Dear Parents,
I am delighted to write with the updated plan for operations from 1st February. The health and safety protocols will continue as before, temperature checking at the gate, wearing of masks, shields for staff, hand sanitizer all around the school, regular hand washing, and a distance maintained of 1.5M between people. We have been operating safely with the 20% extracurricular activities for some time now and are confident with movements in, around, and out of school. This message is to outline your children’s attendance.
As I am sure you can imagine, it is an extremely complicated process and we have based our decisions on what we think is right for the students, staff, and families and also what is actually possible practically. Each year group has a different number of students and so could be split in many different ways.
Everything is going to be operating on a 3-day rotation, the 35%. We cannot get regular days the same each week for the same children so it will need careful attention from you to check the dates your children will be in school after you receive them next week. The dates will depend on which class and year group your child is in. Here is what is happening in different year groups over every 3 days.
EYFS – rotation of one day in school with 50% of class, one day at home, so alternate days. (This group is the only one not on a 3-day rotation)
Y1-Y6 CF and Y1, Y3 and Y5 CJ – rotation of one day in school with 50% of class, one day participating in the class by online learning, and one day the whole class online learning at home. So essentially this is one day in school, two days at home. (When the children are at home for hybrid learning they can be given resources the day they are in school. It is rather like group work with a group in class and a group on the computer. The teacher will do the lesson introduction and then attend to the children as needed, the same as a normal class essentially just one group is via the computer)
Y2, Y4, Y6 CJ – rotation of two days in school, one day online learning at home (these are smaller classes, so it does not make sense to split them in half or a third)
Y7, Y8, Y9 – rotation of one day in school, two days online hybrid learning, year groups split into 3 groups
Y10 & Y11 – rotation of one day in school with 50% of class, one day hybrid learning, one day whole class online at home so one day in school, two days online at home
Y12 – rotation of two days in school, one day online learning at home (these are smaller classes, so it does not make sense to split them in half or a third)
Y13 – in every day
We are trying hard to allow siblings to be grouped on the same day. We realise this is probably not going to be 100% possible for everyone due to the different rotations in each year group and the days they are in school, but this is purely down to the numbers in each year group. We are endeavouring though to get this for everyone where we can. You will receive the actual timetable for your child/children towards the end of next week.
We do think that by having, where possible, 50% of the class in together with their teacher in one classroom, it will help accelerate learning and progress. The group who are participating in these live lessons at the same time will be able to interact, contribute and participate in the lessons. When they are in class themselves, they can receive set work ready for their next hybrid lesson. Then every three days an online day of lessons together will allow consolidation and further learning. Where we have Secondary year groups with larger numbers, we have to split by a third, but they will still be in seeing their teacher once every three days. We know the hybrid model works for them as it has been operating for some time in certain year groups.
Day length – it will be a normal school day, with arrival from 7.30am for a 7.50am start and the day ends at 2.40pm.
Buses – buses will operate and drop and collect from the Secondary entrance in CF and the top gate in CJ. We have a one-way system and socially distanced route for children to move around school from each entrance.
Families – please drop your children as you normally would.
Lunches – In CF we have designed the lunch hall and timings to allow for single Primary year group bubbles to be served their lunch at their table and Secondary will use the canteen as normal, just in smaller groups. In CJ due to the size of the canteen we can only manage to serve early years and Key Stage 1 in there, Key Stage 2 will be served the same lunch on trays in their classrooms.
We know you will probably have many questions at this time, so I urge you to wait for the communication from your individual school and class and then direct any questions at that point. This new model will need adjustments as we go, I am sure, so we just ask for your patience as we all get used to it. Like when we entered online learning last March, there were lessons to learn and changes to be made but very quickly it was up and running effectively. I am sure this will be no different.
Please enjoy your long weekend due to the National Holiday on Monday, normal lessons will resume on Tuesday 26th.
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Warm Regards,
Principal Nick West
