As we all settle back into the new routines at School our Headmistress, Mrs Gibson answers questions from our community; this week we focus on school bags, storage of school kit and movement around school.

Can my daughter access her Senior School locker/or Junior School peg?

Given the nature of our school buildings, it is impossible for us to maintain good social distancing in our locker and cloakroom areas. Therefore, in order to comply with our robust risk assessment, we had to make these areas off limits; with the exception of the storage of football boots and spare PE clothes as we can control the access to the lockers for these items.

We are aware that as we head towards winter we do need to try to find a solution as girls will be bringing winter coats into school, and we are looking at it as a matter of priority. As you can imagine this is challenging, as at the same time we need to ensure that our communal areas and corridors areas remain uncluttered to aid social distancing in these spaces.    

My daughter’s bag is very heavy, she has been told that she must carry it around with her all day?

Students do need to carry their bags with them throughout the day, as they will not have access to their lockers at frequent intervals. We are aware that some bags are getting heavy and we recommend that students only carry the following essential items with them. In the Junior School all books, stationery, cleaning wipes and iPads stay in their classrooms at School. Junior School students will only take home exercise books if they need them to complete homework.

In the Senior School, we recommend only carrying the following items:

·         Pencil case and calculator

·         iPad

·         Exercise books

·         Water bottle and snack

·         Anti-bac desk wipes (provided by the school)

Students do not need to bring their textbooks into School. Textbooks should be kept at home for home-study and consolidation; many departments have created eBooks for students to use, or teachers will provide electronic links to the section of a textbook that students need for a specific lesson.

It is important that your daughter is organised and is encouraged to check every evening which lessons she will have the following day so that she only brings into the school the exercise books she will need.

In the Junior School, bags should be left in the classroom. In the Senior School, apart from break or lunchtime, students cannot leave items in their Form Rooms, as all the classrooms are used by different year group Bubbles across the day.

Senior School students should return to their Form Rooms at the end of Lesson 3 to leave their bags whilst they go to lunch. They should then pick up their bags before Lesson 4 starts. 

Where should she store her hockey and lacrosse stick?

In the Junior School all items are currently stored in the Bubble’s classroom.

In the Senior School the students have access to storage buckets for their sticks; each year group have buckets dedicated to their Houses where they can leave their equipment. This limits the number of sticks stored in one place. All sticks should be named and should only be brought into School on the days that your daughter has sport.

What about valuables, where can my daughter leave them?

Your daughter should not be bringing valuable items into School, beyond her phone and her iPad. Her phone should be either kept in her bag or in the inside blazer pocket. In the Senior School, iPads should be kept in school bags when they are not being used. In the Junior School, iPads are kept in the classroom.  Students are not allowed to use phones or iPads in the Dining Room.

Do the girls have to social distance when moving around school?

All Senior School students and all staff have to wear their face coverings when moving around School and we have a one-way system to aid the safe flow around the site.

Students should keep a metre apart from each other and must maintain a two-metre distance from all staff. We ask the girls not to mix across Bubbles. All of these measures are in place to help us limit the possible spread of Coronavirus and to ensure we can have clear information for Test and Trace purposes should we need to use it.

We have also staggered some elements of the day, such as break and lunchtimes, to ensure we minimise contact in the corridors.

Each Bubble has dedicated outdoor space, as well as classrooms and communal space, which they can use at break and lunchtime.

How do you maintain social distancing with students when arriving and leaving school?

We have explained to all students and parents the importance of social distancing at all times in the day; we have staff on duty at the start and end of the day who help reinforce these messages and we have signage up around the School.

We ask students waiting for buses to wait in their designated bus Bubbles by the Astro field. We kindly request that parents do not wait in this area to pick up their daughters so that we are able to keep it clear for the students waiting for buses.       

We strongly recommend that if collecting your daughter by car, parents wait in the Astro carpark for their daughters to come to them.

If collecting from the Junior School, parents should please follow the guidance and wait in the designated class Bubble areas.   

We also request that parents model appropriate behaviour and adhere to the current social distancing guidance in and around our school site.