Choosing a secondary school that your child will be happy and thrive in is a big decision.  This is a major milestone in your child's life and the decision is an important one. We regret not being able to welcome you through our doors, so we want to help make this decision as easy as possible for you and your child by providing you with a series of Open Evening activities that will take you inside The Piggott School. 

Wednesday 30th September 

On Wednesday 30th September, we encourage you to explore our Open Evening videos with your child. They will provide you with the opportunity to virtually tour our school, hear from our staff and pupils and get a sense of the culture and community that exists at The Piggott School.

Wednesday 7th October & Thursday 8th October @ 3:30pm join our LIVE WEBINAR

On these two dates, parents and pupils are invited to join a LIVE Webinar that will offer a chance to ask some questions and interact with some members of the school community. This webinar will be a closed forum so if you would like to join one of the sessions, we invite you to register your interest below.

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Here is the latest guidance for schools from Public Health England (PHE) regarding testing and shielding.

Dear Student,

The autumn exams are an opportunity for students who either were unable to receive a calculated grade in the summer, or who want to try to improve their grade, to sit their exams. If you wish to be entered in the autumn then please be aware that the deadlines are very tight.

Deadlines for entry

AS & A levels

3 September 2020

GCSEs except English language and maths

7 September 2020

GCSEs in English language and maths

2 October 2020

Exam dates

AS & A levels

5 October to 23 October 2020

GCSEs

2 November to 23 November 2020

Please also note that if you have submitted an appeal, this will not be concluded before the autumn deadlines and to avoid disappointment, you should consider making an entry straight away.   Entry Form can be found here

Re-opening the Wargrave site for all learners from September 2020

Context

• Schools have been directed to fully reopen in September for all students.
• Rotas and part time arrangements for students are not allowed.
• The Secretary of State has said ‘Education is not optional’.
• The school will be responding to the guidance provided by the Department for Education and Public Health England.
• Adhering to a ‘system of controls’ and building upon the ‘hierarchy of protective measures’ that have been in use throughout the coronavirus outbreak – DfE guidance.
• The essential ‘system of controls’ provides a set of principles that will effectively minimise risk.

Protective measures from the DfE guidance – ‘System of controls’ to be implemented by the school

• Minimise contact with individuals who are displaying symptoms by ensuring that people who are ill stay at home.
• Clean hands thoroughly more often than usual.
• Ensure good respiratory hygiene – ‘Catch it, Bin it. Kill it’. The use of tissues and lidded bins.
• Enhanced cleaning arrangements including cleaning frequently touched surfaces often using standard products such as detergents and bleach.
• Minimise contact between individuals and maintain social distancing wherever possible.
• Where necessary, wear appropriate PPE.
• Active engagement with the NHS Test and Trace
• Manage confirmed cases of coronavirus amongst the school community.
• Contain any outbreak by following local health protection team advice.
• Formal consideration of how to reduce contacts and maximise distancing between those in school wherever possible and minimise potential for contamination so far as is reasonably practicable.

How contacts are reduced will depend on the school’s circumstances and will include:

• Grouping children together – super bubbles
• Avoiding contact between groups
• Arranging classrooms with forward facing desks where possible
• Staff maintaining distance from students and other staff as much as possible.

In preparation for re-opening the school site to all of the school community, staff and students are required to understand and adhere to the code of conduct outlined below.

The School day:

• Only students and staff who are in good health are permitted to enter the school site – do not come to school if you have coronavirus symptoms.
• The school is not planning to provide any COVID-19 testing, at this time.
• The timings of the school day have been revised in order to minimise movement across the site.
• Students will have tutor time and three lessons across a single day.
• All timetabled lessons will take place over a broader period of time (four week cycle)
• Total learning time across the curriculum remains the same.
• Timetables will show on SIMS and a structured four week plan will dictate the timings/dates of lessons.
• Signage will be displayed to support staff and students in understanding the structure of the school day, indicating which week and lesson pattern to follow.
• Staggered arrival times, break times, lunch times and departure times will be issued to each year group in order to minimise group movement.
• Signage will dictate one way systems and movement around the school buildings.
• The curriculum remains broad and ambitious with no subjects removed.

Equipment and Facilities:

• Equipment – students must bring their own equipment for learning. Equipment should not be shared with other students.
• Uniform – Apart from the school tie, students should wear full school uniform. Uniform should be washed often in order to meet hygiene requirements.
• PE kit – If a student has a timetabled PE lesson, they should attend school in PE kit for the full day.
• Fresh clothing may be brought into school for after the lesson but this measure aims to reduce movement and time within the PE changing rooms.
• The school canteen will be providing food during the school day. Safety measures will be introduced to minimise contact in this facility. Students must adhere to social distancing.
• All toilet facilities will be available to students. The facilities will be checked regularly to ensure access and availability to hygiene materials.
• Extra wash basins are being installed externally around the site to promote handwashing.

Travelling between home and school :

• All students are encouraged to travel by foot or by bicycle wherever possible.
• If travelling by car, students should be dropped off at the turning circle in the car park or along the initial part of the driveway.
• Please ensure that speed limits are adhered to and all drivers should be vigilant in terms of safety.
• Students who are travelling by public transport should wear masks and should actively distance from other transport users.
• Children and staff who choose to wear a mask on the way to school must not touch the front of their face covering during use or when removing it. They must wash their hands immediately on arrival and dispose of temporary face coverings in a covered bin, or place reusable face coverings in a plastic bag they can take home with them, and then wash their hands again before heading to their form room. Guidance on safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care provides more advice.

