How Cornish schools have prepared to welcome back students after lockdown
Budehaven has put a series of measures in place
With 1,200 students and a whole team of staff Budehaven Community School head teacher Dominic Wilkes has had a challenge to work out how to welcome them all back to the new term whilst following COVID-19 guidelines.
It’s a challenge which has required months of work which has resulted in almost reconfiguring the entire secondary school.
But now everything is in place and Mr Wilkes is ready to welcome back students on Friday ready for the new term.
The start of the new school year will be different to everything that has gone before, with a staggered start to the term and the school essentially split into separate areas so that students can remain in their year group “bubbles”.
Clear guidance has been sent to parents and students showing them how they will come into school, where they will go, how their day is planned and how everything has been put in place to prevent them from crossing paths with another bubble.
And while students will be packing their bags with new pencil cases, stationery and lunchboxes they will also be expected to pack a face mask which can be used in communal areas such as corridors.
Mr Wilkes showed us around the school and explained how the classrooms have been configured to ensure that students can continue to learn in a safe way.
What was probably most surprising was how normal it looked – while there are signs around reminding students to keep two metres from staff, tape on the floor of some corridors and plastic screens between computer terminals it does not look as alien as some might anticipate.
“We have worked out how many students we can fit in each room. I wouldn’t say it has been a nightmare but it has been a challenge. We have a staggered changeover as teachers and students can’t be in the corridor at the same time, to keep the two-metre distance. We have the classrooms configured so that the teachers can come in and keep the gap between students.”
Dominic Wilkes, headteacher at Budehaven Community School
And clear guidance has been issued for staff and students about the use of face masks: “It is preferable if staff wear visors. I know there is the contention over whether they are as effective as face masks but we have students who lip-read for example that might need to see a teacher’s face. I have written to parents and said that I would like their children to bring in a face mask in a sealed plastic bag and they can wear that in communal areas, not in the class.”
While this is what it looks like at Budehaven there is nothing to suggest it will be the same at every school in Cornwall. All schools have had to make their own plans to suit their buildings, number of students and how their school day works.
“What is happening down the road doesn’t necessarily mean that we should be doing exactly the same as them. We have worked solidly since February half term, then lockdown started just before Easter and we have had staff in here every day making sure that we are adhering to the government guidance.”
Dominic Wilkes, headteacher at Budehaven Community School
The head teacher said that the staff he had spoken to had been happy with what has been put in place ready for the start of the term and are ready to welcome back students.
“I would like to say a massive thank you to the staff. They have been working solidly and they came in for GCSE and A-level results days that we had a couple of weeks ago and a record number of staff came in to help with that. Some of the ones who haven’t been in because they have been shielding their family and doing online learning, they have been in to school and while they were a little apprehensive at first once they were in they felt a lot better about it.
“I would like to get that message out to parents and our students that actually, yes there’s a lot of hype in the media but we have put everything we can in place to make sure that it’s as safe as possible.”
Dominic Wilkes, headteacher at Budehaven Community School
Sally Hawken, Cornwall Council Cabinet member for children and families, said that she was “beyond impressed” by the work and effort that schools have shown in preparing for the new term.
“We’ve not had schools closed. They have all had to do remote learning which is all new stuff which hasn’t been done before, plus the key worker children and vulnerable children who have been in the school buildings so there has been a whole lot of working going on and then the summer holiday they have been planning and preparing around restarting in September. I don’t think they have had much of a break this summer so I am hugely grateful for all the effort they have put in.”
Sally Hawken, Cornwall Council Cabinet member for children and families
The councillor said that Cornwall Council had been working closely with schools to ensure that they knew about all the guidance which had been published by the government and providing support.
However there has been some criticism from schools and staff around the timing of government advice and guidance being issued with a directive on face masks only being sent out on Friday ahead of the bank holiday weekend.
Cllr Hawken said: “Clearly we have all been through a situation where things evolve rapidly, there is no way you could have avoided lots of different bits of guidance dropping. Has the timing of it been helpful? That’s kind of questionable. I think we have all got used to that Friday evening groan about ‘what is there now that we need to think about on Monday and would it have been possible to have that slightly before now?’”
Some students and their parents may be anxious about the return to school, which Cllr Hawken said she could understand.
“I do understand the anxiety. People who are really comfortable about their children returning to school aren’t emailing me, the people who are emailing me are saying ‘I’m really worried about…’ And there’s a whole range of things that they might want to talk about or want information about the guidance, on things like the ventilation of schools and all sorts of issues that parents have asked me questions about.
“The most important thing is to engage with the school, because I can’t answer how it is going to work in school A, B, C. What I can do is say have that relationship with the school, talk to them about the things you are worried about, they will, likely, have that question in their heads already or answered for other parents – that is the first port of call.
“If you’re not following your school on social media that is worth doing. Lots and lots of schools have been very responsive in communicating with parents and some schools have done virtual tours online, that sort of thing.
“There’s lots of ways that schools are trying to allay some of those concerns. I do understand why, certainly for those families where they have been shielding and have been very shut away for a long period of time this will feel like quite an enormous step.”
Sally Hawken, Cornwall Council Cabinet member for children and families