Introduction

As you know, the government has set out plans for all children to return to school from 08 March 2021.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming all students back to The Deanes but there are ten major steps we must take to prevent the spread of the virus and students will be expected to cooperate fully to help us ensure those ten major steps are implemented every single day of school:

1. Minimise contact with individuals who are required to self-isolate by ensuring they do not attend school.
2. Ensure face coverings are used when required. 
3. Clean hands thoroughly more often than usual. 
4. Ensure good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach.
5. Introduce enhanced cleaning, including cleaning frequently touched surfaces often, using standard products such as detergents and bleach.
6. Minimise contact between individuals and maintain social distancing wherever possible.
7. Keep occupied spaces well ventilated.
8. Ensure individuals wear the appropriate PPE where necessary.
9. Promote and engage in asymptomatic testing.
10. Promote and engage with the NHS Test and Trace process.

We have spent a great deal of time ensuring that we have followed the government’s guidance about the full reopening of schools from 08 March 2021, which can be found here. We have a detailed Risk Assessment in place which has been signed off by The Challenger Multi Academy Trust Board. The Risk Assessment can be viewed here.

Whilst the threat of spreading Covid-19 still exists, we have put in place a number of new arrangements to ensure we minimise the threat of spreading the virus whilst delivering a full curriculum for our students. We feel certain that The Deanes is as safe as it can possibly be and we want to welcome back every single one of our students, including those with certain medical needs who may have been classified as clinically vulnerable.  Clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) students should follow the guidance and remain at home while shielding advice applies nationally.  If your child is classed as CEV, please ensure that we are aware. 

Arrangements for Starting Back

• When students are in school, they will remain in their year group ‘bubble’. We will be avoiding mixing of year groups at all times.
• ‘Bubbles’ will be zoned within the school so that students have access to a minimal number of classrooms. Older students will have access to specialist teaching spaces where appropriate. Each zone will have allocated toilets and an outdoor and indoor space that students will be able to access for break and lunch. A map of the Zones can be viewed here.
• Students will be in different zones on different days so they can access specialist rooms where appropriate.
• Staff will be able to move between the Year Group “bubbles” so that we can have the right teachers in front of the right classes at the right time. 
• There will be limited extra-curricular activities.

Lateral Flow Testing

On the week beginning 08 March 2021 students will need to take a Covid test prior to their entry to school.   Then students need to take 2 further Covid tests before Easter.  Students are not required to wear a uniform when coming onto site for their first test.  Parking will not be available onsite for parents / carers.  Please drop your child off near the sports centre and arrange to pick up your child offsite.  Please drive carefully through the school site and be aware that students may be moving between lessons or using the outside areas during break and lunch. 

Test 1

Year 11 Students

Year 11 will be tested on Monday 08 March at the times listed below.  Students will come into school for their test and leave immediately afterwards.  If their test comes back as negative, they will return to school for lessons on Tuesday 09 March at 08:30.

Year 10 Students

Year 10 students will remain at home on Monday 08 March and Tuesday 09 March and complete the remote learning work.  They will be tested on Wednesday 10 March at the times listed below.  Students will come into school for their test and leave immediately afterwards.  If their test comes back as negative, they will return to school for lessons on Thursday 11 March at 08:30.

Year 9 Students

Year 9 students will remain at home until Thursday 11 March and complete the remote learning work.  They will be tested on Friday 12 March at the times listed below.  Students will come into school for their test and leave immediately afterwards.  If their test comes back as negative, they will return to school for lessons on Monday 15 March at 08:30.

Year 8 Students

Year 8 students will remain at home on Monday 08 March, Tuesday 09 March and Wednesday 10 March and complete the remote learning work.  They will be tested on Thursday 11 March at the times listed below.  Students will come into school for their test and leave immediately afterwards.  If their test comes back as negative, they will return to school for lessons on Friday 12 March at 08:30.

