Reopening School September 2020

This guidance sets out a summary of the ‘System of Controls’ that will be in place from the start of the Autumn Term.

There is also a detailed set of guidance notes to parents/ carers and pupils to go through during the holiday so everyone is thoroughly prepared for coming back to school.

It is vital that parents/ carers and pupils read all of the information and then refer back to it as we all prepare to come back to school.

The full guidance from The Department for Education

System of Controls

Preventing the spread of Coronavirus

  1. There will be a quarantine location in the House and robust measures will be put into place to ensure any child or adult who develops symptoms is moved away from anyone else without delay. At all times, the DfE (and if needed, Public Health England) guidance will be followed.
  2. In the event of symptoms developing (in an individual and/ or in a household), the pupil/ staff member must remain at home for 14 days.
  3. In the event of either a pupil, a member of staff or someone in your household coming into contact with a ‘confirmed case’ of COVID-19, the individual must ‘stay at home’ for 14 days.
  1. We will continue to have our additional sinks stationed on playgrounds.
  2. We are installing hand sanitiser stations on every entrance door to the buildings across the site.
  3. Hand washing and/ or cleaning for all staff and pupils will take place when they arrive to school site.
  4. Hand cleaning will take place at the start and end of social times (break and lunch).
  5. Hand cleaning at sanitiser stations will take place on entry to and departure from eating venues.
  6. Hand cleaning at sanitiser stations will take place on every entrance door to the building.
  7. Published guidance will be given to pupils with regular reminders through assembly broadcasts in form time.
  8. At the start of term, there will be thorough training with staff and pupils to ensure a systematic and routine approach to hand washing/ cleaning.
  9. There will be extensive staff supervision of pupils
  1. There will be tissues provided to all classroom, office and social spaces.
  2. Every room will have bins, fitted with a fresh bin bag each day.
  3. Published guidance will be given to pupils with regular reminders through assembly broadcasts in form time.
  4. There will be extensive staff supervision of pupils.
  1. All toilets will be deep cleaned three times per day. We have increased our cleaning staff capacity to enable this to happen.
  2. All high-frequency touchpoints such as door handles and handrails will be cleaned with disinfectant three times per day. We have increased our cleaning staff capacity to enable this to happen.
  3. Our cleaning team will carry out deep cleaning of classrooms once per day.
  4. Cleaning of all touchpoints, work stations and IT equipment will take place each time a teacher departs or arrives to a classroom.
  5. Cleaning of all touchpoints, work stations and IT equipment will take place each time pupils move between zones on the timetable.
  6. At the start of the term, there will be thorough training with staff and pupils to ensure a systematic and routine approach.
  1. The timetable has been rebuilt maximising double lessons for all pupils. Lessons will be 2 hours long for the majority of the timetable.
  2. We have created ‘zones’ across the school site to enable year group bubbles to be taught together with teachers, rather than pupils, moving after each lesson.
  3. We have aligned the timetable to zones to enable pupils to be taught in the correct ability group where possible, whilst maintaining year group bubbles in each zone of the building.
  4. We have moved the car park to have a playground at the rear of the school site as well as at the front. This will enable social time to be separated for each group bubble.
  5. There will be a significant reduction in practical work and an increase in teacher demonstrations during the Autumn Term. Where practical work does occur, enhanced cleaning will take place (e.g. in music, science, PE, art and maths).
  6. In some lessons, practical work will be demonstration-only. This will be the case in DT, Food and Drama.
  7. In all rooms, pupils will be seated in rows, facing in one direction only.
  8. Seating plans will be set by teachers and held centrally on the system for everyone to refer to quickly if needed.
  9. Pupils will be given and trained to complete an ‘individual social time contact books’. At the end of every break and lunch, pupils will note who sat within 2m of them.
  10. Pupils will socialise only with pupils from their year group; their ‘bubble’.
  11. During social time (break and lunch), pupils will face in one direction only. Pupils will not sit face to face with others.
  12. When ‘line up’ happens, pupils will be in their year group bubble.
  13. When moving to ‘zones’ for each part of the day, pupils will be escorted with extensive supervision.
  14. At the end of the school day, there will be a staggered departure. Dismissal will begin at 15:00.
  15. We suggest that pupils walk or cycle to school wherever possible, only using public transport as a last resort.
  16. There will be a fortnightly system for PE to enable a maximum of 45 pupils in practical PE at any one time. When not scheduled to take part in practical PE, PE lessons will be supplemented with additional English and maths in alternate weeks. Pupils will be guided through this system on their first day back in September.
  1. PPE will be required for staff when administering first aid to a pupil or an adult.
  2. Further PPE will be required if staff need to provide personal care to a pupil.
  3. PPE will also be required if a member of staff is supervising an unwell child in the House.
  4. PPE will be worn by our cleaners by when deep cleaning occurs.
  5. Teachers will wear gloves when distributing resources such as sheets and exercise books in lessons.
  6. PPE will be worn by our kitchen and support staff when preparing and/ or serving food.

