Yesterday the Bursar and I did the rounds of the school site to assess what has been done and what loose ends still need to be tidied as the new school year approaches. A clean school greeted us, albeit one with a significant level of contractor activity still happening as workmen continue with light replacement, completing of sixth form facilities and construction of a canopy over one of the quads. We are almost set to welcome the ravening hoards back at the start of next week, though the hoards will be smaller than usual because of the need to brief all of the boys and girls on how things need to be done in the ‘new normal’ of autumn 2020. Year group by year group, House by House the populace will be with us once more.
Daily life will be a bit different for us all. A late start at 09.30 will enable some of our students to avoid the most crowded period if they have to come in by either road or public transport, though this being Wiltshire buses especially are rare beasts at times. We have condensed the amount of free time during the school day to a minimum and allocated different spaces to different year groups so that social interaction between students of different age groups is minimised, and all of the mandatory control measures are in place so as to mitigate risks of infection; I honestly feel that we can do no more without either (a) compromising the quality and breadth of the curriculum or (b) reducing the student population, and neither of those are acceptable options. In short – we are ready to start, pending any further national developments.
Coronavirus aside this is also a new chapter for the school. We start this autumn with over 1,000 students for the very first time, and that includes around 40 Year 12 girls. Though we have been welcoming SWGS sixth form students to Bishop’s for two decades, this first group of BWS girls will be the first of our own since 1927! Our Year 12 will have grown by about 40% overall this year and I can’t wait to see what impact our new students will have on their school. In addition our demographic growth lower down will have reached Year 10, which will be at 160 from September. Pandemic allowing, this should be a very exciting year of development for BWS
SDS
