Plans moving forward
Friday, February 26, 2021
Coming back to school
Dear families,
Thank you for your patience this week as we took in, analysed and debated the government’s guidance on the full re-opening of schools from Monday 8th March. I am also sending this message to all students’ school email accounts but I would ask that you talk through the points below with your child(ren) so that they are aware of the arrangements for the next few weeks. As you can imagine, a lot of work goes in to this each time and it is important that all stakeholders are aware of the plans.
As always we have put together our plans with our children, families and staff at mind. Their safety, well-being and happiness underpins all of our plans and was the crucial factor when making decisions.
Sorry, there is no way of delivering this information briefly, but the salient points this week are:
Students will return in a staggered fashion throughout the week beginning 8th March. The government have asked us to prioritise the students in order of when they sit their GCSEs, hence our beginning with Year 11 and working down the age groups.
As you can see from the table in the link below, each year group will come in to have their first in school test and will have a morning or afternoon to do so. We are unable to be flexible on the times for this due to the large demand placing constraints on the testing capacity that we have in the school. Two year groups per day is our limit!
Click here to see the schedule
We appreciate this will provide some challenges for families with students in different year and we apologise for this. Unfortunately, due to the year group bubbles which will remain, it has to be this way.
A separate email will be sent later today with the testing arrangements, booking system (using the Parent Evening booking system) and instructions.
In terms of the different activities on the timetable:
Home: Work set on Google Classroom for students to complete solely at home
Test 1 then home: Students will book a test time and come in to complete their first test in school. As soon as their test is complete, students will leave site and return home once again. You will only hear from us if your child tests positive for COVID-19, if they test negative we will not contact you to save on valuable admin time in school.
Lessons: Students in school and in timetabled lesson as normal.
Test 2 then lessons: Students will come out of their normal timetabled lessons, at a designated time, to complete their second in-school test. Once compete they will return to lessons. Again, only positive cases will be notified so ‘no news is good news’.
Test 3 then lessons: Students will come out of their normal timetabled lessons, at a designated time, to complete their third in-school test. Once compete they will return to lessons. Again, only positive cases will be notified so ‘no news is good news’.
The government have specified that students should do three tests within school, to learn how to self-administer it effectively, before then being tested regularly at home. Home Testing Kits will be delivered to school next week and we will distribute these to all students who are testing in school, along with the guidance that we have. This is the case up until Easter in the first instance, when it will be reviewed.
Whilst the government have asked all students to test, they are optional and we need your permission to test the students in-school. I would ask that you do give us this permission, as the testing procedures have the potential to reduce whole year groups being sent home from school when we have a positive case.
Provision for Critical Worker and Vulnerable students will remain in place as follows:
Monday 8th Years 7-11
Tuesday 9th Years 7-9
Wednesday 10th Year 7
From Monday 8th March, Critical Worker and Vulnerable students will also have to wear their school uniform when in school in their year group bubble rooms.
Students in the Albert Einstein Preston (Autism) Centre will have a different testing timetable and the AEPC staff will communicate this to you directly today.
All staff will be working on site again every day from, and including, Monday 8th March onwards.
Work will be set on Google Classroom for all students who are not in school (including students who test then return home). However, there will be no expectations for the work set from Monday 8th – Wednesday 10th to be interactive, as staff may be involved with testing, teaching other groups and involved in other activities. If staff are able to do something interactive then they will but there is no expectation of this.
Whilst all of our other COVID procedures and process will remain the same as they were before Christmas, one major change to last term is that the government have made it compulsory for all students and staff who are not exempt to wear coverings in classrooms and learning spaces where social distancing (2m) is not possible. This will mean that in most classes students and staff will need to wear their face coverings in most classes. Please ensure that all students have a face covering with them each day.
To ensure that this does not hugely inhibit teaching & learning, all staff will continue to have the chance to wear transparent face shields as opposed to face masks, which are much more conducive to good teaching for all students and especially those that rely upon lip-reading.
Testing will take place in the Sports Hall so PE may be slightly inhibited for the first two weeks back, but students will be expected to bring PE kit for every practical PE lesson.
All students will be in school uniform when they arrive to and leave school. Students will now only wear PE kit when they get changed in their PE lessons. We have some additional changing provision to ensure that we can do this safely and smoothly.
I hope that this is clear and easy to understand. If you are unsure of the plans at all please do get in touch on Gregg.Morrison@prestonschool.co.uk and I will help you. As part of the gradual reintroduction of the students back to school, they will have a virtual assembly and PSHE session on their first day of returning. This will be based around ‘catching up’ on the important things: socialising, interacting with people and being young people. We will remind them of routines they may have forgotten about, inform them of new rules and ways of working and generally make sure they are in a good place to be back in school and learn. You can help play your part in this by letting your child’s Academic Mentor (AM) know if there is anything that we need to know about your child. Lots can happen in the 2 months that we haven’t seen them so please do share any important information so that we are best placed to welcome them back in the best way possible when we see them. As always, all staff email addresses are on the website: https://www.prestonschool.co.uk/contact-us/teaching-staff-contact-details . Of course we will be ensuring that they are catching up academically, if needed, but this cannot happen until the students are settled back in to school.
If you have any uniform issues please do not worry. We know that children grow and skirts, shirts and trousers that fitted before Christmas might not do so now! Please do what you can to get ready for 8th March and if there any significant issues then inform your child’s AM/LM. Year 11s have, since the start of the year, been exempt from wearing blazers if they did not want to and this stands.
Year 11 parents – we have seen the outline guidance for GCSE Exams Results this year, which was released this week. There is a lot of meat for the DfE to put on the bones of what they have produced so far and once we have this detail we will communicate our plans with you. Needless to say, the best thing that all students can be doing now to improve their chances of good GCSE grades is engaging with their teachers and completing all work whether they are in school or at home.
Finally, thank you once again for all of your support over this academic year. I firmly hope that the turbulence of the last year is now behind us and we can go through the remaining years of your child’s secondary education without the disruptions that we have had to grow used to over the last 12 months. You will also have noticed that I do not miss many opportunities to thank the Preston staff team when I write home to you. This is not a coincidence and once again over this lockdown our staff have gone above and beyond for your children in many ways that you may not always know about and appreciate. They are a credit to the school, me and everyone in our school community and I am incredibly proud of their work. Please thank them personally when you get the chance – your children are lucky to have them!
Best wishes
Gregg Morrison
Principal
