Dear parents and carers,
We are looking forward to finally welcoming all children back into school full time in September. We have received lots of guidance from both the government and Derbyshire to explain how schools should now work and we sent out a lot of information at the end of the Summer Term. The only change so far is that if anybody in school tests positive for Covid 19, the guidance now says that they should quarantine for 10 days instead of 7. All of the guidance still focuses around the two main ideas:
1. Avoiding any large gatherings
2. Reducing mixing between bubbles.
It says that there will now be no social distancing needed between children within a bubble because the increased hygiene rules and enhanced cleaning make it unnecessary. However adults will need to stay 2 metres away from children and from each other.
What hygiene rules will be in place?
Children will learn about hygiene such as handwashing and the importance of covering coughs and sneezes and there will be a display in each classroom. All children will be expected to wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds at various points throughout the day. Hand sanitiser is available around the school, but this will only be used where hand washing is unavailable because it is shown to be less effective.
Hands will be washed:
On coming into school.
Before break
After break.
Before lunch
After lunch
Before they leave school.
After using the toilet at any point in the day.
After removing a mask should they arrive wearing one.
What groups will children be in?
Children will be split up into groups called bubbles. These bubbles will be as small as we can make them while still being able to run the school and offer a full curriculum. In Years 4 and 5 the bubbles will be the size of the class, in Year 3 and Year 6 the bubbles will be larger as we have 3 class groups in those years we want to keep maximum flexibility for teaching across the year group. Bubble staff will be – the class teacher, any support staff in that bubble, a midday for that bubble and they may also be taught by additional teachers including for specialist areas such as Forest Schools, PE and in some cases French. Any staff who work with a bubble will remain at 2 metres distance from the children in normal day to day teaching. If they need to be closer for any reason, e.g. first aid, they will wear appropriate PPE.
Does my child need uniform and PE kit?
We are expecting children to wear uniform – the government have said that there is no need to wash clothes any more than normal. We have decided that on days where children have PE they will come to school in their PE kit to give them as much time outside and exercising as quickly as possible and to make sure that PE teachers, who work across bubbles, don’t have to go into the room to supervise changing. It will be essential that children wear a layer over their PE kit, tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt would be fine. On forest schools days, we will ask children to arrive in clothes and footwear suitable for outside activities but to bring a change of footwear to put on in school afterwards. We will provide children with waterproofs for the forest school activities and these will then be left for 72 hours before being used by anybody else.
Will the start and end of the school day stay the same?
There is a lot of information in this section and because it will change for different bubbles you will also receive a separate sheet for your child’s bubble which will list start and end times, PE days and forest schools days. Year 3 parents you will receive this once we have confirmed classes after the first 3 weeks.
Whilst we know most of our pupils travel to school by car or on foot, if your child uses public transport to get to school, it is really important that they try not to touch surfaces when travelling and do not eat and drink while travelling. We are asking children not to come to school on bikes or scooters for this term as picking them up and dropping them off makes it more difficult to keep bubbles from mixing. For this reason, we will not be able to welcome parents from years 4, 5 or 6 onto the school site at the beginning and end of the day. We will be setting up a one way system for Year 3 parents to bring their children onto the school site because we completely understand that these children do not know the school or us and will need the reassurance of their parents for the first few weeks. It is essential that parents stay 2 metres away from other children and adults while on site.
We realise that the beginning and end of the day are times where there is a much higher risk of mixing. For this reason, we are going to slightly stagger these. We will also use both the main school gate and the car park entrance at the start and end of the day to reduce mixing more. The gates will be labelled with the class names. Children can arrive from 10 minutes before their start time and will then be sent into their bubble outside area.
Year 5 and 6 will arrive start at 8:45. It is important that they don’t arrive any earlier than 8:35 so that we don’t end up with bubbles mixing at the gates. Their day will end at 3:15.
Year 4 will arrive start at 9:00. They can arrive from 10 minutes before will then be sent into their bubble outside area. It is important that they don’t arrive any earlier than 8:50 so that we don’t end up with bubbles mixing at the gates. Their day will end at 3:30.
