Banovallum School Headteacher reflects on a difficult academic year

Socially distanced learning outdoors at Banovallum School.

After a year like no other, Banovallum Headteacher, Grant Edgar, reflected with pride on the most challenging term of his 30-year career.

How difficult was it planning for the return to school in September?

Mr Edgar said: “Planning for the start of term was a huge job with a large number of variables. Normally, you are planning on speaking to the staff about the exam results, staff changes and any developments you are planning as well as the usual housekeeping notes for a normal return.

“This year there were no exam results as such to talk about and the priorities were the health and safety of all stakeholders.

“Key to this was ensuring that there were arrangements in place for social distancing, ensuring the integrity of the Year Group bubbles and  ensuring that there were protocols in place for keeping classrooms clean throughout the day as well as maintaining the cleanliness of the site.

“This is a huge job and credit has to go to Paul Bushell and the premises and cleaning teams for guaranteeing the site is as sterile as possible.

“Planning for the return would not have been possible without the input of the leadership team and the staff body at Banovallum.

“Everybody contributed to the return to school plan and this is one of the main reasons why our return was relatively smooth.

“During lockdown, the heads of all the schools in the Horncastle Education Trust met weekly to discuss the safe return and produced a comprehensive risk assessment which in turn made it easier to plan than if we had been standalone academies.

“It was a mutually supportive operation which meant that all schools could return in September in a relatively safe manner.”

How well did the students and staff cope with the return in September?