Following the Government decision to allow reopening of schools to some year groups, the Board of Trustees has made the decision to reopen all four of our schools from Monday 1st June in line with Government guidance.
Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School will open in phases to Early Years, Reception, and Year 1; Bedford School, Bedford Girls’ School and Bedford Modern School will reopen to Year 6. All schools will continue to be open to keyworker and vulnerable children, as they have been throughout.
We have taken this decision very carefully, following a very thorough process of investigation, planning and decision making, to make sure that we fully understand the risks and that everything that should be in place is there to help our children, our staff and our families to stay safe.
Each of our schools has undertaken a detailed risk assessment, to identify what would be needed to enable the schools to reopen. These are available on each school’s website via the links below.
The risk assessments were first reviewed by each school’s Health and Safety committee, which includes a wide range of staff. These committees interrogated the documents, challenged their assumptions and suggested improvements. The improved risk assessments were then reviewed by school governors.
Finally, the Board of Trustees carefully considered all aspects of the issues raised, including Government guidance and professional advice, gained assurance that all the necessary actions would be completed in time, and made the decision to reopen.
We either follow or exceed government guidance at all times, and our schools have all worked to the same principles, although there are differences in detail which reflect the unique characteristics of each school.
This is a fast moving situation, and we will keep our decision under review to make sure that it is in the best interests of our staff, our children and their families to remain open.
We will also continue to support our community in Bedford through these unprecedented times, working in partnership with local schools, charities and a range of other funders and organisations including Bedford Borough Council.