coverings must also be worn where close contact is required for outdoor activities. This rule does not apply in certain practical sessions.

Catering

Arrangements at each of our catering outlets will remain the same. You must wear a face covering and we will continue to offer a grab and go service only.

Student Social Areas

The Student Bar will be reopening from Monday 17th May. All students will be asked to register via the Track and Trace app on entry and it will be table service only. The rule of 6 also applies. You will be required to wear a face covering when not at the table and/or not eating.

Transport

Students travelling on college transport will be required to wear a face covering at all times whilst on the college buses and minibuses.

Leaving the campus

The rule of 6 will no longer apply from Monday 17th May. Please remember to be respectful to our neighbours and local community when off-site.

We no longer accept cash payments on campus. Our new finance system, iPay, will be in place when you return to site.

If you are having trouble logging in to your iPay account, please try resetting your password. If you find this still doesn’t work, please contact IT for further support.

For a step-by-step guide on how to top-up your iPay account, please read the iPay student top-up guide.

We are pleased to announce that work placements can recommence from Monday 8th March 2021, so long as employers can safely accept learners and we have received the relevant health and safety information concerning your placement.

Please inform your tutor/work placement coordinator when your placement is likely to resume. If you are yet to start your work placement, please speak to your tutor/work placement coordinator to ensure the appropriate paperwork and checks are in place.

The college has a duty of care to all of its students and your safety and wellbeing is our absolute priority, so it is very important these checks are conducted before you recommence/start your work placement.

Any questions or concerns please contact Careers and Work Placement Manager, Kenny Nolan at kenny.nolan@reaseheath.ac.uk

You can use your Xbox or PlayStation to access Microsoft Teams, so even if you don’t have a laptop, you can still access your learning at home during lockdown. Here’s how:

For PlayStation:

• Head to your console’s library and choose the option for games and applications
• Select applications and fire up the PS4 web browser
• Type Microsoft Teams in the browser and then log in to your account via your username and password
• This will give you access to all content online, including live sessions
• Don’t forget your headset if you need to interact!

For Xbox:

1. Go in to my games and apps
2. Find Microsoft Edge and select it
3. Type in ‘Microsoft Teams’ and log in as you would at college
4. You can then access your work through one drive and use key packages including Word,

PowerPoint and Excel Online

5. To move around, use the Xbox controller or plug in a mouse
6. Remember to plug in a headset if you need to interact!

It works best if you can use a USB mouse and keyboard, which should just plug-in to your console.

Our Covid-19 test centre is based in the Lord Woolley Centre. Initially students will be offered rapid flux tests at our on-site test centre before moving to home testing kits.

Your Course Tutors will bring you down to the test centre in your class bubble. It’s natural to feel apprehensive about the testing process. To help you feel more at ease we have created a couple of short videos.

Here our Vice Principal of Curriculum and Quality, Matt Gower walks you through the testing process:

Our students have also created a short video where they take you through the testing process:

All students and staff will need to complete a testing consent form. This only needs to be done once and will cover you for all subsequent tests.

This form is electronic and to help speed up the testing process we strongly advise you to complete this form before arriving at the test centre.

To complete the form you will need to be signed in to your Reaseheath account.

Your Course Tutor will be checking that you have completed this process before you head to the test centre and supporting you with this process if needed.

You can register at any time using this link.

To help speed up the testing process, your Course Tutor will issue you with an NHS registration forms which they will support you with completing before accessing the testing centre.

From Thursday 4th March we will start to bring residential students back onto campus.

When you return, we expect you to have a mandatory test in our lateral flow test Centre before entering your hall of residence. All previous Covid measures are still in place. Following a negative test result from the testing Centre, we can assume that students entering the halls are entering as safely as possible. Due to this please be aware, that guests will not be able to enter your hall of residence when you return.

Your move in slot will be provided on your hall of residence Microsoft Teams channels. It is important you keep to your slot so the move in and test Centre can be safely managed. If your specified time is not suitable for you, you need to contact accommodation@reaseheath.ac.uk as soon as possible. Any students turning up outside of allocated slots will be refused entry to halls.

