Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope that you have all had a restful, safe and happy summer. All of our staff are delighted to welcome you all back to school on Tuesday 1^st September. The information below is the same information that we sent to you in July but we felt that sending it again my help in the preparations for returning to school. Further information has been produced by the DFE in order to assist parents:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-in-the-autumn-term

 

Our planning is underpinned by the Department for Education’s advice on effective infection protection and control which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

In order to follow the guidance, each class will remain as a class bubble throughout the whole of the day. This would not be our usual, preferred way of running the school day particularly in the infant department, as the benefits of providing the children with the opportunity to mix fluidly with their peers during lessons and at break times are immensely beneficial. However, due to the current circumstances, the health and safety of all of our pupils, staff and our families must remain our priority to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid19.

 

Each bubble will have their own allocated classroom, staff, play area, play equipment, lunch break and arrival and departure time. Children will not cross bubbles. However, in order to teach the full curriculum, some of the teachers will move to different bubbles but will adhere to social distancing measures. All of the classrooms will be adapted where possible to reduce face to face contact with one another.

 

There will be no whole-school events where children and adults are required to congregate. Whole school worship will be pre-recorded or live via a virtual platform streamed to the children in school only. Children will not sing during worship.

Measures for arriving at and leaving school
Detailed below are the new stringent procedures that must be followed to ensure the safety of the whole school family.

Arrival Procedure

Walking to school:

You must adhere to social distancing rules whilst walking down Oakwood Avenue. You and your child will be greeted by a member of staff, who will be there to direct you to your meeting area. Class teachers will come to collect your child from their meeting area and take them down into their classroom. Parents must then promptly depart walking through the car park gates, in order to continue observing the social distancing measures. This must be adhered to for the health and safety of everyone. Please note: only one adult per child will be permitted onto the premises in order to adhere to the guidelines produced by the DfE.

 

Driving to school:

The school car park accessed via Oakwood Avenue will not be open for parents to use. This is due to the pedestrian path from Oakwood Avenue being too narrow to allow for parents to leave the premises whilst other children and parents are using it at their allocated time. To exit the school premises, the car park gate will be used in order to allow social distancing to be adhered to. During this time, we are politely requesting that parents ‘park and stride’ being ever mindful of the residents on Oakwood Avenue and Hennel Lane. However, the car park may be used by parents accessing breakfast club before 8.40am.

 

Departure Procedure

Walking from school:

You must adhere to social distancing rules whilst walking down Oakwood Avenue. Please wait for your child in their allocated meeting area on the school grounds at the time you have been given.  Once ready, the class teachers will walk the children up to their meeting area. Your child’s name will be called out and at this point you should come forward to collect your child.  Parents and children must then promptly depart through the car park gates, in order to continue observing the social distancing measures. Safeguarding procedures will be adhered to in line with dismissing children and passwords will be requested if there is an unfamiliar adult to collect your child. Please note: only one adult per child will be permitted onto the premises in order to adhere to the guidelines produced by the DfE.

 

Driving from school:

The school car park accessed via Oakwood Avenue will not be open parents to use. This is due to the pedestrian path from Oakwood Avenue being too narrow to allow for parents to leave the premises whilst other children and parents are using it at their allocated time. To exit the school premises, the car park gate will be used in order to allow social distancing to be adhered to. During this time, we are politely requesting that parents ‘park and stride’ being ever mindful of the residents on Oakwood Avenue and Hennel Lane. However, the car park may be used by parents accessing after school club after 3.45pm.

 

Parents must not congregate at the ‘drop-off’ point, they must instead arrive on time and then depart. In the instance that parents have children in more than one year group, parents should go to their earliest drop off/pick up point first and then proceed to your final drop off/pick up point. This must be adhered to for the health and safety of everyone.

The information below provides further detail to your child’s drop off time, meeting point and departure time:

 

 

 

 

 

Hygiene regimes

 

Alcohol based hand sanitiser – This will be administered by a staff member on a regular basis throughout the day.

Hand washing- This will take place at regular intervals throughout the day.

Toileting – It is our aim to only have one class at a time using the toilet facilities however, we must stress that there may be occasions where this is not possible.

Cleaning – The school is engaged in a consistent and constant cleaning program before school, during the school day and after school to ensure that all health and safety targets are met.

Uniform – Children must wear their full school uniform and they must have their full P.E kit in school at all times. P.E kits will be sent home at the end of each week. These must be returned to school on the following Monday.

Water bottles – Children are encouraged to bring in their water bottle from home which can be re-filled from the water coolers in school.  Bottles MUST be taken home and washed at the end of each school day. Your child may also use their own water bottle at lunchtimes.

First Aid - Before a member of staff deals with a first aid incident, they will apply hand sanitiser, they will then carry out the basic first aid needs, i.e. dealing with cuts and grazes.  For anything that is more serious PPE equipment will be worn or parents contacted if more detailed treatment is needed.

PPE – This will be worn by staff members when dealing with a child who has taken ill at school, in the event of a toileting incident or a major first aid incident.

