Operation: Find a Way- Draft for Consultation: 18.05.20

Operation: Find a Way

To apply government guidelines for the gradual return of pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6

Draft for Consultation: 18.05.20

Dear Grange Parents and Carers,

Thank you for everything you have done to work with our school to look after and continue the education of our Grange children through the school closure period. We will never forget these times. We have to make plans to gradually return the pupils to school from the 1st of June 2020. This will be in stages as set out in the plan below. Whether to send the children is still your choice and you are the ones who need to make that decision with us. To help you make that choice, please see our plan below:

Context:

There have been approximately 35,000 Coronavirus deaths in the UK. Harrow is a borough with one of the highest coronavirus death rates in London. The government asked schools to close for the majority of pupils from March 20th 2020. Our school has stayed open for children of key workers and vulnerable families who have no other childcare.

We organised staff who were able to come in into 3 teams which rotate on a weekly basis. They have been coming to work continuously including during the Easter holidays.

At the same time the Grange Online Learning Strategy began. The Online Learning section of the Grange website and the first online learning YouTube videos were published in the first weekend of lockdown. We explained the YouTube channel and online learning to parents and carers by telephone and email.

We have also made videos explaining the online learning system in Arabic and Romanian. Staff have made phone calls explaining it in different languages.

Our YouTube channel has had 85,000 views in the last 28 days. We have been able to see significant engagement through the email inboxes set up for parents and carers to send in their children’s work. We have also seen excellent engagement in the platforms we use such as Purple Mash and ClassCharts.

Feedback from parents has shown high levels of appreciation and satisfaction with our online learning provision.

Grange Principles Commitment:

Related Documents: a) Staff survey b) Parent-Carer survey

Strategy:

• We will continue to provide for children of keyworkers and vulnerable families from the 1st June. We will have to be stricter in our criteria for inclusion in this group. Having attended so far will not guarantee a place after June 1st. We will communicate any changes to parents and carers on an individual basis.
• We will reintroduce pupils gradually to ensure safety is reviewed at every point. We will carry out dynamic risk assessments and changes will be made accordingly by the headteacher.
• We will not be reintroducing any children from Nursery at this point because this is not a year group of statutory education.
• On June 1st, we will start by reintroducing groups of children from Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 in groups of 8 at a time. In week 2 we will be introducing another 3 classes in the same year groups and again in week 3.
• Our risk assessment has shown that with more than 8 children it is not possible to maintain social distancing.
• We will give parents and carers equal opportunity to share whether they feel safe to send their child back. For parents who do want to send their children, we will select first based on need (such as keyworker status and/or vulnerability). This will be at the discretion of the school leadership team, based on the need expressed by parents and carers.

Protective measures:

• Class bubbles: The classes will not mix and will operate in a bubble in their classroom with 2 consistent members of staff. This will include lunchtimes. Pupils and staff from different bubbles will not mix during outdoor play. They will have a separate play areas timetabled, with wipe-down routines between. Breaks will be staggered and managed between the 2 staff members. Lunch will be eaten in class as prepared by our kitchen.
• Cleaning: On Fridays school will be closed to all pupils except for the small group of vulnerable and keyworker children. Those children will only be in for a half-day to allow the cleaning team to deep-clean including handles and surfaces. Cleaning will also take place after school every day.
• Drop-off and pick-up: We will have a soft start to allow for a staggered drop-off and pick-up. Drop–off and pick-up will follow social distancing rules and we will put up temporary signs to show safe distancing.
• Hand washing/bathrooms: Routines will include hand washing after every transition (e.g. breaks). The children will take part in wipe-down routines at start of the day, after lunch and at the end of day. We will arrange the routines so that groups do not go to the bathroom at the same time. Only one child at a time will be allowed to go to the bathroom from each group.
• Behaviour: Children will be given a set of rules, routines and expectations from our amended ‘Behaviour for a Better World’ policy. Any children who pose a risk through their behaviour will have to be removed from the group. They will not be able to return to school until the risk of not following the necessary safety measures is removed.
• Items from home: Children will not bring in anything from home except for a water bottle labelled with their name on the first day of their start. These will be washed in school.
• Gatherings: We will have no staff gatherings which includes no daily briefings. There will be no assemblies.
• Staffroom: The staffroom will be subject to social distancing rules. Details of these will be published before June 1st.

Staffing:

• If we have an unexpected staff absence, we will have to cancel their bubble (group) at very short-notice. We cannot introduce new cover staff into a specific bubble.

Online learning and curriculum:

• The in-school curriculum will change to adapt to the different context of the school as we reintegrate small groups of children. This will include learning all the new routines and systems for keeping safe.

Timeline of further information & actions:

How to comment, question or respond:

• The parent survey – return by Wednesday 20^th May
• By email – Headteacher@grange.harrow.sch.uk

At all times Grange will always operate according to our values of inclusion and care for each child. We will still aim to use restorative justice and empathic education so that we see behaviour as a form of communication. We aim to understand this communication and remove the barriers of learning for every child. Most importantly we do not give up trying. In this context we have to balance those values with immediate concerns for safety of staff and of other children. We will aim to make that clear to our community.

Our Grange Community has suffered loss. Some of our staff members and our Grange families have lost family members close to them. Our thoughts are with them and they are in our prayers and wishes. At the same time, we have had at least one birth within the Grange Community. We look forward to that child being a pupil at Grange in the academic year of 2023-24! We will find a way to get through this devastating virus by staying together and looking out for each other.

This is our Grange CC way. We never give up.

Be Great; Be Grange