From Friday 12th June small groups of students from Years 7, 8 and 9 have been attending school between 9am – 3pm to catch up with their school work. Numbers were small on the first day with only 19 students across all year groups attending but they rose to 40 on Monday 15th June, rose again on Tuesday to 42 and dipped only slightly on Wednesday to 32.

The safety of our students is paramount and so each year group has been given two classrooms with the maximum number permitted in each at 15. Each student has been assigned a desk in their classroom and they work at the same desk each day without moving either desk or classroom. We have also placed the Key Stage 3 students in ‘L’ Block which is a self contained block at the edge of our site overlooking the school field. Every classroom therefore has an external door which the students use to enter and exit the classroom at the beginning and end of each day as well as at break times – meaning contact with students in other bubbles is non-existent. ‘L’ Block also has its own toilets and this means that students do not have to wander across the school site at all during the day.

Every classroom has large amounts of hand sanitiser, wet-wipes and tissues as well as sinks, soap and running water (as ‘L’ Block is the science block) which students are permitted to use at any point throughout the day and are instructed to use as they return from break and lunch. At the end of each day, students are reminded to wipe down their chromebook, desk and stool with a wet-wipe ready for the following day. Our cleaning contractors then deep clean every classroom during the evening and our site staff use a newly purchased disinfectant fogger in each classroom every Friday to ensure maximum levels of safety and cleanliness come Monday morning when the students arrive again.

At break and lunch times, each student bubble has been provided with a large coned area on the field in which they can sit, talk, eat lunch and enjoy the sunshine without mixing with students from other bubbles.

Students in attendance can not only use the IT facilities on offer, but there is also a qualified teacher and a Learning Assistant in every room ready to support with tasks if required. The students have been fantastic so far and I am confident that their conduct and quality of work will only get better over the coming weeks. It amazed me how quickly the students got into the necessary routine and fully understood why the aforementioned mechanisms have been put in place. All of the staff have commented on the excellent conduct of students and one parent of a Year 9 student contacted us to say “Thank you guys for what you’re doing. He was a very happy boy when he came home yesterday. We really appreciate everything, long may it continue.”

Schools are designed to have students in and learning, so it is great to see this once again as a reality each day.