Parents/ Guardians Support

The government has requested that all colleges begin to offer testing to students and staff before we reopen. By doing so, we can help reduce the spread in college and help students to safely return to campus. Testing is not mandatory but students and colleagues across the college are encouraged to take part to help create a safer campus for everybody.

Before returning to campus, all students will be invited to take three Covid-19 tests, which must be spaced 3-5 days apart. For the first test, students will be asked to attend college only for that test and then return home. If this test is negative, students can then return to campus when lessons begin. The remaining tests will be completed during normal college days. After the initial three tests have been completed on campus, students will be able to test themselves twice each week in the comfort of their own home.

Teachers and other staff members will also have the opportunity to be tested twice each week.

Testing all of our community in this way will make it easier to identify those who are carrying the virus without any symptoms, as well as those close contacts, so we can support people to self-isolate and stop the spread across our campus. Any student or staff member who comes into contact with a positive case will be asked to self-isolate in line with NHS guidance.

Students will receive more information about testing directly, including a consent form to complete. Some further information and FAQs are available here.

Keeping You Updated - We will provide frequent updates as further information is made clear by Ofqual and the DfE. Latest update 26 February 2021

Yesterday, the outcome of the consultation on how qualifications will be awarded this summer was released. The consultation covered general (e.g. GCSEs) as well as vocational and technical qualifications.

We are now working to fully understand the decisions and what this means for our students, ensuring a clear and robust approach for all. We will be communicating further information as soon as possible.

Keeping on Track with Learning

Although we are still working through the detail released yesterday on how qualifications will be assessed and grades awarded, the consultation outcome was very clear on the following:

• Students will be assessed on what they have been taught and to grade the standard at which they are performing at. This is very different to summer 2020 assessment grades which required teachers to predict a student’s potential on work they were not able to attempt due to lockdown.

So, the following messages are extremely important and it is very clear that students, in order to give themselves the best opportunities on completion of their programmes must:

1) Fully engage with their education for the remainder of the academic year. This includes all face-to-face and online teaching and learning, ‘live’ sessions, remote tasks.

2) Be taught for as long as possible, to cover as much of the curriculum as possible on all elements of programmes, including:

• Vocational programmes
• English and Maths
• Tutorial
• Work experience (this may look different at this time)

3) Be assessed ongoing, with final assessment of progress being as late in the academic year as practicable.

Keeping in Touch

All of our students have regular contact with their Personal Tutors and can direct their questions to them. Students can look out for our frequent Keeping In Touch surveys to let us know how you’re doing, feeling and how we can support you.

If you have a query, please contact your child's Personal Tutor in the first instance. Your child will have their direct contact details. If you have a question that is not directly related to your child's learning, please contact enquiries@ncl-coll.ac.uk so that your query can be directed to the most relevant person.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement regarding the reopening of schools and colleges, Newcastle College will begin welcoming students back to campus from Monday 8 March.

We have been busy making changes to our campus and to our teaching and learning to ensure that we can keep all of our community safe. 

While we will reopen for all of our students, student timetables will continue to be a blend of on-campus lessons and online teaching over the next term. This will reduce the numbers of students on campus at any one time but means you can still benefit from time with tutors, classmates and fantastic facilities, while staying as safe as possible.

We are continuing to follow all of the available guidance and we have extensive safety measures in place on campus, including:

• All students and colleagues will be required to wear a face covering in ALL indoor settings, including lessons, unless medically exempt
• All lessons will be subject to social distancing wherever possible
• One-way only systems will remain wherever possible and lifts restricted to one person use
• All students and colleagues will be invited to take part in our testing programme to prevent asymptomatic spread of Covid-19
• Students and colleagues MUST NOT attend campus if they are displaying symptoms, or live with anyone displaying symptoms of Covid-19.

Check out the video below which shows you all of the changes we've made to campus.

The health and wellbeing of our students, our colleagues and all of their loved ones is our first priority and Newcastle College is here to support you.

We understand that some students may be at additional risk or feel anxious about returning to college, particularly if they have an underlying health condition, are part of the BAME community or live with someone who is vulnerable.

Please be reassured that we have taken all possible and suitable precautions to ensure that our campus is a safe place to study. This includes increasing our cleaning schedules, limiting the time all of our students spend here, enabling social distancing in classrooms and introducing the use of face coverings in all communal areas. It means that when students are on campus they will not be around large crowds and will be in a safe and clean environment.

If a student, or someone that they live with, is classed as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable, they do not need to return to campus. 

If you have any concerns about your child's attendance at college please speak to their tutor, who will be able to ensure we put the right support in place.

If a student, or someone in their household or support bubble experiences symptoms, students SHOULD NOT ATTEND campus. The main symptoms include a fever, a new and continuous cough, or a loss of taste and smell.

If a student develop symptoms

If students develop one or more of the main symptoms of Covid-19, they should self-isolate for 10 days before returning to campus and get tested wherever possible. They should not return to campus until they receive a negative test result or their isolation period has finished.

If they are already at college when they develop symptoms, they will be asked to go to an isolated room before going home to isolate and book a test.

Students or their parents should inform the college of test results as soon as you receive them.

