Covid-19

Maintaining 2 metre social distancing where possible is one of our six core reopening principles.  Pupils and staff will follow the one-way systems and stagger movements in busy 
areas. Direct face-to face contact will be avoided whenever possible.

Wearing face coverings is also one of our six core reopening principles and Canford face masks will be issued to all staff and pupils at the start of term.  Face masks will be worn when social distancing is not possible outside, and when moving around inside buildings including houses and in busy spaces such as stairways, corridors and the dining queues.

At least until the end of the Easter Term and in line with the latest UK Government guidance, staff and pupils will also be asked to wear face coverings in those classrooms where it is not possible to maintain 2m social distancing.

Canford has introduced enhanced cleaning, including cleaning frequently-touched surfaces more often, and there is also responsibility on the part of every individual to play their part and clean their personal work and house spaces.

Day pupils will be asked to take their temperature before they leave home each day, and not to come into school if they feel unwell.  There will be strict registration and temperature checks in boarding houses. Staff will also be expected to monitor their health and if they display any Covid-19 symptoms will follow the school's procedures as for pupils.

In addition Canford will be participating in the Coronavirus Rapid Testing programme in which pupils will be tested by our on-site medical team using Lateral Flow Tests which provide results in 30 minutes before they return to their boarding houses or lessons, and then twice more in the following 10 day period.  All staff will be offered home testing kits for twice weekly tests to be carried out at home and this programme will also apply to all pupils following their initial 3 tests.

In the event of a pupil displaying symptoms of Covid-19, he or she will be isolated promptly in the Health Centre and testing will be arranged either via the NHS or the school's own testing facilities. Onsite sampling is available with tests sent to the NHS Bristol centre with the current turn around times for results 12-36 hours.

Symptomatic boarding pupils awaiting a test result who cannot return home immediately will continue to be isolated and cared for in the Health Centre until they can go home or return to their house following a negative test result.

Symptomatic staff will be sent home immediately and will arrange their own test via the NHS.

In the event of a positive result, Public Health England (South West) will be called in for advice on further mitigating actions and initiation of NHS contact tracing procedures where necessary..  The pupil or staff member will continue to isolate at home for a 
minimum of 10 days and until they have recovered sufficiently. The temperature will need to have been normal for 48 hours before returning to school. Advice will be given to parents and staff on red flag symptoms to be aware of and what action to take as necessary. A daily support phone call will be made to parents. 

If a child tests positive while at home, parents/guardians should telephone the Health Centre immediately on 01202 847503, followed by an email to the HsM and covidsafe@canford.com account.

During a national lockdown, pupils will not be allowed to use local facilities.  Outside of a national lockdown, we would hope to allow pupils to use local facilities on a year group basis.  This would be reviewed weekly.

Yes.  We fully appreciate that  siblings will want to meet up and communicate regularly and we will do all that we can to facilitate this.  There will be no inter-house visiting (indoors) but siblings will be able to meet outside of their houses in their free time both mid-week and at weekends.  We will ask that they maintain 1m+ social distancing in order to maintain the year group house bubbles.  

Our usual exeat policy will apply with boarders allowed to take up to 50% of the Saturday nights at home each term, as long as they return by Sunday evening.  A weekends will require all boarders to be in school, and exeats and half terms will require all pupils to go home as usual, or to guardians in the case of overseas pupils.

We have put extra cleaning and social distancing restrictions in place to ensure that all our pupils can use our transport services safely.  Perspex screens separate the driver from passengers, and all pupils using the day bus service will be allocated a seat on the bus to remain throughout the term.  Hand sanitiser will be available on boarding the bus and pupils must wear face masks for the entirety of the journey.

Yes, exeat and half terms will apply.  Please visit www.canford.com/school-community/current-parents/term-dates for the latest information on dates.

We are expecting UK guardians to be responsible for overseas pupils over exeats and half terms, or if they cannot be in school, but if there are special situations then we will make arrangements for the school to look after them.

Pupils travelling to Canford from countries which have travel restrictions placed on them will be required to quarantine for the Government designated period on arrival in the UK.  The current travel advice is available here https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

No, we are staggering pupil returns to ensure that their arrival is managed safely and securely.  

We will be open normal hours from Monday 8^th March 8am to 2pm. Should anyone require uniform prior to the start of term please email schoolshop@canford.com.

Yes, appointments are needed to visit the shop.   We can accommodate one family at a time, or two pupils who are from the same year group bubble.  Please telephone 01202 847463 or email schoolshop@canford.com

Yes, to comply with Government guidance regarding indoor spaces, you will need to wear a face mask when visiting the shop.

Yes, but you will need to try them on over existing clothing to meet Covid-19 guidance.   We are asking pupils to wear a t-shirt and shorts, for example, and they can then try clothes on over these.  Alternatively you can try on clothing at home or in House and return it if needed, but as we then have to comply with Covid-19 restrictions, they cannot be tried on by other pupils for 36 hours.  The preference is to try clothing on when in the shop.

Boarding houses will be treated as households with 2m social distancing and year group bubbles. Day houses will not be treated as households, but pupils will be split into year group bubbles with 2m social distancing in place.

Classrooms will be arranged to comply with social distancing and there will be a one way system through  classroom blocks where possible.  Teaching will take place as normal within these restrictions.  If pupils are required to self-isolate, lessons will be live streamed via Microsoft Teams so that they can maintain lesson contact.

We aim to run as usual a curriculum as possible within the restrictions we must comply with.  There may be some changes to co-curricular activities as a result, and these will be communicated direct to pupils.

We are planning for a full co-curricular programme operating with 2m SD plus year group bubbles where possible. Music and Drama will provide opportunities to perform in a variety of ways and the wider activity programme including CCF, Duke of Edinburgh and Community Partnership will operate albeit on a restricted basis initially.

