Letter from the Headteacher about face masks

Dear Parent/Carer/Student,

Can I start by thanking all of our students for coming back to school this week in such a positive and mature manner. It has been really fantastic to see the students again and, as always, they have risen to the challenges that the new term has brought, and responded to the new systems that are in place.

Now we have the students back in school we have been assessing which systems have worked well and which need to change. We also need to take into account the national picture, with regards to the Prime Ministers’ announcement on Wednesday, and our local context, with one of feeder schools closing this week due to the pandemic.

As a result we want to outline a change that we will be making in the school from Monday regarding face masks.

• As of Monday we will be asking students to wear face masks in school when they are moving between lessons and when they are not in their own ‘bubbled’ social spaces.
• We would like all students to be wearing a face mask when they arrive to school until they have reached their ‘bubbled’ social space.
• At the end of every lesson, end of break/lunch, end of the day students will be asked to put their masks on until they have reached their classroom, or ‘bubbled’ social space.
• The bus companies have also requested that on all routes they would like students to be wearing face masks (this is already compulsory on the X54).

The vast majority of students already have a mask, but if you don’t then we have ones at school that can be used (they can be collected at the Nest). If for any reason you do not believe that your son/daughter should be wearing a face mask due to health, or other reasons, then please let the tutor know and they can issue an exemption. Please could you ensure that masks are plain/or have a simple pattern and with no logos.

We hope that you will agree this is a sensible measure. Even with a one way system, and ‘bubbled’ areas of the school, we are unable to stop the crossing of year groups at certain points of the day and this measure would add a layer of security that we feel is necessary to keep students and staff as safe as possible.

Can we also thank sixth form students for their patience this week. As of next week we will be starting to move the Year 13’s into the LRC as a ‘bubbled’ area. We will also be changing the timings for period 4 for the Sixth Form to allow them extra time to use the canteen at lunchtime. Mrs Rayner and the Sixth Form team will outline these changes in more detail to students in the next couple of days.

Kind regards,

Adam Darley
Headteacher