Yes, any students studying at one of our outreach centres, including Croft End and Burrows Lane, will be tested regularly.

Block release apprentices will be tested on arrival when moving in to halls of residence and then on a regular basis.

Day release apprentices will be tested when attending college for their off-the-job training.

Apprentices may also be required to undertake testing as part of their job.

GCSE exams will not be undertaken this academic year with alternative assessment methods introduced.

Your curriculum tutors will, when available, provide you with specific details of assessment adaptations and assessments that they may use to help them decide which grade(s) to award.

The tutors already have a good understanding of the progress you are making and your current performance and will assess you further in the forthcoming months.  This is likely to involve normal assignments, internal assessments and mock type exams.

It is essential that you continue to engage, as you have done all year, with your studies and complete all work set by your tutors.  Your commitment and engagement will have an impact on the grades that your tutors can award.

The following image outlines how GCSE’s will be awarded for summer 2021:

HE assessments are still going ahead and have not been cancelled. Any amendments to any assessments would be communicated to you in advance. If you have any queries, please contact the UCR team.

You may be aware that Ofqual and qualification awarding bodies have now published the outcome of the recent qualification adaptations consultation for 2020-21. Each qualification type will have specific adaptations that will be set out by the relevant awarding organisation (e.g. Pearson or City and Guilds). There is a commitment that, for the vast majority of qualifications, formal exams will not be required.

Your curriculum tutors will, when available, provide you with specific details of assessment adaptations and assessments that they may use to help them decide which grade(s) to award. The tutors already have a good understanding of the progress you are making and your current performance and will assess you further in the forthcoming months. This is likely to involve normal assignments, internal assessments and mock type exams. For some qualifications, the standard assessments will continue without any ‘adaptations’.

It is essential that you continue to engage, as you have done all year, with your studies and complete all work set by your tutors. Your commitment and engagement will have an impact on the grades that your tutors can award.

The following image outlines how Vocational and Technical Qualifications will be awarded for 2021.

Course tutors will be contacting students directly about their timetable and what days you need to be in college.

From the 8th March onwards, we will be able to work with students to catch up on practical skills and professional competencies in the spring term and summer terms.

Apprenticeship off site End Point Assessments will still take place where possible. Your Skills Coach will be in contact with you to discuss this in more detail.

The Government has confirmed that no external examinations will take place this summer. Instead, teachers will assess the standard at which students are performing at based on a portfolio of evidence and this portfolio of evidence will form a TAG (teacher assessed grade).

The grades awarded to students must reflect their knowledge, skills and understanding, and schools/colleges can use a range of evidence to inform their judgements

The grades cannot be a prediction based on what students would have achieved under different circumstances or be a measure of a student’s potential.

At Reaseheath we are confident that we have implemented a robust TAG process with rigorous quality assurance systems in place which puts us in a firm position to assign fair and accurate grades for our students.

JCQ guidance says that evidence that will inform judgements may include:

• mock exam results
• coursework
• student work and assessments which have been produced over the duration of the course in response to assessment materials
• substantial class or homework (including those that took place during remote learning)
• assessments that students will complete in the remainder of this academic year.

Following the cancellation of exams by Ofqual, we made a strategic decision to move away from the formal mock exam scenario, to avoid additional, potentially stressful, exam style situations for our students. Instead, students have been completing regular in-class assessments to provide our staff with more evidence of the standard, at which, they are performing during this term. These in-class assessments are carried in controlled conditions and avoid the added pressure that a formal mock exam could bring. The staff will work with the Programme Leaders of both subjects to robustly assess and consider, all the evidence available, to ensure that grades awarded are fair and accurate.

Both teams are placing increased weighting on assessments completed during this rolling programme of assessment, however consideration will be given to all previously collected data. In the event of a situation where, because of circumstances this year, a student does not perform well in final milestones, then we will analyse earlier assessments and make a ‘holistic’ judgement about the student’s grade. Assessments used have been adapted so that they only cover what has been taught in the year and for GCSE maths, a list of topics has been shared with the students.