Our programme of weekend activities will continue with the focus on providing social opportunities in year group bubbles. 

Until restrictions ease there will not be any overnight trips and day trips will be limited and subject to agreement with SLT. 

Our community projects are an important feature of Canford life and they continue to run in a modified form, depending on COVID-19 restrictions within the wider community.

From our Director of Sport and Physical Wellbeing, Tony Diprose:

"Whilst offering the opportunity to excel for the senior teams and for outstanding individuals, Canford believes that sport is to be explored and enjoyed and is valuable to all. Self-confidence, teamwork and a sense of achievement are qualities readily transferable to other areas of pupils lives and all are involved in sport at some level. For those in their first year it is a valuable aid to a sense of belonging as well as a chance to express themselves.

It is evident to all that due to Covid-19 we need to adapt our sports offering, but I am confident in saying that we will still provide exceptional sporting opportunities across many sports. These will not only challenge each pupil but will be delivered at an outstanding level by staff who are fully committed to adapting to the present sporting climate."

We are working hard to provide as near to a ‘normal’ Easter Term sporting programme as we can, however some adaptations are needed to ensure we can offer the fullest programme as possible from the first day back. Below are the plans / options for each year group. Please note these may be subject to facility availability and alterations as the situation changes regarding official guidance. 

Shells (Monday pm, Thursday pm and Saturday)

Girls: Netball, Rowing, Cross Country and Swimming

Boys: Hockey, Rowing, Cross Country and Swimming

Fourth Form (Tuesday am, Thursday pm and Saturday)

Girls: Netball, Rowing, Cross Country and Swimming

Boys: Hockey, Rowing, Cross Country and Swimming

Fifth Form (Tuesday pm, Thursday pm and Saturday)  

Girls: Hockey, Cross Country, Swimming, Tennis (Performance Squad), Golf, Squash, Lacrosse, Netball (Performance Squad), Rowing, Badminton, Cricket (Performance Squad).

Boys: Rugby 7s, Hockey, Cross Country, Swimming, Cricket (Performance Squad) Golf, Squash, Rowing, Badminton, Basketball

Lower Sixth (Tuesday pm, Thursday pm and Saturday)

Girls: Hockey (Performance Squad), Cross Country, Swimming, Tennis (Performance Squad), Golf, Squash, Lacrosse, Netball, Rowing, Badminton, Dance, Exercise to Music, Cricket (Performance Squad)

Boys: Rugby 7s, Cross Country, Swimming, Cricket (Performance Squad), Golf, Squash, Rowing, Badminton, Basketball, Football, Hockey

Upper Sixth (Tuesday pm, Thursday pm and Saturday)

Girls: Hockey(Performance Squad), Cross Country, Swimming, Tennis (Performance Squad), Golf, Squash, Lacrosse, Netball, Rowing, Badminton, Dance, Exercise to Music, Cricket (Performance Squad)

Boys: Rugby 7s, Cross Country, Swimming, Cricket (Performance Squad), Golf, Squash, Rowing, Badminton, Basketball, Football, Hockey

We have been ensuring that we follow government guidance on safety, cleaning and hygiene before restarting our sporting programme. We have then been able to make judgements regarding what physical activities can take place in light of our school specific environment and these decisions are also influenced by sporting National Governing Bodies with whom we work closely.

We have followed some guiding principles to keep sport Covid-safe:

• Activities will be outside where possible
• We will, where possible, work in year group bubbles and if not then in ‘consistent groups’
• Equipment only shared within year group bubbles / consistent groups
• Sanitisation of equipment / kit to be done pre, during and post activity
• Staggered start times and separate meeting points

Our ultimate aim is to provide a high quality sporting offering that makes as many activities available as possible to all students. We will continue to provide a positive, choice driven sporting programme that will engage, motivate and inspire our pupils.

We have implemented a thorough equipment management procedure that is based on the following guiding principles:

Where possible keep equipment to specific year group / consistent group bubbles.

All equipment to be cleaned with an appropriate anti-bacterial substance after use.

No equipment can be stored without undergoing appropriate cleaning

We have set up cleaning stations for equipment around the sports venues to aid with the cleaning process and in addition to this all members of Sports Staff will have mobile hand gel and cleaning wipes to move around with so that cleaning of equipment can be carried out as required during a sporting activity.

We will look to create a cleaning culture within the department which all pupils will be introduced to during their first sports session.

We have a vast range of facilities across Canford that are both indoor and outdoor and it is our intention to use as many of these as possible in the delivery of the sporting programme.

As many sessions as possible will be in outdoor locations although for some sports / activities this would not be possible and therefore we will ensure the following measures are applied:

• Only using indoor spaces that provide adequate space.
• Utilising a one-way system if possible into and out of the space
• Limiting the number of active participants at any one time

Sadly there will not be any external sports fixtures at present but we will be running a challenging sporting programme including internal competitions within school. This situation is subject to an ongoing review process with Senior Management.

We firmly believe in a full inclusive Saturday sport programme and although at present we are not able to offer a traditional fixture programme against other schools we will be running internal competitions across all age groups on Saturdays.

We appreciate that the lack of competitive school fixtures will come as a disappointment to many and it is our intention to implement our planned competitive fixture programme as soon as possible.

Unfortunately parents and other spectators will not be allowed to attend sports matches at the moment. We will be reviewing this situation as guidance changes and do hope to be able to welcome families to matches as soon as we can.

We believe the planned annual sports offering is appropriate and has enough flexibility to cope with alterations to the health and safety needs of the school community.

We will of course be consistently reviewing the government and relevant sporting national governing body guidance as well as our own working practices. Any significant changes to our own sporting offering will be communicated at the earliest opportunity.