So September beckons, with its full classrooms, excited Year 7s, burly Year 11 boys who’ve grown a foot and a half since March, plus all manner of other new term chaos.

But this year there is a new, virus-shaped challenge. Let’s face it, going back to school with a full cohort after nearly six months is a pretty terrifying prospect.

In order to try and reduce my anxiety (and because I love a list), I’ve come up with my top six Covid-related items that need to go into my shiny new work bag for the start of this new term to help ensure you’re ready for the brave new world that awaits us all.

1. A mask - or three

Pretty obvious but definitely vital.

I’m toying with getting a set printed up with some of my favourite teacher facial expressions to help communication. For example, breaktime might include my “Don’t run in the corridor” stern lip press; or my Monday could have a “Please not before coffee” grimace for the morning briefing.

But whatever look you decide to go with, it has to include a mask. In fact, it would be worth having a little emergency stash because it would be easy to forget it one day or find it’s got wet or lost.

2. Your own hand sanitiser

Schools will no doubt provide staff and pupils with this on entry but I would recommend having your own too - ideally, one you can clip to my belt/lapel/waistband - the comfort in having my own little bottle permanently with me is definitely worth paying the extra for.

Plus, I can then choose a smell that doesn’t make me retch and a texture that dries without having to flap your arms around like a seagull.

(Honestly, playing sanitiser roulette in every shop this summer has made me value taking my own bottle above practically all else.)

3. Your own lunch

My own lunch will be travelling with me to school in a safe little Covid-secure lunchbox.

Now, to be fair, we have an amazing school cook who is ferociously hygienic and resourceful, but there is still a sense of security to be found in opening my own cling-filmed sandwiches and crisps.

Plus my new bag definitely needs the smell of slightly squashed banana I always plan to eat but never quite manage…

4. A tape measure

Now bear with me on this one. But I have found since all this began that I grossly underestimate how far a metre is. Or two metres for that matter.

I plan to measure and label my office to mark out socially distant safe zones, of course, but I think that pupils, staff and, of course, I will need reminding on a frequent basis that a metre is a pretty big gap.

Plus, if you never actually use it in school, well, you have a tape measure in your DIY drawer now.

5. A large water bottle and a mug with a lid

Rather than engaging in the staff room/kitchen mug/glass free-for-all, it’s much more hygienic to get a new drinking bottle that you can fill with water that should get your through most of the day

Secondly, it’s also worth investing in a mug with a lid to help keep your tea or coffee warm. After all, if we have to teach longer lessons you don’t want your brew going cold when you’re not even a quarter through a lesson.

In fact, the general hygiene of always using your own mug and drinking bottle is probably something we should all embrace anyway, coronavirus or not.

6. A book of Thunks - or other conversation starters

For the uninitiated: Thunks pose thought-provoking questions, which fire new parts of the brain, thus stimulating some fascinating conversations.

I’m not suggesting that I’m a boring teacher or that any of my staff are any such thing (far from it, in fact), but if your school is going down the route of 100-minute lessons to reduce movement, then this will be new to some pupils.

As such you are definitely going to need something to ‘wake’ pupils who have long since passed their attention span thresholds.

Thunks are perfect for re-engaging before the second 50-minute stint.

I know there are those who believe that not a minute of learning time is to be wasted, but the truth is that a) children can only concentrate for so long, b) pupils will need some time to let off steam and talk given the weirdness they’ve just gone through and c) you are not as engaging as you think you are - none of us is!

No doubt, there are many more highly useful or practical items we will need for this strange year we are all about to enter - let me know yours in the comments below. 

Kate Martin is vice-principal at Restormel Academy, an alternative provision school in Cornwall. She tweets @k8martin