Staying safe

By staggering the start of the school day, we are reducing the number of students arriving at any one time. There must be no waiting at the school gate. You must arrange a more dispersed drop off and collection point on the surrounding roads with your child. There is more Department for Transport advice here about travelling to school, encouraging you to walk or cycle: https://extranet.dft.gov.uk/safer-transport-campaign/

Bike parking is available. Students must wear a helmet.

Students will have a specific entrance for their year group, and must wash their hands as soon as they arrive in school, in washrooms assigned to their year group. Details of this are on the specific year group pages. Students will then go directly to their form room and remain in their year group bubble throughout the day.

From Monday 19th October all students and staff need to wear a mask in all inside communal areas. This includes all corridors and when in a queue for food and drink. Masks can be worn in classrooms if a student chooses to do so, but this is not compulsory.

Please ensure your child comes to school wearing a mask. If a medical exemption applies for any reason, please ensure they have a note from you so that we can attach a discrete sticker to their lanyard.

This is the current mask guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own

Students will remain in their year group 'bubbles' or zones throughout the day and each year group has a designated teaching zone (cluster of classrooms) in school. Teachers will go to students, so there will be minimal crossover or corridor interaction. The year group pages identify where each group is located.

Students will move out of their year groups spaces when they have to use specialist classrooms (DT, Food etc). Science lessons will not be taught in laboratories except for Year 11, who are located in these classrooms for their bubble.

Each year group has a designated break and lunch space. This includes eating and recreation space and a separate food servery for each year group.

Parents will need to top up their child's ParentPay account to enable them to purchase lunch (unless they are eligible for Free School Meals). We will not use fingerprint readers to pay for lunch. Students have been issued with an ID card to speed this process up until we can use the fingerprint readers again.

Each classroom is equipped with sanitising wipes, hand gel and tissues but, in order to maintain stocks, it would be helpful if students also brought and used their own. We have maintained our team of cleaners since Distance Learning began. We have a full cleaning regime every day, and additional onsite cleaners on duty throughout the day to wipe frequently touched surfaces.

Students will be expected to remain in the space dedicated to their year group bubble and follow all instructions at school. Where students do not comply with this, they will be subject to the full extent of the school behaviour policy, up to and including exclusion from school.

Students must be 'self sufficient' for the day and arrive equipped for each lesson. They must not lend each other anything.

The changing rooms will be closed to maintain year groups bubbles. As a result, on days that a student has PE, they must wear kit all day.

Please pay close attention to the PE uniform list. Tracksuits must be plain black. Hoodies must never be worn.

Please ensure your child only wears PE kit to school on days they have PE. School sanctions will be applied if they do not adhere to this.

Click here for the uniform list including PE kit list: https://www.pinnerhighschool.org/page/?title=Policies&pid=12

Each Year group bubble will have it's own dedicated IT equipment. They will be asked to wipe down this equipment before and after use with an antibacterial wipe, and dispose of the wipe appropriately.

All students should bring a pair of headphones to school for IT lessons. They should be conventional 'plug in' headphones, not wireless or bluetooth headphones.

Our Lesson 7 programme is currently on hold. Staggering the start of the day means that lesson 7 is now a 'normal' lesson for some year groups. We aim to restart this programme as soon as we possibly can. We know students (and staff) enjoy it a great deal, but we have to prioritise having all students safely back in school before we can get back to this.

There are restrictions on visitors allowed on site until further notice. We want to help with your enquiries, but please contact us by phone or email rather than in person.

School events will take place remotely until further notice.

Students must wash their hands as they leave school. They will be supervised to the school gate. Students are then under the direction of their families, and must go home.

Please talk to your Head of Year if you need support from our Learning Mentors or Counsellors. We want to help everyone stay safe and stay learning. Check out our Student Wellbeing page, and the links to Kooth: https://www.kooth.com/