96% attendance on day one

Monday 08 June 2020

The first day back for most pupils saw a 96% attendance rate across States run schools, which is higher than the usual daily average.

Having been closed to most pupils since 20 March, all States run primary and secondary schools in Guernsey and St Anne's in Alderney reopened completely today.

While school sites have remained open since March, including during the Easter holidays, only the children of essential workers or those recognised as vulnerable were allowed to attend lessons during the lockdown, with the rest being home schooled by their parents, with distance learning resources set up by their teachers.

As there have been no new cases of covid-19 confirmed in the Bailiwick for 39 days, and there are no active cases left, the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture, in conjunction with Public Health, decided to reopen all school sites from today so that lessons could resume in a more normal setting, but with new social distancing measures implemented.

Pictured: Laurie Baker, and Deputy Matt Fallaize, during a recent virtual interview with Express.

Laurie Baker, Senior Education Advisor, said the vast majority of children returned to schools, at all settings today, with attendance 2% higher than what is usually seen on a "normal day".

"Today was a day of celebration across all of our schools as it marks a return to 'nearly normal' education, and it highlights the huge steps the community has taken in managing the response to COVID-19," she said.

"Staff were so looking forward to seeing students again and the successful re-opening is a testament to the hard work carried out throughout our schools to prepare for today. It will have no doubt felt a little different for students as a result of the suite of public health measures in place to help keep everyone safe. However, the first day back was an undoubted success.

"We had 96% of all students back in school today, compared to a 'normal' day of about 94% so it is clear many students were as equally excited to be back as their teachers were to see them."

There had been some concerns expressed ahead of today that the roads and lanes around some island schools would be gridlocked, as many pupils who usually get to class by bus wouldn't be able to.

There had been a call for more families to try an 'active' way of getting to school which appeared to have worked, with many deciding to walk or cycle instead of going by car.

Mrs Baker said each school will also review its own individual measures to make improvements as the week and half term continue.

"We know today will have also felt very different to parents during drop-off and pick-up, and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank them for working with schools and supporting efforts to manage some challenging logistics.

"It won’t necessarily be perfect across the board on day one but schools will refine arrangements as needed in the days ahead. The initial feedback we’ve had from headteachers has been incredibly positive."

Pictured top: A classroom at St Martin's Primary set up to meet social distancing guidelines.