Schools in Fife get ready to welcome pupils back

The long awaited return comes after five months away from classrooms.

All schools closed in March, and pupils switched to home schooling before 
beginning their traditional summer holidays.

It’s been a long haul for families across Fife, but it won’t be back to normal just yet as education bosses are fully aware that coronavirus is still around – and so changes have been needed to ensure staff and pupils can go about their daily routines as safely as possible.

In an update to parents and carers, Carrie Lindsay, Fife Council’s executive director of education and children’s services, explained that all schools and nurseries have been individually risk assessed ahead of pupils returning.

She also stressed that while there are a number of procedures all schools must follow, each will also have its own specific guidelines, unique to that building.

The council has outlined information on hygiene and cleaning, masks and physical distancing, uniforms and equipment, lunches and getting to and from school.

She said: “All our schools will receive an enhanced clean before children and staff return, and plans have been put in place to ensure that frequently used areas are cleaned regularly during the day.

“Hand sanitiser will be available for children and adults coming in and out of our buildings and when moving from class to class. Children will be encouraged and reminded to wash their hands frequently during the day.“

Pupils can take their own hand sanitiser to school, but they won’t have to wear face masks – although they can if they wish to do so.

Adults WILL need to wear masks if they are going to be close to someone for longer than 15 minutes.

While pupils won’t have to physically distance from each other, they should try to keep their distance from adults.

Ms Lindsay also encouraged parents to practice physical distancing with them to help them understand how far two metres is.

Activities where lots of children gather together will be avoided, so there won’t be standard school assemblies for a while.

All pupils will be expected to wear school uniform as normal and children can bring their own pencil cases but they should not share anything in it.

School lunches will continue to be served as normal, although individual schools may change their routine or timings. Packed lunches can be brought in, but not shared.

In secondary schools, pupils leaving the premises to go to local shops at lunch will have to wear masks, and factor in more time as queues may be longer. They will provide more guidance on local arrangements.

School buses will run as usual, and masks are not required, but pupils using public transport WILL have to cover their faces.

Social distancing will also apply at the school gates when parents drop them off.

It’s a huge adaptation for all schools with secondaries planning a phased return over the next week – but they are simply glad to be back after a prolonged closure.

Patrick Callaghan, headteacher at St Andrews RC High School in Kirkcaldy, said: “I am certainly looking forward to welcoming all the staff and pupils back, and to working with them in the weeks and months ahead.

“Whilst a great deal has been achieved in the past few months through the hard work of staff, parents/carers and the pupils themselves, we all look forward to being back in the building and resuming classroom lessons and in-school learning.

“It may take a few weeks to adjust to a newer way of working - the “new norm” - but there are great opportunities from what we have learned throughout lockdown that will put us in a strong position for continued and greater success in the future.”

At Viewforth High, August 12 marks a phased return for all pupils in MacGregor House. The following day brings back Fidra House, and on the 14th it’s the turn of Craigendal House.

Lisa Moore, headteacher, said: “I have greatly missed seeing the young people and staff in the school building and am very much looking forward to welcoming them back.

“The school just isn’t the same without them.

“Although the whole school community continued to work hard during lockdown, I am pleased we can physically come together again in the building to work together and support each other to find our ‘new normal’.”

Derek Allan, rector at Kirkcaldy High, is also ready for a phased return.

August 12 will see pupils from Adam Smith House return, followed on the 13th by Carlyle House, and Oswald House on the 14th.

All pupils will be back full-time by the 17th.

It’s a schedule he is confident will work.

He added: “Next week’s return to school can be a success if we all work together ... families, the school and crucially, our young people.

“That said, I completely understand if parents’/carers’ relief that school will be resuming soon is tinged with anxiety.

“Given the virus situation, this is inevitable and it’s a feeling shared by the staff of KHS.”

Meanwhile, Julie Anderson, headteacher at Burntisland Primary, said she and her staff are really excited to be welcoming pupils back on Wednesday.

But she said there will be some changes around arrangements for lunches, play times and how children come into and leave school to make sure there are not too many people in the same areas at the same times.

All classrooms will have hand sanitiser available for children and adults entering each room and staff have had safety briefings with detailed risk assessments carried out as well as enhanced cleaning of the whole building.

She said: “We will be encouraging all children to be washing their hands, as before, and also adults will be keeping safe distances from each other.

“Our classrooms will feel really welcoming as staff have worked really hard to make things inside school look very similar to how we looked, prior to lockdown and our focus will very much be on reconnecting and getting settled back in to re-establishing relationships and our vision and values, so we all feel safe and that we are back ‘belonging’.”

She added: “We know that things will feel quite different, settling back in, but we know that working as a team will see us through and help us navigate through all Government and Fife Council updates as we go.

“We are really positive about the return.”