Ullswater Community College has welcomed young people from across the community back to school! Students in Years 7, 11 and 12 started back this Thursday, followed by Years 8, 9, 10 and 13 on Friday.
It is wonderful to have the staff and students making their way through the school, to hear the chatter in the corridors and the learning in the classrooms. Once again, the students have shown themselves to be an incredibly mature and responsible group of young people and they are approaching the new year with their usual energy and vigor.
The months of lockdown, followed by a socially distanced summer holiday, have been challenging for students and their families, as well as for the school. The limited re-opening for students in Years 10 and 12 before the summer was very successful and, since then, staff across UCC have been working incredibly hard to prepare the school to reopen for all students. Everyone is quickly adapting to the new way of working, another great attribute of everyone at UCC!
A massive amount of refurbishment has taken place over the summer and we have every confidence in the measures we have put into place to bring our students and staff back to the classrooms. Each of our year-group “bubbles” has been assigned to a particular area of the school – with their own entrance and exit – where they will have all their lessons. This not only separates year groups wherever possible, it also reduces the amount of movement around the school site, with teachers moving between lessons rather than students.
Other safety measures include face-coverings being worn in all communal indoor areas – they aren’t required outdoors; new one-way systems to reduce contact with others; floor markers to facilitate queueing at a safe physical distance; classrooms arranged with front-facing rows of desks; regular sanitiser stations around the school site; very detailed planning with the transport providers; increased cleaning throughout the day and sanitising of the classrooms, toilets, etc. at the end of each day.
UCC is delighted to be open for business again!
