Beginning of spring term 2021

 

January 7^th 2021

Dear Parents and Carers

The situation has changed

Since my letter I sent to you on 31.12.20 with the timetable of school opening, the situation has changed quite considerably. In fact many times! It is now quite clear that we cannot have the whole school returning by 18.01.21 as originally planned, and instead will have to operate a partial opening system as we did in the summer term. This is because of the speed of infection from the new variant of the virus and that our school building cannot cater for 70 students, plus 40 staff, totalling 110 and provide a virus safe environment.

We have trained in Covid testing and conducted 52 tests so far. 100% negative results. We will test all staff and students weekly.

So, the new timetable starting 11.01.21 will be the following:

• Year 11 students: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (Wednesday is online learning at home)
• Year 10 students: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (Friday is online learning at home)
• Key worker students: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

These 3 groups of students already know when they are in school. In addition, a 4^th group will be added week beginning 18.01.21

• Selected KS3 Vulnerable: Wednesday and Fridays

KS3 Form tutors will contact you if your son/daughter is in this group.

This will mean we will have 35 students in the school building.

The rest of the school population unfortunately will remain at home working online on GOOGLE CLASSROOM.

Laptops and Chrome books at home

Today we delivered 20 Chrome books for KS3 students to log onto GOOGLE CLASSROOM. This now means that every student at Batchwood School has their own device to complete school work at home either via a school laptop, school Chrome Book or own personal device. If anyone else needs a device, please contact me asap. We can address a few more shortages.

Conclusions

I really am very sorry about these changes. These are circumstances beyond everyone’s control. Please contact me if you want to ask questions/make any comments.

Jonathan Kemp
(Headteacher)

Download letter: Beginning of Spring term 2021 arrangements (revised) - pdf

 

 

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Beginning of Autumn term 2020

 

August 24^th 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you have all had a relaxing summer break from everything and of course continue to be safe and healthy. I just want to give you a few details about school before we start in September. Apologies for the length of this letter, but there is a lot of information to give out.

School open full time for all years

We are absolutely committed to opening full time for all years. HCC are running the transport system as they normally do. It is advisable to wear a face mask on journeys to and from school. These are the school term start dates:

Thursday September 3rd: Year 7 and 11 only

Friday September 4th: All years in

How school will run following sensible Covid-19 Safety arrangements

• All rooms will be supplied with sanitizer for student and staff use for both entry and exit from class
• All rooms will be provided with washing down facilities such as spray, cloths...etc. to be used after each lesson
• Lidded bins will be in each classroom with tissues for ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’
• Individually named pencil cases with appropriate equipment will be given to each student by the form tutor at the beginning of each day and collected at the end of the day. This will be wiped down/sanitized for next day use
• There will be no assemblies
• School will start at 9:00am for 20-minute form time them lesson 1 at normal time of 9:20
• Appropriate signage regarding social distancing and hygiene will continue to be displayed
• Any student showing signs of symptoms will be looked after in the first aid room until the parent/carer can collect

If we are to continue to remain open without interruption, we all have a duty to ensure we come to school healthy. This is the same message for both students and staff. If someone experiences Covid symptoms, they must stay at home and book a test. The link in this letter explains how to do this: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus. If the test is negative, schooling can recommence, if it is positive, then please stay at home for 14 days.

I do need to make you all aware, that if a situation arises where a number of staff need to be at home because of symptoms, I will need to consider the safe running of the school, which could result in a year group in KS3 closing down for a few days, or a series of year groups closing over a series of days. I will keep Years 10 and 11 open at all times.

Movement around the School

This is the biggest challenge, but please see the diagram below.

Please note:

• It is a clockwise move around the school
• The main Maths/English corridor is 2-way as it is the only corridor that is more than 2m wide
• All other corridors are 1-way only
• 1-way system past science, through the hall and into DT/Art/Food (who exit via the external doors)
• Scenarios: If a student has DT followed by English, then they leave DT via the external door and walk round past Music, through the main entrance, up the 2-way system and into English (OR they could walk all the way round the school and enter English via the English external door)
• English teachers will meet and guide student movement up into their areas
• Ms Adams will meet and guide student movement up into her Maths room
• Students may have to wait outside a classroom before entering to allow teachers to finish cleaning

Break times

• We will run a 2 break system with KS3 at 10:40 and KS4 at 10:50

Lunch times

• We will run a 2 lunch sitting: KS3 first, then KS4
• 12:20 is KS3 lunch. KS4 will go outside for their break, play football…etc.
• 12:40 is KS4 lunch. KS3 will finish lunch and will go outside for their activities…etc.