Year 3 will arrive at 9:15 this term as they will be brought onto the school site by a parent and this allows us to reduce the number of people all together at the start of the day. To reduce numbers please can we ask that only one parent comes on to the school site with each child.
We have split the outside area into 4 zones. At the moment there are two at the front of the school and two at the back but we are aware that this may have to change as we go towards Winter and the grass at the front becomes unusable. If the weather is not good we will do this sooner rather than later. Each bubble will have its own outside zone and children will use these at break and at lunchtime. Breaks and lunches will be staggered to allow us to do this.
At the end of the day, children will be released from the front of the school. Y3 parents can collect their children from the gate listed for their bubble. Please aim to stay 2 metres away from other parents whilst waiting for your child. Where children walk alone, it is really important that they stay 2 metres away from children in other bubbles. If your child is late for their bubble start time, they just need to ring the bell at the front gate as usual and somebody will let them in through the front door so they can go straight to their classroom.
What will the classrooms look like?
It is no longer necessary for children to be distanced within the classroom, but the guidance says that all desks must face forwards so they will be placed in rows. Children will not be able to get up and move around the classroom as it is essential that the adults stay 2 metres away at all times during normal teaching. They will be expected to stay at their desks unless the teacher gives permission for them to move - for example to visit the toilet. Each child will be provided with a named pencil case containing everything they could need pencil, pen, rubber etc. and these will be kept on their desk. Throughout school all of the doors will be open and a window will be open in the room as well. This is to make sure there is good air flow and means that there is less need to touch surfaces as we go into and out of the room.
FEJS staff can choose to wear clear face visors when in the classroom and will do so when working 1:1 with children. This enables us to keep everybody as safe as possible.
Our curriculum is being adapted for the first term to enable us to concentrate on children’s wellbeing and mental health as they settle back into school after a long time away for many of them. Teachers will be timetabling daily mindfulness sessions and we have timetabled extra forest schools sessions for everybody along with continuing our outdoor PE sessions. We will be linking our writing and art work to both Topics and some of our forest school sessions to build enthusiasm in children and get them back to a love of learning. We can now build on the high level of engagement shown with home learning tasks by using extra support across the school to work on any identified gaps in basic skills. Any practical activities such as Art and Science will be carefully risk assessed to ensure that any extra equipment is managed in a way that keeps children as safe as possible.
Sadly we will not be able to begin choir under the current rules as singing has been identified as a high risk activity. We will also not be running guitar club to start with although we hope this might be possible after half term. I am glad to say that ukulele lessons will be able to take place for Y4/5 at different points throughout the year. The children will be taught in the hall where there is plenty of room and there will be good ventilation in place with windows and doors open. All children will face the front throughout the session and instruments will be sanitised before children use them. Staff will remain 2m away.
What will playtimes look like?
Bubbles will have playtimes at different times. Each bubble will have its own outside zone and children must stay inside this. They will not be able to play with children from another bubble and cannot use the playground equipment because it would need cleaning between each group of children.
What will lunchtimes look like?
Lunchtimes will also happen at different times. Children will be supervised by their own midday linked to that bubble. If they require a school meal, the kitchen will provide food that can easily be eaten in the classroom. Meals will be delivered to the classroom and staff will wear gloves to hand out meals. Children who choose to bring a packed lunch will also eat in their classroom. Children will then have time outside in their bubble zone, unless it is wet when they will stay in their classroom.
How will toilets be kept safe during this time?
Toilets will be cleaned with recommended cleaning products each night and at different points throughout the day. Children will always use the same set of toilets and only one child will be able to use the toilet at a time. Child friendly handwashing posters will be in every toilet to remind children about good hygiene and handwashing will be taught within the pods.
If a child is sent home with COVID symptoms, any toilets they have used will be given a deep clean before other children are allowed to use them.
What will happen if someone becomes ill in school?
