Message for parents from Caireen Mitchell, CEO and Principal. Please click here for downloadable format.
Dear Parents/Guardians
During this very challenging time in which the coronavirus is affecting all of us, I want to assure you that your child/wards education remains of utmost importance to us.
In response to the government’s announcement that schools and colleges will close from Friday, our students will now move to online learning through our Moodle platform. Teachers will be teaching classes online during normal timetabled classes, and as always our teachers will work hard to support your child/ward’s education and successful attainment of their qualification.
Attached to this letter is a set of detailed instructions for on how students can access online learning. Please remember, although our students and teachers will not be in the same building, we will very much be available to support students.
We will remain open to our more ‘vulnerable’ students. These students and their parents/guardians will receive a separate letter outlining this arrangement.
As a majority of students will now be taught online, it is very important that we know who does not have access to a computer at home. If you do not have a computer that your young person can work from in your home, please can you ask then to complete the survey on their Moodle account, if they have not done so already. This is very important as it will allow us to make alternative arrangements for them.
Please note also that during this period the college will accept handwritten copies of any assessments, posted to us or submitted to the front desk, clearly addressed to the relevant tutor.
Students who usually receive bursary payments will continue to do so and the requirements for them to be in attendance at college will removed for the remainder of this term. We will top up the bursary with the monetary equivalent of four Free Meals each week for those students who are eligible and an additional £5 to support extra data usage as they work online. This will be reviewed for the summer term.
Please refer to the college website for updates and further information. There you can also find information on support groups for young people and their families.
It is with great sadness that we close out campus, but please do note that we will use our best endeavours to continue to support the education of our students. If you have any concerns, please contact your students tutor in the first instance. If the matter is unresolved, them please do feel free to contact me on Principal@croydon.ac.uk. I very much look forward to welcoming all our students back to college as soon as we are able to do so.
Wishing you all the best in these troubling times
Caireen
Caireen Mitchell
Principal and CEO
Sign off….
Guidance for learning online from 23rd March 2020.
Teaching and student support staff will be uploading resources and materials relevant to current topics onto the college Moodle pages. Guidelines are set for teaching staff to ensure they are online at the same time as the lesson would have taken place for your young person in order to continue to support their education and students should navigate to the Moodle pages where they would normally upload work or submit assignments. Assignments at present are to be submitted in the usual manner. Please encourage your young person to check their college email address as this will be used for tutors to communicate work expectations to groups. Information given below outlines the following:
- How to access email from home
- How to access Moodle from home
- Instant messenger in Moodle for communicating to teachers
- Continuing learning and submitting work with no IT access.
How to access email from home:
For all instances of the college systems, students should navigate to the college website (www.croydon.ac.uk). From here scrolling to the bottom of the page will show the student email link. Clicking on this will then prompt for the usual login details for username (student ID) and password. These will be the same as if accessing college systems internally.
How to access Moodle from home:
The first stage in this process is navigating to the college website (www.croydon.ac.uk) and then there are two links for Moodle available. There is a link at the bottom of the page as shown I the image above. Alternatively, we have also placed a link at the top of the page in the website header.
From this point the usual login details of username (student ID) and password will remain the same.
Instant messenger in Moodle for communicating to teachers
The easiest day to communicate to teachers is via the Moodle pages. Within Moodle there is an instant messenger facility. This is situated at the top right once an individual has logged into Moodle. Through this facility, students will be able to contact their tutors and should be receiving a quick response to any queries. We are asking teaching staff and support staff to be sure that they are online during their normal teaching hours. The link to the instant messenger facility is shown in the first image below. If accessing via a smart enabled device such as a tablet or smart phone, there is a drop down menu next to the name/ID on top right and within this list, the messenger facility.
Continuing learning and submitting work with no IT access
There are plans in place to open the building to students with support plans and those with no IT access to use the college facilities. Students will be able to use the college facilities and download / print resources that they can then use from home. Under these circumstances the college will accept hard copies of any assessments, submitted to the front desk. This will then be passed onto the relevant teacher for assessment in the usual manner.
