Coronavirus: Bexhill College suspends face-to-face lessons

The college made the announcement on Wednesday (March 18) due to recent increases in staff and student absence as a result of guidelines on social distancing and self isolation.

The college has remained open as normal today and will be open tomorrow (March 19) for students to pick up materials to help facilitate their own remote working.

In a letter to students, the college said, from tomorrow, ‘formal learning activity will not be taking place on site, unless otherwise communicated by individual teachers’.

In a statement, Karen Hucker, Bexhill College principal, said: “Whilst we have not had any confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the student or staff body, following recent Government guidelines increasing numbers of staff and students are self-isolating which reduces the college’s ability to continue with the high quality learning and teaching we provide.

“Therefore, we have taken the decision that in the interests of safety for all our students and staff we can provide better support for students with this clear approach.

“We have taken this approach for the next two weeks leading up to the Easter break at which point we will review the position. We hope by then that there will be further guidance from the Government particularly regarding the GCSE, vocational and A/AS level exams which are on the horizon.

“We have put a full statement on our website and will be updating this regularly as fully as we can. These are unprecedented times with exceptional challenges for all and as such this enables us to put the social distancing measures in place which the Government have advised.”

The college reiterated that it will not be closing as things currently stand.

In a letter to students, the college added: “We remain committed to providing a high-quality education service for our students. These are unprecedented times with exceptional challenges, which are impacting on our ability to provide our normal services.

“As such, we are putting arrangements in place for remote working that promote social distancing as advised by Government.

“We will update the website on a daily basis with any new information we have. This will be updated by 6.30pm each day. Thank you for your support and understanding.”