At Deer Park we roll our timetable forward and promote each year group in June. This presents the opportunity for a fresh start and we expect all of our pupils to engage fully in their learning over the next six and a half weeks.

All pupils will have new timetables for this term. We will endeavour to maintain continuity in our provision, but there may be some exceptions to this owing to staff changes for September.

Following a risk assessment, and in line with our own road map out of lockdown, we have made some further adjustments to how we operate as a school. From Tuesday 8 June 2021:

1. All pupils in all year groups will register with their tutors at 08:50 (see tutor room list) and the school day for everyone will end at 15:20;
2. Pupils will remain in their year group bubble when moving around the school and during our staggered breaks and lunchtimes;
3. Each year group will continue to have designated social zones, but will no longer be accommodated in separate home bases;
4. Pupils will move to their teachers and all lessons will be taught in our specialist faculty areas;
5. To facilitate movement around the school and to minimise contacts, we have allowed an additional 5 minutes between lessons and created a new one way system in the main building.

All pupils are expected to adhere to our school standards at all times and to follow our COVID-19 preventative measures. These include:

• Fixed seating plans and facing the front;
• Frequent hand washing, hand sanitising and classroom wipe down routines;
• We will continue to ensure adequate ventilation by keeping classroom windows and doors open. Now that we are in the summer months, pupils do not need to wear coats indoors and will be asked to remove all non-uniform items of clothing including jumpers and hoodies etc.

As we learn more about the Delta variant, we will keep these arrangements under review and respond to any guidance we receive and, should it be necessary to do so, we will make adjustments accordingly. For example, we may need to ask pupils to wear face coverings again in indoor communal areas and possibly classrooms.

We commend all of our pupils on their commitment and resilience. They have had a very different experience of school over the past 15 months and have unfortunately missed out on important enrichment activities. However, we have been impressed by their high levels of attendance and engagement. We want them all to enjoy their remaining time at Deer Park and to take advantage of everything we hope to be able to offer them going forward such as participating in our 'Young Singer of the Year Competition' or getting involved in our new whole school musical, Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical JR, or taking part in our annual Sports Day.

We have carefully considered the risks and the COVID controls in place at each venue. During each journey pupils will be within their existing ‘bubbles’. They will be expected to wear face coverings on the coaches and sitting next to one other pupil and facing the front will be similar to being in a classroom. Once at the venues pupils will have the freedom to roam, but will be expected to follow the safety procedures the venues have in place and check in with staff accompanying each trip regularly. More information about these excursions will follow in due course.

We would like these trips and enrichment projects to be memorable occasions for everyone for all the right reasons and we look forward to positively marking the end of a very challenging year!