UTC Portsmouth welcomes back some Year 10 and 12 pupils as lockdown eases

As of Monday, June 15, Year 10 and 12 pupils have been able to return to classrooms but with a strict 25 per cent limit for each year group to adhere to. As the only city state school to educate both Key Stage 4 (Year 10/11) and Key Stage 5 (Year 12/13) pupils, UTC Portsmouth has welcomed back more students than most.

Principal James Doherty said: ‘We are looking at 26 students each day from each year group but it was absolutely magical to see them back. The pupils I have spoken to are over the moon. I’ve been greeting students at the schools gates and they’re pleased to be back and have some semblance of normality.’

Mr Doherty, who also teaches computing, said it’s not just the pupils who have have enjoyed getting back into the classroom.

‘I was teaching my class this morning and it has been self-affirming and reinforces why I and my staff got into teaching in the first place – to get the best outcomes for students,’ he said.

Each Year 10 and 12 pupil has the opportunity to come into school for one day each week where they will be able to get face to face guidance to support their home learning.

Mr Doherty added: ‘Each pupil has a Chromebook and so far their home learning experience seems to have gone really well. The lessons allow students the opportunity to get support in areas they may be struggling. Each pupil also now has a timetable for live virtual lessons to be accessed from home.’

While hoping for a return to normality by the start of the academic year, the principal feels a hybrid of lesson time along with home learning is an increasingly likely scenario.

Mr Doherty said: ‘As the weeks move on it’s looking less likely we will be back to normal by September but our remote learning has worked very well. As a technical college we are very lucky in that we already have the technology set up and could continue to use this system in September.’

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As a new build school and with small group sizes, Mr Doherty is confident the school could operate at full capacity – even if two metre social distancing still has to be maintained.

However, this is not the case at the majority of schools across the city.

Simon Graham, headteacher at St Edmund’s Catholic School, said: ‘With 15 children in a classroom it would be impossible to adhere to two metres social distancing. It’s even more difficult to move children around the school. You could probably move around 100 children at a time but we are a school with over 1,000 pupils.’

Priory School headteacher, Stewart Vaughan, added: ‘As long as we have no vaccine and have to operate with social distancing then I think children will have limited classroom time on a rota carousel.’