A message to students and parents…
We understand many of you will be following Government announcements and are awaiting clarity on what this means for you and your family around teaching and learning at Darlington College.
We are currently developing plans and procedures and making important decisions to ensure we do everything possible to keep our students and staff safe upon their return to College. Due to the stringent measures we need to put in place, it won’t be possible to open fully to all students in June. Instead, we will speak to individual students and parents where there is an opportunity to complete practical assessments or more generally to help students to feel comfortable and prepared for next steps. These students will be notified personally. If you are not contacted, you are not required to attend. If you wish to attend a session on site, however, please raise this with your progression coach and we will support you to do so.
In relation to completion of practical assessments, further guidance is being sought from the awarding organisations and we will contact those students who need to attend College to complete an assessment as soon as expectations are clarified. You will be given the opportunity to speak to the tutors and raise any concerns when they contact you with specific details of when to attend and what you will need to do.
It is imperative that any student who is asked to attend College, follows all social distancing guidelines whilst in the building, to do their part in keeping everyone safe. Students will be issued with clear guidance upon arrival to help with this. We would also ask, if you have any symptoms including a new persistent cough, no taste or smell, or develop a fever, you do not attend until it is recommended to do so following guidelines that can be found at https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
For many of our existing students, your work is being marked and assessed externally and there will be no need for you to return to college for the remainder of this academic year. If you do not hear from us, you will be in this category, and we would ask you remain safe at home for the time being to help us maintain a safe environment in the College. Please do however keep in touch with your tutors who may still be requesting online submission of work. If you do have any concerns you wish to raise, please do so via your progression coach in the first instance.
If you are returning to Darlington College in September, please ensure you make an application online. If you didn’t undertake the pre-enrolment process before the College effectively moved to online/remote teaching and learning, towards the end of March. It is important we have your details recorded for your course next year, so we can remain in contact to let you know when to come back after the summer break.
For new students leaving year 11 you will be supported by the Darlington College Place Pledge, visit DC Place Pledge. This means we will assist all applicants who have applied to join us in September, to access a full-time course with us. There will be no bridging sessions this year, however tutors will start to be in touch if they haven’t already, to send extra information about the courses you have applied for. Later in the summer we will send information on enrolment and the start of term. It is very important you keep checking the email and phone numbers you supplied on your application form for these details. If you have changed this information, please let our admissions and enquiries team know by emailing admissionsandenquiries@darlington.ac.uk
In summary;
- Darlington College will not be open for all students in June. We will only be open for a small cohort of students in order to provide opportunities to complete practical assessments or more generally to help students to feel comfortable and prepared for next steps. These students will be notified personally. If you are not contacted, you are not required to attend. If you wish to attend a session on site, however, please raise this with your progression coach and we will support you to do so.
- If you are asked to attend College and have Covid-19 Symptoms please follow Government guidelines and do not attend until it is safe to do so.
- When in the College it is important to follow all health and safety measures in place to keep everyone safe. You will be issued with clear guidance on arrival.
- Students wishing to return to College in September, plus new students from year 11 will be informed during the summer about enrolment and commencement of new courses. Please ensure you have either pre-enrolled or completed an application form so that we have your details.
We hope this clarifies the current situation. If however, you wish to seek further information, please contact the College via the enquiry line on 01325 503050 or email enquiryline@darlington.ac.uk
Please continue to stay alert, stay safe and look after each other.
