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1 | Page Maiden Beech Academy Plan for Reopening in March 2021 Version 6: Updated on 03.03.21 Rationale and purpose The main purpose of this plan is to provide the safest possible environment for staff and children by using available guidance and a common sense approach to ensure the risk of catching and transmitting the COVID-19 virus is kept to a minimum. The underlying aim and guiding principle is to keep everyone safe by reducing potential risks. Introduction The Government announced last week that it expects all children to return to school full- time from Monday 8 th March 2021. This guidance applies to all schools including middle schools and Maiden Beech Academy is planning to open to all pupils in a staggered approach to enable Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) for secondary aged pupils. Monday 8 th March: All year 5 and 6 children return to school following the guidance below Tuesday 9 th March: Year 7 return Wednesday 10 th March: Year 8 return – whole school in as normal MINIMISING COVID-19 RISKS We will continue to comply with health and safety law and ensure the appropriate risks are assessed and that proportionate control measures are in place. The key risk assessment will be reviewed and revised and then published on the Academy website: www.maidenbeech.net . The school will introduce a system of controls to help minimise the risks of Covid-19 which can grouped into two key areas: ‘prevention’ and ‘response to infection’. PREVENTION No one is to come into school if they have Covid-19 symptoms and must follow the Government guidance set out below about when to self-isolate. Staff should refer to the following document, which contains a clear flow line of actions: Management of COVID-19 in educational settings – Actions for staff. The school will adhere to this guidance without exception and all staff are expected to comply. In the event of more than one reported case, the school will liaise with the CEO and COO at the BTCT and an action plan will be agreed on how to manage the situation When to self-isolate The medical advice is clear: you must self-isolate if you have coronavirus symptoms or live in the same household as somebody who does. The main symptoms of coronavirus are: high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature) new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual) loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

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Page 1: Plan for Reopening in March 2021 - Maiden Beech

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Maiden Beech Academy

Plan for Reopening in March 2021 Version 6: Updated on 03.03.21

Rationale and purpose The main purpose of this plan is to provide the safest possible environment for staff and children by using available

guidance and a common sense approach to ensure the risk of catching and transmitting the COVID-19 virus is kept to

a minimum. The underlying aim and guiding principle is to keep everyone safe by reducing potential risks.

Introduction The Government announced last week that it expects all children to return to school full- time from Monday 8th March

2021. This guidance applies to all schools including middle schools and Maiden Beech Academy is planning to open

to all pupils in a staggered approach to enable Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) for secondary aged pupils.

Monday 8th March: All year 5 and 6 children return to school following the guidance below

Tuesday 9th March: Year 7 return

Wednesday 10th March: Year 8 return – whole school in as normal

MINIMISING COVID-19 RISKS We will continue to comply with health and safety law and ensure the appropriate risks are assessed and that

proportionate control measures are in place. The key risk assessment will be reviewed and revised and then

published on the Academy website: www.maidenbeech.net .

The school will introduce a system of controls to help minimise the risks of Covid-19 which can grouped into two key

areas: ‘prevention’ and ‘response to infection’.

PREVENTION No one is to come into school if they have Covid-19 symptoms and must follow the Government guidance set out

below about when to self-isolate. Staff should refer to the following document, which contains a clear flow line of

actions: Management of COVID-19 in educational settings – Actions for staff. The school will adhere to this

guidance without exception and all staff are expected to comply.

In the event of more than one reported case, the school will liaise with the CEO and COO at the BTCT and an action

plan will be agreed on how to manage the situation

When to self-isolate

The medical advice is clear: you must self-isolate if you have coronavirus symptoms or live in the same household as somebody who does. The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)

new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

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For more information, read the further guidance on symptoms.

If you have one or more of these symptoms, you must self-isolate straight away for 10 days – or longer if you still have symptoms other than cough or loss of sense of smell/taste and arrange a test ASAP.

If you live in the same household as someone with coronavirus symptoms, you must self-isolate straight away for 10 days.

