So much work, from staff at all levels, has gone into making the school as Covid safe as possible whilst balancing the much needed return to learning and a sense of community and togetherness since our September return. The goal still remains for the school to work within the Government and Public Health England guidelines, whilst providing students with as broad a curriculum and learning experience as possible.

After experiencing the most unique and challenging first 8 weeks of the academic year for all of us in the Bushey Meads community, staff were given the opportunity to share their experiences, feelings and suggestions through a staff survey to review our systems and protocols.

It was extremely pleasing that 62 staff (40 teaching staff and 22 associate staff) responded to the survey and is testament to how involved our staff wanted to be in shaping how the school moves forward in terms of Covid safety. Below are some summary statements of the main findings:

Key Points

1. Most staff feel a bit safer since the introduction of face masks, but feel that wearing of masks in learning situations could impede students and staff ability to communicate effectively
2. Staff feel ambivalent about safety in year group assemblies
3. Most staff feel the introduction of the one-way system has made the school less safe and caused difficulties in terms of punctuality
4. Staff feel that gatherings of larger numbers increases risk and appreciate the efforts to make adjustments as much as possible to mitigate this

Times Staff Feel Safest

• Staff feel safest travelling to school and entering the school (82 – 89% feel safe or very safe)
• Staff feel safe whilst on duty in an outdoor area (73% feel safe or very safe)
• Staff generally feel safe in classrooms (77% feel indifferent or safe) and this mirrors the feelings of students

Statistics related to Wearing of Face Masks

• 15% of staff opted to wear a mask in school before it was compulsory and the vast majority of these staff (89%) felt comfortable doing this even if most staff weren’t wearing masks
• For the 85% of staff who chose not to wear a mask about 40% of these didn’t because they felt awkward about wearing one
• Now masks are compulsory at certain times, staff feel this has made the school somewhat safer and feel that the biggest positive impact on safety has been wearing masks in busy corridors
• 52% of staff felt that wearing a mask was necessary in any meetings that lasted longer than 15 minutes, even when sitting 2 metres apart

Statistics related to the One-Way System

• Before the one-way system was introduced 56% of staff felt fairly safe or very safe moving around the school and only 3% of staff felt very unsafe
• This changed dramatically after the one-way system was introduced (insisted on through an action plan from Public Health England).
• After the one-way system had been introduced only 31% of staff felt fairly safe or very safe moving around the school (a drop of 25%) and 11% felt very unsafe (an increase of 8%).

Statistics related to the Work Provided on Google Classroom

• 80% of staff are very happy, fairly happy or indifferent to providing work on Google Classrooms.

Statistics related to the Signage Around the School

• 58% of staff found the signage helpful and 13% found it unhelpful.

Comments
Staff were given the opportunity to add comments and many staff did. These were all read carefully by the Senior Leadership Team and formed a big part of the discussions that followed all results being analysed. Many thanks to all the staff for taking the time to write these comments and for also making some positive suggestions. A small selection of these comments have been included below:

“I have no issues with being in school at all. I am very happy with all policies in place. I personally think it is so sad, and I cannot wait for Covid-19 to be a distant memory. I hope it will be a check on reality for us all, and how much we value each other and our families/friends/teaching/students… the list is endless”

“ Online parents evenings are triumphant and should be the way forward!”

“The adaptability and dedication of staff to keep such standards of teaching and learning high in such difficult times is amazing. The site staff and Admin support staff continue to be fantastic.”

“I don’t feel that the one way system is having much of a beneficial impact. Students are now all having to walk down H and F block corridor to get to most places in school. This is having the effect of forcing a lot of students into an enclosed space at the same time.”

“ When walking around the quad outside I feel that it is safer, although when moving through corridors at busier times, I feel that less comfortable.”

“Due to the one way system many students are now routinely arriving at lessons 5-10 minutes late and using the one way system as an excuse. This is obviously cutting into learning time.”

“I have been thinking that perhaps splitting each pathway in half and keeping the rule of walking on the left could provide a viable alternative to the one way system currently in place. This way, students and staff will still be able to travel around the school more efficiently, minimising their contact with other people. It is still keeping the flow around the school in a ‘one-way’ fashion, but simply doubling the use of the pathways.”

“Whilst the older years may have experienced many assembly themes and the formal start to the day, the younger years haven’t so the assemblies serve a very important purpose for these year groups in embedding the Bushey Meads culture.”

“ I was previously very uncomfortable with year group assemblies. This has improved slightly.”

“Assemblies should be recorded videos to be played in CDC time”

“I feel that the wearing of masks in learning situations could impede students and staff ability to communicate effectively, especially in regards to students with additional needs.”

“I do not agree with face masks in school at all. I think the school was very safe and have the correct policies in place. We just need to learn to live with this disease and look after each other.”

“When large groups are gathered, I think everyone should wear masks.”

“Could face masks be worn around school regardless of whether in a crowded area or not, therefore reduces anxiety with the students when in the classroom.”

Graphs and charts
Below are charts showing the results of all the questions from the survey.