August 2021 COVID 19 Risk Assessment
Coronavirus Outbreak Management Plan
Coronavirus Outbreak Management Plan updated Sep 21
9th August 2021
Plans for Returning to School in September
Dear Parents and Carers,
We hope you are enjoying the summer holidays and having some lovely quality family time. Just an update for you all to prepare for the children’s return to school in September. We have put together plans for the children’s return on Thursday 2nd September, which thankfully resembles normal school life again. These plans are based on the current guidance from the Department for Education. They are subject to change should the government make any additional changes during the summer holidays.
From September, it is no longer recommended that it is necessary to keep children in their class bubbles. This means that all children shall be able to mix together on the playground and the school field again. We will be able to hold assemblies together as a school community in the hall and children will not need to avoid mixing with other bubbles at lunchtime or during any extracurricular group sessions.
From September, there will no longer be staggered start and finish times for each class group. On a morning, the children are to be dropped off at the school gates anytime between 8:30am and 8:45am. All children must be in school for 8:45am. Please could parents/carers drop their children off at the gates where staff are waiting to allow them straight into the school. Children will go straight into their classroom. At the end of the day, all children shall be picked up at 3:30pm from the school main gates. Each class teacher will see their children out to their parent/carer at this time. Please note that for the first day only Class 1 children will begin school at the slightly later time of 9.30am and go home at 3.15pm in order to allow them to enter and leave school in a quiet manner without the rest of the school.
Car parking
At the beginning and end of the school day is a problem at most primary schools. Children and parents arrive and depart in a relatively short period of time and this causes congestion.
Please don’t:
Block the road, emergency vehicles and other traffic may need access
Park on yellow lines, zig-zags or block the school entrance
Park on the pavement, across dropped kerbs or residents’ driveways
Park opposite or within 10 metres of a junction
Expect drivers to reverse on to the main road
Park where you will cause inconvenience to other road users
Leave your vehicle with the engine still running
Stop in the middle of the road to drop your child off, even for a few seconds
Please walk to school if you can. If you have to come by car, try to share trips with friends or we can use the car park next to the community centre. Parking on restricted areas or mounting the pavement is a traffic offence.
Breakfast club
Breakfast Club will begin on Thursday 2nd September. Children arrive at school 8am for those who wish to attend and pay via parent pay at the cost of £1 per day.
After-School Clubs
After-school clubs shall resume in September, starting week beginning Monday 20th September. Further information about all clubs shall be circulated to parents during the first week back. If parents are collecting children after an after-school club, please wait outside the school gates and staff shall bring the children out to you.
PE Kits and School Uniform
Children shall come to school wearing their full school uniform every day. When your child has PE, they all must bring their PE Kit to school with them as KS2 can now get changed in school. Children are no longer to come to school wearing their PE Kit from September. We recommend that children bring their PE kit into school on a Monday to put on their cloakroom peg, then it goes home on a Friday to be washed, then brought back to school on a Monday. Children can now bring to school again school bags and pencil cases if they would like. School provides all children with water bottles.
Hand Hygiene
Frequent and regular hand cleaning is now regular practice in school, therefore this shall continue into the new academic year. Children shall have their hands sanitised by staff members upon entering the school and at regular times during the day.
School Dinners
School Dinners will increase from £2.10 per day to £2.15 per day from September 2021. If you have arrears with your school meals, please can you ensure these are paid. Many Thanks
Managing Covid-19 in Schools
As Covid-19 becomes a virus that we learn to live with, there is now an imperative to reduce the disruption to children’s education. The school will keep an up to date risk assessment and an outbreak management plan is devised in the event of an outbreak of positive cases within the school community.
- Tracing Close Contacts and Isolation
The government has said that from 16th August 2021, children under the age of 18 years old will no longer be required to isolate if they are contacted by NHS Test and Trace or identified as a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case. Instead, children shall be contacted to say they have been in close contact with a positive case and advised to take a PCR test.
- Positive Cases of Covid-19 or Where a Child Develops Symptoms
Children and staff must stay at home if they have any Covid-19 symptoms or if they have had a positive test result. If any child develops Covid-19 symptoms (however mild), we will call parents to come and collect them and the child should follow the public health advice.
- Asymptomatic Testing with Lateral Flow Tests
The government are stressing that testing remains important in reducing the risk of transmission within schools. It is likely that the government will continue to promote the twice weekly testing with lateral flow tests from September and kits can be collected from your local pharmacy or ordered online. If any child tests positive on a lateral flow device, they must book a PCR test immediately.
- Cleaning and Well-Ventilated Spaces
As part of our risk assessment, regular cleaning of areas and of equipment shall continue next year to ensure that our school are doing all that we can to prevent a spread of the virus in our community. Teaching environments will be well ventilated.
- Visitors to the School Site
As the Autumn term progresses, we will welcome parents back onto the school site for any events that we hold in school such as coffee mornings, parents evenings and performances. If parents need to contact the school regarding an issue or to speak to a member of staff, we would still encourage you to telephone the school first. If you have to pick your child up from school during the school day, please come to the main entrance where a staff member shall bring your child to the door.
Should any of the above procedures change over the summer, I will contact all families before the end of the summer break. I would like to thankyou all again for your continued support.
Best Wishes
Donna Lee
Head Teacher