If anyone in school develops symptoms they will be sent home immediately and parents will need to ensure they are able to pick their son or daughter up at short notice. Parents must then follow the government ‘stay at home’ guidance and arrange to have a test. If the test is positive, then parents must inform the school immediately.

Whilst waiting to be collected, children will be isolated from the rest of the school in the Curriculum Office, which has been adapted for this purpose, and staff attending to the child will wear PPE. The layout of the office allows us to meet all government guidance on isolation including being behind a closed door, in a ventilated room, visible to staff with the use of a separate toilet (disabled toilet adjacent to this room). Once the child has been collected, the room will undergo a deep clean.

Any member of staff who has helped someone with symptoms or has been in close contact with them does not

need to go home to self-isolate unless they develop symptoms themselves.

The following advice and guidance is useful from the Health Protection Team is helpful and will applied to any

decisions made:

Based on the advice from the health protection team, schools must send home those people who have been in close contact with the person who has tested positive, advising them to self-isolate for 10 days since they were last in close contact with that person when they were infectious. Close contact means: direct close contacts - face to face contact with an infected individual for any length of time, within 1

metre, including being coughed on, a face to face conversation, or unprotected physical contact (skin-to-skin)

proximity contacts - extended close contact (within 1 to 2 metres for more than 15 minutes) with an infected individual

travelling in a small vehicle, like a car, with an infected person

It is essential that all staff keep appropriate distance in the classroom and do all they possibly can to limit ‘Close contact’. Everyone must wash their hands thoroughly for twenty seconds and the areas of the room where the person was

isolated needs to be cleaned with household bleach.

Cleaning hands thoroughly more often than usual

We will do everything that is reasonably possible to keep high use areas and equipment clean and will have an enhanced cleaning programme facilitated with additional cleaning hours. However, we believe that keeping the children and adults clean is key to preventing the spread of the virus. Everyone will be expected to clean their hands on entry and exit to every room either using the sinks provided or in the absence of hand washing facilities, by using appropriate hand sanitiser. Handwashing by the children will be closely overseen by every member of staff to ensure that this happens. We have purchased enough hand sanitiser to allow for this, and we are planning to increase the number of hand basins around the school site, including the installation of external hand washing facilities outside the science lab (this is now in place).

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Respiratory hygiene

Children will be reminded each morning of the importance of the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach and we have ensured we have an adequate supply of tissues and bins available. Every member of staff who regularly interacts with the children will have hand sanitiser and tissues readily available in order to ensure the consistency of these important messages.

Posters have been displayed throughout the school site in all key areas re-enforcing this message. If for any reason we feel any child may struggle with this due to their own individual needs, then we will carry out an individual risk assessment.

Guidance re: face masks in school

From March 8th, we strongly recommend that all children and staff wear a face mask in the following contexts:

in communal areas such as toilets and corridors

The canteen

For 1:1 or work involving close proximity to another individual

In classrooms where it is difficult to maintain appropriate social distancing i.e. most, if not all, of our classrooms.

Parents will need to put in writing to the tutor if they do not wish their son or daughter to follow this policy and their wishes will be respected. There will be no action against any parent or child who does not follow this strong recommendation.

Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) for Key Stage 3 children (Year 7 & 8)

We are offering a lateral flow test (LFT) to all secondary aged children (years 7 and 8) before they return to school.

The children will then be offered two subsequent tests in school (details below) before families are offered home

testing kits.

The purpose of the testing regime is to provide a further safeguard to members of the school community by identifying

and removing any positive but asymptomatic cases from circulation as possible.

Children will have three LFT during the first week and a half they are back in school (The initial test will be taken prior

to returning full time and the two subsequent tests will be taken during the school day:

Year 7 Year 8 Test 1: Prior to return Monday 8th March Tuesday 9th March

Test 2 Thursday 11th March Friday 12th March

Test 3 Monday 15th March Tuesday 16th March

Once tested, pupils will be issued with a card to take home, which will have the following information written

on it:

o The time the test was taken

o The result of the test – positive, negative or invalid (we will only administer a second test if your son

or daughter is happy for us to do so).

o A barcode used to register the result on the NHS track and trace website (we will also keep our own

internal record of the results).