Year 7 Students

Year 7 students will remain at home on Monday 08 March and complete the remote learning work.  They will be tested on Tuesday 09 March at the times listed below.  Students will come into school for their test and leave immediately afterwards.  If their test comes back as negative, they will return to school for lessons on Wednesday 10 March at 08:30.

The above information is presented in the table below:

The timings for the tests for each year group are as follows by surname:

During the week commencing 08 March, there will not be any live lessons due to the staggered return of students, but remote learning will be set according to the timetable below.  On the days that students have their first test, they will not be required to complete any remote learning.  

Test 2

Test 2 will take place on the week beginning 15 March 2021.  One year group per day will be tested.  These tests will take place between 08:30 and 10:50. Lessons for that year group will start at 11:10 (Period 3).  Students in that year group who are not being tested, will be expected to arrive on site by 11:05 but not earlier than 10:50.  

This late start will avoid disruption of lessons by students leaving and arriving at different times.

Those students who are being tested will arrive in school for 08:30 and go to the test centre.  They will be tested and will receive their results by 10:50   They will remain in a holding area in school, at a social distance, until the results are known.  At 10:50 these will be released for break and will attend lessons from 11:10.

Test 3

Test 3 will take place on the week beginning 22 March 2021 in the same way.

School Bus Service

The usual school bus services will operate from Tuesday 09 March 2021.  For the first week (08 March – 12 March), this service will only be for those year groups that are at school for lessons.

Vulnerable Students / Students with Critical Worker Parents Provision

Tutor rooms for first day back

Further Details

Lateral Flow Testing in School (from 08 March 2021 until 26 March 2021)

What if a student tests positive?

Participating staff and students who test positive will be informed about their results individually. Where participants are under 16, parents or legal guardians will also be notified. If the test returns a positive result the student will have to self-isolate and follow the guidance from NHS Test and Trace.

What happens if the test is negative?

If the test is negative students will be able to engage fully with onsite learning the following day.

Does my child have to take a Covid Test?

Although you child does not have to take a test, having a Covid test is strongly recommended in the interests of everyone’s safety and therefore I would encourage you to consent to the test.  Around 1 in 3 individuals with Covid-19 do not display symptoms.   These tests are a simple way to test people who do not have symptoms of Covid-19, but who may still be spreading the virus.  Identifying these students will potentially reduce the possibility of us having to close the school if an outbreak of Covid happens due to asymptomatic students spending the virus.

Following discussions this week between the Local Authority, the DFE and Public Health, we have been issued with updated guidance on the testing of students upon their return to school.  For parents and students who consent to testing, we are able to make available the option of community testing in place of the first test in school.

Therefore, there are now 3 options for students.

• Option 1: To consent to all 3 tests being conducted at school.
• Option 2: To consent to the first test being conducted at a community testing site and the second and third tests at school.
• Option 3: To decline consent for testing.

Where will the tests take place?

We will be using parts of our Sports Centre.  The testing will take place in our Gym.

Lateral Flow Testing at home from 26 March 2021

Both students and staff in secondary schools will be supplied with LFD test kits to self swab and test themselves twice a week at home. Staff and students must report their result to NHS Test and Trace as soon as the test is completed either online or by telephone as per the instructions in the home test kit.

Staff and students should also share their result, whether void, positive or negative, with their school to help with contact tracing. More information on this process will be shared before the Easter holiday.

Adolescents aged 12 to 17 should self-test and report with adult supervision. The adult may conduct the test if necessary. Children aged 11 attending a secondary school should be tested by an adult.

Staff or students with a positive LFD test result will need to self-isolate in line with the stay-at-home guidance. They will also need to arrange a lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to confirm the result if the test was done at home. Those with a negative LFD test result can continue to attend school and use protective measures.

