Dear Parents & Carers,
Further to my letter of 29th May I am writing to you with additional information regarding our plans to begin the wider reopening of the school to Year 10 students.
Since my last letter we have undertaken a detailed consultation process with our staff and have also submitted our overall school risk assessment to the local authority. I am pleased to report that the local authority has approved our risk assessment and the precautions that we will take to support everyone’s safety during the period of reopening.
The reopening of the school will be carried out in the following two phases: -
Phase 1: Week beginning Monday 15th June
PLG meetings with selected students
During this week a selected group of children will be invited to come into school for a face-to-face meeting with their PLG. These children have been chosen by their PLG based on the phone calls and conversations that have taken place over the past three months. The meetings will cover areas such as re-engagement with learning and the specific support that the student will need in order to return to school successfully.
If your child has been selected by their PLG, you will be contacted via email and letter in the next few days with the time and date of that meeting. Children are not required to wear their school uniform during this week and may wear their own choice of sensible clothing when they attend.
The extra safety measures that will in place during this week include the following: -
• Staff will be present at the student entrance to ensure that social distancing measures are observed
• Children will enter via the student entrance and then be guided to wash their hands
• They will then be guided to Café Mojo for their meeting
• The number of tables in the café has been reduced in order to allow them to be positioned at a minimum of 2m distance from each other (see photos 1a and 1b)
• Each table will only have two chairs allocated to it
• At the end of the meeting each student will leave the building and go straight home
• All tables and chairs will be thoroughly cleaned after each meeting prior to the next student’s arrival
• Any student who becomes unwell with COVID symptoms during the day will be isolated in our visitor’s reception and parents/carers called to collect their child.
• Any student failing to follow the social distancing rules in place will be isolated from all others adults and students. Parents/carers will be contacted and will have to attend school, the students will be removed from the school premises with their parents/carers. A return to school can only occur after meeting with the Headteacher and assurances given by both student and parents that all social distancing rules will be adhered to.
Phase 2: Monday 22nd June – Friday 17th July
Lessons for all students on a rota basis with subject specialist teachers
During this phase each student will attend school for one day per week. There will be a maximum of 60 students in school each day. A special timetable has been created that will allow all students to receive lessons in their ‘core’ subjects of English, Maths and Science as well as one or more of their option subjects. Students will be taught in groups of a maximum of eight per classroom and will receive four periods of learning per day.
Each family will shortly receive an email and letter which outlines the day of the week that their child must attend school.
The extra safety measures that will in place during this phase include the following: -
• Students will arrive at school between 8:45 and 9.00am
• Students must wear a reduced version of their school uniform, comprising of school trousers and a white shirt (blazers and ties are not required)
• Staff will be present at the student entrance to ensure that social distancing measures are observed as students arrive
• Children will enter via the student entrance and then be guided to wash their hands
• They will then be guided to Café Mojo to be registered
• The number of tables in the café has been reduced in order to allow them to be positioned at a minimum of 2m distance from each other (see photos 1a and 1b)
• Each table will only have two chairs allocated to it
• Students will be escorted by their teacher to the classroom allocated to them
• Each group will have a maximum of eight students and the classrooms contain a reduced number of tables in order to ensure 2m social distancing can be observed at all times (see photos 2a and 2b)
• Students will remain in the same classroom (and seated at the same table) for all four periods of the school day
• Each one-hour period of learning will be delivered by a subject specialist teacher
• Students will be given an individual folder in which their work will be stored
• There will be no more than two classrooms in use on any single corridor
• After two periods, students will receive a 30 minute break, during which they will be escorted back to the café
o Break times will be staggered so that not all 60 students will be in the café at the same time
• Any student who becomes unwell with COVID symptoms during the day will be isolated in our visitor’s reception and parents/carers called to collect their child
• Any student failing to follow the social distancing rules in place will be isolated from all others adults and students. Parents/carers will be contacted and will have to attend school, the students will be removed from the school premises with their parents/carers. A return to school can only occur after meeting with the Headteacher and assurances given by both student and parents that all social distancing rules will be adhered to
• Classrooms will be equipped with hand sanitisers for students and staff to use
• Additional cleaning teams will operate throughout the day to clean the wider areas of the school and especially contact surfaces such as handrails
• For students, the school day will end at 1:30pm and at this time they will be escorted to the student entrance and dismissed in a safe manner
• Each classroom will then be deep cleaned ready for the following day’s group of students
• On the four days of the week that students are not attending school, they must continue with the home learning set for them either via Frog or paper-based packs
Please see below photographs of the café and classrooms that will be used.
Photos 1a and 1b – Café Mojo
Photos 2a and 2b – Classroom set up for 8 students
We look forward to seeing your child return to school in the very near future. I am aware that some of you may have reservations about sending your child back to school but I hope that this letter addresses many of your concerns. As outlined in my previous letter, those families who still feel that their child should not attend school at this time will not face additional pressure from us or the usual consequences from the local authority.
It is never possible to completely eliminate risk in any situation but we genuinely feel that we have taken every reasonable step to minimise the possibility of infection spreading as a result of students returning to school in the manner described above. As educators we are very keen to welcome back as many young people as possible and return them to familiar patterns of learning and teaching but at this time we must proceed with caution and follow the national and local advice – which we have done. We hope to see your child back in school in the coming weeks.
If you have any questions or remaining concerns that you wish to discuss with me, please do not hesitate to contact me at the school.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. J Cregg
Headteacher