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Children should wear a face covering and adhere to strict social distancing during the test process – staff on

duty will ensure this happens.

Testing will take place in the Learning Resource Centre (LRC), which has been thoroughly cleaned and prepared

for this purpose. This area has been set up following strict safety guidelines and stringent risk assessments.

Children who test negative will be able to attend school as normal the following day (Tuesday 9th March:

Year7; Wednesday 10th March: Year 8). Children whose parents choose not to have them tested should also

return on these days.

Lateral Flow Devices (LFD) are fast turnaround tests that can process COVID-19 samples on site without the need for

laboratory equipment and are able to generate results in about half an hour. They help identify COVID-19 infections

for asymptomatic children or staff (those who may be affected but do not display symptoms).

If a test is positive, the pupil will need to leave school ASAP and take a confirmatory PCR test off site. A PCR test is

conducted in the same way by taking a swab from the throat and nose, but this sample requires to be sent away for

laboratory testing. Whilst this process is being completed, your son or daughter should remain at home until a negative

test result is received.

Enhanced cleaning

We have introduced a revised cleaning schedule that ensures enhanced cleaning of high use areas and frequently touched surfaces. We have also increased the cleaning of the toilet areas and main reception. We have also recruited an additional cleaner to work throughout the school day.

Minimising contact between individuals and maintain social distancing

We have tried hard to minimise the contact between different groups of children through the creation of social ‘bubbles.’ These ‘bubbles’ are based on year groups/ tutor groups primarily.

The guidance provided suggests that we can operate bubbles the size of a class or even the size of a year group. It is acknowledged that it will be impossible to ensure that this is adhered to at all times but our intention is to reduce rather eradicate the risk of infection.

Proposed approach:

Revised school day The timings of the school days have been revised to support social distancing.

Children will be told not to arrive on site until 8:45 AM and go straight to their tutor rooms. All staff must help

enforce this expectation and the school expects all parents to support this request.

The MBA day from 8th March 2021 7:30 – 8:45 AM – Childcare in the canteen for parents who have booked this provision and for the children of key

workers or those deemed vulnerable. This provision will be free during the spring term.

8:45 – Children go straight to tutor groups and wash hands if there are handwashing facilities. Tutors to be in room by

8:45 to meet, greet and help organise. Unless travelling on school transport or attending prearranged childcare,

children should not arrive to the school site until 8:45 AM.

9:00: Lesson 1

10:00: Lesson 2

10:55: Break – see arrangements and guidance below

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11:15: Bell 1 – KS 3 children leave playground and return to tutor room.

Bell 2 – KS 2 children go outside to playgrounds

11:40: Bell 3 – end of break and start of Lesson 3

12:15: All LSAs have lunch in staffroom to enable them to be on duty during the children’s lunch break.

12:30: Lesson 4

1:00: Key Stage 2 lunch in classroom supervised by LSA team- Year 5 go to the canteen

1:10: Year 6 go to the canteen

1:15: Key Stage 2 go out to playgrounds supervised by MDSA team (LSAs to wait with KS 2 children still eating)

1:30 Key Stage 3 lunch – supervised by designated staff.

1:40: End of KS 2 lunch – reading time and catch up work in tutor room supervised by LSA team and SLT.

1:45: Bell 1 –KS 2 children leave playground and return to tutor room OR classroom they were in for the first part

of Lesson 4 where they will continue with their lesson with the timetabled member of staff.

Bell 2: KS 3 children go out to playground supervised by lunchtime supervisor team

2:15: Bell 3: End of KS 3 lunch – registration for all year groups

2:30: Lesson 5

End of school arrangements In order to limit the mass movement of children at the end of the school day, we will implement a staggered exit

from the school site:

Year 5: 3:15 PM

Year 6: 3:20 PM

Year 7: 3:25 PM

Year 8: 3:30 PM

Children travelling by bus will leave at the same time as their year group and will go to the hall to wait for their

bus to arrive. Children in different year groups should socially distance from one another whilst in the hall, and

school transport have issued guidance to bus operators to actively encourage social distancing on school transport

based on year groups.

