Kentish Express Ashford & District
Back to school... but not as they knew it
Thousands of pupils across Kent are back in their classrooms this week - and they are coming to terms with a very different learning environment.
Those returning on Monday faced significant changes to their surroundings to comply with strict government guidelines.
Teachers have been implementing a number of changes instructed by the Government to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including staggered lunchtimes and limiting class sizes.
Pupils returned to “bubbles”, staying in the same room with the same classmates and teachers to reduce risk by minimising mixing.
Social distancing measures along with increased cleaning and hygiene practices will be enforced.
Head teacher Ben Hulme admitted there had been some apprehension at St Paul’s primary, Swanley, following the Government’s decision, but said the reopening “could not have gone better”.
The school has been re-organised to allow bubbles of no more than 15 pupils with two members of staff, and classrooms have been slightly stripped to ensure easy cleaning.
Younger children in their “social bubble” were not being forced to stay apart from each other, but they were “reminded to keep their distance”.
“It was wonderful to welcome children back,” Mr Hulme added.
One Herne Bay head teacher said social distancing will have to be abandoned before his school can receive all of its pupils.
As Herne Junior School prepared to welcome back less than half of its Year 6 cohort, head Malcolm Saunders said he does not have enough rooms to enforce the two-metre rule when the remaining pupils return.
Staff will have access to gloves, masks and goggles, and classrooms will be cleaned regularly - with deep cleans taking place at the end of each week.
In Sittingbourne, Lansdowne Primary School, part of The Stour Academy Trust, was among those to reopen and nineyear-old Oscar Deacon couldn’t wait. The Year 4 pupil said: “I was excited to come back and I enjoyed it. It was the same thing but with different people in class from different years.”
His dad, John, felt the new routine worked better than before.
The 31-year-old said: “Pick-up was very simple. They just bring them out and that’s it, much better than normal.
“It’s normally absolutely rammed. About 80-90 parents are normally congregating around but the school’s staggered the times, and there’s not as many children attending, it was perfect.
“I had no concerns at all about sending him back. When he was off, he said to me ‘you always tell me school’s the best time of your life, I believe you now’.”
A spokesman for The Stour Academy Trust said all eight of its primary schools reopened to the year groups specified by the Government.
He added: “We have worked on a detailed plan to provide the most effective and safest means for children and staff to return to school. In addition, we have also put in place measures of our own, for example, scanning all visitors, staff and pupils on entering the premises through the use of thermal infra-red thermometers.”
Teachers across the trust’s schools made almost 800 online home learning lessons for youngsters to access during school closures.
On the Isle of Sheppey, scores of children were “desperate and ready” to return.
Michelle Baker said: “My little Ruby-Lee went back to nursery today. Every day in lockdown, she has asked me to take her. I’m a mum-of-six, so this lockdown has been very hard to entertain and keep them all busy.
“If we lived in London, she would not have gone back and if the death rates go up a lot, then I would pull her back out.
“Also, it was very quiet at school, so my little girl will be used to the new rules before they get busy and everyone has to go back.”
Keeley Cherry’s son Harrison, four, returned to Queenborough Nursery on Monday where he “had the best day ever,” she said.
Meanwhile, Frankie-Mae Morrow was “extremely excited” to be back in her usual school and wearing her uniform.
The Eastchurch Primary School pupil had been attending school throughout the lockdown, but at another site, because both of her parents are key workers. Her mum, Bernie, is a nurse at Medway Hospital, and her dad, Paul, is a fireman.
Mum Bernie said: “She was extremely excited to be in her normal school and even wear her uniform. She understands the changes made and why they are in place.”
Debbie Wheeler, chief executive of the Island Learning Trust which runs two schools on Sheppey and one in Sittingbourne, refused to reopen for reception and Year 6 pupils.
She said: “It will be very much a return to chalk and talk traditional teaching. It’s going to be a massive culture shock.”
To comply with strict government safety guidelines, headteachers are stripping out carpets, soft furnishings and toys.
But the most difficult test they are facing is removing all the notices and pictures from the walls.
Timothy Pye, assistant head at Minster Primary School admitted: “We are looking forward to seeing the children again but it has been really hard taking down everything which inspires them. We will do the best we can. But as a father, I am somewhat hesitant. And it must be scary for some families.”
Children will have staggered start and finish times so there will be reduced crowding at the school gates.
A Whitstable headteacher says she understands it will be “daunting” for pupils and parents. Whitstable Junior School head Annie Knoupe told parents teachers are preparing classrooms and learning new systems put in place.
The school day will finish early every Friday at 1pm to enable “thorough cleaning” to take place - but key worker children can stay until 3pm.
Meanwhile, at secondary schools, Department for Education guidance states that Years 10 and 12 pupils will be the first to return for “face-to-face contact”.
It says this will not represent “a return to full timetables or pupils back in school or college full time, rather some support to supplement pupils’ remote education”.
This week, the opening date for secondaries was pushed back by the Prime Minister to June 15.
Herne Bay High principal Jon Boyes said: “The whole school site is fully risk assessed and we’ll meet all the government guidelines. All of our Year 10 students will come in bubble groups at different points of the week from Monday, June 15.
“In groups of 14 at the most, they’ll have input for English, maths and science, to help their remote learning.
“The following week, we’ll do the same with Year 12 and then see what we do after that.”
Teachers at St Katherine’s Primary School in Snodland have been working hard to make sure pupils, parents and staff feel safe about classrooms reopening.
The head of the Oasis Academy, on the Isle of Sheppey, the Rev Steve Chalke, suggests social distancing is “not alienating” and is “actually fun” for kids returning to school.
He also said when comparing classrooms to crowds in local parks, children are sticking to the rules “a lot better than some adults.”
Meanwhile, Medway teacher Joanne Howcroft-Scott, who is also a Labour councillor, expressed misgivings about re-opening, believing the test, trace and isolate system should be fully running before the lockdown was relaxed.