The below section is designed to outline the routines, systems and structures through a typical school day from September.

Arrival

Year 7

Enter at...

Year 8 & 10

Enter at...

Year 9 & 11

Enter at...
Washing hands

Handwashing, Locations & Staffing

Upon arrival, pupils will stand and socialise with 1m+ distancing where possible on either the front or rear playground (or in one of the designated indoor spaces in the event of wet weather). Each year group will have a designated zone/ area to prevent mixing.

Sinks will be positioned each morning along the front of the main playground and on the rear playground. Pupils will use these stations to wash their hands. At the busiest times, queues will be managed by diverting handwashing to thorough hand cleaning using alcohol sanitiser.

SEND meet/greet and House staff’s morning pastoral contact will be permitted for pupils with such provision written in their planner. This take place with social distancing in the canteen. Hand cleaning will occur on departure from the canteen to the child’s designated line up/ form room location. 2m distancing will be in place at all times during this provision.

Pupils will then ‘line up’ ready for the start of the school day.

The duty timetable will be adjusted to increase supervision. Form tutors will be required to arrive to collect their tutees at 08:40 and, where possible further adds to the supervision of pupils by arriving to the playground/ indoor location from 08:35.

At 08:40, the leading senior member of staff will silence pupils and dismiss a tutor group at a time to make their way to form time

Timetable

There will be no PM form time during the autumn term.

Transition | Form Time to Period 1/2

Most pupils will move within their zone and year group bubble as we move from form time to P1. Simultaneously staff will move to their P1 location as required.

All movement will be thoroughly supervised by staff, by SLT and by support staff

Breaktimes

Breaktimes

Teachers will walk their class to their designated location at the start of break time. For pupils arriving at an indoor break location, hand cleaning will take place as they enter the venue.

Pupils will be able to move between their indoor and outdoor location during good weather. Pupils will remain in their indoor location during wet weather, achieving bubble isolation.

Food Service

Food service will be provided from the canteen for the year group on the Front Playground. Food service will be provided from the Hall for the year group on the Rear Playground.

1m+ distancing when queuing will be encouraged where possible and pupils will face in the same direction when waiting to be served

Cashless

The whole school site will be cashless from September with WisePay only for top-up of accounts.

Name searching will be the only method for taking payment on tills – scanners will not be used.

CORR room will be in two consistent locations for all break and lunch sittings with cleaning in between each bubble

Location 1: Foyer with food from Canteen

Location 2: Stage with food from Hall

Pupils will clean hands again on departure via the hand sanitiser on entrance doors

Transition | Period 2/Break Time to Period 3

This is the part of the day where many year group bubbles will move from one zone of the building to another.

To facilitate this without pupils being left unsupervised in rooms as staff move, line up will occur in the same locations as pupils lined up at the start of the day.

At 11:30, pupils in lessons will be escorted by their teacher to their line up location; pupils on break will be dismissed from their venue to join their line up location.

Line up and dismissal to P3 lessons will be led by senior staff allowing sufficient time for teachers to arrive at their P3 locations ready to receive pupils – pupils will enter the building a year group bubble at a time. 

This process will take place in all-weather situations but will be sped up in the event of rain

Lunchtime

Lunchtime

Teachers will walk their class to their designated location at the start of lunch. On arrival at lunch locations, hand cleaning will take place as they enter the venue.

Pupils will face in one direction on the dining tables – pupils will not sit face to face with others.

On each lunch sitting, lunch will be ended slightly earlier and pupils will be dismissed to make their way to their line up location.

Cashless

The whole school site will be cashless from September with WisePay only for top-up of accounts.

Name searching will be the only method for taking payment on tills – scanners will not be used.

Cleaning

Pupils will clean hands again on departure from lunch via the hand sanitiser on entrance doors.

