Return to School
Return to School – September
We are looking forward to welcoming all of our students and staff back to school next week. The following information has been produced to support you and your child with this return.
One of the main principles of the DfE guidance is that ‘schools must do everything possible to minimise contact and mixing, while delivering a broad and balanced curriculum’. To achieve this, we have reorganised our school day and created dedicated areas within the school for each year group (a ‘bubble’), whilst still teaching the broad range of subjects we offer in our curriculum.
Staggered return to school
Our return to school next week will be staggered so that we can ensure all students are thoroughly briefed and understand jhow the school will operate once everyone is back together. Please note the change of start and finish times for the different year groups.
Tuesday 1st September – TED (Year 12 photographs in school canteen 12 -1pm)
Wednesday 2nd September – Years 11 & 12
Thursday 3rd September – Years 10, 12 & 13
Friday 4th September – Years 9, 12 & 13
Monday 7th September – Full timetable for all year groups. Please note the amended start and finish times for each year group and designated school gate.
Years 9 – 11: From September all of our students will return to school as per the Government guidance for full opening. Please be reminded that school attendance is ‘mandatory again from the beginning of the Autumn term’. One of the main principles of the guidance states that ‘schools must do everything possible to minimise contacts and mixing while delivering a broad and balanced curriculum’. To achieve this, we have rewritten our timetable so that students can remain in year group bubbles with staggered arrival and departure times from school. Students will continue to receive the teaching and full timetable as expected in September, following a high-quality, broad and balanced curriculum appropriate to their year group and key stage. The school day has changed and will consist of 5 x 55 minute lessons with a 5 – minute transition period at the end of each lesson to allow teachers to move between areas of the school, thus allowing students to remain in year group bubbles. The ‘area bubble’ will only be left by a student group if they have a lesson in a practical subject, for example PE, or other subjects when specialist facilities are required.. When moving between rooms in the year bubbles students will need to keep to the left in corridors. Each room will have a sanitizing station, which students must use when entering and exiting the room.
If students have practical PE during their day they need to come to school in their school PE kit. They will need to wear their blazer over the PE kit and black tracksuit bottoms on colder days. The dining hall will be open for students to purchase hot and cold food and drinks during their bubble lunch and break time. Please remember we have a cashless system so student accounts need to be topped up using our online payment system before they return to school to enable students to purchase food in the school canteen. Year 9 will be given log in details on the first day, so for Friday 4th September students will need a packed lunch. A meal will be provided for those entitled to free school meals. All assemblies will be delivered through video to avoid larger year group gatherings.
Following government guidance the use of face masks is currently not compulsory, although students will need to wear one if travelling to school by public transport. Students may wear a mask around school if they wish to, although they will need to take responsibility for safe storage of any masks when they are not being worn.
The Year 9 bubble will be located in the science and English rooms. Students must access school through the Easemore Road gate.
The Year 10 bubble will be located in the Grove building and maths corridor. Students must access school through the Grove Street gate.
The year 11 bubble will be located across the top floor of the main building in humanities, English and ICT rooms. Students must access school through the Grove Street gate.
Sixth Form: Students will receive 55 minute lessons from their subject teachers. All A Level & vocational subjects will run as normal. The Sixth Form will be based primarily in the Sixth Form Centre and Technology block. When students have a study period they will not be permitted to sign out and leave the school site. Under no circumstances are they allowed anywhere other than the Sixth Form Centre study room during these study periods. They cannot purchase food from the canteen during these periods, however they do have access to vending machines in the Sixth Form Centre. Sixth Form students must use the Easemore gate entrance to arrive and depart from.
Key messages – Students are to:
- Adhere to all COVID and social distancing rules at all times.
- Follow all Public Health England advice over what to do if they or any other member of their household display any COVID-19 symptoms.
- Arrive at school punctually as per their year group arrival time and enter the school through the correct gate.
- Follow the school Behaviour Policy (which includes a Covid-19 Annex) and all staff instructions without question at all times – this will be updated from September 2020 and will be available on our website in due course.
- Leave the school site through their designated gate as soon as their school day ends and not loiter in the local area.
- All students must wear their school uniform when they attend school. If students have PE during the day, then they must wear their school PE kit to school and for the duration of the day to negate the need for personal changing.
- Follow Public Health England guidance on catching coughs, sneezes etc. in a tissue, hand or elbow’ and discard the tissue in the bin in the classroom immediately and then wash or sanitise their hands
- Sanitise their hands on arriving to school and on returning to the classroom after their lunch break, as well as engaging in regular handwashing.
Parents/carers are to ensure they:
- Do not come on to the school site under any circumstances unless there is an emergency or you have an appointment.
- Immediately inform the school if your child develops symptoms of COVID-19 if they have attended school.
- Explain to your child the Public Health England advice on reporting any symptoms they may develop of COVID-19 and follow the track and trace system if they do.
- Check your child is appropriately dressed for school – if there have been any issues purchasing uniform please send a letter with your child on the first day or contact the relevant head of year.
- Provide your child with equipment for learning and hand sanitizer.
- Discuss the importance of social distancing when in the local community and at school.
- Are aware we may have to close at short notice if Public Health England instructs us to.
- Do not gather or congregate with others at the school gates.
Please note that the government has only made a small change to the guidance around face coverings. Although as a school we are making these optional, if there is a local lockdown then the wearing of face coverings will be compulsory in all communal areas (corridors, dining hall etc) of the school. We will inform you if this is necessary.
We look forward to seeing everyone next week. It is going to be really important that all of us work together to enable Trinity to function as normally as we can under what are still very challenging circumstances.
With very best wishes
Adrian Ward
Executive Headteacher
