Starting or Returning to School Next Week
Dear Parents and Carers,
I sent these notes out in July to let you know how we were preparing for the new term. I have updated them to reflect the current situation and most recent guidance. We have done our very best to make the school as safe as possible for all of us, whilst trying to limit the impact on the children’s education as far as we can. Our guiding principle has been that we want to offer the full curriculum and allow full access to all that curriculum has to offer by, for instance, holding science lessons in science labs. We have a plan to enable us to deliver catch up lessons to those who need them, but we’re waiting to hear more from the government about the funds they are allocating and how we should use them before we finalise that. A full risk assessment is available on our website, but an outline of the main changes we are making is below.
Key Actions for Students
- Carry hand sanitiser to limit queues at the start of the day
- Bring all the stationery you need. Keep if for your own use and don’t share it.
- Follow the one-way system on outdoor paths
- Stay to the left of the blue line in corridors apart from when you need to cross it to enter a room
- Avoid any physical contact with other students
- Make sure you know which canteen space and toilets are for your year group and use only them
- Respect the 2m line around teachers’ desks – they might choose to come to you, but you may not go to them
- If you would like to, bring a mask to wear in the busy public areas of the school but not in lesson
Uniform
We said in July that Year 7 would not have to wear uniform until the beginning of October because we worried that it might be impossible to source it in time. It has turned out to be easier than expected and lots of you have uniform ready for your children to wear. For that reason, we have changed our expectation on this issue.
Students in Year 7 who have uniform should wear it from next week. Students without uniform are welcome to wear their normal clothes for the time being as long as they are clean and smart. By the beginning of October, we expect all Year 7 students to be in uniform.
Masks
In line with the new guidance, any student who wishes to wear a mask or face covering to school can do so at certain times and in certain areas. The wearing of masks for students is not compulsory but might become so if the local Covid numbers start to rise. If students do choose to wear a mask or face covering, it should cover only the lower part of the face. Full face masks are not permitted.
For the foreseeable future, students who wish to may wear masks:
- In the corridors
- In the stairwells
- In the queue in food serveries
- In toilets and washrooms
- In changing rooms
- In assemblies
- In clubs and activities where they might be face to face with other children
- In the library
Students may not wear masks in lessons or in outdoor spaces.
The only instance in which wearing a mask is compulsory for a student is when using either public transport or a dedicated school bus or mini-bus.
We will be offering similar guidance to staff who wish to wear masks, but please be assured that teachers will not be wearing masks when teaching.
Rooming
You’ll have heard the media talking about bubbles in schools. For us, the idea of rigorously keeping year groups in a bubble does not work. We don’t have the space or the amenities. We can, however, limit the extent to which we create very busy corridors, staircases, entrances and exits by looking again at how we operate the rooming timetable.
We have been able to place groups of students in certain areas of the school, so that they move less frequently and create less congestion. Years 7 and 8 will be based in M, T and K blocks for any lessons where they do not need a specialist room. When they do need a specialist room - for art, science, drama, music, PE, technology, any subject requiring an IT room – they will go to it. When they don’t, they will stay put and their teachers will go to them. Years 9 and 10 will be largely based in B Block. Year 11 will be largely based in C Block. The changes apply less to the sixth form than everyone else.
To emphasise my earlier point, these are not meant to be bubbles. The year groups will cross each other’s paths. They will also, however, move less often and when they do move, less far, so the school should feel a lot quieter. There will be a one-way system in place on all outside paths so that students will be able to move smoothly around the site, albeit by sometimes longer routes, without meeting groups of students coming the other way. Again, this will reduce congestion.
In addition to these measures to limit and control movement around the site, we have ordered an additional 80 foam dispensers so that every teaching room now has its own supply of hand sanitiser. With increased hygiene and decreased movement, I am confident that we have made the school a safer environment.
There are a small number of teachers with specific needs who will be better served by staying in their own rooms and letting students come to them.
This isn’t a decision we’ve taken lightly. There are benefits and costs. On balance, I believe the benefits outweigh the costs.
Break and Lunch Times
We are lucky to have numerous catering outlets. Vertas, our caterers, have told me that they are going to run a more limited menu, but will still offer a full hot meal everyday with a vegetarian option, and a variety of hot and cold snacks. Exactly the same variety of same food will be available in the canteen, B Block breakout area and C Block break out area. Year 11 will have sole use of the C Block servery, Year 9 and 10 will have the B Block servery and Years 7 and 8 will have the canteen.
Each catering area will come with some outside space also allocated to that year group so that children can walk around or play games as they normally do, but in their own space. We will also allocate toilets to specific year groups.
Transport
Students who use public service buses will need to wear face coverings. Students on school specific services or minibuses should also wear masks. We will clean our minibuses after very run. It is the responsibility of the companies providing the other services to do that on their vehicles. It would be sensible for children using all these services to carry some hand sanitiser with them and take all the normal precautions. We will encourage students to sit with other students from their year groups, though we won’t be able to monitor that.
Start of Term
We are having a staggered start to the term to allow us time to go over all the new arrangements with each year group and ensure that they all know exactly what is expected of them. The start dates are as follows:
Thursday September 3rd Year 7, Year 12, Year 13
Friday September 4th Year 8, Year 10
Monday September 7th Year 9, Year 11
Students in Year 7 will all meet at the front of school. All other year groups need to go to their tutor rooms, which have changed, they have been sent out but are given again below.
|
Year 7 |
Year 8 |
Year 9 |
|||
|
Group |
Room |
Group |
Room |
Group |
Room |
|
7B1 |
C3 |
8B1 |
B8 |
9B1 |
B19 |
|
7B2 |
T2 |
8B2 |
T3 |
9B2 |
B4 |
|
7C1 |
K4 |
8B3 |
B2 |
9B3 |
B16 |
|
7C2 |
K2 |
8C1 |
M2 |
9C1 |
B22 |
|
7C3 |
T4 |
8C2 |
M3 |
9C2 |
B7 |
|
7D1 |
AB1 |
8C3 |
K1 |
9D1 |
B5 |
|
7D2 |
T1 |
8D1 |
K3 |
9D2 |
B17 |
|
8D2 |
B3 |
9D3 |
B1 |
||
|
Year 10 |
Year 11 |
Year 12 and 13 |
|||
|
Group |
Room |
Group |
Room |
Group |
Room |
|
10B1 |
B12 |
11B1 |
C9 |
SA |
C17 |
|
10B2 |
B11 |
11B2 |
B18 |
SB |
B30 |
|
10B3 |
C5 |
11B3 |
C10 |
SC |
C13 |
|
10C1 |
B20 |
11C1 |
C11 |
SD |
C6 |
|
10C2 |
B27 |
11C2 |
C16 |
SE |
B34 |
|
10D1 |
B21 |
11C3 |
C2 |
SF |
B23 |
|
10D2 |
B24 |
11D1 |
C8 |
||
|
10D3 |
B25 |
11D2 |
DR2 |
||
|
11D3 |
C7 |
||||
I hope that the arrangements we have put in place will reassure students and parents that school is as safe as it can be as we return to start the new academic year. If you have specific concerns please do not hesitate to contact your child’s year team in the first instance, who will be happy to talk to you about them.
Where we have new systems in place, we expect students to respect and abide by them. I would be grateful for your support in that.
Andy Hunter