At break and lunch time, it is essential that staff use the bells as a cue for the next course of action and not to rely

on the timings provided, which are for guidance only.

Movement around the school site As MBA operates a secondary school approach to curriculum delivery i.e. children move every lesson to a different

classroom with a different member of staff. This model means that lesson transitions involve the movement of over

400 people at any time and there are several transition points in the school day, which will be ‘pinch points’ in terms

of effective social distancing. In order to mitigate this risk, movement will be limited with staff moving rather than

children with some exceptions to this rule:

Music will be in the music room, which is not used as a tutor base. Children will be supervised during the

transition by their music teacher and will remain in their tutor room until collected.

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Drama in the music room or the classroom allocated to a specific tutor group. The curriculum will be amended

to reduce physical contact. Children will be supervised during the transition by their drama teacher and will

remain in their tutor room until collected.

PE/Games will be based in the hall. Again, PE staff will collect the children from their tutor base and supervise

the transition. Children will be permitted to wear PE/Games kit to school on the days that they have either

PE or Games timetabled to avoid the need to use the changing room facilities.

Design Technology: The DT workshop/ Food Tech room will be available for Design Technology lessons. A risk

assessment has already been completed for cookery. Children in 5JF will be based in Room 8.

Computing: Lessons will take place in the Tech Suite. Again, children will be collected from their tutor base

and supervised during the move to the new building.

A one-way system will be reintroduced in the main building with appropriate signage. This will reduce the potential

for contact in the busiest area of the school.

Bubbles Children will be part of the following bubbles:

Tutor group – they will remain in this bubble for the vast majority of their lessons

Maths group bubble: As maths is the only subject reliant on ability grouping/banding, children will be in this

additional bubble to support teaching and learning

Games group: two tutor groups from the same year group will be timetabled at the same time; however,

contact will be kept to a minimum and reduced by not using the changing room facilities – see above. Children

will be permitted to wear PE and Games kit to school on the days that they have these lessons timetabled to

remove the risk of changing in a relatively small and crowded space.

Year Group – this larger bubble will be used to manage break and lunch time and to facilitate staggered timings

throughout the school day to reduce the number of children around the site and on. Every effort will be made

to keep different year groups apart.

KS 3 vulnerable and critical worker children: Depending the number of children attending school, these

children will form a new bubble that will be based in the music room (Monday 8th March) and Room 9 (Tuesday

9th March)

Assemblies There will be no whole school and year group assemblies for obvious reasons. We will plan on delivering assemblies

through Microsoft Teams and/or pre-recorded assemblies via video, which can be shown across the school during

tutorial time.

Classrooms

Because of the increase to 16 tutor groups, rooming is at an optimum and there will be little or no

alternative classroom space to use.

All classrooms need to be arranged with tables in rows and children facing the front where this is possible.

Some classrooms. Following a risk assessment, it has been decided that Lab 1 will not be used as a teaching

base because the desks are fixed and forward facing. The Drama room will now be used as a teaching space

for 5LG instead.

The teacher should remain at the front where possible and try and maintain 2m social distancing. If this is

not possible then the amount of time where this is not adhered to should be kept to a minimum. Staff

should avoid being within 1m or less of any child and should wear a mask as recommended.

We are aiming to maintain a distance of at least a metre within classrooms. Teachers should look to socially

distance children in the room as much as possible.

Learning support staff can circulate, but should try and keep some distance where possible and avoid face to

face support.

Teachers and learning support staff should try and maintain 2m social distancing from each other as should

all staff at all times.

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All classroom will have a clearly marked entrance/exit point. Staff and children should avoid walking through

Rooms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5a and should use the main corridor or outside routes instead.

Practical lessons/Cleaning Subject teachers and subject leads need to carefully plan the nature of the activities on offer within their curriculum.

