|
Dear Parents
As we prepare to welcome all pupils back to school on Monday 8th March 2021, we want to share with you information about the arrangements and routines that will be in place so that we can operate as safely as possible and continue to minimise the risk and spread of COVID-19 infection. Your support and attention to these arrangements is still very important. Many of the arrangements are exactly the same as those that were in place before the Christmas holidays, with a change only to the staggered start/finish times for Year 2.
Summary of Arrangements and Routines
- All pupils must return to school on Monday 8th March on a full-time basis, that is all day Monday – Friday.
- Each class will operate as a single ‘bubble’ or group as much as possible.
- Children will have staggered start and finish times and a designated entrance (see below).
- We will continue to operate the one-way system in place for entering and leaving the playground.
- Only one parent to drop off/collect children on school premises. (Where two parents drive/walk to school with a child, one should wait in the car or away from the school premises – please do not wait in the school car park or on Bazley Road as this will cause congestion).
- Parents and families should observe social-distancing of 2 metres at all times.
- Parents should wear face masks when bringing children to and collecting children from school.
- Hand-washing and good hygiene will remain very important. Children will be expected to sanitise their hands on entry to the school and wash or sanitise their hands at regular intervals during the school day. Hand-sanitiser stations will be available in the playground and at the main entrance, in the school hall and in classrooms.
- Children should not wear masks for school.
- Staff will wear face masks when social-distancing with other staff or children is not possible, and always in corridors and when talking with other staff or parents.
- Parents MUST NOT park their cars on Bazley Road
- Parents should not congregate or stop and talk on school premises, near the school gates or on Bazley Road as this will cause congestion and block the path of those walking to/from school at different times.
- Parents should keep any conversations they need to have with staff as brief as possible so to avoid congestion in the playground. If detailed conversations are necessary, we ask that parents make a telephone appointment, write a message in the communication book (or on paper) or contact Carole Nelson at the school office via telephone (0161 998 4825) or email (admin@northenden.manchester.sch.uk) who will then pass the message to the teacher.
- Extra cleaning (particularly of shared/contact surfaces) will take place during the school day.
- All children should wear school uniform which should be washed regularly, at least twice per week (COVID-19 can survive on cotton clothing for up to 3 days)
- Pupils should bring a ‘filled’ water bottle to school every day and take it home for washing every day. Water bottles will be replenished by staff at least once during the school day. Pupils will not be allowed to use water fountains given the risk of contamination.
- All children should bring a PE kit to school.
Staggered Arrival and Leaving Times
There will be a timetable of staggered arrival and leaving times for each class. Please note these times are slightly different for our Year 2 class (5 minutes earlier and now using the main entrance) to those that were in place before the Christmas holidays.
| |
|
Arrival Time |
Leaving Time |
Drop-Off / Pick-Up |
| |
Nursery |
8.45am (Playground) |
11.45am/2.45pm |
Playground/ASC Door/EYFS Gate |
| |
Reception |
8.40am (Playground)
|
2.50pm |
Playground / EYFS Gate |
| |
Year 1 |
8.50am (Playground) |
3.00pm (Zone A) |
Playground / Playground |
| |
Year 2 |
8.55am (Main Entrance) |
3.05pm (Zone A) |
Main Entrance / Playground |
| |
Year 3 |
8.50am (Main Entrance) |
3.05pm (Zone B) |
Main Entrance / Playground |
| |
Year 4 |
8.45am (Main Entrance) |
3.00pm (Zone B) |
Main Entrance / Playground |
| |
Year 5 |
8.55am (Playground) |
3.10pm (Zone B) |
Playground / Playground |
| |
Year 6 |
8.40am (Playground) |
2.55pm (Zone B) * |
Playground / Playground |
* We are aware that many of our Year 6 children walk home by themselves or are met en-route by parents.
Arrival/Drop-Off at School
- Please arrive at school and collect your child at the allocated time. Entrance to the school premises will be directed by a member of staff each morning and afternoon.