If your child develops symptoms in school, they will be quarantined in an area at the front of the school immediately. Staff caring for them may need to wear PPE equipment. Any areas they use such as toilets will be cordoned off and they will be cleaned before they are used by anybody else. We will contact you and ask you to collect them and talk to your doctor for advice and to see if a test is needed. You need to contact us to talk about what the doctor has said and whether a test was needed before your child returns to school. The household will need to follow the Stay at home guidance. If a member of staff becomes ill in school, they will be sent home immediately and follow the Stay at home guidance. Parents of other children in the bubble will be informed that someone in the bubble has been sent home with symptoms – they will not be told who. At this point parents will have the choice to come and collect their children who will be allowed to go home with a paper pack of work whilst we await a test result. If the result is negative children will be invited back into school the following day.
What happens if someone tests positive?
If someone tests positive, they will follow the ‘stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection’ and must continue to self-isolate for at least 10 days from when they start to be ill and will then return to school only if they do not have symptoms other than cough or loss of sense of smell/taste because this can last for several weeks once the infection has gone).
The school will contact the health protection team and will send home those people who have been in close contact with the person who has tested positive. They will be advised to self-isolate for 14 days since they were last in close contact with that person when they were infectious. Close contact means:
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)
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 really important that if somebody tests positive, they self-isolate and provide details of anybody they have been in close contact with and works with NHS Test and Trace as required. School will be keeping records of all visitors into school for a 21 day period to help with this.
Active Extra Club
All of the guidance makes very clear that it is really important that bubbles of children mix as little as possible. To manage this, we will be running a very cut down version of the club – at least to start with. We have been able to put together two groups which meet the needs of the majority of people and those people have been informed – as soon as we can expand this offer we will do so.
How can home help?
If your child or anybody in the household has any symptoms of Covid-19 (high temperature, persistent cough and could include headache, sore throat and in children in particular sickness and diarrhoea) they should not come to school. Please ring us to tell us about any illness at home and we will talk you through whether we think you should get a test done.
Derbyshire and government guidance says that children do not need to wear masks within school and if they arrive wearing one they will be asked to either dispose of it if disposable or place it in a sealed plastic bag to take home if not.
They will then be asked to wash their hands.
It is really important that the messages being given at school are also repeated at home. This means reminding them about catching coughs and sneezes in tissues or elbows, and continuing to socially distance from other households following the guidance at the time. Please don’t allow children to bring in any extra items from home except a packed lunch and a water bottle – this is to reduce any infection risk. This includes mobile phones.
How can I contact staff?
Unfortunately we are having to keep parents and carer access to the school site to an absolute minimum at the moment – but advice is available at the end of the phone or via email and text. The best way to contact your child’s class teacher direct is through Class Dojo messaging. Emma is available throughout the day on 07942642389. If you can’t reach Emma or you need safeguarding support outside of school hours please ring Call Derbyshire on 01629533190. Mrs Wood is available to discuss any SEND issues.
School Rules
As children begin to return to school, we feel that we need to put some more rules in place that spell out exactly how we can all work together to stay safe. If a child is unable to follow these rules, we will need to carry out a risk assessment to help us decide how they can safely be in school and what additional support they require to achieve this.
Children will not mix or play with children in other bubbles at any time during the school day.
Children will follow instructions from adults about which areas they are allowed to be in.
Children will not share equipment. Each child will have their own pencil case. They should not borrow or touch anybody else’s.
Children will not bring items from home except a packed lunch and/or a water bottle.
Children will not bring mobile phones into school.
Children will not bring chewing gum or sweets into school.
Children will wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds whenever they are asked to do so by staff.
Children will follow the school hygiene rules which will be taught in all classrooms.
Children will not cough at anybody.
Children will not spit on the floor or at anybody.
Children will tell somebody if they feel ill.
I’m sorry there is so much information all in one go. Please get in touch if you have any questions and we will do our best to answer them. We are really looking forward to welcoming everybody back. I’ve no doubt that some things will have to be adjusted once we get going and find things that work and things that don’t so please bear with us as we work it all out.
