Kennet’s ‘Nightingale’ begins its pupil Covid testing programme
KENNET School has become a hub of community activity at its ‘Nightingale’ testing centre as it eagerly waits for children to return next week.
Kennet pupils will join others across the country in a full return to school on March 8 for the first time since January.
Kennet, along with others in West Berkshire, started its Covid19 testing programme on Monday in order to “allow the most effective teaching with least interruption” during the first two weeks back.
The school gym has become the ‘Kennet Nightingale Test Centre’ where 600 tests were conducted on the first round of pupils on Monday, with 5,451 needed to be carried out.
School guidance requires Kennet to offer three tests in school, followed by every pupil receiving home testing kits to maintain routine testing.
Headteacher Gemma Piper said the centre was “a buzz and hub of community activity” when pupils, staff and volunteers arrived on Monday.
Kennet is planning to have Years 7, 8, 11, 12 and 13 back on Monday and Years 9 and 10 on Tuesday.
Mrs Piper added: “We just want our pupils back. Our entire school will be back on Tuesday. It will be a staggered day, staggered access to food, bubbles, but we are going to be back and we can’t wait.”
Pupils are now required to wear a face covering in lessons as well as travelling around the school and in community areas.
They will not be required to
wear a face covering at breaks and lunchtime, outside, in their social areas, but must maintain social distancing and re-apply the face covering prior to leaving their social areas.
Mrs Piper said she was proud of pupils, who had been “so respectful of the situation and incredibly positive”.
Debate has centred around whether the school day should be lengthened or extending the school summer term in an effort to make up for lost learning during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mrs Piper said that she disagreed with comments around lost learning and a lost generation of pupils.
She said that some pupils had “found their feet” in the new way of working and it was important that schools did not revert, resulting in a new skill set being lost.
“I think this generation have grown versatile and learned how
to access learning at a far superior pace than many before them.”
Mrs Piper said that the focus on academic progress and children’s emotional wellbeing could not be separated and both were equally important.
In a letter to parents she said: “Our priority right now is to ensure we work together to support our pupils as they transition back into school physically and to ensure their mental health and wellbeing is cared for through the coming months.
“This generation of young people has demonstrated resilience, patience and determination on an industrial scale, far more than recent generations have had to face at their age.
“For this we applaud and celebrate our pupils.
“We will take every opportunity to share this message and I ask that this is echoed across our community.”
OTHER sites put forward for development around Thatcham were dismissed because they were too small or would encroach into neighbouring parishes.
Sites were promoted and assessed through West
Berkshire Council’s Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA).
The assessment ruled that “only growth of a strategic scale could support the service provision and regeneration that Thatcham requires”.
As a result, land in north east Thatcham for 2,500 homes has been proposed as “the most appropriate location”.
The council has said that no more housing allocations would be made in Thatcham up to 2037 because of the scale proposed at the north east site.
It added that development of both north east and north Thatcham would “result in the loss of the separate identifies of Cold Ash and Bucklebury, and would harm the setting of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)”.
Sites that were dismissed in the assessment were the Regency Park Hotel, which was put forward for 55 homes or up to 28 homes and 105 bedspaces under a residential/specialist residential scheme.
The council said that the site was potentially developable, but was subject to a series of mitigation measures to conserve and enhance the AONB.
It said that the site was some distance from the centre of Thatcham and that public transport options were limited, potentially having a negative impact on environmental sustainability.
Developing the land would have been dependent on Henwick Park being allocated, with the council saying that development in isolation of surrounding sites would result in “unacceptable level of expansion of Thatcham north”.
Another rejected option was for 36 properties on land at Lower Way Farm, north of the Nature Discovery Centre.
The council said the development potential at other sites in Thatcham was far greater and there were concerns that development could reduce the open countryside between Thatcham and Newbury.
A report said that the site was located within the Thatcham Lakes area, which “provides an important open area which physically and visually separates Newbury from Thatcham.”
The council is yet to determine plans for 91 homes on the Lower Way field, adjacent to the proposed site.
In it’s refusal for Lower Way Farm, the council said the site is a buffer to development and adjacent to the sewage treatment works, which could impact on the quality of life for future residents.
The site is predominantly located within Flood Zone 1 and a small part of the southern area falls within higher flood zones. Furthermore, the development would have “a significant impact” on education provision in Thatcham, and its preference was to have a scale of housing that could yield new secondary provision.
A RESIDENT of Aldermaston Wharf is to take on a 24-hour walk between his workplace and his home in aid of a leading vaccine charity.
Starting at 12am on March 31, Nathan Hart, who works for NTT Ltd at Arlington Business Park, Theale, plans to use a corporate volunteering day to continuously walk the five miles between his home and office.
The effort – inspired by Captain Sir Tom Moore – is in aid of GAVI, a charity that addresses vaccine inequality worldwide.
Twenty-nine-year-old Mr Hart said: “Like most people, I’m more than fed up with lockdown. Captain Tom, for me, really was a hero and someone that not only me – I know a lot of the country did – looked towards during coronavirus.
“I do feel it’s a bit of tragedy that we lost him before he was vaccinated, unfortunately.
“Coming off of that, and all the recent things in terms of vaccine hoarding, or richer countries having more than they need, poorer countries not having any – I wanted to kind of tie the two things together.
“I haven’t got any of my grandparents around, so it’s certainly a bit of an emotional attachment I’ve got to Tom – it felt like I had to do something to honour him.”
Mr Hart does not intend to stop until 11.59pm that evening, regardless of how many times he makes it to Arlington Business Park and back. He estimates the walk will take just under two hours in either direction.
As much of his planned route is along the Kennet and Avon Canal, he said he will be picking up litter during daylight hours.
A JustGiving page has been set up for the cause and has already raised almost £1,000 of a £5,000 target. To donate, visit bit.ly/300P0YG