The following subjects will be taught in tutor bases; therefore, activities need to be appropriate:

o Art

o BEP

o English

o French

o Geography

o History

o Maths – see above re: grouping/banding.

o PSHCE

The following subjects can be taught in the following designated rooms; however, a RA for usage, including

cleaning/disinfecting arrangements will need to be completed and adhered to:

o Drama – this will take place in the music room or classrooms whilst the LRC is being used for LFT

o Music – this will take place in the music room

o Computing – this will take place in the Tech Suite

o PE/Games – will take place in the hall or preferably outside

Where rooms are used consecutively with different groups, particularly different year groups, they will need

to be disinfected and any pieces of equipment used properly cleaned e.g. musical instruments and computer

keyboards. Disinfectant spray should be used as per guidelines.

Toilet Facilities In order to further reduce risk, year group bubbles will be allocated specific toilets to use during the day, including

break and lunchtime.

Year 5: Changing room toilets

Year 6: Toilets in the main corridor

Year 7: Changing room toilets

Year 8: Toilets in the main corridor.

Staff toilets: in order to reduce the number of staff using specific toilets, female staff groups have been allocated the

following toilets:

Female toilets closest to the staffroom: Teaching and classroom support staff

Female toilets closest to Room 1: Admin staff and non-classroom based support staff including female visitors to

the school.

Social spaces Inside:

Children will use their tutor room as their main social space, including wet break and lunch times.

Outside:

Children will be allocated a designated outdoor space – break and lunch times will be staggered to reduce the number

of children in anyone space and to increase safe access to toilet facilities.

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Year 5 and Year 7

These year groups will use the larger playground and space outside the LRC/Room 9/ DT room during break and

lunchtimes.

Children in years 5 and 7 will continue to use the changing room toilets

Breaktime: 10:55 – 11:40 AM

Break will be staggered to reduce the number of children around the school site.

10:55– 11:15 AM: Year 5 and 6 eat their snack in their classroom or go to the canteen to purchase food.

Year 7 and 8 will go straight out to the playground space or remain in their tutor base if it is

raining. During this time, key stage 3 children should use the allocated toilets.

11:15: Bell 1 rung: Year 7 and 8 leave the playground and go to their tutor rooms

Bell 2 rung (approx. 11:20) Year 5 and 6 will go outside and Year 7 and 8 will go either to the canteen/hall or back

to their tutor room to have their snack. During this time, Key Stage 2 children should

use the toilets.

Bell 3 rung (approx. 11:40) End of break – Year 5 and 6 return to their tutor rooms for Lesson 3

Teaching staff and support staff will be allocated a 20 min duty as normal.

Year 6 and Year 8

Year 6 and Year 8 will use the Year 8 playground and space outside the music corridor/drama room during break and

lunchtimes.

Children in this year group will use the toilets in the main corridor.

The canteen and food on site

Children will be encouraged to bring in food from home; however, sandwiches and easy to eat food will be available

from the canteen. Children entitled to free school meals will be able to purchase food from the canteen and the system

will remain cashless to reduce risk. Children will eat snacks and lunches in their tutor base to reduce the risk of cross

contamination between different social bubbles.

We will operate a staggered lunchtime by reducing the length of period 4 for children in Key Stage 2 by 30 minutes

The proposed timings are:

1:00 PM: Year 5 and Year 6 have lunch in their classrooms. FSM will purchase food from the canteen and then return

to their tutor base to eat.

1:15 PM: Year 5 and 6 go outside – if raining the children will return to their tutor base.

1:30 PM: Year 7 and 8 have their lunch in their tutor bases and arrangements for FSM will be the same as above.

1:45 PM: Year 5 and 6 return to their tutor base where they will be supervised by staff on first lunch

1:45 PM: Year 7 and 8 go outside to their allocated playground where they will be supervised by the MDSA team.

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Staffing:

Teaching staff who teach Year 5 or Year 6 Period 4 will take their lunch break from 1:00 – 1:45 PM and then

support in the supervision of Key Stage 2 children until 2:15 PM

Teaching staff who teach Year 7 and/or Year 8 Period 4 will take their lunch break at the normal time.