Lateral Flow Testing for members of households, child care or support bubbles

Households with primary school, secondary school and college age children, including childcare and support bubbles, can test themselves twice every week at home as schools return from Monday 8 March. Households, childcare and support bubbles of primary, secondary and college staff can also be tested. The twice-weekly test kits can be accessed:

    •    via employers if they offer testing to employees

    •    at a local test site

    •    by collecting a home test kit from a test site

    •    by ordering a home test kit online 

This guidance provides information on who can be tested and how you can get a test.  This link is also very useful https://find-Covid-19-rapid-test-sites.maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/   

Timings of the School Day

There will be no changes to the timings of the school day.

Monday:          08:30 – 15:50

Tuesday:            08:30 – 14:50

Wednesday:       08:30 – 14:50

Thursday:         08:30 – 14:50

Friday:            08:30 – 13:10

Wellbeing

We will continue to provide excellent pastoral care for all students, but additional support has also been planned.

PE lessons will provide an opportunity for supervised physical activity. 

Our school counsellor will be available for additional drop in sessions.

Distancing

Students should maintain a social distance from each other where they can; furthermore, touching other people in school is prohibited.

Where possible, we want to ensure that adults in the school maintain 2m social distancing from other adults and students.

We will be insisting that staff maintain a 2m distance at all times.

Zones / Bubbles

When in school, students will not be allowed to mix with other students outside their year groups and will be taught in their own year-based areas of the school. These zones are shown on this map:

Zone 1 (pink):      Technology Block and the Renaissance Block

Zone 2 (green):     Music, Hall, Library and Languages

Zone 3 (yellow):    Humanities and Social Studies

Zone 4 (blue):            English

Zone 5 (red):        Maths and Computing

Some areas of the Sports Centre will also be used. These areas will be restricted to allocated ‘bubbles’ at specific times.

Each ‘bubble’ has its own outdoor and indoor area that can be used before school, at break time and at lunch time. Students must not leave their allocated zone, for the safety of others.

Outdoor Space

Zone 1 (pink):      Court 2

Zone 2 (green):          Outside Music

Zone 3 (yellow):        Front of School

Zone 4 (blue):            New Car Park

Zone 5 (red):       Court 1

Indoor Space

Zone 1 (pink):            R01

Zone 2 (green):     Hall

Zone 3 (yellow):        Canteen

 Zone 4 (blue):            Gym

Zone 5 (red):       Sports Hall

All Zones will be clearly marked and colour coded.    Paths between areas will also be marked.

This map shows the paths and the locations of the indoor and outdoor spaces.

Behaviour

Students must understand that good behaviour is essential at all times to enable a safe and successful school. During this pandemic, good behaviour becomes even more important. To ensure the safety of our students and staff, any breaches of our Code of Conduct (including social distancing) could result in students being removed from lessons or in serious cases being sent home. The Code of Conduct can be viewed here.

Parental support for our high standards and expectations will be crucial in helping us run school, and I would like to thank you in advance for your help in emphasising to your children

how important it is that they play their part in the full reopening of school.

Attendance

The government has made it clear that school attendance will be compulsory again from 08 March 2021. This means that, from that point, our usual rules on school attendance will apply.

We continue to work closely with the families of students who are particularly apprehensive about coming back into school.  Please speak to a member of our Attendance Team if you feel you would benefit from additional support.

Travelling to and from school

The Department of Education has updated guidance for parents and carers.

Parents, children and young people are encouraged to walk or cycle where possible and avoid public transport at peak times.

APT Coaches will be operating a coach from Basildon. Please contact APT for further details.

email: admin@aptcoaches.co.uk phone: 01268 783878

A school minibus will be available for those students from Southend who have signed up for this service.

Face coverings must be worn on all transport.

Dropping Off Students

Parents / Carers who are driving their children to school must use the marked drop off points. Parents / Carers must not leave their vehicles.

On arrival at school, students must go to their allocated Zone for that day. This will enable us to maintain distinct groups and limit interaction, sharing of rooms and social spaces.  These Zones are clearly marked on this diagram.

Drop Off Points

Zone 1 (pink):            New Road by Sport

Zone 2 (green):          Top Car Park

Zone 3 (yellow):        Front Turning Circle

Zone 4 (blue):      Front Turning Circle

Zone 5 (red):       New Road by Sport

Picking Up Students

We will implement a staggered exit from the school site. This will not impact on the learning time.