If someone in a student household develops symptoms

If someone within a student's household or support bubble develops symptoms, students should self-isolate for 10 days from the onset of their symptoms or wait for them to receive a negative test result before returning to campus.

Students and their household members should stay at home for the time recommended by the NHS and book a test here.

If you or a student tests positive for Covid-19

If a student or a member of their household is awaiting a test result, they SHOULD NOT ATTEND CAMPUS. 

You should inform the college of a positive result as soon as it is received so that we can take the necessary action.

Steps that Newcastle College will take

When we receive news of a confirmed case from a student or a staff member, we follow the steps below. This explains why students and parents won't always be contacted directly regarding confirmed cases on campus.

Step 1

The first thing we do is contact the local Health Protection Team (that’s a local arm of the government’s Public Health department who help to manage our health and safety on a regional level).

They will ask us and the affected persons lots of questions about when they were last on campus, which areas they've been to and who they've been in contact with.

Step 2

From this information, they'll decide who will need to self-isolate or undertake testing. If a student is affected by this, for example because they're in the same class or share a floor on a building, we will contact that student directly.

In some cases, a student will be asked to self-isolate and at other times they may not be asked to self-isolate but their learning will be moved online temporarily, following their usual timetable.

If a student and their parent/guardian are not contacted directly, it is because it is extremely unlikely that they have been in any contact with the affected persons and therefore are not at any risk. Therefore, they should continue to follow their timetable as normal unless they are advised otherwise.

For those who are asked to self-isolate or remain at home, it is important to remember that the risk remains extremely low, thanks to the measures we have in place on campus which reduce contact with others.

Step 3

We will always undertake a deep cleaning of the affected areas when guided to do so, using specialist equipment and products designed to eradicate Covid-19. This means students may see teams of people in full PPE around campus from time to time and this is nothing to be concerned about.

While deep cleaning will usually only affect certain classrooms and facilities, we will update our website and social media (Facebook and Twitter) when this may impact on learning (for example if a building will be closed for a day).

However, it is not possible for us to contact all students individually. As you will understand, our priority is contacting students directly affected, following the advice of the local Health Protection Team and ensuring the learning of unaffected students continues uninterrupted. We will keep you updated via social media (Facebook and Twitter).

If you have symptoms

If a member of a student's household has symptoms or is awaiting a test result, it is important that the student DOES NOT ATTEND CAMPUS.

Students and the rest of your household or support bubble should self-isolate for 10 days from the onset of your symptoms, or wait for the symptomatic person to receive a negative test result before returning to campus.

If you test positive

You should inform the college of a positive result as soon as it is received so that we can take the necessary action.

Students and the rest of your household or support bubble should continue to self-isolate for 10 days from the onset of your symptoms, or from your test result if you did not experience any symptoms.

Students do not need to take a test unless they develop symptoms during the 10 day isolation period.

This year has been difficult for everyone and we understand that our students may have concerns and anxieties about attending college.

We believe that it is important for our students to be able to safely spend time on campus with their tutors and classmates, benefiting from learning in our specialist facilities. It is also the government's decision that colleges should remain open throughout the lockdown period and we must follow this guidance.

However, to keep everybody safe we have adapted our teaching and learning to reduce the time spent on campus and there will be changes to the way students interact while they're here.

Safety on Campus
If your child has concerns about their safety on campus, please be reassured that we have taken every possible precaution to make college a safe place to learn. We have already directed our students to all of our safety information but it may be helpful as their parent or guardian for you to go through this with them to ease their anxieties and concerns. This may be particularly helpful for those students who have joined us this year after a prolonged period out of education. If students need any support due to health concerns or mental health support, please advise them to speak to their tutor who will be able to signpost them to the relevant Student Support team within the college.

Mental Health Support
Our Pastoral Team are always on hand for students to speak to if they have any concerns or feel they would benefit from additional support. You contact them on CSS@ncl-coll.ac.uk.

We have also partnered with mental fitness app Fika, to offer support to students as they spend more time at home and deal with the impacts of Covid-19 on their daily lives.
We encourage all of our students to download the app from the App Store or Google Play and register with their college email address. The app offers daily exercises and activities to help them look after their mental health. 

Your support is more important than ever. Please encourage students not to put too much pressure on themselves and that looking after their health and wellbeing is a priority at this time. We are doing everything we can to ensure that students are supported to complete their studies successfully and won’t be at a disadvantage. Please point students to our Remote Learning hub where we will continue to add resources. If you have any concerns you can also contact tutors directly to discuss these.

Attendance at college is extremely important for the progress and achievement of students. We have always asked students and their parents and guardians to refrain from booking holidays during term times. Term time holidays will be reported as unauthorised absences. You can find out term dates on our website here.

You are welcome to book holidays for students during designated holidays (in line with local and national travel restrictions). However, please bear in mind that we would expect all students to attend their campus and remote lessons once term time begins and therefore we would ask that you make every attempt not to book holidays to countries which will require a quarantine period on your return. We do however, understand that government guidance and quarantine information is changing on a regular basis.

The government has requested that all colleges begin to offer testing to students and staff before we reopen. By doing so, we can help reduce the spread in college and help students to safely return to campus.

Testing is not mandatory but students and colleagues across the college are encouraged to take part to help create a safer campus for everybody.