A leading private school headteacher has said pupils will be expected to clean their desks and wear masks in corridors as the sector returns with “phased caution” about the coronavirus this term.
Samantha Price, the incoming Girls’ Schools Association president and head of Benenden School in Kent, said that schools may relax measures if they can get to the end of this month without seeing a spike in cases.
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Speaking publicly for the first time in her new role as president of the GSA group of fee-paying girls’ schools, she said: “In our school, we are going to ask students to wear masks in corridors and in public areas, and obviously there’s going to still be testing.”
She added that the school’s contingency plan in the event of an outbreak would mean that it could revert to a bubbles system if needed.
Schools keeping Covid measures in place
“In my context, we operated a year-group boarding system last year rather than a multi-year group system so we can revert back to that if we need to,” she said.
“We would revert back to our one-way system around the school if we had to and we would end up separating the teachers physically from the students in terms of not being able to walk in front of their desks, and reintroduce those boundaries if we needed to.
“We are going to continue with cleaning desks after lessons and asking the students to do that because I think that’s reassuring for teachers, but it’s also reassuring for cleaners, who are going into those rooms as well.”
Ms Price said there was a “degree of caution” across all GSA schools.
“It’s a sort of phased caution, as well - these first few weeks, as we go back, are going to be really indicative of what we’re going to be facing going into winter,” she said.
“I think if we can get through to the end of September without seeing a peak in cases, it might be at that stage then we can actually start to release some of those other measures that we’ve still got in place.”
Ms Price said that she wanted to see a “fresh look at assessment” in her role and a move to post-qualification applications to university.
“Not all my fellow school leaders may agree, but it’s my personal view that we should seriously look at how we assess young people at age 16 and 18, consider whether terminal, written exams really are fit for purpose, and move to a post A-level university and apprenticeship application system, which will be fairer for all,” she said.
She added that the idea that a university degree, rather than an apprenticeship, should be the expected route for able students needed to be challenged.
“I think we have reached the point where we need to acknowledge that a traditional university degree is not the only route for our brightest and best, whatever their background,” she said.
