News & Events

On 1st June we were excited to welcome back to school our nursery, reception, year 1 and year 6 pupils. The following week we were able to welcome back year 2, year 3, year 4 and year 5 and last week we welcomed back year 10 and year 12.

They returned to a new reality of socially distanced learning and ‘education bubbles’ and have taken to it like ducks to water.

So how have we managed to welcome back so many of our pupils safely?

Teachers, support, cleaning, and maintenance staff worked and are working tirelessly to make sure the school is as safe and welcoming as it can be. Their hard work was rewarded by the smiles of the children as they literally skipped into school excited to be able to see their friends again.

The pupils in each year group have been split into small ‘education bubbles’ and social distancing encouraged, although inevitably this is difficult with the younger children, they don’t interact with children from other groups.

The number of pupils in each learning space has been reduced and movement around the school buildings minimised. Some classes have been moved to our larger spaces in the school, such as our Sixth Form Centre and Gallery Room, to ensure there is enough space for pupils to move freely whilst keeping two metres apart.

There are seating plans in classrooms and pupils in Year 4 and above have been supplied with Chromebooks if they are accessing online lessons as well as face-to-face teaching. All groups have designated zones for their breaks and lunch times and their own toilet facilities.

The number of adults and children allowed onto the school site is tightly controlled with movement of visitors and parents on the site minimised.

All pupils partake in regular handwashing and hand sanitiser, cleaning spray and paper towels are just about everywhere you look! The school was treated to a deep clean in the half term holiday and a rigorous clean daily.

Pupils in the older year groups have been asked to bring in their own materials and all pupils, from the Nursery up, take their belongings to school in a washable bag or pillowcase. All pupils have come back in non-school uniform to allow for the more physical outdoor learning timetable and to make it easier for parents to wash their clothes.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is issued where appropriate and we continue to follow Government advice on this area within schools.

What does a typical day look like?

Pupils are all dropped off and collected at different locations and staggered times.

Pupils begin the day with a ‘Morning Motivation’ fitness class – face-to-face for Year 6 and online for others.

The sunny weather has enabled us to take classes outside for most of their lessons and teachers have planned an exciting programme of outdoor learning for all subjects – from designing a foot golf course in maths to tree decorating in art. The Nursery classes also spend most of their day outside in their designated gardens.

We have continued to follow the same online learning timetable structure, enabling pupils at home to continue to access the curriculum.  Pupils are following a revised timetable which allows us to deliver a ‘blended’ approach including online and offline learning experiences including fitness and wellbeing sessions utilising the school’s abundance of woodland.

We are grateful to everyone who pulled together to make sure most of our pupils could return to school before the summer holidays.

Government advice dependent, we are very much looking forward to welcoming back all of our pupils in September.

What do our pupils think?

We talked to pupils about their virtual schooling experience and what it is like to be back at school.

Click here to watch the video of our Year 10s and 12s

Click here to watch the video of our Year 3s, 4s and 6s.