Secondary School Phased Return

Following the Scottish Government’s announcement for the phased return of secondary pupils to schools, we share the following guidance for the arrangements beginning on Monday 15^th March and ending on Thursday 1^st April.

After the Easter break the current guidance is that all pupils will return to school 100% of the time.

Basic Principles

We will operate different models for the Junior (S1-3) and Senior (S4-6) Phases, which are described in detail below, but the return of pupils will be with the same shared principles, as outlined by The Scottish Government:

• 2 metre social distancing will remain in force for this period of time.
• Senior pupils will be given priority in line with the greater demands on them due to SQA qualifications.
• Online provision will continue for all pupils during this time when they are not physically in school.
• Vulnerable and key worker children will continue to attend school as normal Monday to Friday.

Arrangements for both Junior & Senior Pupils

Health & Safety

• 2 metre social distancing is expected throughout the school day, both in classes and in social times.
• Face coverings are mandatory at all times in the school building. Exemptions will still apply.
• One way systems will be in place, as before in the building.
• Hand sanitisation and room cleaning will be in place, as before.
• Staggered breaks and lunchtimes will be in effect as before.
• Due to the need for reduced numbers in school, pupils will attend in groups. Pupils, parents and carers will be emailed with details of the group that the pupil will be in. Please see both Junior and Senior Phase models, below, for details.

The School Day & Curriculum

Registration

• For pupils learning at home, the arrangements for morning registration will continue as they currently stand, ie on Google Classroom. Pupils who come to school will be registered in their normal registration period in the morning.

Timetable & Day Structure

• We will be returning to the original timetable (not the revised online timings) from the 15^th of March. This is to allow pupils in the school to have full-time contact with teachers. Pupils working online will therefore have changes to their timetable but we have asked teachers to be consistent in continuing to give the same quantity of work to allow those pupils to take adequate breaks from screen time (15 minutes break every 30 mins).

Curriculum & Learning

• As teachers will now be physically in front of classes in the school building there may not be the same level of ‘live’ engagement with the classes who are being taught online. This is not to say that communication stops, rather that this may need to be delivered when teachers are able to outside of timetabled classes.
• Engagement reports will continue as normal for those lessons being taught online.

Transport

• School transport will run as normal.
• Social distancing will be in place on the transportation and face coverings must be worn as before.
• Pupils must sit in the allocated zone of the bus which was previously discussed with them last term. If you or your child do not remember the zone that was allocated to you, please contact us.

Arrangements for Junior Phase Pupils Only

• To allow for safe attendance at school, pupils in S1, S2 and S3 will be invited to attend in groupings which represent 25% of their year group meaning that they attend one full day in school during this phased return period.
• The focus in this time will be to:
  • Allow pupils an experience of the school building and renewed contact with peers and adults in the school community.
  • Review of their online learning during lockdown with their teachers on that day as well as a chance to identify areas for development going forward in to the full time return planned after the Easter holiday.
• Fridays will see the school physically closed to BGE pupils (with exception of those attending the Key Worker/Vulnerable Hub) with online learning continuing on these days.

The model for S1-3 pupils attending school is shown below:

Arrangements for Senior Phase Pupils Only

• To allow for safe attendance at school, pupils in S4, S5 and S6 will be invited to attend in groupings which represent 33% of their cohort, meaning that they attend four full days in school during this phased return period.
• The focus in this time will be to:
  • Allow pupils an experience of the school building and renewed contact with peers and adults in the school community.
  • Have focused time in SQA qualifications to assess progress during lockdown and to identify areas for development going forward towards the full-time return, planned after the Easter holiday.
  • Complete essential SQA coursework that is outstanding.
• Friday each week will be used to continue the process of students attending to complete work as well as continued online learning. Pupils will be invited via email.
• College Hair & Beauty pupils will continue to attend on Friday as they currently do.

The model for S4-6 pupils attending school is shown below:

COVID-19 Testing

• All senior pupils will be offered lateral flow testing kits on their first day of attendance at school. These are voluntary but participation is encouraged.
• Consent forms are required for all pupils with those under 16 also requiring a parent/carer’s signature. These will be issued at morning registration to pupils.
• Pupils will be given instruction on how to use the test kits at registration through a demonstration video which can be seen here

Please check your/your child’s email address in the coming days to make sure that you know the date(s) that you/your child should attend school. If you have any problems or questions please contact us.

We look forward to welcoming you back to school.