West Thames College - Arrangements from Monday 4th January 2021

 Updated 14/01/2021

Welcome back to the start of a new year and I hope you have all managed to have a safe and relaxing festive break.

You will be aware that on Monday 4th January, the Government announced its third national lockdown, taking effect from Wednesday 6th January. This meant that Colleges were required to move to remote learning for all students with the exceptions being vulnerable students and students sitting external BTEC exams in January. Alongside this, there was also the Government Guidance that Schools and Colleges should be rolling out mass testing for students and staff who are asymptomatic. 

What does this mean for us from 6th January - 12th February 2021?

All students will be learning remotely for this half term, so from 6th January to the 12th February. There will however be some exceptions to this which are as follows:

There will however be some exceptions to this, as follows:

• Students sitting external BTEC exams in January. Not all of these exams are going ahead so please check with the relevant Curriculum Director, which ones are.

• Vulnerable students. All vulnerable students that are expected to attend on-site learning have been contacted. Vulnerable students include our Looked After Children, our Young Care Leavers and those with Education, Health & Care Plans (EHCPs) who cannot engage remotely. 

We have started our programme of mass testing for students and staff who are asymptomatic and these will be carried out on a regular basis for those students and staff who are required on-site. We are keeping our plans under constant review and we will continue to update you as the position changes.

One thing that will never change is our absolute commitment to providing all of our students with an excellent learning experience, so that they are supported to succeed and realise their goals.

Our website will continue to be updated with the latest information and all students are advised to check this regularly for the latest updates.

Please click here to view a video on the safety measures that are already in place across the College.

Stay safe

Principal – West Thames College

Blended Learning for our Students

It is really important that students continue their hard work now they've returned to College, to ensure they are in the best position to progress to their next step.

Due to the government guidelines regarding social distancing, the capacity in classrooms has been reduced by approximately 50% in all areas. Therefore to create a safe environment for all students and staff, and also to provide a high quality experience for our students, we are adopting a 50:50 timetable approach from September.

This involves 50% of the group attending face to face lessons and 50% receiving remote learning, but ensuring all students receive some face to face delivery each week. 

We will stagger the start times of some groups/lessons and break times to reduce the number of students in communal areas throughout the day.

The delivery of lessons will involve face to face delivery alongside a live streaming of that lesson. All classrooms will have the appropriate software installed to enable students logging onto lessons the ability to view the teachers screen and hear the lesson. 

Our aim is to offer the highest quality education, in a safe environment, to continue to provide successful outcomes and opportunities for our students.

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact the teacher in the first instance or the Curriculum Director of the subject area.

Students Remote Access

Please click on the link to access Moodle – Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Please click on the link to access Student E-Mail – Microsoft Office 365

Please click on the link to access your Student Class Team - Microsoft Teams

If you are unable to login or require further help and support, please contact our dedicated Student IT Helpdesk us on 020 8326 2326 Monday – Friday 9:30am – 3:30pm.

Staff Remote Access

Please click on the link to access the Staff ePortal – Citrix

Please click here on the link to access Staff Webmail – Microsoft Outlook Web App

Please click here to access the Staff Collaboration Site - Microsoft Teams

Cisco Jabber

To use your College Telephone Extension remotely, you can download Cisco Jabber from the Apple App Store or Google Playstore. To use on a home Desktop Computer, please follow the links below to download and install for Windows and Mac (not through Citrix):

Microsoft Windows - Cisco Jabber for Windows 7 & 10

Apple Mac - Cisco Jabber for Mac OS

If you are using these systems for the first time, please do click on our how to guides on the right hand side of this page. If you are unable to login or require further help and support, please contact us via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via the Staff IT Helpdesk on 020 8326 2326