- If your child is using the main entrance, please do not loiter or say “goodbye” at the school gate – come into the car park, say a quick goodbye and then leave via the pedestrian gate using the one-way system. This prevents congestion at the school gate.
- Siblings can arrive together at the earlier drop-off time for their family. This may mean that a child enters school earlier than the rest of their class. Alternatively, parents and siblings may wait on the field (soft-surface) away from other parents or leave the premises and return at the later time.
- Only one parent should accompany a child on school premises.
- Parents should not attend the school office during drop-off time (given its use by pupils). Parents may attend the school office at the end of the day but must queue outside the main entrance. Only one person at a time is allowed to present in the reception (office) area. Please contact us by telephone or email if you can.
- Please do not park on Bazley Road for any reason – this will cause congestion and is not safe.
- Please maintain social-distancing when walking to and from school
- Please maintain social-distancing when passing one another in the street
- Please do not gather or stop to talk to other parents on school premises or on the approach to school.
- Please do not obstruct pavements or pathways when waiting for children
- Please encourage children to enter the school premises on their own (staff will be present at various positions from the school car park to the playground). Older pupils should be able to enter the school premises on their own in the mornings. If leaving pupils at the school gate, please enter the car park and then leave via the pedestrian gate – this will ease congestion at the vehicle gate.
- If parents are meeting (usually older) children at a point not in the playground, this must be away from school premises and the school gates to avoid congestion at the gates and on pavements.
- Parents who wish to collect all siblings together may do so at the earlier time by arrangement, wait on the field or leave the premises and return when other siblings finish school.
- Children who bring their bicycles to school should bring them to the playground. They should dismount before they reach Bazley Road for their own and others’ safety. They must not ride their bicycle into the school car park.
Risk Assessment : At this time:
- Although cases nationally and in Manchester are decreasing and there is less pressure on the NHS, the key message is that we should continue to be vigilant (and “not blow it”) in the coming months, even if we have had a vaccine.
- Scientific advice suggests that when all pupils return to school that there could be an increase in potential COVID-19 cases. However, the health impact of COVID-19 on the community is reducing given the vaccination programme. At this stage, most staff and parents will not have received a vaccine and therefore we ALL continue to take action to minimise the spread of the virus.
- All families should continue to follow all of the national guidelines, rules and laws regarding contact with others, mixing between households and limiting travel for non-essential purposes.
Social Distancing
It is not possible for schools to operate in such a way that all pupils in a class are socially-distanced from one another during the school day. However, each class will continue to operate as a bubble and staff will socially-distance themselves from each other and from the children as much as possible. Where this is not possible, staff will wear a face mask. We will be asking all parents to socially distance themselves from other families and staff at all times.
Symptoms, Self-Isolation and Testing
The guidance for managing symptoms of COVID-19 are as follows:
-
If a pupil has anyone within their household that has coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, they should not attend school. They should self-isolate immediately and the adult in the household should arrange to have a test.
-
Any pupil who develops COVID-19 symptoms during the school day should be sent home as soon as possible and
should arrange to have a test. We expect all parents to collect a child from school as soon as possible and certainly within 45 minutes. While waiting, a child will be isolated from other children in school until they are collected.
- Any adult who has COVID-19 symptoms must not come to the school premises, including to bring their child to school.
-
Any pupil who has tested positive for COVID 19 should not attend school/ setting for 7 days from the onset of symptoms. If the test is positive but the pupil has not had symptoms, they should self-isolate for 7 days from the date of the test.
- Where an adult in a household has COVID-19 symptoms, they should arrange to have a test and all members of the household should self-isolate. Children should remain at home for the defined period or until the test result has been returned as negative.
- More information about symptoms and self-isolation can be found here – NHS website.
Collection / Leaving School
When collecting children at the end of the day, parents will be asked to arrive at school at the designated times. Parents should queue in the playground one-way system and keep moving forward, maintaining social-distancing of 2metres. Children will be waiting in the playground for collection and will move to parents from their waiting points as parents approach the front of the queue. Parents should not enter the waiting zones – the children will move to parents from this point.