The grade will be based on evidence we have in the student’s portfolio. However, each student’s portfolio can be tailored to address any anomalies. We have put significant effort into ensuring that students entitled to access arrangements have had these put in place for the recent in-class assessments. If, however, this has not been the case, then this has been recorded and necessary adjustments, according to JCQ regulations will be made. Our rolling programme of assessment finishes at half term after which further opportunities will be provided for those who require them.

Decisions about grades will not be decided by one teacher alone. There will be a thorough quality assurance process in place to ensure there is fairness and consistency in the way grades are awarded for students.

Grades will be reviewed and adjusted, if necessary, at each part of this process. The process includes:

A group of teachers within each subject area studying all the evidence to decide upon the grade which a student is performing at

• The Programme Leader of each subject will review the proposed grade for each student,
• The Curriculum Area Manager of M&E will review the proposed grades of each department
• The exam officer will check the final grades entered for students as they are submitted to the exam board.

Teachers cannot discuss final grades with students this year, or predict outcomes, but are able to discuss the marking of individual elements of the portfolio and will always disclose which assessed pieces will form the portfolio. All discussions of marks and grading are provisional until exam board moderation has taken place, and the results are released on 12th August.

12th August 2021 for GCSE and 10th August for Level 3 Maths.

Further information about the awarding of summer grades and the appeal process can be found in the following document:  JCQ-Guidance-for-Students-and-Parents-on-Summer-2021.pdf 

Functional skills exams have not been cancelled and most students have now had their first sitting which has been a good exam experience for them.

Once results are in, they will be shared with the students. If the students have not passed, there will be several further opportunities for them to re-sit up until the end of term. In lesson time the teachers will work with each student on their areas of weaknesses to best prepare them for the forthcoming exams.

We recognise that many students will be feeling uncertain and anxious at this time. At Reaseheath positive mental health and wellbeing is important to us. Our sector-leading praised student health and wellbeing service will be on hand to support you throughout your time at Reaseheath. There is a range of wellbeing support, advice and guidance available on the BeWell Sharepoint page. Alternatively you can contact the team directly by emailing wellbeingteam@reaseheath.ac.uk

Students whose access to IT equipment, such as laptops, computers or tablets is limited at home, are offered various means of support and access to equipment in order to remove these barriers. If it is felt this is the case the student or parent/carer can flag this with the student’s Course Manager or our Learning Support Centre at LSC@reaseheath.ac.uk.

The government’s 16 to 19 Bursary Fund provides financial support to help students overcome specific financial barriers to participation so that they can remain in education, further information on how we are using this fund at Reaseheath is available here.

If you have any books that you borrowed before Christmas we have renewed them to April 23rd. You can return them at your convenience to the trolley outside the library.

From March 8th we will be open again for Click & Collect and for limited study spaces, Monday to Friday 9 – 5.

For further information see the Library Sharepoint pages or email us library@reaseheath.ac.uk – this address is monitored Monday – Friday 9-5 during term time and regularly in vacations. We can provide 1:1 support on teams by appointments made via email.

We subscribe to a wide variety of e-journal databases, look for the link to Find it @ the Library on the website. A demonstration video is available.

You will be required to login via your institution/Open Athens to gain full text access, again more info on the webpages.

We no longer use Shibboleth for authentication.

Please send an email to fe-enquiries@reaseheath.ac.uk with your name, student reference number and your new email address.

Unfortunately due to uncertainty over the Covid pandemic, we have cancelled the 2021 Family Festival.

Although we are very disappointed at having to cancel the event, the health and safety of visitors, students and staff remains paramount. The plans we have put in place will be rolled over into 2022, when we will be inviting families to join us in a fabulous celebration of Reaseheath’s 100th birthday.

In line with Government guidance, Reaseheath Mini Zoo is closed to the public, until further notice. We understand that this will leave lots of our customers very disappointed but we hope to be able to welcome you back soon.

In the meantime our keepers will be providing you with regular updates on our Facebook page and you can still access our meet the animal videos and free activity packs to help you experience the zoo from the comfort of your own home.

For those of you with experience vouchers, we will still honour them when we are able to restart again. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us on zoo@reaseheath.ac.uk