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The 'new normal' at Glossopdale School

Glossopdale School's executive headteacher Debbie McGloin is happy with the way students and staff have reacted to the start of a term unlike any other.

Asked this week about how things were going at one of Derbyshire's largest schools, she said: “They are going well.”

Mrs McGloin (pictured) admitted students were a little nervous about returning after the Covid-19 lockdown, but said they had been "really good" at adjusting to the new way of school life.

Students, especially those starting at the Newshaw Lane school for the first time, were taken through all the changes to prepare them for what to expect.

It came after the 1,000-plus pupil school had spent weeks preparing for the re-opening.

The aim was to make the school complex as safe as it was possible to be, to give the entire school family the confidence that everything would be in place for the re-opening.

From the reaction of students and staff, Mrs McGloin is confident that has been achieved.

Check out some images of how the school has adapted, taken by our photographer Nigel Wood, in the album below... 

Year groups are in ‘bubbles’ and remain in their own part of the school with teachers going to them to take lessons.

There was a phased return to make the moving in all that much easier.

Breaks and lunch times are staggered, as is the start and end of the school day, and there are different entries and exits.

Social distancing is paramount, the school is practically awash with sanitisers and wipes.

Those weeks and months of preparation and fine tuning have created a safe and happy environment and everyone has settled in well.

There is a close relationship between the school and parents.

The school is following government procedures regarding Track and Trace.

In an information letter to parents, the school informed them how tests can be booked online through the NHS testing and tracing for coronavirus website, or ordered by telephone via NHS 119 for those without access to the internet.

The school, however, has learned from parents they are having trouble booking tests for their children who have coughs and want the assurance that a test can bring.

They are going online, only to be told there are none available or being offered a test centre many miles away.

It is something that is out of the school’s control, although it is something that concerns Mrs McGloin.

Life at Glossopdale School however goes on, with everyone working together as a team to make sure the success story continues.

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