In order to allow students to leave the site in their ‘bubbles’, zones will be dismissed at different times.

Zone 1 (pink):            Usual finish time

Zone 2 (green):          4 minutes after the usual finish time

Zone 3 (yellow):        Usual finish time

Zone 4 (blue):      4 minutes after the usual finish time

Zone 5 (red):       Usual finish time

Students must exit the site immediately. The school buses will be parked on the drive to allow immediate boarding for students.

The school gates will be closed as usual before the end of the school day. Parents / Carers must arrange to pick up their children off-site. Parents / Carers must not arrange to pick up their child on the site school.

Uniform

Students will wear full school uniform as per our uniform policy.

Black non-marking trainers may be worn in place of school  shoes until further notice.

Students should attend school wearing their PE kit on the days they are timetabled for PE lessons. This also applies to Key Stage 4 Dance students.

Students in all year groups should wear The Deanes PE top with track bottoms or shorts. Sports leggings (blue or black) can also be worn (please ensure your child's leggings are of sufficient quality so as not to be see-through).  The Deanes hoodie is recommended, however, a plain blue or black hoodie or sweatshirt may be worn as an alternative.

Face Coverings

Students must wear a face mask in class and in the corridors until the Easter break when this guidance will be reviewed.  

Please ensure your child comes to school with at least one face mask.  We do have some spares, but we will be charging £0.50 per face mask if we need to give one to a student.  This amount will be automatically debited from the child's Cashless Catering Account.   

It must be both the parent’s and the student’s responsibility to ensure that students come to school with the correct equipment, which should include a face mask.

The DfE has further clarified that if a member of staff in a secondary school maintains social distance with others in the room, then they do not need to wear a face covering.  As our classroom layouts allow staff to be 2m from the nearest student, staff will be able to teach without a face covering.  I have allowed staff discretion as to whether they wear a face covering while teaching.

If your child is exempt from wearing a mask, you must complete this form detailing the reason so that we are aware.

Equipment

In order to limit the sharing of resources, it is essential that students are equipped with their own pen, pencil, ruler, calculator and reading book every day. Students will also need their own headphones.

Students will be provided with an exercise book for each subject. Students may wish to bring in other stationery (such as coloured pencils) for their own use.

Any sharing of learning resources  will be limited to ‘bubbles’ and will be sanitised after use 

Students will be able to access library books using an online booking system; returned books will then be quarantined before being made available to other students.

Classroom Layout

All unnecessary furniture and equipment have been removed from classrooms in order to maximise space between desks.

Student desks will be positioned so that all students face the teacher at the front of the classroom. The boundary around the teacher’s desk and teaching area will indicate the recommended distance of 2m between teacher and students.

Windows and doors will be open in classrooms to improve ventilation.

In PE, outdoor sports will be prioritised as far as possible and large indoor spaces with appropriate ventilation.

Extra-Curricular Activities

There will be limited after school extra-curricular activities. Any lunch time extra-curricular activities will be year group specific and take place in the appropriate zone. Information

will be provided to the students in due course.

Catering

Our free breakfast will remain suspended. Parents are encouraged to ensure that their child has an adequate breakfast before leaving home.

The canteen will continue operating our pre-ordering system to enable us to provide food during break and lunchtime to all students and staff while maintaining the year group bubbles. Students and staff are able to pre-order food and have it delivered to them in their bubble at break and lunch time.  The process is simple and works as follows:

• Go to  http://deaneshighpreorder.swift-order.co.uk/
• You can pre-order food up to two weeks in advance.
• You can check your child’s catering balance to ensure that they have sufficient funds to pre-order food.  Please use Parentpay to top up your child’s Cashless Catering balance.
• You will be able to review all purchased transactions.
• For a help guide click here

Instructions to register:

• Go to http://deaneshighpreorder.swift-order.co.uk/
• Click “Set up account”
• Enter your unique code
• Complete the next screen with your choice of email address and password

Once you are logged into the system you can pre-order food for your child. 