Arrival:

• Upon arrival on site, students should wash their hands thoroughly.
• Students should aim to arrive close to their arrival time and move immediately to their tutor base after washing their hands.
• Classrooms will have a modified layout, where possible, so that desks are facing the front of the class. The teacher will lead the lesson from the front.
• Upon entering the classroom, all instructions given by staff must be followed. This will ensure the safety of all.

Tutor time:

• Tutor time will take place at the start of the day.
• Tutor time is a crucial part of the pastoral care within the school and we believe that it is vital in securing the well-being of all our school community.
• We are not permitted to have assemblies. We will come together as a year group and school through Collective Worship and assemblies via MS Teams streamed into tutor bases.
• Please see guidance below regarding Learning in the classroom.
• Movement between lessons:
• External doors to classrooms will be used where possible, accessing outside space as quickly as possible.
• Students will move directly to the location of the next lesson following one-way systems. This will be supervised as necessary and students will need to take responsibility for social distancing.
• Students will be received by staff and where applicable, will line up outside of the classroom to support staff in controlling safety and distancing as they enter.

Break time and Lunch time:

• All social times will be staggered across the school day.
• Year groups will be treated as ‘super bubbles’ and they will distance from other year groups whilst outside of the classroom.
• Arrival times are staggered.
• Break will take place during Lesson 1
• Lunch will take place during Lesson 2
• Staff will be promoting social distancing. If risky or dangerous behaviour is observed, students will be challenged. There will be consequences and sanctions in place for unsafe behaviour. Safety for all of our students and staff is paramount

Departure:

• Departure times at the end of the school day are staggered.
• Students are encouraged to leave the site promptly to minimise gatherings.
• Staff supervision will take place at the end of the school day.

Learning in the classroom:

• Teaching staff are accountable for the safety in their teaching venue.
• Teaching staff will modify their teaching style to adhere to social distancing.
• Deployment of Teaching Assistants will be planned to ensure the safety of all staff and learners.
• Staff and students are encouraged to wash their hands more often than usual and use santiser.
• Staff and students will actively promote and follow the ‘Catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach.
• Students should not borrow or share equipment or resources with other students.
• Weather permitting, doors and windows should remain open in order to support respiratory hygiene and air flow. Air conditioning should not be used.
• Staff and students are permitted to wear masks and/or gloves if they choose to.
• Cleaning material will be available in all learning spaces and frequently touched surfaces will be cleaned at regular intervals throughout the school day. Pupils will need to assist in the cleaning of desks and other surfaces.
• Whole school cleaning will be robust and thorough.

Changes to learning styles:

• Classroom layouts will be modified – all desks will face the front.
• The exception of this will be in specialist rooms, e.g. computer rooms and some science labs, where equipment will define the layout.
• Seating plans will be in place and students should remain seated at all times.
• The teacher will remain at the front of the class and maintain distancing. They will not be able to circulate around the class as per normal teaching conduct.
• Group work is not permitted. Staff will plan for alternative learning activities.
• Resources such as worksheets, textbooks or learning materials cannot be shared.
• Staff will be maximising the use of technology to support learning and progress in the classroom.
• In order to minimise risk, staff will not be able to collate work to physically mark it. Staff will consider other means of assessment to measure understanding and progress.
• The use of teacher led peer and self-assessment, verbal and whole class feedback and electronic assessment will facilitate effective dialogues for learning and progress.
• The use of our online resources, especially those with feedback mechanisms, will continue to be used to support the learning and progress of learners.
• Staff will plan carefully to consider students with additional needs. Where necessary, additional intervention will be provided to support the management and understanding of change and new processes.

Behaviour and conduct on site:

• Normal behaviour policy and procedures apply and are supplemented by COVID specific requirements.
• An addendum to the Safeguarding and Behaviour policy is available on the school website.
• Health and safety for all of our school community is paramount.
• Students are expected to follow instructions promptly and comply with expectations.
• There will be consequences and sanctions in place for unsafe behaviour.

A Level & Level 3 Vocational Results

I am pleased to announce another outstanding set of A Level and Level 3 Vocational results for The Piggott School in each of our Academic, Applied General and Technical courses. Staff and students have all worked exceptionally hard and this is reflected in the grades awarded.

A level results at The Piggott School continue to show year on year improvement, from an already very high baseline. Our A level pass rate was 99.7% with grades at A* & A again at our highest ever at over 33%. 66% of our results were graded at A*-B and 88% graded A*-C. The average point score per A level entry was 39 points using the QCA system.

Our Vocational Level 3 pass rate for Applied General qualifications was 100%, with Distinction star to Merit being 97%. For Technical subject entry, every student passed the course with at least a Merit grade, 86% at Distinction or Distinction star.

This once again shows our outstanding sixth form as a centre of excellence for Academic, Applied General and Technical learning.

I wish all our students the very best for their future and thank all the teaching and support staff for their continued dedication and professionalism.

D J Gray
Headteacher

Please click the link below for our latest guide to on-site learning at The Piggott School for the coming school year.

During lockdown, many staff and students came together by submitting recordings of themselves singing and playing a piece called Singing Together Apart, written by Boff Whalley.