Important message to pupils, parents and staff.
Our corridors are quiet and our classrooms are empty. How we yearn for the normality of day to day life in Thornhill College- the laughter of our girls and the camaraderie of our colleagues. This is simply not natural but totally essential in these challenging times.
Today we are thinking about and extremely grateful to all our key workers who are on the frontline and I know that so many of you are parents among them. It would be wonderful if we, as a Thornhill Community could unite in prayer to ask God’s blessings on them, that He will protect them as they look after us and our families in the forthcoming weeks and months.
As a school community I would like to assure you that we will do everything possible to support families in the days and weeks ahead. We can only but do our best to adapt and respond to this fluid and rapidly evolving situation, and I know that our staff, as they have done so many times before, will step up to meet the challenges presented.
I would ask all our students to follow the PHA advice and stay at home. In this way you too will help save lives.
We cannot predict the future but rest assured life will return to normal and so it is important that pupils continue to do their best and be well prepared for the next academic year. The Google Classroom codes for subject areas have been communicated to pupils and we urge parents to ensure that their child is following teacher direction in relation to school work. We know that this is not the normal way of teaching and will never replace having the girls in front of us in classrooms. However, I think the important message to reiterate is that no learning is wasted learning.
As we are still not sure if we will be asked for sample work from pupils doing exams, we believe that pupils should continue to complete their courses and submit any work that their teachers request. The full details of how GCSE and A level grades will be allocated is not available yet and we will communicate this with you as soon as we receive it.
All the staff of Thornhill College are disappointed for our GCSE and A-Level students, who have worked so hard over the years. We are devastated that our Year 14 girls did not get to officially mark the end of their 7-year journey in Thornhill, such an important milestone in their lives. Hopefully things will be better in the coming months and we will have a fantastic celebration to look forward to at some stage in the future.
In light of the recent announcements from government and PHA and given that no pupils have come in to school, we have made the decision to close the school today. Should you require to get in contact with us or request support I ask that you do so through our school info account info@thornhill.derry.ni.sch.uk and we will endeavour to respond as soon as we can.
We thank you for all your continued support and pray that we all keep safe in the forthcoming months.
Warmest regards,
Sharon Mallett and all the staff at Thornhill College
