This page will detail the protocols and controls that we have established within Eythorne Elvington Community Primary School in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is based upon the guidance published by the DfE.

Please note that this is a working document and will be reviewed regularly. Any changes will also be published on the weekly newsletter.

After-School Club

After school club continues to run in full operation where children can remain in school after 3.10pm until 5.45pm at the latest.  All bookings should be made via the office and there must be at least 24 hours’ notice given to either cancel a booking or to make a new one.

Attendance

School attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age unless they are required to self-isolate or quarantine.

Beginning and End of the Day

The ‘soft start’ to the day is being maintained – gates will open at 8.30am and will close at 9am. Anyone arriving after this time must enter through the school office and will be marked ‘late’.

At the end of the school day, the gates will open at 3.00pm and children should be collected from the usual playground as before at either 3.00pm for Discovery and 3.10pm for the remainder of the classes.   

Bags

Children are encouraged to bring a bag to school as normal to allow them to safely look after their every day items which should include a water bottle as well as their reading record and reading book itself.

Breakfast Club

Children attending breakfast club can now attend from 7.45am and should enter through the rear entrance of the hall.

Classroom Practice

Standard classroom practice will resume. There will be no requirement to maintain specific seating arrangements or individual stationary items/learning resources.

Children may once again, be working in groups across classes although records will be kept to assist with any contact tracing should this be required.

 Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Children and Staff

All children and staff should attend school unless they are under specialist or paediatric care and have been advised by their clinician or other specialist not to attend.

 Contingency Plan (also known as Outbreak Management Plan)

Should a significant number of positive cases be identified within the school, the school may take one or more of the following steps:

1. Re-introduce a ‘bubble’ for the year group(s) impacted;
2. Combine classes or other groups of children to ensure continuity of provision;
3. Recommend that all children in an identified group get a PCR test and ongoing LFD testing;
4. Ensure any staff deemed ‘vulnerable’ are protected; this may necessitate working from home;
5. Review the situation on a ongoing basis to determine if there is any in-school transmission. 

Curriculum

The school will retain its focus on a broad and balanced curriculum with high quality teaching of all subjects. There will be additional support available to pupils in key areas of language acquisition, reading, spelling, opportunities for extended writing and key mathematical concepts, i.e. multiplication tables.

Educational Visits

These will resume although risk assessments will now take into account any ‘COVID-aware measures’ that the venue has established.

 Extra-Curricular Clubs

Extra curricular clubs have resumed and will continue to be in place as long as we have the adults in school to be able to facilitate these.

 Face Coverings

We are asking that all personnel wear face coverings whilst in communal areas around the school.

One-off visitors, i.e. prospective parents, are asked to wear face masks whilst indoors.

Whilst face-coverings to not have to be worn on school premises, can I ask parents to give due consideration to those around them and, if you are unable to keep a distance of 1m, please do consider wearing a face mask.

Home Learning

The school will not be setting additional home-learning to address gaps in children’s education. Our policy remains that daily reading and frequent practice of key knowledge and skills (i.e. times tables and multiplication tables) is the best way to support learning.

Year 6 will have regular weekly homework to prepare them for the expectation in secondary school.

Infection Prevention

Cleaning Schedule

Classroom based staff will continue to wipe down all hard surfaces and contact points twice daily.

Personal Hygiene

Children will still be asked to wash their hands on entry to school in the morning and when returning from the playground.

Respiratory Hygiene

The ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ message will continue to be reinforced with tissues provided in every classroom.

Ventilation

Ventilation will be prioritised with windows open and the opening of internal doors. Where possible, external doors will also be kept open where they are not fire doors.

Infection Response

Pupils, staff and other adults should follow public health advice on when to self-isolate and what to do. They should not come into school if they have symptoms, have had a positive test result or other reasons requiring them to stay at home due to the risk of them passing on COVID-19 (for example, they are required to quarantine).

If anyone in the school develops COVID-19 symptoms, however mild, they will be sent home and they should follow public health advice.

Pupils awaiting collection will be placed in the SLT office.  Appropriate PPE should be used if close contact is necessary.

Tracing Close Contacts

A case of COVID in school will now not necessarily result in other children or staff being asked to self-isolate. Any close contacts will be identified by NHS Test & Trace although the school may support in identifying these who have been sitting in close proximity with a child who tests positive.

Isolation

Children who live in the same household as someone with COVID-19 do not need to self-isolate but should undertake daily LFD testing.

The self-isolation advice for people with coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed. It is now possible to end self-isolation after 6 days, following 2 negative LFD tests taken 24 hours apart. The first LFD test should not be taken before the fifth day. For example a child tests positive or has symptoms on the 5th January (this is day 0), the earliest that they can return to school would be 11th January (day 6) following two negative LFT tests on day 5 and day 6 and providing that they no longer have a high temperature.

Lunch Arrangements

School Meals

There will be no change to the provision of school meals and all information can be found on the school meals section of our website. 

Mixing and Bubbles

Classes and year groups will no longer required to be kept in discrete ‘bubbles’. This means that:

• children from different year groups will be permitted to socialise during break times;
• children attending the breakfast or after school club provision will no longer be kept in phase groups;
• extra-curricular after-school clubs can be attended by more than one year group.

Parents

As a school, we pride ourselves on our relationships and open communication with parents and parents remain welcome in school. Parent Consultations will be held either via a zoom meeting or telephone call depending on what each parent prefers.  Should you wish to have a face-to-face meeting with your child’s class teacher at any point then this can easily be arranged. 

PE

There has been a great deal of positive feedback about wearing PE kit to school – this has meant less time lost and less lost property therefore children should continue to attend school in their PE kit on allocated PE days.

We ask that children wear their school sports hoodie and pe short along with black tracksuit bottoms, leggings or shorts with trainers.

PE lessons will take place outdoors where possible.

Primary Assessment

Arrangements for the 2021/22 academic year have now been confirmed and will be held as normal.

• Year R Baseline
• Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
• Key Stage 1 Tests and Teacher Assessment
• Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check
• Key Stage 2 Tests and Teacher Assessment 

Staff Meetings

Weekly staff meetings continue to be held and are done so in well ventilated locations with plenty of space.

Testing

School staff and volunteers have been asked to undertake twice-weekly LFD testing at home. If any individual tests positive and is not displaying any COVID symptoms then they do not need to take a confirmatory PCR test but begin their period of self-isolation from the day of the test. Anyone displaying symptoms should still book a PCR test and self-isolate whilst awaiting this result.

There is no requirement for primary aged pupils to undertake regular testing unless they are identified as a close contact.

Visitors to the School 

Any visitor attending the school is asked to confirm that: 

• they have not travelled from or transited through any of the countries or areas that do not currently have an air bridge with England in the past 14 days. 
• they have not developed a fever (above 37.8C), new, continuous cough or a loss of taste or smell within the last ten days. 
• no-one in their household has the above symptoms and has not yet had a test. 
• they are not required to self-isolate for any reason in accordance with Government guidelines. 

On arrival, all visitors are asked to sanitise their hands and will be escorted around the school to ensure that there is no ‘cross-contamination’. 

Disposable face coverings will be made available to visitors who wish to use one but these are not mandatory if they are meeting with an individual member of staff, i.e. in an office. 

Visitors walking around the school will be asked to wear a face covering at all times. 

For test and trace purposes, we will keep records of everyone who has visited the school. We will keep this information for 21 days.  We may share this information with NHS Test and Trace if somebody within the school community tests positive for COVID-19.