Yours sincerely
Mrs S. Parkes
Acting Headteacher
We are looking forward to finally welcoming all children back into school full time in September. We have received lots of guidance from both the government and Derbyshire to explain how schools should now work and we sent out a lot of information at the end of the Summer Term. The only change so far is that if anybody in school tests positive for Covid 19, the guidance now says that they should quarantine for 10 days instead of 7. All of the guidance still focuses around the two main ideas:
1. Avoiding any large gatherings
2. Reducing mixing between bubbles.
It says that there will now be no social distancing needed between children within a bubble because the increased hygiene rules and enhanced cleaning make it unnecessary. However adults will need to stay 2 metres away from children and from each other.
What hygiene rules will be in place?
Children will learn about hygiene such as handwashing and the importance of covering coughs and sneezes and there will be a display in each classroom. All children will be expected to wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds at various points throughout the day. Hand sanitiser is available around the school, but this will only be used where hand washing is unavailable because it is shown to be less effective.
Hands will be washed:
On coming into school.
Before break
After break.
Before lunch
After lunch
Before they leave school.
After using the toilet at any point in the day.
After removing a mask should they arrive wearing one.
What groups will children be in?
Children will be split up into groups called bubbles. These bubbles will be as small as we can make them while still being able to run the school and offer a full curriculum. In Years 4 and 5 the bubbles will be the size of the class, in Year 3 and Year 6 the bubbles will be larger as we have 3 class groups in those years we want to keep maximum flexibility for teaching across the year group. Bubble staff will be – the class teacher, any support staff in that bubble, a midday for that bubble and they may also be taught by additional teachers including for specialist areas such as Forest Schools, PE and in some cases French. Any staff who work with a bubble will remain at 2 metres distance from the children in normal day to day teaching. If they need to be closer for any reason, e.g. first aid, they will wear appropriate PPE.
Does my child need uniform and PE kit?
We are expecting children to wear uniform – the government have said that there is no need to wash clothes any more than normal. We have decided that on days where children have PE they will come to school in their PE kit to give them as much time outside and exercising as quickly as possible and to make sure that PE teachers, who work across bubbles, don’t have to go into the room to supervise changing. It will be essential that children wear a layer over their PE kit, tracksuit bottoms and a sweatshirt would be fine. On forest schools days, we will ask children to arrive in clothes and footwear suitable for outside activities but to bring a change of footwear to put on in school afterwards. We will provide children with waterproofs for the forest school activities and these will then be left for 72 hours before being used by anybody else.
Will the start and end of the school day stay the same?
There is a lot of information in this section and because it will change for different bubbles you will also receive a separate sheet for your child’s bubble which will list start and end times, PE days and forest schools days. Year 3 parents you will receive this once we have confirmed classes after the first 3 weeks.
Whilst we know most of our pupils travel to school by car or on foot, if your child uses public transport to get to school, it is really important that they try not to touch surfaces when travelling and do not eat and drink while travelling. We are asking children not to come to school on bikes or scooters for this term as picking them up and dropping them off makes it more difficult to keep bubbles from mixing. For this reason, we will not be able to welcome parents from years 4, 5 or 6 onto the school site at the beginning and end of the day. We will be setting up a one way system for Year 3 parents to bring their children onto the school site because we completely understand that these children do not know the school or us and will need the reassurance of their parents for the first few weeks. It is essential that parents stay 2 metres away from other children and adults while on site.
We realise that the beginning and end of the day are times where there is a much higher risk of mixing. For this reason, we are going to slightly stagger these. We will also use both the main school gate and the car park entrance at the start and end of the day to reduce mixing more. The gates will be labelled with the class names. Children can arrive from 10 minutes before their start time and will then be sent into their bubble outside area.
Year 5 and 6 will arrive start at 8:45. It is important that they don’t arrive any earlier than 8:35 so that we don’t end up with bubbles mixing at the gates. Their day will end at 3:15.
Year 4 will arrive start at 9:00. They can arrive from 10 minutes before will then be sent into their bubble outside area. It is important that they don’t arrive any earlier than 8:50 so that we don’t end up with bubbles mixing at the gates. Their day will end at 3:30.
