School will reopen its doors in September, with staggered lesson times and additional hygiene precautions announced to ensure the safety of all students and staff.
Students in Years 7 and 11 will return to school on Thursday 3rd September, with students from Years 7, 8, 9 and 11 to attend on Friday 4th September. All year groups will attend school from Monday 7th September.
Headteacher, Mr G Tate, said: “As we come to the end of one of the strangest terms in education that I have ever experienced, I am pleased to be able to share our plans for the opening of school in September.
“Whilst we have continued to be impressed with the way that students, supported by their parents, have continued to make progress by working hard at home, we are so looking forward to being able to welcome all students back to school after the holidays.
“I am sure that you are aware that the guidance for schools, published recently, is for all students to return to school, full-time in September and this is what we expect to be able to accommodate - albeit with some significant changes to ensure student and staff safety.
“As you would expect, we have had to make many changes to the way that we organise the school to ensure that it is as safe as it possibly can be for both staff and students. There are several reasons why these changes have had to be made based on the most recent guidance. They are all intended to minimise contact between students as much as is possible to reduce the numbers of students on site at any one time, to reduce the amount of movement around the site, to reduce the number of students arriving to or leaving the site at any one time, and to allow us to restrict students to as small a group as possible whilst still being able to offer a broad and balanced curriculum.”
As part of the changes, year groups will have different start and finishing times, whilst breaks and lunch times will be shorter and staggered.
Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will arrive at school from 08:25 for an 08:40 start, with a morning break from 10:10am-10:20am and lunch from 11:50-12:15. The school day for these students will finish at 13:45.
For full details of Autumn term arrangements for students in Year 7 click here, Year 8 click here and Year 9 click here.
Years 10 and 11 will arrive from 10:15 for a 10:30am start. Morning break will be from 12:10-12:15, lunch from 13:05-13:30, and afternoon break from 14:20-14:30. The school day will finish at 16.10.
For full details of Autumn term arrangements for students in Year 10 click here and Year 11 click here.
Sixth Form students will start their day at 8:50, with a 10-minute break from 10:20-10:30 and lunch from 13:55-14:20, with the day finishing at 16:00. For full details of Autumn term arrangements for students in Year 12 click here, and Year 13 click here.
Students must arrive during their allocated time slots and go straight to the room of their first lesson, and then leave school immediately after their last lesson.
A wide range of additional safety measures will also be implemented, including the requirement for each student to carry their own personal bottle of hand sanitiser. Soap in toilets will be checked and replenished throughout the day, whilst hand sanitiser stations will be in place at the entrance to the school and monitored to ensure that students use them as they enter and leave the building.
The school will also provide a supply of tissues and dedicated disposal bins in each classroom, as well as Virucidal wipes to clean desks and chairs at the start of each lesson, whilst a strict daily cleaning routine will be in place in line with government guidelines.
Mr Tate added: “I appreciate that these changes to the timetable may well require families to make different arrangements in terms of childcare and travel plans, so I wanted to give you as much notice as possible to allow you to make provision for this.
“Whilst recent months have shown us that things can change very quickly, I believe it is highly likely that these changes will be in place at least for the whole of the Autumn term. We will of course update you if there does need to be any amendments to this plan.”
Letters detailing all of the plans for the school’s September reopening have been emailed out to parents and carers, and are also available to view in the ‘letters and publications’ section of the school website here.
