Ashton Sixth Form College: Coronavirus planning update

Wednesday 18th March 2020

 

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Current Ashton Sixth Form College students

Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education announced today the closure of all schools and colleges from the end of the day on Friday 20th March 2020 until further notice as part of the Government’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

All examinations, at both A level and GCSE have been cancelled. We have not received any information on the awarding of BTEC qualifications nor EPQ at the time of writing. The Department for Education had guaranteed that they will work with schools and colleges and Ofqual to ensure that students get the qualifications they need. Arrangements for university entry are unclear at the present time. We will be in touch as soon as we have any further information about qualifications, certification or university admission arrangements.

Staff will be working hard tomorrow (Thursday 19th March) to prepare materials for students to use during the period of closure. They are preparing work packs and adding resources to Canvas, our Virtual Learning Environment. Students should attend college on Friday to pick up work packs and receive instruction about how best to use the resources prepared for them.

Thank you for your support and co-operation at this difficult and unprecedented time. We are all doing our best to provide some continuity for our students over the next few months.

Stay safe.

Anton McGrath

Principal

 

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Prospective students

We understand that this will be a worrying and uncertain time for you after the government announcement yesterday that schools and colleges are to close and GCSE exams would be cancelled in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Department for Education have guaranteed that they will work with schools and colleges and Ofqual to ensure that students get the qualifications they need.

Whilst the finer detail of what this means for students in Year 11 are still to be decided, we would like to reassure you that we will be working closely with the Department for Education, Ofqual and head teachers in schools over the forthcoming weeks to ensure that there is a plan in place to support the transition of students from school to college.

As it is still uncertain for how long school and college closures are in place for, it is with regret that we will be cancelling the forthcoming events for prospective students:

• Imagine Your Future Careers Fair on Monday 23^rd March
• New Student Induction Day on Monday 29^th June
• XL Brave New World Event on Wednesday 1^st July

Although closures are in place from Monday, we will continue to be available and responsive to any admissions enquiries you may have by email admissions@asfc.ac.uk. 

We are unsure at this time if enrolment will go ahead as planned at the end of August but I can assure you that we will update you at the earliest opportunity of developments and decisions via email. If you would prefer us to stay in touch with you using an alternative email address then please email admissions so that we can update our records.

It is important that we work together during this difficult period and we thank you for your support and co-operation at this unprecedented time.

Yours sincerely,

Anton McGrath
Principal