Before-School and After-School Club
Our before-school and after-school clubs will operate as follows:
- Before-School Club will operate from 7.45am until 8.45am each day. Pupils attending the Before-School should use the main entrance.
- After-School Club will operate from 3.00pm until 5.00pm. Parents collecting from the After-School Club should use the After-School Club door.
If you would like your child to attend After-School Club, please contact our After-School Manager on 07806 425181 or via email asc@northenden.manchester.sch.uk
School Lunches
Manchester Fayre (caterer) will provide a hot meal (single choice) at meal times. All children will eat in the school hall but there will be staggered meal times for each class and social-distancing between classes while sitting in the school.
OTHER INFORMATION
Equipment
Children will be provided with their own equipment, including their own pens and pencils. These will be stored in named ZIP-wallets. The use of shared resources will be minimised. Where this is necessary, shared resources will be cleaned or quarantined after use for a period of up to 72 hours before being used by another class.
Physical Education Lessons
Where this is not possible due to the weather, PE lessons with a whole class will only take place outdoors. Where PE lessons have to take place in the school hall due to poor weather, the group size will be no more than 15 children (half a class).
Personal Items
- Children should not bring any personal items, e.g. toys or books, from home
- Children may bring a small school bag to school
- Mobile phones (Year 6) will be sealed in a named plastic zip bag before being stored
- Children should bring a lunch box as usual
- Water bottles should be brought into school and will be returned home for washing every day
Clothing for School (Uniform)
- Children should wear school uniform and this should be washed regularly (at least twice each week)
- Children should bring a PE kit to school. This should be taken home every Friday and washed over the weekend.
Parents’ Evenings
We will not run a parents’ evening in the Spring term (before Easter), given that the children will have only just returned to school and teachers will need a few weeks to determine their new starting points. We will aim to run a parents’ evening by ZOOM or other video means in the first half of the summer term (April or May). We will issue a end-of-year report in July as we usual do.
Staff Training Days
Parents have already been notified that Staff Training Days will take place on
- Monday 7th June 2021
- Tuesday 8th June 2021
The children will therefore return to school following the Whitsun half-term holiday on Wednesday 9th June 2021.
Routines and Rules for Parents
In addition to some additional rules and routines for children, there are also some things that we need parents to do to support the school and keep everyone safe. If you would like your child to return to school, we are asking you to following these routines and rules. If you cannot support us in this, please keep your child at home to reduce the risks of infection to children in school and to staff.
- keep to and respect the current lockdown rules, including social distancing between friends and neighbours;
- continue to commit to the national lockdown rules that are in place for your own family, household, workplace, shopping or social context
- keep your distance from other families when walking to and from school;
- keep your child away from school if anyone in your household (or anyone you have been in close contact with) shows any symptoms of COVID-19;
- get a test if anyone in your household shows symptoms of COVID-19;
- join the national testing, tracing and tracking system (an APP to be available from beginning of June)
- continue to maintain good cleaning and hygiene (hand-washing) routines when at home;
- DO NOT park on Bazley Road for any reason – use Kenworthy Lane and walk the short distance to school
- do not gather in the school playground or car park or stop at the school gates or on Bazley Road to talk to other parents – this will block the safe pathway for other families coming to and leaving school (and may make others feel anxious);
- only one parent should bring/collect their child from school;
- make sure that your child has their packed lunch (if not having a school lunch) at the beginning of the school day to avoid having to revisit the school;
- follow our routines when on school premises (and in the surrounding streets), including queueing, following the one-way system and maintaining social distance from other families;
- minimise the items brought into school by children;
- ensure that clothes worn for school are clean (daily washing if possible);
- ensure your child washes their hands thoroughly before leaving the house;
- do not visit the school office – please make a telephone call if you need further information.
|
