What a socially distanced school day looks like, through the eyes of a headteacher

It’s lunch time and the pupils of a Year One class are enjoying their packed lunches on the grass. It’s the first time they’ve seen each other in 10 weeks - but, even now they’re back together, they're having to sit two metres apart on the grass.

This is one of the many new social distancing measures that has been introduced at Westonbirt Prep School in Gloucestershire. The school, which caters to children between the ages of two and 11, welcomed back pupils on Monday.

Following government guidelines, all children in Reception, Years One and Six could go back to school from June 1 in England. This will be extended to secondary pupils in Years 10 and 12 from June 15.

Pupils at Westonbirt have been working throughout lockdown - as have the teachers. “I’ve not stopped really,” admits headteacher Sean Price. As well as providing online lessons and conducting daily virtual assemblies, he has been coming into school to support key workers’ children, rolling up his sleeves and cooking lunches for the kids when needed.

Since Boris Johnson made the announcement that schools could reopen on May 25, headteachers like Price have had an extra task on their hands - putting social distancing measures in place so they could safely reopen the school .

Planning has paid off - the first day back has been a “real success”, Price says. The school's measures include staggered drop-off and pick-up times, children being grouped into “bubbles” and the removal of soft furnishings and toys that can’t be washed (teddies are out, LEGO is in).

So what does a socially distanced school day look like? Here, Price took a photo diary of his first day back.

Morning classes outdoors

“We’re trying to counter the difficulty in social distancing by being outside as much as we can to lessen the risk,” Price explains. Here, a Reception student completes an activity in the playground while waiting for the rest of the class to arrive and lessons to begin.

The school hopes to continue outdoor learning "whilst the weather allows us to," Price says.

Hand sanitiser at every door

“Every entrance that the children uses is now fitted with a hand sanitiser," Price says. "We're teaching them to use it as they come in, but also encouraging them to wash their hands too.”

Classroom set-ups

This is a Year One class at Westonbirt Prep School.

“Each child has their own desk and space so when they’re in class they won't be spreading physical germs or anything to anyone else,” Price explains. Children wash their hands before and after being in the room, too.

Children stay in their classes throughout the day - in what Price describes as a "bubble approach". Children learn in groups of up to 15, and cannot mix with other children or teachers.

“It’s nigh on impossible to keep them all at two-metre length all day," Price explains. "We would make every effort we can to do that - when they’re lining up, when they’re sitting at their individual desks, they will be socially distanced. However, we’re realistic in the fact, especially the younger years down the school - that’s going from nursery to reception - it’s going to be pretty much impossible to keep them at that length all day.”

The bubble system is to protect the school from a spread of the virus. “If anyone did come down with symptoms, it would be isolated to that group only and not spread throughout Westonbirt,” Price explains.

Separate school supplies

“When they’re in class, each child has their own separate equipment and trays,” Price says, and “they only use things out of their own box.” Reception and Year One students are provided with a box of essentials, whilst Year 6 students bring their own.

Deep cleaning twice a day

“We have a full clean twice a day from our housekeeping team," Price explains, "so they’ll go around and do the rooms and all the communal areas. But the teachers also have their own gloves and disinfectant wipes, and they wipe the surfaces down at each transition.” (By this, he means every time pupils enter or leave the classroom.)

Playtime in "bubbles"

Children stay in their "bubbles" at break time, too. “They eat lunch in their own area, then when they go out to break or to play, they have their own section of the grounds that they go and play in, so that you haven’t got all the groups mixing together throughout the day,” Price explains.

“Generally, the play rules are that there’s no physical contact at all. Where they are using equipment, it should be things like balls that they don’t need to pick up. If they do have to pick things up, we’re ensuring their hands are washed before and after breaks.”

The school is trying to prevent children from sharing too many toys, and “each pod or bubble has its own set of equipment” - for instance, a set of skipping ropes.

Socially-distanced queues

At the end of lunch time, children form an orderly queue to get back inside, as you can see in the picture at the top of this article.

While they keep their distance, Price says many children have found it challenging. "One of the biggest things is them understanding what two metres looks like," he says.

"So a lot of today was education of ‘this is what a two-metre gap looks like’. And if I’m completely honest, it probably wasn’t that stringent all day because they do creep closer to each other - they naturally do. But when we have the opportunity to demonstrate to them what that looks like, hopefully over time their understanding of it will grow.”

Virtual support continues

Here, Price live-streams his assembly to the children still at home. Juggling the online and in-school work has added to teachers' workloads considerably. “One of the big difficulties is obviously trying to provide online learning for those who aren’t coming in, at the same time as teaching those who are.”

“The difficulty is balancing the workload for the staff who are in without the usual support we would have to give them time to plan and to do things. So they’ve got a fuller timetable than they normally would in the day and they’ve got to fit in an online lesson or two as well”.

Occasional use of PPE

A parent handmade sets of PPE for the teachers at the school. Each member of staff has their own pair.

As it stands at the moment, guidelines state that teachers would only be expected to wear the PPE if a child displayed symptoms. In this scenario, the child would be taken to one of the classrooms set aside as an "isolation room". The teacher would contact the child's parent and the child would need to be tested. If they tested positive for Covid-19, the people in their bubble at school would also have to self-isolate.

With thanks to Westonbirt Prep School and headteacher Sean Price.