Late start part of Covid-19 changes for Salisbury school
Bishop Wordsworth's is welcoming all students back for the first time.
With students across South Wiltshire and West Hampshire starting the new term this week and next, all schools are having to do things a little differently due to Covid-19.
Bishop Wordsworth's in Salisbury are making a host of changes, including a change to their start time.
From Monday (7th September) pupils in all year groups will be asked to turn up to school for a 9:30am start, compard to their usual time of 8:40am.
They will still finish at the normal time of 3:50pm to make it easier for students to get to school and not get caught up in rush hour traffic.
Headmaster Stuart Smallwood told Greatest Hits Radio:
"Typically, in a normal year, we would have somewhere between 80% and 90% of our students would come to school either on foot or on bike or by public transport, so obviously the morning rush hour if we were to start at our normal time of 8:40 some of the boys would still have to come in by public transport and they would be in the rush hour which would not be a good idea so we're going for a 9:30 start which means that they can come in after the rush hour has finished."
The school's head also thanked Wiltshire Council and the bus services for their help, as they have had to change some of the timetables to make it possible for children to get in on time.
All this week they have been having certain year groups in on different days while they build up to the whole school on Monday.
The start time is also just one of many changes as they try to ensure all pupils and members of staff are safe while in the building.
Mr Smallwood added:
"It's full curriculum, no shortcuts have been taken there. We're working on year group bubbles so we are trying to minimise the movement around the school for the kids as much as we can and we're also trying to minimise the amount of contact there is between students of different ages so to minimise the risk of any transmission of the virus and we've got lots of sanitation and cleaning measures in school."
The staff at Bishop Wordsworth School say they are very excited to have all the students back together and want to make it as normal as possible for them.