Rapid cleaning of touchpoints will be completed in both venues after each lunch sitting by the increased number of daytime cleaners and duty staff.

Menu & Service

The autumn term menu will be adapted to enable faster service and reducing in the handling of food items/ implements by staff and pupils.

All crockery and cutlery will continue to be washed and sterilised after every use. Catering, serving and duty staff will wear appropriate PPE throughout each sitting.

CORR room will be in two consistent locations for all break and lunch sittings with cleaning in between each bubble

Location 1: Foyer with food from Canteen

Location 2: Stage with food from Hall

Pupils will clean hands again on departure from lunch via the hand sanitiser on entrance doors

Transition | Lunchtime to Period 4/5

12:30pm

At 12:30pm...

13:00pm

At 13:00pm

13:30pm

At 13:30pm
Background

End of the Day

Dismissal will be staggered at 15:00. Staff will escort their group to the year group’s line up location and pupils will be left under the supervision of senior/ pastoral staff for dismissal row by row to the relevant departure gate.

  • Years 9 and 11 will depart from the rear playground and Hay Green Lane gate.
  • Years 8 and 10 will depart from the front playground and upper Woodbrooke Road gate.
  • Year 7 will depart from the lower Woodbrooke Road gate and line up will occur on the playground.

Each day, there will be two cars completing drive duty each evening from 15:00 through the most heavily used routes leading to bus stops and home travel routes on foot/bike.

Additional Guidance

  • Toilets, high traffic areas and public touchpoints will be cleaned three times per day
  • Teacher work stations will be cleaned by every member of staff who uses it
  • Pupil work stations will be cleaned during the ‘end of lesson’ routine
  • Thorough cleaning of classrooms and offices will take place after school every day
  • The initial reopening in September will be an adjustment for all with a lot of new information for adults and pupils to process and adjust to. Staff, as always, will be consistent in their approach to applying the behaviour system to pupils. Additional, professionally judged ‘flexing’ will continue to occur to account for pupils with SEND and/or vulnerable pupils.
  • The behaviour policy will continue to operate robustly with teacher direction and clear instructions being followed by pupils at all times.
  • If at any time, a pupil breaches the school behaviour expectations, the policy sanction systems will apply in the same way as before.
  • Any failure to follow appropriate health and safety measures will be logged and parents will be contacted. Pupils in school must follow all rules that are put into place – they are for everyone’s health and safety.
  • High-quality interventions will continue to take place through the integrated approach of SEND, Believe and Pastoral teams.
  • An update to the Behaviour Policy can be found HERE.
  • Bookmarking will continue in line with the school’s policy. This will allow teachers to collect in books, leave them untouched for 48 hours, mark them, leave them for another 48 hours and then give them out to pupils.
  • All staff will have a detailed seating plan.
  • At break and lunch, pupil contacts will be noted via log books which pupils will have as a compulsory piece of equipment. Duty staff will lead the completion of these routinely at the end of every social time sitting.
  • Seating plans and contact log books will be referred to in the event of the school needing to carry out contact tracing.
  • No. All pupils will have their own, named pencil case with compulsory equipment – this will be provided to pupils on the first day of term.
  • All pupils will have a clean mini whiteboard and marker pen from September which will be compulsory to have with them for every lesson – this will be provided to pupils on the first day of term.
  • No. Staff will also have their own named pencil case with necessary equipment.
  • Staff will be issued with their own bottle of hand sanitiser and a pack of cleaning wipes to carry with them.
  • An additional box of materials will be provided in every classroom for shared use including:
    • Sanitiser spray
    • Paper towel
    • Cleaning wipes
    • Hand sanitiser pump bottle
    • A box of gloves
  • Yes. Lock down (partial and full) will continue to operate as normal.
  • In the event of an evacuation, the priority will be to protect life. Evacuation systems and locations for roll-call will not change from our standard operating procedure. All pupils will remain silent and facing in one direction. The distance between lines will be sufficient to reduce contact proximity and so Houses can carry out roll call in the usual way. After evacuation is complete, pupils will be dismissed back to their lessons one bubble at a time.
  • A lockdown and evacuation drill will take place in September.
  • Yes. Pupils are encouraged to bring in their own anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitiser school. This will enable them to be extra vigilant in their hand hygiene and when working in classrooms.
  • If a pupil develops symptoms during lesson, they will be asked to step outside of the room. The member of staff will call for on-call.
  • If a pupil develops symptoms during social time, they will be escorted to the duty leader who will call a senior colleague to take the them to the House.
  • In the case of any symptomatic person, the system of controls guidance will be followed in full, liaising with Public Heath England as required.
  • Parents will be contacted without delay for the pupil to be collected and test booked.
  • At times, yes. Portable IT equipment may be used to support effective teaching and learning.
  • Additional cleaning using wipes will take place – the IT technician will pre-clean devices whilst wearing gloves. The teacher will ensure devices are cleaned as they are handed in.
  • Instrumental lessons will recommence from September. Additional cleaning and protocols will be in place and will be the responsibility of The Music Service and their teachers.
  • When a pupil has a lesson, they will make their way to the appropriate practice room, going via the tent for additional handwashing at the start and the end of the lesson.
  • If group lessons are scheduled, these will be within year group bubbles only.
  • Additional guidance for pupils who receive instrumental letters will be sent out by the music department prior to lessons beginning.
  • For most pupils, no. Pupils in Years 7-10, Year 12 and 13 will not be allowed to use their lockers in September as it creates an unnecessary set of touchpoints and would result in pupils moving across the school site out of their bubble’s zone to access their locker.
  • Year 11 will be allocated a locker in the glass corridor, accessible at the start and end of the day using a supervised one-way system through the glass corridor. This will be necessary due to the number of textbooks and revision guides they will be carrying each day.
  • Teachers and pupils do not need to wear PPE.
  • Specific guidance and PPE will be provided to those administering first aid.
  • Teachers should wear gloves (available in the teacher resource boxes in each room) when handling books/ giving them out.
  • Pupils should wear a mask if they travel to or from school on public transport.
  • The expectation set by Government is that schools make provision to move immediately to a remote learning package in the event of bubbles self-isolating or localised lockdowns/ further school closures.
  • It is also expected that a remote curriculum should match the breadth and ambition of the curriculum being delivered to pupils who remain at school, that it should be similar in length and expectation and should include some contact with teachers.
  • In the event of your child being sent home to self-isolate, you will receive a text link to the remote learning curriculum on the website. This will enable pupils to continue learning the same content that is being covered by pupils who are still in school.
  • Siblings who are different year groups will have to remain in their year group bubble when on site.
  • On arrival to school, when moving from their family bubble to their year group bubbles, thorough hand cleaning must take place. This will be achieved within the system of controls for other pupils arriving to the school site each day.
  • 01.09.20 Training day – no pupils in school