Year 3 will arrive at 9:15 this term as they will be brought onto the school site by a parent and this allows us to reduce the number of people all together at the start of the day. To reduce numbers please can we ask that only one parent comes on to the school site with each child.
We have split the outside area into 4 zones. At the moment there are two at the front of the school and two at the back but we are aware that this may have to change as we go towards Winter and the grass at the front becomes unusable. If the weather is not good we will do this sooner rather than later. Each bubble will have its own outside zone and children will use these at break and at lunchtime. Breaks and lunches will be staggered to allow us to do this.
At the end of the day, children will be released from the front of the school. Y3 parents can collect their children from the gate listed for their bubble. Please aim to stay 2 metres away from other parents whilst waiting for your child. Where children walk alone, it is really important that they stay 2 metres away from children in other bubbles. If your child is late for their bubble start time, they just need to ring the bell at the front gate as usual and somebody will let them in through the front door so they can go straight to their classroom.
What will the classrooms look like?
It is no longer necessary for children to be distanced within the classroom, but the guidance says that all desks must face forwards so they will be placed in rows. Children will not be able to get up and move around the classroom as it is essential that the adults stay 2 metres away at all times during normal teaching. They will be expected to stay at their desks unless the teacher gives permission for them to move - for example to visit the toilet. Each child will be provided with a named pencil case containing everything they could need pencil, pen, rubber etc. and these will be kept on their desk. Throughout school all of the doors will be open and a window will be open in the room as well. This is to make sure there is good air flow and means that there is less need to touch surfaces as we go into and out of the room.
FEJS staff can choose to wear clear face visors when in the classroom and will do so when working 1:1 with children. This enables us to keep everybody as safe as possible.
Our curriculum is being adapted for the first term to enable us to concentrate on children’s wellbeing and mental health as they settle back into school after a long time away for many of them. Teachers will be timetabling daily mindfulness sessions and we have timetabled extra forest schools sessions for everybody along with continuing our outdoor PE sessions. We will be linking our writing and art work to both Topics and some of our forest school sessions to build enthusiasm in children and get them back to a love of learning. We can now build on the high level of engagement shown with home learning tasks by using extra support across the school to work on any identified gaps in basic skills. Any practical activities such as Art and Science will be carefully risk assessed to ensure that any extra equipment is managed in a way that keeps children as safe as possible.
Sadly we will not be able to begin choir under the current rules as singing has been identified as a high risk activity. We will also not be running guitar club to start with although we hope this might be possible after half term. I am glad to say that ukulele lessons will be able to take place for Y4/5 at different points throughout the year. The children will be taught in the hall where there is plenty of room and there will be good ventilation in place with windows and doors open. All children will face the front throughout the session and instruments will be sanitised before children use them. Staff will remain 2m away.
What will playtimes look like?
Bubbles will have playtimes at different times. Each bubble will have its own outside zone and children must stay inside this. They will not be able to play with children from another bubble and cannot use the playground equipment because it would need cleaning between each group of children.
What will lunchtimes look like?
Lunchtimes will also happen at different times. Children will be supervised by their own midday linked to that bubble. If they require a school meal, the kitchen will provide food that can easily be eaten in the classroom. Meals will be delivered to the classroom and staff will wear gloves to hand out meals. Children who choose to bring a packed lunch will also eat in their classroom. Children will then have time outside in their bubble zone, unless it is wet when they will stay in their classroom.
How will toilets be kept safe during this time?
Toilets will be cleaned with recommended cleaning products each night and at different points throughout the day. Children will always use the same set of toilets and only one child will be able to use the toilet at a time. Child friendly handwashing posters will be in every toilet to remind children about good hygiene and handwashing will be taught within the pods.
If a child is sent home with COVID symptoms, any toilets they have used will be given a deep clean before other children are allowed to use them.
What will happen if someone becomes ill in school?
