At the moment of writing school is due to open fully again on Monday 8th March. The amended COVID-SAFETY risk assessments are on the website but there are only 2 main changes from the new year amendments.
All the same safeguards and procedures that proved successful before Christmas are still to be maintained, especially 2m distancing between staff during break times.
At the moment we will continue the practice of no before-school or after-school clubs to prevent any cross infection across bubbles but we will keep this under review. Everyone is being encouraged to be in the premises for as little time as is necessary to ensure proper daily cleaning and this too will continue for the time being until we all get a feeling how things are going.
I must stress that maximum attendance is again crucial for ALL children if we are to make up for their time missed in school.
We will continue with the same morning admission and home time leaving routines and timings and no lining up in order to keep everyone safe. Lunchtimes too will stay the same with Reception classes starting hot dinners after Easter.
For the foreseeable future we will continue with the established changes to the start and finish of the school days.
NURSERY CHILDREN 8.55 am enter school grounds through Reception Yard Gate
3.00 pm leave school through Reception Yard Gate
RECEPTION CHILDREN 8.55 am enter school grounds through Reception Yard Gate
3.15 pm leave school through Reception Yard Gate
Y1 CHILDREN 8.55 am enter school grounds through INFANT Yard Gate
3.00 pm leave school through INFANT Yard Gate
Y2 CHILDREN 8.55 am enter school grounds through INFANT Yard Gate
3.15pm leave school through INFANT Yard Gate
Y3 CHILDREN 8.55 am enter school grounds through MAIN school Gate
3.00 pm leave school through MAIN school Gate
Y4 CHILDREN 8.55 am enter school grounds through MAIN school Gate
3.15pm leave school through MAIN school Gate
Y5 CHILDREN 8.55 am enter school grounds through CAR PARK Gate
3.00 pm leave school through CAR PARK Gate
Y6 CHILDREN 8.55 am enter school grounds through CAR PARK Gate
3.15 pm leave school through CAR PARK Gate
Members of staff will greet the children at the school gates and accompany the children to class if needed and the children will say goodbye to their parents at the gate and go straight into class with no lining up.
Parents must not come onto school grounds without an appointment, emergency information, school payments etc. will continue at the school office with only 1 person at a time in the foyer but parents and visitors on foot CAN ONLY access through the main school gate after using the intercom.
We have updated our rigorous risk assessments to make sure that the school is Covid-Safe and the updates risk assessment documents are on our school website. We have again organised the school into “YEAR GROUP Bubbles”, (please remember things can change very quickly and we will always put the safety of children and staff first, so keep your eye on the school website and twitter).
Nursery Bubble Reception Bubble Y1 Bubble Y2 Bubble
Y3 Bubble Y4 Bubble Y5 Bubble Y6 Bubble
Our aim is to keep each Bubble separated from all the others either by space or time, each Bubble will be allocated its own staff on a week by week basis and classes within the bubbles will also be kept apart as much as possible. If a child or member of staff within a bubble tests positive for COVID it is likely that all the children and staff in that bubble will be sent home to isolate.
Although children do not have to socially distance from other children in their bubble staff will be encouraged to maintain 2m distance whenever possible from pupils and moving between bubbles will be kept an absolute minimum by a few Senior members of staff who will wear masks if they have to.
Each Bubble has its own entrance, exit points and toileting areas (for use one at a time). Breaks and lunches are organised to keep Bubbles apart and the aim is to have enough staff in each quarter-bubble that all the usual activities; PE, LANGUAGE, SEND & EAL support etc. can be arranged within each Bubble.
Obviously our usual pupil support will have to look a bit different than is normally the case but our aim is to maintain our excellent high standard with COVID-SAFE precautions. The important thing is not to worry about anything, the school has already been open safely for many weeks before the Christmas holidays and I am fully confident that we can continue to safely open and minimise COVID risk to all our children in if we follow the guidelines we set down.
As you know to ensure that we are ‘COVID-Safe’ we have also made a few changes to our behaviour policy and amended some other policies and we have put together a home-school agreement to support everyone’s safety in school. The changes are detailed in the agreement which can be viewed on the school website; we will make arrangements for everyone to sign the agreement after we have started again next week.
I am looking forward to the rest of the school year, Covid has taught us all some valuable lessons about the importance of family and community and the massive importance that education has on shaping the lives of our children and all our futures.
Primary education is too important to miss or take casually ALL our children need to attend as near to 100% as they can to make the most of their time in school as they will never get this time back again.
See you all next week,
Yours sincerely,