Student showing symptoms/becomes ill

• Please do not send in your son/daughter if they show symptoms at home
• Any student who comes to school showing any symptoms, or becomes ill during the day, will be immediately (and kindly) isolated in the First Aid room. Parent/carer will be contacted to pick up.
• Appropriate and measured response will follow depending on outcome of the sickness (i.e. it may just be a normal cold)

Behaviour

• Full uniform to be worn (this is addressed further in this letter)
• Any student who does not respect the need to social distance and our guidance outlined in this letter will be sent home
• Phones: These need to be handed in at the front as normal practice

Slight change to the school day

Because we want to minimise classes mixing as much as possible we are starting school at the slightly later time of 9:00am instead of 8:40am. This is for the first ½ term only. The day will look as follows:

09:00: Students arrive & Tutor time
09:20: Lesson 1
10:00: Lesson 2
10:40: Break (split)
11:00: Lesson 3
11:40: Lesson 4
12:20: Lunch (split)
13:00: Lesson 5
13:40: Lesson 6
14:20: Tutor time
14:40: Home

Uniform

School uniform needs to be impeccable.

We will start the year as we intend to carry on with a real drive on School Uniform and ensure all students arrive to school in the correct uniform. As always, there are genuine exceptions to the case, of which the only acceptable one being is a medically certified sensory issue to certain fabrics that a small minority of our student’s experience with clothing. As a school, we already know who these students are and these have been agreed in advance between school and home. The rest of the school community should be arriving in full school uniform which is:

• Black shoes (not trainers)
• Black trousers (and/or skirt)
• White shirt/blouse
• School tie
• Black blazer or black V-neck jumper

Year 11’s have a choice; either the school uniform, or they can wear a suit/smart office wear.

Please note: the wearing of tracksuit bottoms, white trainers, hoodies….etc, is not acceptable school attire. Any student arriving to school without the correct uniform and without a parental explanation, will either be sent home to put the correct uniform on, or, will need to be transported into school the next day by their parent for a meeting. Apologies if this sounds draconic, but the wearing of uniform is important to Batchwood.

Taxi arrangements

• Arriving to school, each taxi will wait with their passengers inside until invited in. This will be done taxi by taxi. This is so each student can sanitize their hands and we avoid ‘grouping up’. Students can then hand in their phones in and go straight to their form room

Conclusion

As ever, thank you for your continued support, and let’s hope that the academic year 2020/21 will be a successful year for all of us.

Keep safe.

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Kemp
(Headteacher)

Download letter: Beginning of Autumn term 2020 - pdf

 

 

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Summer Letter (Years 7 - 10 2020)

July 15^th 2020

Dear Parent/Carer

A most unusual year and still contains so many unanswered questions. One thing we do know is that school will be fully open in September. So here are the arrangements.

Thursday September 3rd: Year 7 and 11 only

Friday September 4th: All years in

Covid-19 Safety arrangements

Firstly – common sense.

• All rooms will be supplied with sanitizer for student and staff use for both entry and exit from class
• All rooms will be provided with washing down facilities such as spray, cloths...etc. to be used after each lesson
• Lidded bins will be in each classroom with tissues for ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’
• Individually named pencil cases with appropriate equipment will be given to each student by the form tutor at the beginning of each day and collected at the end of the day. This will be wiped down/sanitized for next day use
• There will be no assemblies
• School will start at 9:00am for 20-minute form time them lesson 1 at normal time of 9:20
• Appropriate signage regarding social distancing and hygiene will continue to be displayed

Movement around the School

This is the biggest challenge, but please see the diagram below.

Please note:

• It is a clockwise move around the school
• The main Maths/English corridor is 2-way as it is the only corridor that is more than 2m wide
• All other corridors are 1-way only
• 1-way system past science, through the hall and into DT/Art/Food (who exit via the external doors)
• Scenarios: If a student has DT followed by English, then they leave DT via the external door and walk round past Music, through the main entrance, up the 2-way system and into English (OR they could walk all the way round the school and enter English via the English external door)
• English teachers will meet and guide student movement up into their areas
• Ms Adams will meet and guide student movement up into her Maths room
• Students may have to wait outside a classroom before entering to allow teachers to finish cleaning

Break times

• We will run a 2 break system with KS3 at 10:40 and KS4 at 10:50

Lunch times

• We will run a 2 lunch sitting: KS3 first, then KS4
• 12:20 is KS3 lunch. KS4 will go outside for their break, play football…etc.
• 12:40 is KS4 lunch. KS3 will finish lunch and will go outside for their activities…etc.

Student showing symptoms/becomes ill

• Please do not send in your son/daughter if they show symptoms at home
• Any student who comes to school showing any symptoms, or becomes ill during the day, will be immediately (and kindly) isolated in the First Aid room. Parent/carer will be contacted to pick up.
• Appropriate and measured response will follow depending on outcome of the sickness (i.e. it may just be a normal cold)

Behaviour

• Full uniform to be worn (this is addressed further in this letter)
• Any student who does not respect the need to social distance and our guidance outlined in this letter will be sent home
• Phones: These need to be handed in at the front as normal practice

Slight change to the school day

Because we want to minimise classes mixing as much as possible we are starting school at the slightly later time of 9:00am instead of 8:40am. This is for the first ½ term only. The day will look as follows:

09:00: Students arrive & Tutor time
09:20: Lesson 1
10:00: Lesson 2
10:40: Break (split)
11:00: Lesson 3
11:40: Lesson 4
12:20: Lunch (split)
13:00: Lesson 5
13:40: Lesson 6
14:20: Tutor time
14:40: Home

Uniform

The bane of every school, but an issue that is very important to the continuing development of the school. School uniform needs to be impeccable. We will start the year as we intend to carry on with a real drive on School Uniform and ensure all students arrive to school in the correct uniform. As always, there are genuine exceptions to the case, of which the only acceptable one being is a medically certified sensory issue to certain fabrics that a small minority of our student’s experience with clothing. As a school, we already know who these students are and these have been agreed in advance between school and home. The rest of the school community should be arriving in full school uniform which is:

• Black shoes (not trainers)
• Black trousers (and/or skirt)
• White shirt/blouse
• School Tie
• Black blazer or black V-neck jumper

Year 11’s have a choice; either the school uniform, or they can wear a suit/smart office wear.

