Five weeks of closures to resurface road
I think the return date being quite a bit after the festivities has helped us.
A MAJOR roadworks project on a busy route through a Derby suburb will see five weeks of road closures enforced from early next week.
Derby City Council will be resurfacing the whole of Reginald Road South, in Chaddesden, between its junctions with Nottingham Road and Chaddesden Lane, from Monday.
The work will be carried out within a road closure between 9.30am and 3.30pm on weekdays and is set for completion by Friday, February 18.
A diversion route will be in place for affected motorists via Nottingham Road and Chaddesden Lane, and the same in the opposite direction. Road markings will be assessed and replaced where necessary.
Residents will be able to access their properties, however, there may be a short delay at certain stages of resurfacing work. Pedestrian access will be maintained at all times. No weekend work is planned, but may be a possibility, subject to progress.
In a letter sent to affected residents, the city council shared more details about the work set to be undertaken by Thomas Bow Ltd, on behalf of the local authority.
Part of the letter reads: “We appreciate this work is disruptive and essential journeys could be delayed. Our main aim is to get the work completed as quickly and safely as possible.
Bus company Arriva has alerted its passengers to the upcoming roadworks, and has confirmed Service 20 will be unable to serve stops along Reginald Road South, and will divert via Nottingham Road and Chaddesden Lane.
“Currently, we have a few staff off with Covid but this is manageable at present.”
Returning pupils have been told by the Government they have to wear masks in classrooms, as well as in social spaces - PE lessons and eating being exceptions to the rule.
Ms Penny said: “We have had masks in place since October half term so that is not a change for us. We believe it has helped us to stay open and keep the spread of infection under control well.
“However, we are not complacent and have a series of messages going to staff, students and families across this week to reinforce safety measures such as mask wearing, use of hand sanitiser and regular lateral flow testing.”
At Littleover Community School, Covid testing is taking place over three days, with the first 400 in Years 10 and 11 tested on Monday and the rest over yesterday and today.
All will be back in school by tomorrow.
Head teacher Jon Wilding said: “We are following a programme of remote learning until students return to site.
“We are aware of a number of students who have contracted Covid over the holiday, but our on-site testing has not thrown up a large amount of positive results so far.
“At the end of last term we had no staff absent through Covid-19, which was remarkable. We are not expecting to be as lucky over the next few weeks, though, and will be making contingency plans in the event of high staff absence.
“It will be a case of ‘fingers crossed’ but, to be honest, it has been that way for the best part of the last 18 months anyway.”
Wearing masks in classroom will also be nothing new at Littleover Community School, where they were being worn just before Christmas anyway.
Mr Wilding added: “This is clearly not something we want to do and there is certainly an impact on learning in the classroom, but at the moment we accept it is necessary to, hopefully, keep case numbers down.”
The Spencer Academy Trust runs 25 primary and secondary schools across Derby and Nottingham, including the biggest school in Derbyshire, which is John Port Spencer Academy in Etwall with more than 2,000 pupils.
A trust spokesman said: “All academies across the trust have either already fully returned as in Nottingham, or completing initial testing at the start of this week.
“We have some staff and students absences, largely due to Covid isolation requirements, however all academies are fully operational at this point in time.”
Two major teaching unions reported large numbers of staff absences across the country during last week. The NASUWT carried out a survey of teachers and found that almost half (46%) of teachers were having to cover for absent colleagues nationally.
NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “It is very concerning that our members are telling us that staff absences due to Covid are having serious impacts on teaching and learning.
“Higher rates of staff absence are making a very challenging situation much worse for schools struggling to maintain appropriate staffing levels without disrupting pupils’ education.”
And Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Staff absence on the first days of term last week was significant. The concern is that the situation could worsen over the coming weeks.
“While schools will do everything they can to manage the situation, there is a reality that needs to be acknowledged here. There is no escaping the fact that if a school has a quarter of its workforce off, that will have a significant impact on education.
“School leaders will be making decisions on a case by case basis, based on the unique circumstances they find themselves in. What’s important is that they are trusted to make these decisions in the best interests of their pupils and staff.”