The following communication was sent to all parents and guardians at the beginning of the Spring Term.

Dear Parents and Guardians

I hope that you have enjoyed a restful and joyful Christmas holiday.

I am very much looking forward to another busy term ahead and it will be great to have our school community back together again. Today I have welcomed back the staff who are recharged and planning with enthusiasm their lessons, clubs, societies, drama productions and fixtures, to name but a few.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, the parents and pupils, for your support throughout the Autumn Term. Thank you for your many emails of positivity and kindness, which I appreciate and pass on to the staff body.

As you are aware, we were inspected at the end of last term by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). There are two types of routine ISI inspection. One inspection evaluates whether standards are met which cover areas such as boarding, pupil health and welfare and safeguarding controls. This is called a Regulatory Compliance Inspection. The other inspection is an Educational Quality with Focused Compliance Inspection which goes into more detail about the quality of teaching. December’s inspection was a Regulatory Compliance Inspection and the outcome is binary – it will be either “Met” or “Not met”. We are not yet able to share the report as it has not been finalised; we will do so as soon as possible but I can tell you that the Inspectors were complimentary about Queenswood staff and the running of the School. When published, the report will be placed on our website. Thank you to all parents and pupils who took the time to complete the questionnaire.

Despite the continuing prevalence of Covid-19, my aim is to ensure that the School operates as normally as possible, given the circumstances, whilst keeping the School community as safe as I possibly can. Should the situation change, then we will review matters at the time. In the meantime, here are some important points that I would appreciate you go through with your daughters in preparation for the start of term:

Covid Measures in School

All pupils are asked to do a Lateral Flow Test before returning to school on Thursday. (There is a separate testing protocol in place for international Boarders.) In this way we can minimise any spread of the virus on day one. As per the Government guidance we are also testing all pupils in school on Thursday or Friday.

Thereafter the requirement to test each Wednesday and Sunday evening remains. Each time a test is taken please complete both of the following forms:

https://www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result
Pupil Test Result – Queenswood Form

If there is a requirement for your daughter to isolate then please ALSO complete the following form:

Pupil Coronavirus Absence Form

Continuing with Government guidance:

• Face masks are to be worn by all pupils, staff and visitors when indoors, in communal areas such as corridors or stairwells.
• Face coverings in classrooms:
  • Pupils. Face coverings are to be worn by all pupils when indoors, unless there is a medical exemption which should have already been communicated to us. Exceptions remain in non-classroom based lessons such as Drama, Dance, Music and PE. Teachers will reinforce this message as required. We understand that this situation is not ideal, however we are required to follow this guidance.
  • Staff. The guidance states “We would not ordinarily expect teachers to wear a face covering in the classroom if they are at the front of the class, to support education delivery, although settings should be sensitive to the needs of individual teachers.” We therefore will not require all staff to wear facemasks all of the time but we are aware that most will choose to wear them. We recognise that staff are able to lead by example when encouraging all our pupils to wear masks.
• Extra face masks will be available around the School if any of the pupils do not have a mask with them but please encourage your daughter to have her own mask with her at all times.
• Please also remind your daughter of the continuing importance of the simple hygiene protocol of Hands, Face, Space and Fresh Air.
• We will continue to make sure that rooms are well ventilated.

Please note if your daughter has tested positive she may be able to stop self-isolation after 7 days, the guidance can be found here:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/how-long-to-self-isolate/

Boarding and Flexi-boarding

At the end of last term unfortunately we had quite a number of full boarders with Covid. I am pleased to say that we were able to get all our boarders home in time for Christmas despite some having to stay in school for a few days into their Christmas holidays.

All pupils travelling from abroad and returning to us this term will have to comply with the testing systems in place and will isolate here at school until their PCR test come back clear. We have separate accommodation and staffing in place for this.

I am pleased to be able to tell you that we will be offering all flexi-boarding as normal this term but of course we may have to review this regularly should our Covid situation change. Please do refer to the Assistant Head - Boarding Mrs Ludwick, should you have any boarding related questions.

Groups and Mixing

• Year group bubbles will not be required at this time.
• We will continue to avoid mixing of large groups in indoor spaces. Therefore, assemblies and Chapel will continue to be run in the same way as we did last term.

Co-curricular activities to start on Monday 10th January

Co-curricular activities will start again on Monday 10th January. This means that Transport will leave at 4.30pm this Thursday, as well as 4.30pm on Friday, as usual.

Uniform

All pupils will return to School in normal full uniform. PE kits are to be worn only for PE activity.

Mocks and Public examinations

As previously advised, we are running mock A-Level and (I)GCSE exams for Y13 and Y11, beginning 10th January. All pupils have their individual exam timetables on their portal pages, and we will apply any access arrangements that have been agreed. All pupils are expected to attend school for full days, starting with registration at 8.20am and should bring revision material for periods when they are not sitting papers.

Y12 pupils also have an assessment week beginning 10th January: they also should attend for the full week and bring revision materials for periods when they are not sitting papers.

We will of course continue to keep you up to date with information surrounding Public Examinations as we receive it.

May I take this opportunity to wish you a positive and productive 2022. I hope that you and your families are safe and well. I look forward to meeting you all in person throughout the coming year at one or more of the many wonderful events here at Queenswood.

Kind regards,

Jo Cameron