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Covid 19

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-parents-and-guardians-when-you-should-book-a-coronavirus-test-for-your-child/letter-to-parents-and-guardians-when-you-should-book-a-coronavirus-test-for-your-child

 

Merstham Primary School

Our planning is underpinned by two key principles:

  • The safety of our children, our students and our staff is paramount; this includes their mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. All our decisions are led by the welfare of children and staff, guided by the latest advice from government, Public Health England (PHE) and other scientific evidence.
  • We must continue to provide children and students with the best quality learning that we are able to.

Updated guidance from the Government and PHE is being published regularly and may cause us to review plans.  Any new cases of Covid-19 amongst our children/students and staff may also impact our ability to keep the school open.

There are also some key aspects of the running of  the school:

  • We operate whole class sized groups of children. Children remain in these class groups as much as possible. 
  • Classroom layout is different to support social distancing, with set desks spaced as far apart as possible and facing the front. They may be sat next to one another but they will not sit face to face. This is different for younger children who continue with free flow play
  • Children may see staff wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) where this is required to deal with medical or sickness situations
  • The use of education resources may be restricted and will be cleaned more regularly

 

Organisational points for opening

  • Attendance: Usual rules on school attendance apply.  If a child remains under the care of a specialist health care professional please discuss their care before returning to school. It is a parents’ duty to send their child to school regularly and, as a school, it is our responsibility to record attendance and follow up absence. As a last resort, sanctions will be issued in line with local authorities’ codes of conduct including fixed penalty notices.
  • Travel to and from school: Government advice currently advises to avoid using public transport to travel to school and that wherever possible, to travel (to school)  either by walking or cycling whenever possible. Travelling to school by car could cause congestion and inevitably social distancing problems.
  • Arrival and end of day procedures: Children should, ideally,  be accompanied by one adult only and siblings only if necessary. If you enter the site, please move through quickly and do not congregate. Drop off and collection times will be staggered to minimise the number of people on site. A one way system will operate. Further details will be sent to parents.
  • Movement around school: Corridors  are two way  walking on the left hand side.
  • Lunch arrangements: Provision is packed lunch only and is eaten in classroomsChildren in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to Universal Free School Meals and  are eligible for a free school packed lunch. If preferred, they can have their own packed lunch. Children in Nursery and Years 3-6 can choose to pay for a school packed lunch or provide their own from home. Children’s own packed lunches remain with them in the classroom and school packed lunches are taken to their classroom and distributed by the school staff. 
  • Breaktime play and lunchtime play: Children play in their class groups of 30 in an allocated space.
  • Writing equipment: Writing equipment is provided for individual children by school and are not shared. Please do not provide pencil cases from home. 
  • Toilets: Toilet facilities are organised into boys and girls. Each class group of 30 has been allocated a labelled toilet cubicle and sink that is only used by this group. Doors into rooms are kept open where possible to avoid touch points. 
  • Uniform expectations: The children are expected to wear full school uniform. Please refer to the school website for further detail. Please ensure that all uniform is named. On PE days hildren should come into school in their PE kit. They do not, therefore, need to bring a PE kit into school.
  • Before and after school clubs: There are no before or after school run clubs currently. We are spreads across three sites until November 2nd  2020. There is not enough space to run clubs currently. We will review this position on an ongoing basis.
  • Behaviour Policy Addendum : Merstham Primary school is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all its children and staff. The school refers to the Government guidance for education and childcare settings on how to implement social distancing and will continue to follow the advice from Public Health England on handwashing and other measures to limit the risk of spread of COVID19. Additional health and safety protocols have been established and all members of the school community are expected to adhere to these. Taking into account the age and needs of the children, we have adopted a risk assessment approach for anyone who forgets or does not adopt our safety protocols with age appropriate sanctions where necessary which are in line with our normal procedures.  
  • Hygiene practices which will be in place: All classrooms have handwashing facilities (soap, hot water and paper towels). Children wash hands with soap and water at any point they exit or enter the classroom, before and after eating, at other regular points during the day as deemed necessary. Alcohol based hand sanitiser is available for use in all classrooms and must be used when first entering the building. Classrooms are hygiene cleaned daily along with all common areas. This includes all desks, switches, door handles and touch plates which are also cleaned by school staff during the day. 
  • First aid and intimate care: First aid facilities for minor incidents are available in all classrooms and can be managed by the supervising staff. If more serious, children will be taken to a dedicated first aid station. If social distancing cannot be adhered to when dealing with an incident/personal care, staff will be provided with PPE to enable them to safely manage the situation. Hand washing procedures will be maintained.  
  • Procedures should a child develop symptoms and use of isolation rooms: Should a child develop symptoms of Covid19 (any one of the following high temperature (38C or above), new continuous cough, loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell) they should stay at home. If they develop symptoms in school, they will be taken to an isolation room where they will be looked after by a member of staff who will be wearing full PPE. You will be contacted and asked to collect your child immediately. IT IS THEREFORE IMPERATIVE THAT YOU ENSURE THAT WE HAVE THE MOST UP TO DATE CONTACT INFORMATION FOR PARENTS AND CARERS. Please contact the school office via email to update any changes.

Current advice is that your child should self-isolate at home for at least 7 days, you should arrange for a test to see if they have Covid-19 and ensure all members of your household (including siblings) self-isolate for 14 days from when the symptomatic person first had symptoms. Please communicate results of tests with us in order that we can react accordingly.

  • Visitors to school: As has been our normal practice since before 20th March, we are only allowing essential visitors on to the school site.                                                                                                                                 
  • Parent visitors to the office/visitors for meetings: Please only come in to the office if absolutely necessary. If absolutely necessary, only one person is allowed into the office reception area at a time. Please form a socially distanced queue away from the school gate to enable people to flow through comfortably. If possible, please communicate via email to info@mersthamprimaryschool.org or call the school on 01737 471028. We will endeavour to reply as soon as possible.
     
  • Where a ‘face to face’ meeting is required:

We are currently working on implementing a secure video format to enable ‘ virtual face to face ‘ meetings.

  • meetings will take place observing social distancing rules. All such meetings will need to be booked in advance via email / telephone with the office. 
  • Shielding Children: In our discussions with you about your child’s needs, we will discuss the provision of school work for your child.
  • Social Distancing: Staff will socially distance from pupils and other staff as much as possible. While children will remain in bubbles, adults will be able to move between bubbles and maintain social distancing.

Further general information and guidance for parents and carers regarding coronavirus is available here: http://www.glfschools.org/1168/coronavirus-covid-19.