Dear parents / carers
We hope that everyone has had an enjoyable summer break and have had the chance to relax and recharge. It seems like a long time since we were open to classes and communicating regularly about how school was operating. We are looking forward to welcoming you and your families back into school and have a range of procedures in place to reduce the risk of the virus spreading; including a detailed risk assessment, developed in conjunction with the local authority, which covers all aspects of the school day. Staff and governors have all been consulted and involved in the risk assessment process. Of course, this process is continuous and we may need to adapt and change procedures as time goes on.
You can access the Local Authority Model Risk Assessment HERE. Blank-draft-RA
We appreciate that school will not be ‘normal’ for some time and a number of events that would normally take place will not happen this term. Although this saddens us, we look forward to supporting you and your children in getting back into school and continuing their learning journey. I am sure that everyone understands that the situation is fluid and that schools will set up in a particular way but will need to adapt when required.
Start and end of day – School will operate a staggered start and end time for each bubble of children; which will allow for a minimal number of pupils / parents on site at any one time. This will also allow us to stagger lunchtimes and break times so that only 1 bubble of children are out on the yard at any one time. A text message will be sent to you at the end of this week reminding you of your child’s start and end time. Please ensure you keep to the strict time arrival and collection schedules you have been allocated and avoid staying on site for longer than needed. If your child is going to be late please let the office staff know so that arrangements can be made to accommodate them.
Staff will be around school at the start and the end of the day to ensure that you follow our 1 way system to reach allocated classrooms. Entry to the school grounds will be via the main school entrance and the exit will be round by the nursery building. There will also be arrows and signs to help you. Please ensure you maintain the 2 metre social distancing rule between yourselves and other families and do not gather at the school entrance gates or doors. We would ask that only 1 adult brings each child to school thus minimising adult to adult contact. As a Rights Respecting School we expect all members of our school community to show each other the respect they deserve when on our school property. I have asked staff to ensure that there is a flow of people around school so please ensure you are respectful to staff if they ask you to move on as they are only following government guidelines. PLEASE NOTE THE BACK GATE WILL NOT BE OPEN AT THIS TIME.
Children will need to be taken to / go to their allocated classroom door at the specified time, where staff will be there to greet them. Children will be asked to use the hand sanitiser before entering the classroom door.
Travelling to and from school – we have been asked by the government to remind you that you should avoid public transport if at all possible when travelling to school. The Fiddlers Pub have agreed that you can park in their car park at the start and the end of the day in order to reduce the number of cars around school. Please ensure that if older children walk to school with other children, apart from those in their immediate families, they continue to adhere to social distancing rules. For further information please see www.nexus.org.uk/covid-secure
School Uniform – Pupils will be expected to be in full school uniform from September, however, we are hoping to continue with our outdoor learning so would ask if children could wear trainers rather than school shoes until at least October half term. This will mean children will not have to change their shoes ready for outdoor learning and PE. On allocated PE days the children can wear PE kit all day as this will help to reduce the number of bags brought into school. PE kit should consist of black shorts, tracksuit trousers/sports leggings and a school jumper to wear over their white tshirt. Class pages will let you know when their specific PE days are.
Equipment Pupils will be provided with all of the learning equipment they need so we would ask that children do not bring in any equipment from home. We would ask that pupils do not bring large rucksacks/ bags as they are going to need to be stored in classrooms.
School office – Please note that the school office will not be physically open to parents / pupils during this time. If you need to contact the office staff or a member of staff, please email or ring school. If you need to meet with a member of staff a pre-arranged socially distant appointment will be made.
School lunches – for the first 2 weeks of this term the school kitchen will provide a packed lunch or alternatively your child can bring their own packed lunch. Children entitled to Free School Meals or universal infant entitlement (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) will get their packed lunch free of charge. All others will need to pay for their lunches online using sims Pay. Packed lunches will be eaten in classrooms and then children will have an allocated breaktime out on the yard. After the two week period, hot school lunches will be provided, although this will be a more limited option so that the children can get through the hall more quickly. At this point the children will have lunches in their allocated bubbles.
Warm weather procedures – Please note that the school water fountains will not be in use. Please therefore provide your child with a named water bottle for use during the day. If we are lucky enough to have warm weather, please ensure your child has had sun cream applied before coming to school and has a hat to wear when outdoors as we are hoping to have some lessons outside.
Attendance – Training Day – The school’s training day will take place on Friday 4th September so all children, except those in Nursery, will be expected to attend school from Monday 7th September. Please be aware that the government have made it very clear that all children have to attend school from September 2020. We would ask that you let school know using the usual procedures if your child is unwell and will not be attending school. If your child displays any symptoms of being unwell, we would ask that you do not send them to school. Any child who displays COVID symptoms will be sent home and have to be tested. Any confirmed coronavirus will result in the school contacting Public Health England who will then advise us on the next steps to be taken.
Cleaning around school – All children will have their own equipment to use in school. Doors will be propped open to ensure that a minimum of surfaces are touched. Children will access their classrooms via fire doors and will only enter the school corridors to access the toilets. The toilets and corridors will be staffed during the course of the day to avoid any unnecessary contact. The whole school will be thoroughly cleaned at the end of each day and classroom surfaces will be cleaned throughout the day.
EYFS Children – Reception and Nursery children will not be expected to sit at desks all day and will have access to some limited resources in a carousel as well as access to the outdoors. We know that trying to maintain a social distance of 2 metres will be very difficult for these children. We cannot guarantee that children will not come into close contact with each other.
Hygiene –We would ask parents to discuss hand hygiene, particularly linked to using the toilet, as well as respiratory hygiene with their child before returning to school. The e-Bug project is led by Public Health England and has a dedicated webpage for learning resources on hand washing and respiratory hygiene. Resources are currently available for KS1, KS2 and KS3 and can be used in various settings including schools and at home:
In order to ensure the safety of the rest of the school community it is vital that any parents / carers
respect all government guidance. It is vital that we work together to keep the number of transmissions as low as possible. We will provide further updates throughout the term. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Many thanks
Lucie Forrest and the Windy Nook Primary School Team
To download a copy of this letter please click on the link below:
Important Information Sept 2020
