Belmont Grosvenor is re-opening to all its pupils from today (Wednesday 24th June 2020).
The school has been partially open since Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the return of children to nursery settings, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 earlier this month.
Now Belmont Grosvenor, following full consultation with parents and in line with Department for Education guidance, is welcoming all its children, from three months to 11 years, back into its classrooms.
The commitment to re-open Belmont Grosvenor to all pupils across all year groups has come after the Government handed the school opening decision to individual Headteachers and Governing bodies.
Belmont Grosvenor School Headmistress Mrs Sophia Ashworth Jones said the partial re-opening of BGS, at the start of June, had gone smoothly with a large number of parents choosing to send their children back to school. The full return across all year groups remains optional, she said, with some families deciding to continue to access the school’s daily comprehensive remote-learning programme.
Mrs Ashworth Jones said:
It has been an incredibly positive few weeks in school – the children have really brought life and light back into the building.
They are working with care and consideration for others – even our youngest pupils – and showing us that there is a way of managing this new normal.
Gordon Milne, Chairman of the Governors at Belmont Grosvenor School, said:
The outstanding leadership of Mrs Ashworth Jones, the commitment and hard work of the staff, the support of  parents and the enthusiasm of the children has enabled the BGS family to come together in such an amazingly positive way over the past three months.
We are thrilled that it has been possible to make the school environment safe for the children and to give all of them the opportunity to return before the summer break.
New measures introduced at Belmont Grosvenor to ensure the safety of all pupils, staff and parents include staggered drop-off and pick-up times, the creation of small teaching bubbles for pupils and a simple re-designed timetable.
Mrs Ashworth Jones:
We are fortunate at BGS to be set in 20-acres of beautiful grounds, our average class size is 15 pupils, and we have plenty of both indoor and outdoor space to manage the social-distancing guidelines well.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, our children, from nursery to Year 6, enjoyed outdoor learning daily, from taking part in Forest School lessons in our woodland, to performing in the school’s outside amphitheatre. Now our children are back in school, the outside space has taken on an even greater importance.
Since schools were forced to close their doors three months ago, Belmont Grosvenor has been running a remote-learning programme for all pupils, not only providing work for each child daily in line with their current attainment, but holding on-line assemblies, show-and-tell meetings, book clubs and well-being sessions. The school has remained open throughout the pandemic for key worker children
