School News

COVID responses

To help parents/carers, staff and students understand our responses to any positive COVID cases I thought I’d update you on the process we go through as a school when we receive notification of a positive case.

When a parent/carer calls to inform us of a positive case we need some key information from them:  The date symptoms started  The date the test was taken  The date the result was received  The names of ‘close contacts’ of their child during social times at school and any students they have spent time with as close contacts after school  If the student caught a bus to school and what number it was.

We also check in to see how the student is feeling.

A close contact is:  A person who has had face to face contact with them within one metre  Contact within one metre for one minute or longer without face to face contact  Someone who has been within 2 metres for more than 15 minutes  A person who has travelled in a small vehicle with them, or near them on a large vehicle or plane

I then look at our seating plans to work out how many close contacts there are from lessons, identifying any students who have sat within 2m of them in any lessons during their contagious time prior to developing symptoms. I have to go and look in individual classrooms to check exactly where desks are and how much room there is.

Once I have all of this information I call through to the Public Health England Schools helpline who take the information from me.

If the case is the only one in a year group and if we are confident we have identified all close contacts we only need to ask those students to stay off school and to self-isolate for 14 days.

I then update the Local Education Authority and the school nursing team.

If there is more than one case in a year group, or there is uncertainty around close contacts, then I receive a call back from East Midlands Public Health. They go through all of the information, contact the parents/carers where there are positive cases and review the school risk assessment. They then give school advice on what steps to take next.

So, what have I learnt this week?  It is really important that parents/carers keep children in their home if they test positive or are asked to self-isolate.  It is key parents/carers know where their children are and who they are with so close contacts can easily be traced.  Unless there is a really urgent situation (such as urgent first aid) staff need to keep 2m away from students and other staff so they are not classed as close contacts.

Public Health send us through the letters to send home to all parents/carers and a different letter for parents/carers of close contacts. We then put these onto school headed paper and send them out directly to you.

It is key to understand that if you are a close contact and take a test, even if the result is negative, you have to self-isolate for the full 14 days.

As we go through this process we are learning more about how the system works and are taking on board all the advice the Public Health give us.

Claire Rifkin Assistant Head

Road safety

We are well aware of family concerns regarding road safety. We deploy our staff fully on site to ensure students’ comfort and safety before school, during break/ lunch and after school. We have staff on duty to oversee both sites as students get off and board buses.

We are unable to assume the roles traditionally undertaken by the school crossing patrol and police officers. We constantly remind students through assemblies and form times of the need for careful behaviour around roads.

We remain very concerned at reports of unsafe behaviour on the two mile stretch of road between Starkholmes and Lumsdale. We have relayed these reports to DCC school crossing patrol who have ‘noted’ our concerns and passed them on to the school crossing project officer dealing with the Starkholmes crossing site. Whilst we will continue to raise this issue with our partners in road safety we would ask that you speak to your children to remind them of the need for care whilst on foot in our area.

Temporary changes to the school day to minimise risk of infection

Recently we surveyed staff and families about introducing temporary measures to reduce inter year contact at lunchtime with the aim of minimising infection rates. Our intention to further enhance our risk assessment has been made more urgent by the increase in the number of Covid positive cases at Highfields and other local schools.

Only 22% of staff and 10% of families felt that we should continue as we are, with most feeling we should go ahead and trial these changes. Governors are fully supportive of the trial.

You asked a lot of valid questions and raised a lot of points. Here are some clarifications which we hope will help.

There was a concern from a local primary school about increased congestion if we finished at exactly the same time as them. We are therefore starting and finishing the day 5 minutes later which will reduce congestion at Starkholmes, will give students at Lumsdale more time to get off

the later service buses and will reduce the amount of time that students have to wait for buses after school. Therefore start time: 8.45am, finish time for students not in tutorials: 3.20pm The time when all students are out together at lunchtime will be reduced very significantly from 65 minutes to 30 minutes. The lunch period for the whole school will be 70 minutes long, but students will spend 20 minutes of this in form time. These form times will be staggered so all that year groups are only in circulation together for 30 minutes. We would usually prefer form time first thing in the morning as it provides a good start to the day. However, currently, safety of students and staff comes first, and we cannot reduce circulation at lunchtime if form time remains at the beginning of the day: it isn’t logistically possible. It is also far from ideal that forms are more widely staffed than they normally are. We intend that our very structured and clear approach to form time means that students will get a consistent diet. There is a concern that a small number of students are currently late to form time will now be late to lesson 1 when it starts at 8.45am. This is true. Both eventualities are undesirable and year teams are working tirelessly to improve students’ attendance and punctuality. Some teachers are concerned about the impact on revision sessions at lunchtime. These will still be possible but will need to take place over 50 minutes rather than 65 minutes. Students with medical needs will be able to collect/take their medicine in form time. This will be arranged on a case by case basis. Year teams can visit their forms as normal during their form time. Most students will get on buses quite soon after finishing school. Any who have to wait will have a warm and secure place to do so (and get on with some homework if they wish). Students waiting for families to pick them up can also wait here. Detentions will be brought forward by 10 minutes. All staff will have 50 minutes for lunch. This is typical of secondary schools, even those with a split site. Many staff will have extra time after school to catch up with colleagues. School meetings after school will begin 10 minutes earlier. Large scale meetings will remain virtual until further notice.

A small number of staff would prefer that further changes were minimised. This is understandable, but our priority is safety and reducing infection. Staff and students have half the number of lessons per week to remember. Most lessons will be completely unaffected by this change. Science teachers will give technicians 20 minutes at the beginning of lesson 1 to prepare lesson resources.

Next steps:

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. We will draft the temporary timetable and send this draft to staff. We will trial the software launch (on SIMS) in half term. If the software adapts to the temporary timetable without glitches we will launch the trial on the first day of term 2 (Monday 2.11.20). We will provide training for students and give out timetables in P1 Monday 2.11.20. We will review this arrangement in early December.

Empower cyber week

As part of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, CyberFirst have pulled together an exciting array of industry and government speakers to feature in the Empower Cyber Week, from 9-13 November 2020.

Aimed at 12-13 year olds, the online event will provide students with an exciting opportunity to learn about Cyber, with each day featuring a different cyber related theme delivered through on demand video’s and live sessions.

To sign up and find out what’s on and how you can get involved please follow the link below. More sessions are being added daily so please keep checking back to register for the live events.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cyberfirst-empower-cyber-week-tickets-123152170457