If your child develops symptoms in school, they will be quarantined in an area at the front of the school immediately. Staff caring for them may need to wear PPE equipment. Any areas they use such as toilets will be cordoned off and they will be cleaned before they are used by anybody else. We will contact you and ask you to collect them and talk to your doctor for advice and to see if a test is needed. You need to contact us to talk about what the doctor has said and whether a test was needed before your child returns to school. The household will need to follow the Stay at home guidance. If a member of staff becomes ill in school, they will be sent home immediately and follow the Stay at home guidance. Parents of other children in the bubble will be informed that someone in the bubble has been sent home with symptoms – they will not be told who. At this point parents will have the choice to come and collect their children who will be allowed to go home with a paper pack of work whilst we await a test result. If the result is negative children will be invited back into school the following day.
What happens if someone tests positive?
If someone tests positive, they will follow the ‘stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection’ and must continue to self-isolate for at least 10 days from when they start to be ill and will then return to school only if they do not have symptoms other than cough or loss of sense of smell/taste because this can last for several weeks once the infection has gone).
The school will contact the health protection team and will send home those people who have been in close contact with the person who has tested positive. They will be advised to self-isolate for 14 days since they were last in close contact with that person when they were infectious. Close contact means:
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)
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 really important that if somebody tests positive, they self-isolate and provide details of anybody they have been in close contact with and works with NHS Test and Trace as required. School will be keeping records of all visitors into school for a 21 day period to help with this.
Active Extra Club
All of the guidance makes very clear that it is really important that bubbles of children mix as little as possible. To manage this, we will be running a very cut down version of the club – at least to start with. We have been able to put together two groups which meet the needs of the majority of people and those people have been informed – as soon as we can expand this offer we will do so.
How can home help?
If your child or anybody in the household has any symptoms of Covid-19 (high temperature, persistent cough and could include headache, sore throat and in children in particular sickness and diarrhoea) they should not come to school. Please ring us to tell us about any illness at home and we will talk you through whether we think you should get a test done.
Derbyshire and government guidance says that children do not need to wear masks within school and if they arrive wearing one they will be asked to either dispose of it if disposable or place it in a sealed plastic bag to take home if not.
They will then be asked to wash their hands.
It is really important that the messages being given at school are also repeated at home. This means reminding them about catching coughs and sneezes in tissues or elbows, and continuing to socially distance from other households following the guidance at the time. Please don’t allow children to bring in any extra items from home except a packed lunch and a water bottle – this is to reduce any infection risk. This includes mobile phones.
How can I contact staff?
Unfortunately we are having to keep parents and carer access to the school site to an absolute minimum at the moment – but advice is available at the end of the phone or via email and text. The best way to contact your child’s class teacher direct is through Class Dojo messaging. Emma is available throughout the day on 07942642389. If you can’t reach Emma or you need safeguarding support outside of school hours please ring Call Derbyshire on 01629533190. Mrs Wood is available to discuss any SEND issues.
School Rules
As children begin to return to school, we feel that we need to put some more rules in place that spell out exactly how we can all work together to stay safe. If a child is unable to follow these rules, we will need to carry out a risk assessment to help us decide how they can safely be in school and what additional support they require to achieve this.
Children will not mix or play with children in other bubbles at any time during the school day.
Children will follow instructions from adults about which areas they are allowed to be in.
Children will not share equipment. Each child will have their own pencil case. They should not borrow or touch anybody else’s.
Children will not bring items from home except a packed lunch and/or a water bottle.
Children will not bring mobile phones into school.
Children will not bring chewing gum or sweets into school.
Children will wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds whenever they are asked to do so by staff.
Children will follow the school hygiene rules which will be taught in all classrooms.
Children will not cough at anybody.
Children will not spit on the floor or at anybody.
Children will tell somebody if they feel ill.
I’m sorry there is so much information all in one go. Please get in touch if you have any questions and we will do our best to answer them. We are really looking forward to welcoming everybody back. I’ve no doubt that some things will have to be adjusted once we get going and find things that work and things that don’t so please bear with us as we work it all out.
Yours sincerely
Mrs S. Parkes
Acting Headteacher