Please note: the wearing of tracksuit bottoms, white trainers, hoodies….etc, is not acceptable school attire. Any student arriving to school without the correct uniform and without a parental explanation, will either be sent home to put the correct uniform on, or, will need to be transported into school the next day by their parent for a meeting. Apologies if this sounds draconic, but the wearing of uniform is important to Batchwood.

Taxi arrangements

• We have been informed by HCC that Taxi arrangements will be as they have always been. The recommendation therefore is that all students wear their face masks when in their taxi
• Arriving to school, each taxi will wait with their passengers inside until invited in. This will be done taxi by taxi. This is so each student can sanitize their hands and we avoid ‘grouping up’. Students can then hand in their phones in and go straight to their form room.

Final words

It just leaves me to wish you all a very happy, safe and relaxing summer break. Just as a reminder, school begins again on Thursday September 3rd for years 7 and 11 only, with years 8, 9 and 10 returning on Friday Thursday September 4th 2020.

Have a fabulous and safe break.

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Kemp
(Headteacher)

Download Summer letter (Years 7 - 10 2020) - pdf

 

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Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you continue to be safe and that your son/daughter continues to make sure that they are making the most of these unusual circumstances and achieving something very different. I also hope that the learning activities available on google classroom are being accessed each day. If you have any issues with the work, please talk with your form tutor when they ring you.

What are we doing now?

As per my previous letter to you, we are maintaining the school structure as we have at present with 35 students attending across the week. That is quite close to 50% attending school. We will maintain this through to Friday July 17th when we break up for the summer holidays. The only change from next week affects year 10’s.

Year 10’s

Year 10’s have been invited into school for Monday, Tuesday AND Fridays. Monday and Tuesdays will focus on Science and the theory work they need to complete for their GCSE course. On Fridays, only Year 10 are in school where they will start each Friday working on one of the 20 experiments they need to do. By operating like this, we will have less ‘catch up’ for Science in year 11. Mrs Gopaul will lead the lessons assisted by Mrs Parsonage and Mrs Horn. Sports activities will follow when the practical work is completed!

I completely understand that there are some Year 10 students/families who are still worried about the virus and have decided to continue to continue to shield at home. Of course, that is absolutely fine, but so these students do not miss out on the work, Mr Hurley will conduct a series of online lessons and/or zoom classes for you to log into and complete the work from the sanctuary of your home. That way no one will be disadvantaged. More information will be given to those students individually next week.

Conclusion

So that’s where we are. In July I hope we will have a clearer picture of what September will look like. Other than that, as ever, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Keep safe.

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Kemp
(Headteacher)

 

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Dear Parents and Carers

Firstly, I hope you are all safe and healthy. Secondly, I trust you are finding the daily contact from your form tutors helpful. This is a really good way of keeping contact with you all and for any questions you may have, to be answered.

Finances

If any family is experiencing financial issues, or circumstances have changed, please let your tutor know, or contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) as soon as possible. We may be able to help you with completing a free school meals application and/or supplying food vouchers.

Learning

So far your son/daughter has been provided with ‘hard copies’ of work to complete. This will soon run out. I cannot see school restarting in the next 3 weeks either, so I also believe that we should take this opportunity to explore different ways of learning that suit individual young people. So, divide your day into 2 halves.

Morning

1. Exercise – start the day with Joe Wicks 30-minute workout

2. Literacy Planet/Boggle (or English work on the KS3/4 blog site)

3. Free time

Afternoon

1. My Maths (or Maths work on the KS3/4 blogsite) or Science work

2. Creative time: this could include;

• • researching & cooking a new dish for the family

  • making cakes for the family/community

  • gardening

  • setting up a herb garden

  • sowing seeds for a vegetable patch

  • creating a blog/diary of your activities that you can look back on over the years and remind yourselves how we all got through Coronavirus

Below are further details of resources freely available to enrich your day.

Other useful links

The address for any home-learning in years 7-9 is:

batchwoodks3.school.blog

The address for any home-learning in Years 10-11 are:

batchwoodks4english.school.blog

batchwoodks4maths.school.blog

batchwoodks4science.school.blog

Lastly

As ever, we will update you via parentmail of any further changes or developments. Any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Kemp
(Headteacher)

 

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Dear Parents and Carers,
We would like to share updated information about the coronavirus with you. Please read and follow the advice below.
Full details can be found on the Public Health England website:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) - what you need to know
Regards,
School Office