 

  • 02.09.20 Year 7 and 12 in school only.
    • Target setting day for all pupils.
    • You will receive a letter with details of your target setting appointment time (appointments will be either face to face or online).

 

  • 03.09.20
    • Year 7, 12 and 13 in school – full day
    • 08:40 start for Year 8 and 9
    • 09:40 start for Year 10, 11
    • 11:30 P2 to P3/ Break to P3 transition practice
    • Lessons will commence for all pupils at 12:30
    • P1, 2 and 3 will be an extended form time including a full walkthrough of protocols and procedures, as well as the first lesson of PSHE.

       

  • Textbooks may be used in some or all of your child’s lessons.
  • When a set of books have been used, they can be used again within the same year group bubble.
  • If books are being used with a different year group, they will be left untouched for 48 hours beforehand.
  • When this cannot be achieved, necessary pages will be photocopied.
  • Pupils must be in full school uniform from the start of the Autumn Term.
  • Parents must check that pupils have correctly fitting uniform with all items required for full compliance.
  • A copy of our uniform policy (including footwear) can be found HERE.
  • For PE days, a pupil will receive a reminder according to the PE timetable and internal practical/ theory rota of the need to wear PE kit.
  • Pupils taking part in practical PE must come to school in their PE kit. They will remain in full PE kit for the whole day, showering and changing when they get home.
  • Intervention will be completed within year group bubbles where possible.
  • 2m social distancing will be enabled where possible, otherwise 1m+ will be enabled – always with additional hand cleaning on entry to and exit from an intervention/ Believe Centre session.
  • The remaining protocols will be consistent with those for lessons.
  • Pupils will not be permitted to go to the toilet during lesson time unless they have a valid toilet pass authorised by their Head of House.
  • Pupils must visit the toilet at the start of the day, at break time and at lunchtime.
  • Anyone using their toilet pass during lesson times will be required to report to Reception to wash their hands before and after using the toilet in Reception.