Dear Parents and Carers of students in Year 10,

I am writing to confirm our arrangements for welcoming Year 10 back to school from Monday 15th June.

As I said in my last letter, Year 10 will continue to receive most of their education through the work we are setting remotely, supported by the live Q&A Drop-ins we are offering. In addition, we are inviting Year 10 to come to school in small groups for one day a week in line with government guidance.

Social distancing in our school will be challenging. We need to be aware that the 2m rule we have all become used to cannot apply here; the guidance that says we should have half a class to a classroom means that students can’t and won’t be 2m apart all the time. Our corridors are 1.9m wide, so people will pass each other closer than 2m apart. We are in effect planning to run two small schools – one for Year 10 and 12 and one for the children of keyworkers. They will be based in different areas of the school and will have different start and end times as well as different timetables. With a maximum of 130 students’ onsite at any time in a school which can accommodate 1300, we will be able to keep them much more distant than usual. We have put substantial systems in place to protect the health of all staff and students on site.

I would just like to emphasise the point made in the attachment about groups. Those groups have been created based on student dynamics and whether they do history or geography. It was not a simple computer driven exercise – the year team spent a lot of time going through them and getting them right. Those groups cannot now be changed. Students will stay in the same group all day to avoid unnecessary social mixing.

Students have been told which day they are to attend school. If they don’t know, they should check their school emails. If they are still unsure they should contact Miss Bush, who will be taking over as Head of Year during Miss Spiers maternity leave, at jbush@samuelward.co.uk.

Students are expected to attend on their day and should not come on any other day.

The document attached gives detailed information on returning to school for students and parents. We have revised our behaviour expectations to reflect an increased focus on social distancing and safety. Please encourage your child to read them before they return to school. If you have any queries please contact either Miss Powell at jpowell@samuelward.co.uk, or myself.

Best wishes,

Andy Hunter

Headteacher