'Overnight, we’ve all had to completely change how we work': how one London school is preparing to reopen

The air outside Bonneville primary school in Clapham, south London, is filled with the smell of freshly sprayed paint. Bright-yellow stripes are being applied to the pavement at now-familiar two-metre intervals outside the school’s three sets of gates, and over the next few days, these markers will appear in classrooms, too. In between, dedicated routes will be laid out to take children safely from the school gates to their classroom doors.

These plans, orchestrated by Bonneville’s headteacher, Andrea Parker, were being rolled out as the school prepared to reopen its doors to reception, year 1 and year 6 pupils in line with the latest government guidelines. Schools, colleges and nurseries across England welcomed more children and students from 1 June onwards – and headteachers like Parker are busy preparing to embrace a new way of learning.

“For every headteacher, keeping children safe is going to be at the top of their priorities”, says Parker, who is also the lead headteacher for Jessop primary and Stockwell primary schools. “We began our preparations by sending out a survey to check the pulse of how teachers and parents were feeling about returning to school. From there, we were able to start modelling what we need to do to support our families, and help them to feel more confident in sending their children back.”

Since lockdown, the school has continued to take in around 25 of its 420 pupils each day, split into smaller groups for safety – the children of key workers, those from vulnerable families, or with education, health and care plans in place. “We’ve been open every day during lockdown,” says Parker. “Staff members even volunteered to work through the holidays, which has been fantastic.”

Meanwhile, those teachers who have remained at home have been working on providing the online resources parents need for home schooling. “Overnight, we’ve all had to completely change how we work on a day-to-day basis with no training and no transition period, and teachers have been working incredibly hard to achieve that,” she says.

At the same time, Parker believes temporary home schooling can’t replace the benefits of schools-based education, especially when it comes to the transitions experienced by those children who will begin returning to school from 1 June.

“Reception, year 1 and year 6 are all key milestones,” she says. “Younger children are in the early stages of their education, and we want to be there for them as they develop their reading and friendship groups, and simply learn how to learn.

“At the other end of the spectrum, year 6 are about to go to secondary school. It’s a time when they celebrate their SATs and everything they’ve achieved and worked hard for.”

The Bonneville school building, which dates back to 1905, is large and welcoming. When I visit, days before reopening, crafted cardboard models of sea animals hang from the ceilings, and children’s work covers every inch of spare space on the walls.

With only a fraction of the school’s 420 pupils in attendance – including Parker’s own six-year-old daughter, who is in school as the child of a key worker – the sound of children’s laughter, which usually fills these hallways, can only faintly be heard drifting in from the playground.

“Our teachers are very excited and as desperate to see the children as I am,” she says. “They’re anxious, too, but going through our risk assessments with them has helped a lot.

“With fewer children coming back to start with, we don’t need everybody to be here, which means those who are very anxious can be asked to come back later on. Hopefully they’ll see how things are working and their confidence will build – some people just need that, much like the parents who need to have a choice.”

Home schooling for those children who remain at home will continue to be supported by teachers, but to reassure those who do send their children in, a raft of safety measures has been put in place.

At the school gates, parents are required to socially distance from each other (guided by those painted stripes) during staggered drop-offs. “Bubbles” of up to 15 children will be dropped off together, with an allocated “bubble lead” – the class teacher – taking students into the building in shifts.

Before entering their classroom, they sanitise their hands before being allocated a desk each for taking lessons, watching pre-recorded assemblies, and eating lunch, which will be delivered at the door. Outside space will be utilised for lessons as much as possible, while playtime and PE will be enjoyed within the children’s individual groups.

“Although younger children will be in smaller groups, it’s not just about the size of each bubble – it’s about dynamics as well,” says Parker. “Children are people with their own personalities and their own way of being, so we have to make sure each one is a manageable group and dynamic.”

Extra hygiene measures include specific play and sports equipment allocated to each bubble, regular handwashing, staggered bathroom breaks followed by janitor cleaning, and early closing on Friday afternoons for deep-cleaning sessions. The early Friday closure will also be used to facilitate statutory planning and preparation time for teachers. The school has also drawn up sets of principles that parents, teachers and children will be asked to adhere to.

For staff, these include having an awareness of each other – for example, no more than two teachers in the staffroom at a time. For children, the principles include reinforcing the NHS’s Catch it, Bin it, Kill it messaging. For parents, coming to collect children as quickly as possible if they fall ill.

Bonneville has also worked to tailor specific solutions to the diverse community the school serves. “In terms of the country Lambeth is hugely diverse”, says Parker, citing the borough’s significant Caribbean, African and Asian communities, as well as pupils from Spanish-, French- and Portuguese-speaking backgrounds.

“We know that the BAME community have surfaced as being prone to having a higher rate of infection”, says Parker, explaining that the school’s risk assessment process is being developed with the heightened vulnerability of BAME students, staff and their wider community in mind.

Communicating to children why their schools have changed is a crucial part of helping them adapt to their new regimes, so Parker plans to share a virtual tour of the new school layout with pupils, and plug lessons about the roles of key workers into the curriculum.

As well as the children’s emotional health, there are plans in place should a child show symptoms of the coronavirus. “The point of the bubbles is that if a child presents with any symptoms of illness, we’ll know exactly who they’ve been in contact with,” she says. “Then, if they test positive [for Covid-19], the whole bubble, including their teacher, will self-isolate.”

Parker’s plans have focused on building confidence among children, staff and parents, and communicating with them every step of the way. “It’s about trying to adapt, even though we don’t know how long we’re going to be adapting for,” she says.

Check with your Local Authority for the latest news on schools opening in your area.

This advertiser content was paid for by the UK government. All together is a government-backed initiative tasked with informing the UK about the Covid-19 pandemic.