Queen Elizabeth’s School today begins the final countdown to the start of the new academic year next week, when all 1,250 boys will be welcomed on site.
The School, which celebrated extremely strong results at both A-level and GCSE this month, has prepared extensively and systematically for the September return to classes.
To help families get to grips with new measures to counter the pandemic, the School is today publishing its 35-page Back to School Guide containing details of its three key messages – Please, keep your distance, Wash your hands, and Catch it, bin it, kill it.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “After a great deal of hard work, we are now ready to welcome the boys back to a School that has been extensively adapted in order to keep everyone safe during this pandemic.
“It will be great to see boys from all year groups back here again and to welcome our new Year 7 intake as they embark on their QE education.
“While our teachers showed admirable flexibility and great professionalism in successfully delivering remote learning during last term’s lockdown, they are now very much looking forward to getting back into the classroom.
“I also know that, for their part, many of our pupils cannot wait to catch up with their friends. I am sure they will soon get back into the swing of lessons and start enjoying our exciting extra-curricular activities.”
As well as producing the 35-page guide for pupils, staff and parents, the School has embarked on a wide range of measures to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus. The boys will be in year group ‘bubbles’ that will gather in their own allocated playgrounds during breaks and lunchtime. One-way systems have been introduced and the timetable has been adjusted to incorporate staggered lunchbreaks, all helping to minimise congestion in corridors and communal areas. Additional staff have been trained in First Aid and arrangements made to boost cleaning in the School, particularly on high-contact surfaces, such as door handles.
“We are confident that we have effective measures in place to mitigate the risks posed by Covid-19,” said Mr Enright. “We are now asking all boys and their families to be steadily diligent and individually responsible in following the rules, in line with our new anti-coronavirus slogan, ‘Play your part: help control the virus.’
“Of course, we recognise that many families have gone through difficult times in the past few months and some people may well feel a degree of anxiety as we come back together as a School. Moreover, the pattern of the coming months is unpredictable, both locally and all over the world, and the measures we have taken may have to evolve in line with changing official advice.
“I am, however, confident of this: if we work together as a School and as the wider Elizabethan community, QE will successfully get through this hugely challenging period and emerge successfully on the other side, just as we have done before at other critical junctures in our 447-year history.”
- Click here to read the guide in full.