St. Dominic’s Full School Re-opening Procedures

March 2021           

 

Attendance

From March 8^th 2021 school attendance is mandatory for all pupils. This means that the usual rules on school attendance will apply and therefore the school will begin to monitor pupil’s school attendance and follow up on any school absences following Camden Guidance. It is very important that we work together to secure regular school attendance as this will be essential in helping children to settle back into school routines, catch up on missed learning and promote their wellbeing and mental health.

 

Class Bubbles

Children will be taught in class-sized bubbles, which will be kept apart during the school day to reduce the risk of the spread of infection. The bubbles will have the same teacher and TA for the vast majority of the time.

 

Supply teachers

Updated Government guidance allows for the use of supply teachers within schools. However the school has taken the decision to limit the use of supply teachers in as far as this is practicable. Some classes may have supply cover to give subject or phase Leaders release time or cover staff absence. When supply cover is used we will endeavour to ensure that supply teachers only teach in 1 bubble and that if cover is needed for more than 1 day we use the same supply to limit the risk of transmission of the virus across different class bubbles

 

SEND Provision for pupils

If your child is supported in class by a SEND teacher, this will take place in their classroom. Outside agencies will begin to work with children as necessary, where this cannot take place in the classroom there will be an allocated room for this within school. Individual parents will be made aware of any arrangements by the SENDCo.

 

The Curriculum at school

The school will be offering a full school curriculum from March. As in September the school will work to ensure that the children’s mental wellbeing is fully supported as they return to school. The teachers will also be revisiting the key objectives in the core Subjects (Reading, Writing, Mathematics and Phonics) to ensure that there are no gaps in the children’s knowledge and understanding so that they can assess where the children are and plan for any catch up work that is needed for the children.

 

Hygiene measures to prevent the spread of infection

As in the Autumn term, the Children will have tissues on their desks to catch any sneezes and will follow the Government guidance to catch it, bin it, kill it. There will be lidded bins in each classroom to dispose of used tissues safely.

Every class has a clearly labelled Handwashing station where children will regularly wash their hands using approved Government techniques at the following times:

 

• After they have sneezed or coughed
• when they arrive in the classroom at the start of the day
• before and after breaktimes
• before and after eating food
• if/when they change classrooms
• before and after games lessons
• before they leave to go home
• If staff need to handle washed fruit eg for snack time they will wear gloves when handing it out to children.
   

Children will be provided with their own sets of essential equipment eg pencils etc, which will be stored in individual plastic wallets. School equipment which is shared, will be cleaned between uses eg any I-pads and sports/music equipment.

We have allocated the existing toilets within school for different year groups

The school is maintaining its extensive cleaning schedule and continues to employ an additional member of staff to clean door handles/ handrails and toilets continuously throughout the school day and especially after break times where there will have been movement of pupil groups.

 

Social Distancing measures

Classrooms are being re-arranged classrooms as in Autumn term, to provide social distancing within the classroom bubbles.

We are maintaining the staggered children’s break times and allocating different play areas to different bubbles

 

Lunches at School

Children will have continue to have their lunches in the lunch hall. To keep bubbles separate and to also reduce the risk of the spread of infection we have increased the number of lunch services so that there will only be 2 class bubbles in the lunch hall at any given time. Children can have either a packed or school lunch as usual. Normal rules around qualification for free school meals will apply in addition to Universal free school meal offer for Reception and Years 1 and 2.

In addition, to avoid Bubbles meeting on staircases when they begin and end their break times we are maintaining our 1 way system on the staircases ie one staircase will be used to walk downstairs and the other to walk upstairs.

 

Staggered School Entry and Exit arrangements

The Government has advised that all schools stagger their drop off and collection times to promote social distancing of both the children and parents, therefore we are going back to our previous arrangements:

 

Because of social distancing requirements and supervision, children will be collected from their drop off point in the morning by their class TA and brought down at the end of the day by their classteacher.

To maintain social distancing, it will be very important that children are only brought to school at their allocated time by 1 parent only to ease overcrowding.

Please also ensure that you wear a facemask when dropping or collecting your child.

if you are late arriving to school please take your child/ren to the school’s main office where they will be admitted. If you are late for your child’s collection, again, please go to the main office to collect your child/ren.

Information can be found on the school’s gates and walls to direct you to your child’s/children’s socially distanced drop off and collection points.

 

Hygiene Procedures at the start of the day at Drop off Points

Single use masks: There will be bins provided for children to dispose of any single use masks that they have worn to school (ie if they have been on public transport) Staff will help children take these off safely.

Multiple use masks: If your child has a mask that they will be re-using, please ensure that you send your child to school with a small plastic bag (preferably one which can be sealed) which your child can use to store their mask till the end of the day.

Hand Sanitiser: As children arrive at school, they will be provided with hand sanitiser to clean their hands before entry. To aid speedy collection at the end of the day children will wash their hands in the classroom before coming down for collection.

 

School office

Government guidance still advises that the school should only have essential visitors on site eg for planned maintenance of the school building, therefore the school office will remain closed. Parents can telephone or email school at admin@stdominics.camden.sch.uk with any questions or to arrange to speak with a member of the School Leadership Team. As staff will be collecting children at drop off and collection there will be an opportunity to give any messages that they need to pass on to staff directly.

 

Bringing belongings from home

Government advice still advises that wherever possible pupils should bring as little into school as possible. Pupils should continue to bring:

• Their own labelled water bottle ( we do have a supply of single use cups if water bottles are forgotten)
• Their lunch bags if they have packed school lunches (these will be taken up to class rather than dropped off in the playground).
• Children should bring their book bags on Mondays and Thursdays only as these are the days when reading books will be changed over
• We are unable to store children’s scooters and bikes on the school premises unless this has been agreed by the Senior Leadership team

 

Celebrating Birthdays

If your child has a birthday we would still like to give your child an opportunity to celebrate it with their classmates, to prevent the transmission of the virus please note that we can only accept the following:

• Cakes which are individually wrapped (preferred)
• Individual cakes – staff will wear gloves when handing these out.