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Plan for reopening
4 articles
Communicate with your school community
- School reopening: home-school agreement Outline your terms for parents to follow if they have children coming into school and/or continuing remote learning at home.
- School reopening: letters to parents Use our template letters to let parents of new and returning pupils know about what school will look like in September.
- School reopening: reassuring parents that their child is safe Parents will be understandably concerned about their children coming back to school. Find out how to get a handle on how they're feeling, tailor your messaging and make them feel as reassured as possible – whenever their children are returning.
- School reopening: staff worried about coming in If you have staff who are worried about returning to school and may not want to come in, here's an overview of their rights and how you can approach concerns they raise.
21 articles
Keep pupils and staff safe
- Coronavirus: how to manage drop offs and pick ups UpdatedBy now you’ll have put measures in place to help keep pupils, staff and parents safe as they enter and leave your school. We've highlighted some common issues schools are experiencing and provided practical solutions to help you tweak your system. Download our template letter to update parents on any changes you're making.
- Face coverings in secondary schools: how to make it work Find out how to follow the latest government advice on face coverings in your secondary school. Adapt and share our factsheets with parents and staff so everyone knows when and how your school will be bringing in these new measures, as well as how to safely wear face coverings around school.
- Poll results: wearing face coverings when your secondary school reopens Have your say and find out what other secondary school leaders are saying.
- School reopening: brief staff on your plans Give your staff an update on what your plans for full reopening in autumn are. Adapt our presentation to deliver your staff briefing and get tips to help if you're delivering it remotely.
- School reopening: creative ideas to implement safety measures See examples of some quick and easy 'tips and tricks' being used by other schools to help you implement social distancing and hygiene measures in your school.
- School reopening: extended provision risk assessment Use our risk assessment to help you determine how you can safely reopen your extended provision, such as after-school and breakfast clubs, from September.
- School reopening: guidance on hiring out your premises Find out what you need to think about and do to restart your lettings during coronavirus.
- School reopening: health and safety mythbuster (primary) Get clarity on what you can and can't do during coronavirus when it comes to rules on pick-up/drop-off, bringing in lunchboxes, and more.
- School reopening: how to approach cleaning Find out what changes you'll need to make to your regular cleaning arrangements so you can keep everyone safe as you fully reopen in September. Plus download our checklist for a deep clean in the event of a suspected case of COVID-19, so if the situation does arise, you can be confident you've got everything covered.
- School reopening: how to deliver assemblies to multiple groups The DfE has advised against mixing groups of pupils in large gatherings such as assemblies or collective worship. Here are some alternative solutions for when you want to bring your whole school together.
- School reopening: how to keep office staff safe If you have office staff who need to work on-site, be clear what measures you should have in place for them, such as social distancing.
- School reopening: how to mark pupils' work safely Learn how to approach marking safely when your school reopens in September. Consider alternatives to written marking so that you can reduce contact with pupils’ work where possible.
- School reopening: how to record attendance UpdatedFind out how to record attendance during the 2020/21 academic year, including what data you need to submit to the DfE and which codes to use for different coronavirus-related scenarios.
- School reopening: how to reduce contact at busy hotspots Find out how to minimise opportunities for contact on site, including creating smaller class groups and setting up one-way systems. Plus get advice on how to keep on top of cleaning and hygiene practices.
- School reopening: how to run your autumn term parents' evening Due to coronavirus, it's unlikely you'll be able to run a face-to-face parents' evening this autumn term. Find out how to organise a virtual parents' evening instead, and see an example from a school that's hosted one.
- School reopening: how to safely run interventions (primary) Learn how to safely run interventions when your primary school reopens, so that you can provide effective targeted support for pupils while sticking to social distancing guidelines.
- School reopening: pupil hygiene and wellbeing posters Use our child-friendly posters on health and hygiene around your school. They'll help you reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading and signpost pupils to where they can go if they're struggling with settling back in to school.
- School reopening: responding to a suspected case of COVID-19 in school Download our flowchart outlining the steps to take if a pupil or staff member develops coronavirus symptoms in your school.
- School reopening: risk assessment template for individual staff Use our template to help you assess whether staff at higher risk from coronavirus can safely return to school.
- School reopening: template equality impact assessment Use our template to help you consider how your approach to reopening may disproportionately impact different groups of people in your school, on the basis of characteristics like race, disability and gender.
- School reopening: template risk assessment You must thoroughly review your existing risk assessment for reopening fully this September. Use our updated template to guide you, and read advice on what your next steps should be.
2 articles
Learn lessons from lockdown
- School reopening: how are you applying what you've learnt in lockdown to improve your provision in September? Share a change you've made to adapt to running your school remotely that will influence how you do things going forward, and help other school leaders reflect on how to use lessons from lockdown to improve provision over the long term, too.
- School reopening: how to apply what you've learned during lockdown to improve your school See how the changes you’ve made to adapt during this turbulent period can help you improve learning, parental engagement and staff wellbeing as you prepare for September. With suggestions from Patrick Ottley-O'Connor at North Liverpool Academy, and other school leaders across the country.
9 articles
Settle pupils back into school
- Coronavirus addendum to your behaviour policy: model UpdatedDownload and adapt our model addendum to make sure everyone is aware of the expectations for pupil behaviour during Covid-19, both if they're in school or learning remotely.
- Coronavirus: how to prepare for 'tier 2' local restrictions (secondary) Adapt and share our planning template to help you operate a rota system for secondary pupils as part of your contingency plan for local coronavirus outbreaks. Find out how to group pupils and how the DfE expects you to approach remote learning when 'tier 2' local restrictions are in place.
- School reopening: contingency planning UpdatedFrom 22 October, you're legally required to provide remote education if pupils need it. Find out what your remote learning contingency plan should cover and how to put it together. Adapt our template to plan how your school will operate in the event of local restrictions.
- School reopening: how to carry out whole-school monitoring For the end of this academic year and the start of next, you won't be able to follow your normal monitoring and evaluation schedule. Get guidance on what to focus on and how to do your monitoring in your new school set-up.
- School reopening: how to reestablish routines and expectations As more pupils return to school, you won't be wanting to jump into learning straight away. Get tips on settling your pupils into their 'new normal' school routines so they feel safe, know what your behaviour expectations are and can successfully re-adjust to school life.
- School reopening: providing high-quality outdoor learning Learning outdoors makes it easier to maintain social distancing – and it supports pupils’ wellbeing too. Find out how to make the best use of whatever outdoor space you have and safely deliver high-quality outdoor lessons. Download our checklist of equipment staff will need as they take the classroom outside.
- School reopening: rebuilding relationships between pupils and staff As more pupils return to school, get advice to help them rebuild trusting relationships with school staff and each other.
- School reopening: supporting pupil mental health Before you start teaching your curriculum again, you'll be trying to make sure your pupils are emotionally settled and feel secure at school. Find out how you can identify your pupils’ mental health needs and support them whenever they return to school.
- School reopening: supporting pupils with SEND to transition back to school Find out how to help pupils with SEND get back into school life and adjust to the ‘new normal’, including tips on adapting instructions and conversations to have. You know your pupils best, so pick the approaches that work best for their needs.