Dear Parents and Carers
IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT SCHOOL START TIMES
Thank you for supporting excellent attendance, punctuality and uniform
this week. Your collective efforts, goodwill and cooperation are ensuring children
embed our new routines well.
We appreciate that there is a distinct sense of ‘rules and control’ but
this is designed so all feel safe, calm and secure at USH.
We appreciate that morning routines at home are having to adapt to the
new start times and some families have multiple drop-off. Timings are crucial
to ensuring year groups do not mix, so whilst historically being early for
school was a virtue, children must time their departure from home so they
arrive at their correct time and we will not allocate ‘holding bays’ for
students arriving early. This is for the following reasons:
1. To offer certain
students early arrival would erode the safety measures which staggered starts
are designed to uphold.
2. Staff are at full
capacity in supervising the already very complex daily schedule and we simply
do not have more staff to supervise those who arrive more than 5 mins early.
3. We do not have
space to separate 5 year groups in this way.
4. The new start
times need to be accepted and established for all. Start times are one of many
necessary measures to keep everyone safe and we must keep this structure
secure.
Mr Woods
There have been a lot of changes to
the school site over the summer holidays.
Social distancing is most important
and there are reminders of this even before you enter school.
Our orange footprint spots show the
safe distance to stand to ensure students and staff are safe if they have to
queue. These are place all around the school; from Reception, in the
canteen and beyond!
We have introduced a one-way system
around the school and have arrows and signage all around to remind everyone of
this.
The best way to safeguard against
contracting Coronavirus is hand hygiene and there are sanitising stations in
every classroom. Students are asked to sanitise hands on entering the
classroom and to wipe down the desk and chair they have used at the end of a
lesson. Before leaving the classroom students should be sanitising hands
again and putting on a face covering.
If students need to visit the Medical
Room they will see that we have added individual booths.
A new cleaning provision is being
implemented thoughout the day to ensure that high risk contact points (door
handles, taps, toilets, etc.) are being thoroughly cleaned.
We are monitoring our new systems and
procedures constantly and making small adjustments to them as required to
ensure the safety of our students, staff and the wider community.
We ask that students are punctual for the beginning of school, but not too early as we are doing what we can to ensure year group bubbles do not mix.
Please aim to arrive a school about five minutes before your start time.
Year 7 Tutor time at 8:30am School Ends at 2:40pm
Year 8 Tutor time at 8:40 am School Ends at 2:50pm
Year 9 Tutor time at 8:50 am School Ends at 3:00pm
Year 10 Period 1 lesson at 9:00 am School Ends at 3:10pm
Year 11 Period 1 lesson at 9:10 am School Ends at 3:20pm