1:00 – 1:15 PM: children will be supervised by SLT and support staff colleagues in their tutor rooms.

Activities Staff organising activities must ensure that risk assessments are in place that have been discussed with and agreed by

Bonny Portland, H & S lead at the BTCT and myself. NB: Bonny has already produced a risk assessment for cooking.

Parental drop offs and picking up The current system introduced will remain in place. Parents will drop off either at the Lyme Road entrance or Bushfield

Road entrance and will not be permitted on site.

If parents need to visit reception, they must park off-site and maintain social distancing guidance at all times, including

wearing a face mask on school premises. The only access point to the school building will be through the main

entrance.

Appointments must be made to visit any other member of staff including finance.

Visitors/Supply teachers Where possible professionals should be encouraged to meet either via Microsoft Teams or by telephone.

We will use supply teachers only where necessary and we will try and maintain our policy of rarely cover where

possible.

SLT will be the first to cover lessons once cover supervisors have been deployed. The requirement for cover will be

reduced to covering for absent colleagues and only essential trips/visits and meetings. All children will return with

gaps in their learning; therefore, keeping staff teaching normal lessons will remain the priority.

We must also plan for the possibility for covering staff who need to self-isolate and the additional strain this will place

on colleagues in school. Therefore, all requests for cover will be carefully monitored and agreed only in exceptional

circumstances.

We will produce clear guidance for visitors and ensure they have had time to read it before they enter the main school

site. We will continue to ensure all visitors must report to reception.

Taking books and resources home Everyone will be encouraged to minimise the need to take equipment and books home.

Where possible, extended learning should not require children to take books home and books should remain in the

classroom. Extended learning should be set via the Portal and/or Microsoft Teams and should be completed online

where possible.

It will be necessary for staff to take books and papers home from time to time to ensure children’s work is marked

appropriately; however, the preference would be for books to remain in school and for staff to use PPA time for this

purpose.

Changing rooms The changing rooms will not be used other than to provide toilet facilities for specific year groups.

Children who have either PE and/or games timetabled will be permitted to wear their PE kit to school for the day.

Tutors and PE staff will need to constantly remind children to do this.

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Use of PPE Staff will not be expected to use PPE above and beyond their normal working practice. PPE will be available for

anyone who has to deal with someone with symptoms and is unable to maintain a safe working distance of 2 metres.

Disinfectant sprays and supplies of paper towels will be regularly topped up

PE and Games lessons The curriculum will need to be reviewed to ensure appropriate social distancing. Contact sports will not take place

and we will continue to follow the guidance of the National Governing Bodies.

Staff wellbeing/Staff room/Staff briefing/Staff training As we have done many times before, it is essential that we pull together, work as a cohesive team and support one

another through this challenging time.

We must return to normal as soon as is reasonably safe and we must start with the attitude of what can we do

safely, rather than what can we not do.

The current situation and a ‘new normal’ we no doubt put immense pressure on staff.

Staff must try and ensure they socially distance (2m) where possible and must avoid gathering in the staff room in

significant numbers. The chairs in the staffroom will be replaced will plastic chairs to aid cleaning and the number of

chairs will be reduced to enable a degree of social distancing.

Staff briefings are essential in sharing information about the children but also in maintaining staff morale and

camaraderie. They cannot continue in their present format as social distancing is not possible. Therefore, briefing

documents will be sent out on Wednesday and Friday afternoons and communication will continue through Teams.

Staff meetings will either take place in the hall, where we have space to socially distance, or will be conducted virtually

via Teams. This has been successful during the autumn term 2020. We will decide on the best time to hold these

sessions, allowing staff to meet virtually at home.

Responses to an infection Everyone must ensure that they understand the NHS Test and Trace process and everyone must be prepared to:

Book a test and to self-isolate if they are displaying symptoms

Provide details of anyone they have been in close contact with if the test positive or are asked to by NHS Test

and Trace

Self-isolate if they have been in close contact* with someone who develops symptoms or who tests positive

*Close contact means:

Direct close contact – face to face with an infected individual (less than 1m) including being coughed on face to

face

Proximity contacts – extended close contact (within 1-2m for more than 15 minutes) with an infected individual

Travelling in a small vehicle, like a car, with an infected person

In the event of a positive test the school will contact the health protection team who will provide definitive advice on

who should be sent home.

