Unfortunately, Kite Ridge School has had to close through both National Lockdowns as it was decided that it was unsafe to have all of our students in school due to the high levels of support that they need, as well as their challenging behaviour.  As we were unable to have all of our students on the school site, we instead took to Zoom. Each student had a weekly timetable with a variety of staff, as well as weekly Music Therapy sessions with a whole school Singing Assembly and Celebration Assembly at the end of the week. We also continued to offer Street Dance as we would if the students were in school. These took place on the days that they would have if students were in school to maintain some normality. As well as this, some students were able to have Zoom sessions with other students that they would typically would have had lessons with if they were in school. 

We successfully reopened for all students on Monday 8th March 2021. When we reopened there were many changes implemented in order keep our school community safe. All staff wore a mask at all times. Staff who are particularly at risk due to the close proximity that they worked with their students wore full coveralls as well as a mask for the safety of both themselves and their students. These safety measures have stayed through all periods of partial and full opening. 

There are full Covid friendly risk assessments for all aspects of school life. Our overarching Covid Risk Assessment can be found below. If you would like to read more about our Remote Learning offer, please see the attachment below. 

As of Monday 14th March 2022, Kite Ridge School has returned to it's pre-Covid running. We will be using the Risk Assessments that were in place before the Pandemic began. This approach will be continually monitored and, if deemed necessary due to heightened risk in the school community and/or local area, restrictions in school will return. The Risk Assessments that we had in place due to the Pandemic can still be found below.

If you have any questions about our response to Coronavirus please do not hesitate to contact us 01494 448497 or email office@kiteridge.bucks.sch.uk. 

All schools have been awarded a sum of money per student as a "Catch-up Premium" due to the Coronavirus. As a Special School, we have been awarded £240 per student on roll for the 2020-21 Academic Year.

The EEF (Education Endowment Foundation) have put together a school planning guide which is linked on the Catch-up Premium page on the Gov.uk website that you can download below.

The guide states that "Every school will have been affected by Covid-19 differently and school leaders are best placed to understand the needs of their school communities. The right way to support pupils will differ between schools and must be informed by the professional judgement of teachers and school leaders."

The students at Kite Ridge School are particularly at risk of being severely affected by the closures due to Coronavirus and therefore need more support to return to school and resume normal life. As you may expect, our students have different requirements for this to happen compared to those at a mainstream Special School and therefore the plan for the use of this Catch-up Premium has been made with this in mind.

We arranged for all of our students to receive visits from Occupational Therapists in the 2021-22 Autumn Term in order to carry out full assessments. These assessments will be pivotal in ensuring that our students receive the support that they need in the future, either at Kite Ridge or at their adult placements. We are also in search of specialist Speech and Language Therapists to provide us with a detailed and well-rounded report on how best to support each of our students.

To see our Safeguarding and Child Protection policy relating to Covid-19, please click here.