Btck to school... the BEST pltce to be
| Published date | 14 March 2021 |
| Publication title | Sunday Sun |
Staff and pupils in secondary schools and colleges are also being advised to wear face coverings where social distancing cannot be maintained. Students will be tested twice a week, receiving three initial rapid tests at school or college before transitioning to twiceweekly home testing. Schools have been open to vulnerable pupils and children of key workers during lockdown; staff have worked hard to make sure the wider return goes smoothly and schools are as safe as possible. And they are passionate about closing the education and wellbeing gap. The Government is supporting the return and education catch-up through various programmes (see below).
Dean Buckley, principal of Kirk Balk Academy, a secondary school in Hoyland, South Yorkshire, can't wait to welcome students back.
"It's essential that students return to school as quickly as is safely possible," he says. "Despite live-streaming of all of the lessons, our students have missed out on so many of the positive experiences of school. They've been affected by not being able to see friends, play sport and interact with each other.
We can't wait for them to be back where they can learn and flourish.
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n sie, "Our students really do thrive on the strong routines and the positive praise culture that we have, and we're really excited about picking up where we left off, and doing all that we can to make sure we reconnect with a sense normality and purpose towards enjoying learning and succeeding."
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" Kirk Balk, a Northern Education Trust academy, has had aroundstudents in school during lockdown and has supported those at home with a full programme of learning. Having some students on site means teachers already have a system for regular testing, which they will roll out to those who return on March 8.
Students will then start testing themselves at home.
The Government is making twice-weekly testing using rapid lateral-flow tests available free to all adults in households with school and collegeaged children and young people (including childcare and support bubbles), to help find more COVID-19 cases and break chains of transmission. Twice-weekly testing will also be offered to adults working in the wider school community, including...
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