 

Playtime and lunchtime procedure

Children will remain in their ‘class bubbles’ and remain with their allocated staff members in their allocated play areas.  The children will be maintaining their social distances when on the playground, where possible. Some easily cleanable play equipment will be provided i.e. footballs, bats, skipping ropes.  These pieces of equipment will be cleaned after each use.

 

Lunches

The children will remain in their ‘class bubbles’ and remain in their allocated classroom to have their lunch.  All tables and surfaces will be cleaning before and after the children eat their lunch, as well as at the beginning and end of each day. If your child has a school lunch, these will be delivered to classes for them. We kindly ask that parents are mindful of the items put into lunchboxes due to the fact that children will be eating their lunches in classes which are carpeted areas.

 

Learning

Your child will be exposed to all of the learning outlined in the National Curriculum for their particular year group. Teachers will ascertain your child’s current attainment during the first week back in September. This is our usual practice and is both vital and necessary, in order to plan from the starting points of the children. This is to ensure that they continue to move forward in their learning. We will be operating under our usual behaviour policy this includes adhering to the uniform, hairstyles and jewellery policies.

 

In September, we will provide your child with all of their stationery, so there is no need to send them in with any equipment. Any pencils or pencil cases that are brought in from home will not be used and they will be sent home. We are also asking that book bags, rucksacks, or any other form of school bag are not used at this time. By reducing the amount of items brought in to school and then transferred back to home, we are minimising the risk of cross transfer of the virus. Also, to ensure that our bubbles do not come into contact with other bubbles, we will be using our cloakroom areas at a reduced capacity until further notice. Coats and lunches will be kept on the back of chairs and underneath desks in the classrooms. We will provide all children with a plastic wallet to carry their school reading book and their homework folder to and from school.

 

Contact
Unfortunately, our teachers will not be available for face to face contact due to the strict timings of the school day. Teachers must commit their time to ensuring that all children safely enter or leave their care. Parents are welcome to contact school through Class Dojo, email or telephone if they have queries about the day.

We kindly request that the school office is not accessed by parents unless through prior arrangement via a telephone call or email.

 

What if my child shows symptoms?

If your child shows any symptoms whilst at home, they MUST NOT be sent into school under any circumstances. Please contact school to advise as we can refer the child and any other member of your family for a COVID 19 test.

 

If your child starts to show symptoms at school, we will:

Separation

If a child is displaying any of the COVID 19 symptoms they will immediately be separated from all other children.  We have a room set up purely for the purpose of a potential COVID 19 case.  A staff member will be assigned to your child and that staff member will wear full protective PPE which is being supplied to schools by the Government.  Parents will be contacted and be asked to come to collect their child immediately. Please bear this in mind if you are returning to work, as immediate action would need to be taken by yourself to collect your child, we have to minimise the risk to all other children and staff members in school.  The school has the autonomy to then refer your child and every member of your family to receive a COVID 19 test.  We will establish details from you when we make the call to ask you to come and collect your child. 

 

You will be asked to contact school with the results of your test.  If a case is confirmed, then the school will follow the strict guidance on having a confirmed case in school and inform all parents of children and staff members who have been in contact with your child.

 

Current COVID 19 symptoms include, but are not limited to:

People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness.  Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may have COVID-19:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhoea

This list does not include all possible symptoms.

What if my child falls ill during the day?

Any child who is feeling unwell with any NON COVID 19 symptoms will still need to leave the school premises.  School staff will contact parents and ask for immediate collection of their child.  Your child will be separated from other children. 

We are kindly asking all parents to be extra vigilant to their children and ANY symptoms of illness that they might be displaying and ask that your child is kept at home wherever possible if they are feeling unwell.  As children will have other illness throughout this COVID 19 period and this will assist us in keeping other illness away from as many people as possible during these very difficult times.

 

Attendance expectations
The DfE guidance states that it is statutory for all pupils to return in September. All attendance will be registered and this will be monitored. Routines in place prior to March with regards to attendance will be re-established and therefore where required, we may contact parents to offer support with attendance. This may include local authority involvement to support families to improve attendance. 

As you know, we would like to stress that all these procedures are not the way we would like to operate neither is this our usual way of operating, but this is to ensure we are working within the government guidelines. We will do our very best to make your child and your family feel as comfortable as possible but it is important to bear in mind that your child may find their return to school emotionally distressing because of the vast changes we have had to make. We understand completely that this may take some time to adjust to.

 

It is important to say that all the above is crucial to the health, safety and well-being of everyone attending school and therefore we must stress that all the procedures and policies have to be adhered to in their entirety.

 

Please be aware that all of the above information is relevant at the point of writing. It is important to note that any changes to Government guidance will be communicated to you as swiftly as possible.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support throughout this very challenging time. We are all looking forward to welcoming all of our families back to our school family. May I wish you all a very happy, restful and safe summer holiday.

 

Yours sincerely

K A Proctor

Headteacher