RAAC
Phase 1:
Monday 18 September will be used to reconfigure spaces within the school to allow areas to be used for classrooms that are usually non-teaching areas, such as the social area and games halls.
Tuesday 19 September will see S4-6 and pupils with additional support needs brought in while S1-3 continue with remote learning.
Wednesday 20 September S1-3 and ASN pupils will be in the building with S4-6 either on their college day or remote learning.
Thursday 21 September is the day we expect all pupils to be back in and using the spaces differently to how they’re used to. Thursday’s movement around the school and accessibility mitigations will be monitored to see if the full return is okay to continue until the October holidays. However, confirmation of whether Thursday will see a full or partial return (the same as Tuesday and Wednesday) will be confirmed by the middle of next week, depending on how the partial return has worked.
We will be moving into phase 2 of the contingency plan, as soon as possible into Term 2. Phase 2 will allow S4/5/6 pupils who are undertaking certified subjects, currently without access to the practical elements of the courses, the ability to do these. As this cannot be facilitated on site at Forres Academy in the immediate future meetings with partner schools and Moray College UHI have taken place to look at what capacity they have to allow the school to hold classes there. An options appraisal has been completed with a preferred option shaping up including securing transport from local operators. The preferred option would see pupils in the senior phase who have certificate courses in the sciences, home economics and woodwork travel to either Elgin Academy, Elgin High School, Lossiemouth High School or Moray College UHI to undertake the practical element of their course. These would be taught in the host school by the teachers from Forres Academy and the timetable would be reconfigured to support the travel time to these locations. We are awaiting the full details from transport to ensure we can facilitate this preferred model.
Due to the proximity to the end of term and with final arrangements not quite in place, the school will return on Monday 23 October continuing with Phase one contingency. Full details of the phase 2 plan for senior pupils will be confirmed the first day or two of term 2.
UPDATE 24/10/23
Plans have been made to facilitate practical delivery in host schools/Moray College UHI.
Phase 2 will begin from Monday 30 October.
The school timetable has been reconfigured to match both subject requirements and available capacity in host school/Moray College UHI. The structure of the school day will change slightly for seniors travelling for practical work.(Full details of school day structure can be found below.)
Pupils will travel to the host school/Moray College with their class teacher and either the Principal Teacher of the subject or a member of Senior Management. This Principal Teacher/Depute Head will be on hand at the host location to assist with any issues.
On the first occasion when pupils go to the host location they will be briefed by members of senior management from the host school on aspects they need to be aware of such as fire evacuation and toilet facilities.
Pupils will need to wear the Forres Academy school uniform, in particular the school tie. If a pupil has PE on the morning of when they travel or on a Friday period 4/5 we will inform them of the changing facilities to use.
Monday to Thursday:
The school day will be altered so that the trio period blocks are proceeded by lunch time Monday to Thursday to provide extra time for travel.
Lunch on site (school canteen pre order or take in packed lunch) and prompt departure of bus from carpark.
All pupils will return at end of session back to Forres Academy.
Friday:
No alteration to the school day required. The trio period will be periods 1,2 and 3.
Take snack with you or must pre order from canteen at LHS (more detail on this option by end of week)
Buses will depart Forres Academy promptly and therefore pupils must ensure they are there on time.
Buses will depart from the carpark.
Buses will depart host school/Moray college promptly. All pupils must return to Forres Academy with their class/teacher.
The table below indicates where subjects/classes are going to.
Each pupil knows what subject they are doing in which column.
What this means is that 3 of the allocated 5 periods given to a senior phase subject is now to travel to a host location and do the equivalent of 2 periods of practical work.
1 of the 5 periods per week has had to be allocated to the travelling time for this to work.
Subject teachers are confident that this is a workable option for the stage that courses are at.
We will look to how we pay back the lost period, this might be from some of the core PE/PSE time or study time a pupil currently. Information about this will be shared with pupils/parents in due course.
It is more cost effective to recover some of the space in the building by addressing the RAAC works which we are currently doing. Additionally, due to planning and building warrants modular classrooms take a minimum of 4 months to build. As we hope to recover the use of the majority practical classrooms in this time this would be an ineffective use of resources.
Phase 3 building works are progressing at pace and are focused on recovering and repurposing classrooms which will allow practical subjects to be delivered within Forres Academy again. Post-Christmas, practical science and technical lessons will be able to be delivered at the school, however, practical home economics lessons will continue to be delivered at host schools for the foreseeable future.
In order to help restore educational stability for pupils, once we have completed phase 3 recovery and repurposing works we will reassess with the teaching staff about any further requirements that might need to be made between the completion of that works in the summer and when the new Forres Academy build is available to move into.