Coronavirus - Advice for Parents

Beginning of Autumn term 2020

August 24^th 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you have all had a relaxing summer break from everything and of course continue to be safe and healthy. I just want to give you a few details about school before we start in September. Apologies for the length of this letter, but there is a lot of information to give out.

School open full time for all years

We are absolutely committed to opening full time for all years. HCC are running the transport system as they normally do. It is advisable to wear a face mask on journeys to and from school. These are the school term start dates:

Thursday September 3rd: Year 7 and 11 only

Friday September 4th: All years in

How school will run following sensible Covid-19 Safety arrangements

All rooms will be supplied with sanitizer for student and staff use for both entry and exit from class
All rooms will be provided with washing down facilities such as spray, cloths...etc. to be used after each lesson
Lidded bins will be in each classroom with tissues for ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’
Individually named pencil cases with appropriate equipment will be given to each student by the form tutor at the beginning of each day and collected at the end of the day. This will be wiped down/sanitized for next day use
There will be no assemblies
School will start at 9:00am for 20-minute form time them lesson 1 at normal time of 9:20
Appropriate signage regarding social distancing and hygiene will continue to be displayed
Any student showing signs of symptoms will be looked after in the first aid room until the parent/carer can collect

If we are to continue to remain open without interruption, we all have a duty to ensure we come to school healthy. This is the same message for both students and staff. If someone experiences Covid symptoms, they must stay at home and book a test. The link in this letter explains how to do this: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus. If the test is negative, schooling can recommence, if it is positive, then please stay at home for 14 days.

I do need to make you all aware, that if a situation arises where a number of staff need to be at home because of symptoms, I will need to consider the safe running of the school, which could result in a year group in KS3 closing down for a few days, or a series of year groups closing over a series of days. I will keep Years 10 and 11 open at all times.

Movement around the School

This is the biggest challenge, but please see the diagram below.

Please note:

It is a clockwise move around the school
The main Maths/English corridor is 2-way as it is the only corridor that is more than 2m wide
All other corridors are 1-way only
1-way system past science, through the hall and into DT/Art/Food (who exit via the external doors)
Scenarios: If a student has DT followed by English, then they leave DT via the external door and walk round past Music, through the main entrance, up the 2-way system and into English (OR they could walk all the way round the school and enter English via the English external door)
English teachers will meet and guide student movement up into their areas
Ms Adams will meet and guide student movement up into her Maths room
Students may have to wait outside a classroom before entering to allow teachers to finish cleaning

Break times

We will run a 2 break system with KS3 at 10:40 and KS4 at 10:50

Lunch times

We will run a 2 lunch sitting: KS3 first, then KS4
12:20 is KS3 lunch. KS4 will go outside for their break, play football…etc.
12:40 is KS4 lunch. KS3 will finish lunch and will go outside for their activities…etc.

Student showing symptoms/becomes ill

Please do not send in your son/daughter if they show symptoms at home
Any student who comes to school showing any symptoms, or becomes ill during the day, will be immediately (and kindly) isolated in the First Aid room. Parent/carer will be contacted to pick up.
Appropriate and measured response will follow depending on outcome of the sickness (i.e. it may just be a normal cold)

Behaviour

Full uniform to be worn (this is addressed further in this letter)
Any student who does not respect the need to social distance and our guidance outlined in this letter will be sent home
Phones: These need to be handed in at the front as normal practice

Slight change to the school day

Because we want to minimise classes mixing as much as possible we are starting school at the slightly later time of 9:00am instead of 8:40am. This is for the first ½ term only. The day will look as follows:

09:00: Students arrive & Tutor time
09:20: Lesson 1
10:00: Lesson 2
10:40: Break (split)
11:00: Lesson 3
11:40: Lesson 4
12:20: Lunch (split)
13:00: Lesson 5
13:40: Lesson 6
14:20: Tutor time
14:40: Home

Uniform

School uniform needs to be impeccable.

We will start the year as we intend to carry on with a real drive on School Uniform and ensure all students arrive to school in the correct uniform. As always, there are genuine exceptions to the case, of which the only acceptable one being is a medically certified sensory issue to certain fabrics that a small minority of our student’s experience with clothing. As a school, we already know who these students are and these have been agreed in advance between school and home. The rest of the school community should be arriving in full school uniform which is:

Black shoes (not trainers)
Black trousers (and/or skirt)
White shirt/blouse
School tie
Black blazer or black V-neck jumper

Year 11’s have a choice; either the school uniform, or they can wear a suit/smart office wear.

Please note: the wearing of tracksuit bottoms, white trainers, hoodies….etc, is not acceptable school attire. Any student arriving to school without the correct uniform and without a parental explanation, will either be sent home to put the correct uniform on, or, will need to be transported into school the next day by their parent for a meeting. Apologies if this sounds draconic, but the wearing of uniform is important to Batchwood.

Taxi arrangements

Arriving to school, each taxi will wait with their passengers inside until invited in. This will be done taxi by taxi. This is so each student can sanitize their hands and we avoid ‘grouping up’. Students can then hand in their phones in and go straight to their form room

Conclusion

As ever, thank you for your continued support, and let’s hope that the academic year 2020/21 will be a successful year for all of us.

Keep safe.

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Kemp
(Headteacher)

Download letter: Beginning of Autumn term 2020 - pdf

Batchwood School Policies

Behaviour Policy Coronavirus Addendum
Changes and exceptions to our normal Behaviour Policy and Procedures
Behaviour_Policy_Coronavirus_Addendum.docx

COVID_19 Absence Information:
What to do in circumstances related to coronavirus
COVID_absence_information.docx

General Advice

NHS letter to parents about Test and Trace and coronavirus symptoms:
pdf NHS letter to parents 23.09.20

Get the latest NHS information and advice about coronavirus:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) - NHS

Leaflets from Stay Safe Hertfordshire:

Full details and general advice about Coronavirus can be found on the Public Health England website:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) - what you need to know