Toilets and Drinking Water

Following the advice of Public Health England, we are focusing some of our increased hygiene practices around toilets, which need, for obvious reasons, to be kept extremely clean.

Consequently, we are expecting students to manage the day so that they do not have to go to the toilet during lessons unless it is an absolute emergency 

At break and lunch only one student is allowed in a toilet at a time.

Drinking water fountains have been turned off as they are a potential site for spreading the virus. 

If your child wants to drink water during the school day, they must bring their own full drinking bottle with enough water to last for the day.

Hygiene

All visitors and members of the school community will be reminded of the importance of good hand and respiratory hygiene. Students will be reminded of the importance of washing their hands effectively and will be required to wash or sanitise their hands upon arrival to school, after sneezing or coughing, before and after handling food and after using the toilet.

Extra hand washing facilities will be provided (see map) and hand sanitiser will be available in each classroom.

As part of the ‘Catch it, Bin it, Kill it’ approach we will provide tissues and lidded bins in each classroom. We will remind students on how to safely use and dispose of / store a face

covering as these are required for all travel on public transport.

Cleaning

We continue to employ more cleaners and we have increased the number available throughout the school day. 

An enhanced level of cleaning will be maintained, with high traffic areas and surfaces that are frequently touched by many people being cleaned routinely throughout the day. Communal areas, including the canteen and toilets, will be cleaned frequently.

The classrooms in each zone will be thoroughly cleaned after ‘bubbles’ have used them. All equipment and resources, including IT equipment, will be cleaned regularly; resources that are shared between ‘bubbles’ will be cleaned before another ‘bubble’ uses them. 

Bins will be emptied regularly and waste disposed of safely.

First Aid and medicine

First aid will continue to be administered by a trained first aider. When administering first aid, PPE will be worn if necessary.

We will continue to administer medicine in line with our policy. If your child requires medication, please ensure you have informed us and have the medication required.

Fire Regulations

Students will leave the building through the nearest Fire Exit and gather at their allocated Fire Assembly Point (see this map). These are: 

Year 7:           Court 1

Year 8:           New Car Park

Year 9:           New Car Park

Year 10:         Court 2

Year 11:         Court 2

Students must ensure they make their way to their Fire Assembly Point promptly, then maintain social distancing and remain in their ‘bubble’.

Visitors to school

Access for parents and visitors to the school site is restricted to essential purposes. Admission will be by prior appointment only.

Parents/visitors to the school will read signs in reception regarding good hygiene and be informed of site rules.

A log will be kept of areas visited and people they have been in contact with.

Clinically Extremely Vulnerable

Clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) students should follow the guidance and remain at home while shielding advice applies nationally.  If your child is classed as CEV, please ensure that we are aware.

People who live with those who are clinically extremely vulnerable or clinically vulnerable can attend the workplace.

This guidance also applies to students.

Symptoms of Covid 19 Procedures

The main symptoms of Covid-19 are: 

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

To help us keep the school safe and open, please do not send your child into school if they are feeling ill and especially if they have even just one of the symptoms listed above.

If students are poorly and show any of these symptoms, we will contact their parents to come into school to collect them from our Covid-19 isolation room.

If in any doubt, please look after your child at home. Students who show any of the main symptoms of Covid-19 must be tested for the virus.

Details of how to be tested can be found here.

Contingency Plans

We have a Distance Learning Protocol in place (click here to view the protocol), in the case of an individual or ‘bubble’ isolating or in the event of a whole school closure. 

Departments have agreed an approach for the delivery of the curriculum using the style most appropriate for their subject. 

Instructions for lessons will be shared with students and parents on Epraise and lesson resources will be made available using Microsoft Teams.

In the event of school closure or a period of isolation, students will be required to continue their learning at home and follow their timetable as far as possible 

We have invested in laptops to support the Distance Learning of students should this be required.