Household members of those who have been sent home do not need to self-isolate.

If we have two or more confirmed cases of Covid-19 within 14 days or if there is an overall rise in sickness where

Covid-19 is suspected, then we will work with the health protection team to determine whether larger numbers of

people need to self-isolate as a precautionary measure.

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SCHOOL OPERATIONS

School transport We will continue to operate the three buses that serve the school and the taxis serviced for individual children

Further information about school transport policy and procedure can be found at: www.somerset.gov.uk/education-

and-families/school-transport/

Children will need to use hand sanitiser on entry and exit of the bus

The bus will be cleaned each day and will not be used for other visits during the day

Children should observe social distancing whilst waiting for the bus

We will advise parents to provide their son or daughter with a face mask to wear during the journey to and

from school in accordance with latest advice and guidance.

Attendance Normal attendance processes and procedures will apply. Many of the children who were previously advised to shield

or parents deemed vulnerable should now be able to attend school.

Those children that cannot attend school due to clinical and/or public health advice will be provided with remote

learning and parents will not be penalised.

Clinically vulnerable of extremely clinically vulnerable staff

Those that are extremely clinically vulnerable should continue to follow the advice of health professionals. Anyone

living with someone in either category can attend work.

Premises Additional wash basins have now been installed along the wall of the science lab/prep room along with a cold water

tap for children to use to replenish drinks bottles. All water fountains have been turned off.

Good ventilation is essential and staff should ensure windows and outside doors remain open where possible during

the day. Please note fire doors should not be kept open unless they are fitted with an automatic release

mechanism.

Educational visits There will be no overnight educational visits. Whilst we are able to resume other educational visits these will need to

be agreed by myself first after a thorough risk assessment has taken place.

School uniform The normal school uniform policy will resume in March 2021; however, children will be allowed to wear their

PE/Games kit to school rather than their normal uniform if they have PE/games timetabled on that day.

CURRICULUM, BEHAVIOUR AND PASTORAL SUPPORT

Curriculum

Year 5 will follow the normal curriculum; however, English and maths teachers may decide to revisit some key areas to ensure understanding.

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Year 6: GL assessments/past SATS papers will be used to ascertain where children are at in their learning. It should be noted that Key Stage 2 assessments will now not take place in May 2021, but teacher assessment levels are likely to be awarded.

Music: lessons will take place; however, care must be taken in regard to the use of instruments and guidance specifically says no singing. This is an expectation for all lessons across the curriculum

In years 7 and 8, staff will need to prioritise which components of the curriculum are necessary for progression in each subject area to help get them ‘secondary ready.’

Well-being and support for the children

It is very likely that many children will return to school anxious and worried and struggling to cope with the return to some kind of routine. For those children really struggling, a bespoke support package will be put in place.

The RSHE (Relationships, sex and health education – formerly known as PSHRE) scheme of learning, the tutorial programme and the assembly themes will be adjusted to take into account increased anxiety and stress and will focus on building relationships, dealing with issues related to Covid-19 and supporting the mental health and well-being of children in the first half term.

Behaviour expectations

These will not change; however, we need to plan for Covid-19 related behaviours such as deliberately coughing at someone, which will have serious consequences. From the 1st September 2020, the DfE has introduced a new category/exclusion code, which will be used if:

A child deliberately and maliciously behaves in a way that poses as a risk to others

Attends school when displaying COVID-19 symptoms, refusing to follow the published advice and guidance and, therefore, putting other members of the school community at risk.

ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

There will be no routine Ofsted inspections before the summer 2021; however, we are now overdue a Section 5 inspection, so must plan accordingly and assume we will be visited next academic year. Performance tables will not be published this year and Ofsted will use last year’s data (2019) when making judgements.