Dozens of students returned to Highbridge’s King Alfred School this week when the facilities partially re-opened as the Coronavirus lockdown eases.
Year-10 students are now attending classes at the school, which has put in place extra safety measures to abide by the Government’s social distancing guidelines.
Talking to Burnham-On-Sea.com, headteacher Nathan Jenkins said: “It has gone exceptionally well. We had 90% of our Year-10 students on Monday in addition to our vulnerable and key worker students.”
“We have split the Year-10 students into quarters so we see a different quarter of the year group on different days of the week, Monday through to Thursday. The classes last around three hours and are focused on core subjects.”
“We have lots of hand sanitizers, extra signs and posters, with social distancing lines about the school site to keep our students and staff safe.”
“The students go to their classroom at the beginning of the three-hour classes and then stay there for the whole morning, receiving teaching from a different teacher each hour, before they go home at lunchtime.”
“With no students on-site during the afternoons, we perform a deep clean of the classrooms. This means that they are clean and fresh, ready for the next set of students on the next morning.”
“On Fridays we are starting to see our Year-12 students for one-to-one tutorial sessions. They are receiving a 15 minute slot on an appointment basis to talk through their progress and what they need to do over the summer. We will be seeing all the Year-12 students before the start of the summer break.”
He adds: “It has gone really well this week. I was thrilled to see the children really take to it after three months away. They all complied by the social distancing and cleaning guidelines.”
“It was really good to have the children back in our school and to hear their voices again. At the end of the first day there were lots of smiling faces and thank you’s from the children, acknowledging how well it has gone during these challenging times.”
