Further Safety Reminders

Wednesday 9^th September 2020

I realise I am sending daily reminders and updates at this time but it is crucial we make our processes as safe as they can be to minimise the risks to our pupils, staff, parents and wider families.

You will no doubt have heard over the last few days that many, many schools in the country (and in our local counties) have already had to close in part or fully due to positive tests of both staff and children- this includes Primary Schools. We want to do everything we can to avoid this at our school. Many people seem to have stopped social distancing but this is crucial if we want to stop the spread of this virus.

There is an obvious concern about the severity of the illness that COVID 19 can cause and we know that many people have died from this, even those without medical conditions, so it is crucial we try to keep the risks as small as possible wherever we can.

There is also the inconvenience side that will have an impact to those affected. If anyone (staff or pupil tests positive) we have to send everyone in that ‘bubble/class group’ home to self-isolate for 2 weeks. Clearly, this will impact on the education of the pupils (we will send work home but it is not the same as being in the class) and it will also impact all the parents in that class in terms of finding childcare, maybe not being able to go to work so I’m sure you’ll all agree it is really important that we reduce risks as much as we can.

I have received much feedback from staff and parents regarding aspects that could be improved. I don’t want to have to spread the start and end times of the school day out any further but I may have no choice if we can’t maintain safe social distancing at the gate.

I know we are limited with space outside and we are in discussions with the highways to see if we can use the top end of the slip road for a better queueing system but we need to wait for permission to set this up so in the meantime, please ensure you help to keep everyone safe.

Staff visors

Staff will be wearing visors at the gate as protection for when talking to different parents. This keeps both you and them safe. They do remove them for teaching unless working very closely with a child such as dealing with any health needs.

Please do your part every day by:

1. Ensuring only one adult is in the queue with the child outside school.
2. Please use the spots to ensure you keep 2m distance from those in front and behind you.
3. If there are no spots left, please wait on the opposite side of the road still spaced out until spots are available.
4. Please respect and be kind to each other. There are many vulnerable people out there and we want everyone to feel safe.
5. Please walk to school if you live locally- there is not enough room for cars and social distancing outside school.
6. Please park on the main road not the slip road wherever possible. If there are no spaces and you have to bring your car into the slip road- please only park against the pavement furthest away from the school. Please leave the whole road clear on the school railings side of the road so people can use this space to maintain distance.
7. Our Y5/6 group use the bottom gate (car park). Many people turn their cars near this gate, getting really close to the pupils. Please wait until pupils have left before trying to turn cars around to ensure we don’t have any preventable accidents.
8. For those walking from New Houghton, please keep to the road side path when the path splits near the kitchen gate rather than walking down the path at the side of the school so you don’t have to walk through parents already queueing for different classes. I will ensure a staff member is wearing a Hi Vis vest and positioned on the road to help pupils cross over the slip road if cars are present.
9. Please ensure you don’t push in to the front of a queue, even if you see someone you want to talk to- this is unfair to others who are already in the queue.
10. Use the paths on the opposite side of the road (not the railing side) to go back home so you aren’t walking through parents queueing.
11. Please leave as soon as you have dropped off or collected your child so we don’t have too many people outside of school to maintain safe distances.

We know the next few months are going to be a challenge but I would love for our school to be one that manages to escape any positive COVID cases amongst staff and pupils so we can remain open throughout. PLEASE help us to achieve this by remembering social distance measures both at school and in your daily lives.

With much appreciation for your ongoing support,

Mrs. Johnson