September 2020 Return to School: Information for Students, Parents and Carers
How this presentation is organised This presentation has been written to provide you with access to all of the Government guidance pertaining to the return of students to school in September. The key guidance is included or referred to and then how Wey Valley Academy (WVA) is addressing the guidance follows on subsequent slides. The presentation uses a simple colour blocking to help you quickly identify if a slide contains Government guidance or information about the WVA response. We hope to have covered all FAQs but it is a complex task and if you still have further questions after reading this please contact the Academy.
Information Colour Coding Key A Red header signifies the information is internal academy details WVA Timetable T1 2020-21 A Blue header signifies the information is DFE Guidance Extracts from DFE Guidance Text shown in Italics identifies where guidance is copied directly from Dept of Education (DfE) or Public Health England (PHE) documentation.
WVA: Key dates September 3 rd Thursday INSET Day 1 September 4 th Friday INSET Day 2 plus Year 7 Enhanced Transition afternoon invited students only. September 7 th Monday Year 7 and Year 11 return September 8 th Tuesday All Year Groups in school
DFE September Guidance Click on the title above to link to the DfE full guidance documents.
Extracts from DFE Guidance …It is our [DFE’s] plan that all pupils, in all year groups, will return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term… …Returning to school is vital for children’s education and for their wellbeing… …Time out of school is detrimental for children’s cognitive and academic development, particularly for disadvantaged children…
Extracts from DFE Guidance …The risk to children themselves of becoming severely ill from coronavirus (COVID-19) is very low and there are negative health impacts of being out of school… …Given the improved position, the balance of risk is now overwhelmingly in favour of children returning to school… …While our aim is to have all pupils back at school in the autumn, every school will also need to plan for the possibility of a local lockdown and how they will ensure continuity of education…
DFE: Public Health Advice
DFE Public Health Advice …The public health advice in this guidance makes up a PHE-endorsed ‘system of controls’, building on the hierarchy of protective measures that have been in use throughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak… …The system of controls provides a set of principles and if schools follow this advice, they will effectively minimise risks… …There cannot be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach where the system of controls describes every scenario…
DFE Public Health: Essential measures • a requirement that people who are ill stay at home • robust hand and respiratory hygiene • enhanced cleaning arrangements • active engagement with NHS Test and Trace • formal consideration of how to reduce contacts and maximise distancing between those in school wherever possible and minimise potential for contamination so far as is reasonably practicable
DFE Public Health Advice: Key points How contacts are reduced will depend on the school’s circumstances and will (as much as possible) include: • grouping children together • avoiding contact between groups • arranging classrooms with forward facing desks • staff maintaining distance from pupils and other staff as much as possible
WVA: Response to these guidelines • Dedicated handwashing zones at entry and exit to Academy and to Zones • Additional soap and paper towels available in all toilets • Cleaners working throughout the day cleaning high contact surfaces • Limiting all visitors to school including parents, unless by prior appointment • Zones for Year Groups and a new timetable to minimise movement • Classrooms all stripped and cleaned with forward facing desks
DFE Public Health Advice: Key points …Schools must work through the below system of controls, adopting measures in a way that addresses the risk identified in their assessment, works for their school, and allows them to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum for their pupils, including full educational and care support for those pupils who have SEND…
DFE System of controls: Prevention 1) minimise contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring that those who have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, or who have someone in their household who does, do not attend school 2) clean hands thoroughly more often than usual 3) ensure good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach 4) introduce enhanced cleaning, including cleaning frequently touched surfaces often, using standard products such as detergents and bleach
DFE System of controls: Prevention 5) minimise contact between individuals and maintain social distancing wherever possible 6) where necessary, wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) Numbers 1 to 4 must be in place in all schools, all the time. Number 5 must be properly considered and schools must put in place measures that suit their particular circumstances. Number 6 applies in specific circumstances.
DFE System of controls: Response to any infection 7) engage with the NHS Test and Trace process 8) manage confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) amongst the school community 9) contain any outbreak by following local health protection team advice Numbers 7 to 9 must be followed in every case where they are relevant.
DFE Advice: How to group children In secondary schools, and certainly in the older age groups at key stage 4 and key stage 5 , the groups are likely to need to be the size of a year group to enable schools to deliver the full range of curriculum subjects and students to receive specialist teaching. Both the approaches of separating groups and maintaining distance are not ‘all-or-nothing’ options, and will still bring benefits even if implemented partially. Some schools may keep children in their class groups for the majority of the classroom time, but also allow mixing into wider groups for specialist teaching
DFE Advice: How to group children All teachers and other staff can operate across different classes and year groups in order to facilitate the delivery of the school timetable. This will be particularly important for secondary schools. Where staff need to move between classes and year groups, they should try and keep their distance from pupils and other staff as much as they can, ideally 2 metres from other adults .
WVA Zones At WVA we will operate a zone system that keeps year groups in set areas for most of the time to reduce contact and mixing. Year Zone 11 MfL and Common room 10 Science Block 9 English 8 Maths 7 Humanities Year NOR Entry Toilets Zone Canteen 11 155 MfL stairway TBA MFL Room 95 10 165 Science rooms external TBA Science Canteen 9 200 English external door TBA English Room 95 8 187 Maths near Sports Hall TBA Maths Main Hall 7 210 Front near Zone TBA Humanities Canteen
WVA 2020: Specialist Rooms We are able to Zone the school in a way that enables us to keep the specialist rooms such as two Science Labs, Art, Technology, P Arts free for use by students at pre booked times. These rooms will be used as specialist rooms in order to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum with a focus initially on KS4 and their GCSE studies Students will follow a simple one way system and be accompanied to and from these lessons by a member of staff.
WVA 2020: Rooming The normal rooming protocol has been suspended for 2020-21 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the protective measures required by the DFE guidance (as of 11 th July) This guidance requires student movement to be minimised where possible. The following principles, therefore, apply to the 2020-21 rooming whilst under Covid measures: • Zones : Y7 Humanities, Y8 Maths, Y9 English, Y10 Science, Y11 MfL • The exceptions are for specialist spaces that are necessary for the effective delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum (e.g. Food & Nutrition / Music / Technology / Art)
WVA 2020: Rooming Science labs need to be allocated as a zone due to a lack of overall rooming capacity We are keeping two labs free which means that all science classes can access a practical space at least once in the two-week cycle Efforts have been made to retain consistent rooming for groups in zones. However, this is not always possible due to the complexity of the timetable scheduling in Years 7 & 8 in particular
WVA 2020: Rooming Tutor periods will be delivered within the allocated Year Zone. In order to ensure rooms can be effectively shared, teachers must: Clean the board after use Ensure the teacher desk and areas are left in a tidy state, ready for the next colleague Ensure students leave their desks neat and tidy, with the chairs tucked under if there is a student room change Make every effort to maintain clear surfaces so that enhanced cleaning can take place
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