Coronavirus: Schools prepare for huge reopening challenge

At Caereinion High School, getting classes ready for Monday has felt like rebuilding the school from scratch.

Education in the "new normal" will mean secondary pupils being taught in "bubbles", bringing their own lunches and travelling in from surrounding villages in Powys in small numbers.

Across Wales, only limited numbers of pupils will be in each day - and the plans vary.

It has been a huge challenge for staff and councils.

Philip Jones preparing with staff at the school

The bilingual secondary school at Llanfair Caereinion near Welshpool has 450 pupils, who travel from a wide area. Some students can take an hour to get to school.

"I've never been in education when you've had to dismantle everything and rebuild it, with a Covid-19 element," said Philip Jones, the head teacher.

"So it's from leaving home in the morning, ensuring pupils have a packed lunch, because we have no catering facilities, through to transport - buses have been adapted because we can only get eight learners on a bus at any one time."

Getting the corridors ready at Caereinion High School

Each year group will come in on a different day - and for a full school day - starting with year 12 on Monday.

"They're going to be taught in one classroom through the day, where different teachers come in but pupils are contained in a particular bubble," Mr Jones added.

They will also be organised depending on where pupils live, so if there is a case of the virus reported they can respond to it and take action as needed.

Mr Jones said the risk assessment was the most rigorous he had been involved in in 30 years of teaching but he was confident the school was as safe as it possibly could be.

There will be hand-washing and cleaning regimes, and pupils will be asked to wear clean clothes every day they come into school.

There will be a focus on pupils' mental health and their return to school, as well as looking to catch up with any studies. The 40 staff were at the school on Thursday to prepare.

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Ysgol Brynaman has made big changes to its classroom arrangements

Over in Carmarthenshire, about 40% of pupils - 10,000 across the county - are expected back for some schooling over the next three weeks.

Ysgol Brynaman near Ammanford has had to make big changes to its primary class set-up to manage social distancing. Year six has 34 pupils but only seven will be in class at a time.

Councillor Glynog Davies, executive member for education in Carmarthenshire said it had been very challenging.

But he said all children would get a taste of school at some time - and they were trying where possible to ensure friends and siblings were together.

"We didn't expect all children would be given this opportunity of a flavour of school - it was very unexpected so we had a mountain to climb because every school is different," he said.

"We've Victorian schools with smaller classrooms. We have to ensure all our children and staff are in a safe environment."

Timetabling has helped solve issues in the smaller schools.

'Impact'

Back in Powys, Philip Jones believes this "new normal" will last a while and they will be doing their best to ensure pupils, especially those taking exams, won't miss out.

"There's an acceptance we're not going to have a normal return - and I don't think it's going to be a normal academic year [from September]," he said.

"It's going to have an impact in year 10 going into year 11, and year 12 going into year 13.

"Personally I think it's going to be a couple of years before we get to situation when learners are following the full course and having the full exam period. We're prepared for that and we're going to work to ensure there's no disruption to their future paths."