Dear Parents and Students, Update as of 1345 on Thursday 7 May 2020 I hope you and your loved ones are well. The past months have seen a serious change in the way we interact, learn, have fun and relax. We went from a world where anything at all seemed possible, to one where the realities of loneliness and uncertainty became unwelcome visitors in our day to day life. That was true also for that remarkable generation of islanders who endured the Occupation and for whose Liberation we celebrate this weekend. With this in mind, we want our students, staff and parents to capture the joy that is still very much in abundance. As you know, joy can be found in the very smallest of places, in the very smallest of ways, not just in the big. It can be found in discovering a new book, a walk through a bluebell wood, a hot cup of tea, in baking a cake, a call with a friend, painting pebbles and making masks for the health workers. We would love to see the joy that you ALL experience, to show the world that in times of uncertainty sadness can be dulled, and true potential and life enrichment can shine through. After all, we want all at JCG to be ambitious and resilient, curious about the world around us and feel passionate about everything we do. JCG has a brand-new Instagram account: JCGJersey. Please follow us and share your #JCGJoy moments using the hashtag through the medium of photo and video. Make sure to always tag us in your moments with the hashtag #JCGJoy. We will also capture your moments on Twitter. When we return to College in September, we will collate many of our #JCGJoy moments and share them publicly as a polaroid style ‘Wall of Joy’ within the College. We will then embark on a #JCGJoy exhibition tour of the island including care homes and health centres to say thank you to those who have played a huge part in helping us retain a semblance of normality, for those who went above and beyond, and for those who found themselves vulnerable during this strange time. What do we know?
- Many thanks to our Year 13 students who are running revision sessions with Year 12
- We are in the early stages of planning a phased return to College. This will obviously be led by Government guidance. What is clear is that it will be complex and in addition to practical arrangements for safety and learning we need to manage people’s emotions too. The College experience we knew and loved may not return for some time. I will provide more information on this as our plans develop.
- Year 11 A level bridging work: if students haven’t done so already I would really encourage them to contact the head of department of the subjects they have chosen to check in and share any questions about the bridging work. It is vitally important Year 11 keep working on their chosen subjects, up to 24 June (the day their exams would have ended and the long and glorious post GCSE summer begins) to provide a smooth path to starting A levels. The more reading around your subject now, the easier you will find the transition which, as any sixth form student will tell you, is wider than expected.
- Thank you for the feedback regarding the provision for your daughter. It is so helpful to know how each is responding and that response might change by the day. As always, if you have any concerns, please do contact your daughter’s tutor.
- Please remember that our school counsellor, Mrs Jan Sims, is still available to all students in Years 7-13 via her school email address: j.sims@jcg.sch.je and her school mobile number: 07797 765198. Please do feel free to contact Jan, even if you have never contacted her before, if your daughter is struggling with these strange times and she feels like she needs to talk to someone, a listening ear or if you would like some strategies. Jan would love to hear from you.
- CYPES have asked me to remind you to complete their survey to gain a picture of how young people are feeling. The survey closes tomorrow: https://survey.gov.je/s/Coronavirus_survey/?_ga=2.122178571.1229634065.1588840450-31628874.1588840450
- Fee deferment: please do contact me directly if you would like to have a 3 month deferment of fees. Equally if you have encountered a sudden and dramatic reduction of income due to the lockdown and would like to apply for financial assistance, please do contact me in confidence.
- Cakes and cards for the Romanian Association meal service: a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed. You have brought joy. They have been sending out between 97 and 116 hot meals a day from the small kitchen at St. Luke's church, and have been so grateful to be sending out so many delicious JCG cakes with them, along with some beautiful hand-made cards. They will carry on for the next week at least and have asked if we can keep going for another week. Please deliver the cakes to St. Luke's church (please place them in the back of Mr Lewis' car reg J132289 in the car park off Elizabeth Street).
And finally, today would have been the last formal day at JCG for our Year 13 before their study leave began. They have brought us tremendous joy. We enjoyed, and cried throughout, a zoom assembly with them this afternoon and played a video made by our staff for them. You can watch it too on today’s JCGtv. There is a line in Dickens’ ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ which is especially poignant for our Year 13 and all our students and staff. ‘The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.’ Take care and Happy Liberation Day. Yours, Carl Howarth Principal