High Beeches Primary School
COVID19 Pandemic
Although we will need to continue to operate with some COVID19 protective measures, such as enhanced hygiene and ventilation, from September 2021, the government have said that schools will no longer be required to operate in protective bubbles or follow staggered timetables from September. This means that we can return to our normal timetable in many ways. This will include meeting as a whole school and in various other groups for assemblies and a return to a slightly adjusted version of our original arrangements for drop-off and collection at the beginning and end of the school day, as outlined below.
There will be a soft start to the school day each morning, with all pupils entering between 8:45 and 8:55am. In order to maintain the low levels of congestion enjoyed during the pandemic and to help the children make a swift, independent start to the school day, we will continue to operate the one-way system, with parents and children entering the site via the gate adjacent to the larger bike sheds on the Willow Court side of the site, and with children walking into class whilst their parents leave via the gate closest to the main building. Reception pupils will continue to enter via their outside doors and Years 1, 2, 5 and 6 through the double doors at the ends and side of the Meadow Building and Years 3 and 4 through the doors to the side of the Orchard Building.
There will be a slight adjustment to the end of the school day from September 2021, which we hope will provide further protection against transmission of Coronavirus by helping us to maintain a similar flow of people on and off the site at the end of the school day. To further support this, we will be extending the 3:10 pick-up to all pupils in the Infants (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2). Junior Children (those in Year 3 and above) will return to a 3:15pm collection and parents are expected to follow the same one-way system as they are currently doing, entering via the gate adjacent to the larger bike sheds on the Willow Court side of the site and with those collecting from Years 1, 3, 4 and 6 following the path to the right-hand side of Meadow Building around to the main playground at the rear of the school. Pupils in Reception and Years 1 to 4 will be dismissed from their external classroom doors and those in Years 5 and 6 leave via the double doors at either end of the Meadow Building.
The government have said that self-isolation for contacts of those who have tested positive will no longer be required from 16 August. However, in the event that pupils are required to self-isolate or should there be further periods of enforced closure, remote learning will be delivered through Tapestry, our online learning journal for children in Reception, and Seesaw, our remote learning platform for those in Years 1 to 6. Links to these, as well as to other online learning materials, are available below.
