The following has been emailed to all parents as a PDF and will not display correctly in this news item. Please ignore the contents page, as the page numbers will not be accurate on the web page/app

September 2020 Opening Plan Ashleigh Primary School
 

Purpose
The objective of this plan is to share with parents and stakeholders, how Ashleigh Primary will manage the full reopening of school on 1^st September 2020.

This plan includes:

Back to School Summary
We are looking forward to welcoming all pupils back, full time in September. Over the last couple of weeks of this term, we have been finalising the finer details of the reopening, and are pleased to share with you the following details of how school will function on your child’s return. Please do take time to read the document carefully and it will be useful to keep it to one side, ready to refresh yourself and your child before the return.

The Government have stated that on 11th August, they will make a final announcement around the schools reopening. We are not expecting any major changes, but on or just after this date, it would be prudent to check the school website noticeboard and app. Any important messages as usual, will be shared there.

The school office and email system will be closed for the majority of the summer holiday. Although teachers will be working from home and in school for a part of the summer break, please do not expect any response to queries made via the website until after the 1^st September.

Parents will be welcome to visit the office from September, but this should be limited to really urgent matters, please use email or phone for the majority of communications.

Transition
The children will all start in their new classes on 1^st September. We are aware that this will cause anxiety with some children and so to help alleviate this, Teachers have produced a welcome video for members of their new class. Links for the children to watch these videos will be sent via email and the school app on Monday 20^th July.

Pupil in EYFS will have a staggered start lasting 3 weeks. The plan for these younger pupils is different this year, as school recognises that many children have not attended nursery since March and some not at all. This is why the part time period is longer than usual. By Monday 21^st September, all children will be in full time. Parents of EYFS children have been contacted separately with these details.

We have distributed workbooks for all years currently in school (not the new Reception children) so that you have some materials to use over the summer break. Please feel free to do as much as you would like. We realise that some of the content, as it is aimed at a particular year group, may not be completely relevant to all children.
 

Staggered School Times

The main gate will be the only way on to the grounds, the infant end gate will be the exit. Parents should follow the arrows and not cross any do not enter points. In order to maintain social distancing, only one adult may come on to the playground to leave or collect their child, keeping any other children off the premises wherever possible. They should stand on one of the coloured dots on the playground as indicated in the table above.

Siblings to be dropped off with the latest time child and collected with the earliest time child, unless a prior arrangement has been made with the SLT.

There will be a 10 minute window to drop off and collect your children. This must be adhered to, to ensure that Bubbles of children do not mix upon entry/exit. If you are late collecting your child, children will have to wait in the classroom until all other pupils/classes have exited and it is safe to allow them to leave.
If you are late dropping pupils to school, you will need to inform the office who will arrange for staff to let your child in through their entry point door, once all other pupils using that door have come through in to school.
No pupils will be able to come through the main reception unless for exceptional circumstances, such as being collected due to a medical appointment.

Please can we ask parents to continue to stick to social distancing guidelines while waiting outside to drop off or collect children. The coloured spots on the playground should be used whilst waiting to drop off or collect.

It is deemed preferable that Year 6 are also escorted to school, to discourage them from congregating, but we understand that this may not always be possible.

Parents are encouraged to walk to school, rather than drive, by the Government during this period.

Why? Congestion at the start and end of the day is one of the main areas of concern for transmission as numbers on the site will be at their highest. It will need everybody to take responsibility and think about how to protect pupils, staff and other parents by staying away from one another. It also means that staff will not be available for conversations at the beginning and end of the day and hand overs must be extremely brief.
 

Breakfast club

We are delighted to be able to run our Breakfast Club from September. Due to the current situation, we have had to make changes to the way it operates.

• First drop off no earlier than 7.30am (£4 per session from 7.30am, £3 from 8am)
• Last drop off no later than 8.30am
• Children can still have breakfast, as long as they are in Breakfast Club by 8.15am. Breakfasts will be very limited as the bubbles in Breakfast Club will not be able to use the kitchen hatch.
• Pre-bookings only. Parents will need to email breakfastclub@ashleigh.blackburn.sch.uk by 12 noon the Monday the week before i.e. at least 7 days before the child attends Breakfast Club. Any requests for places after this point will not be accepted.

The Breakfast Club manager will then email a confirmation within 24 hours to confirm your place for the following week. Children do not need to attend every day, but we must know the days you are sending them the week before in your email request. Anyone turning up who has not pre-booked, sadly, will not able to stop.

• Payment will be in a sealed envelope, which has the name of your child, class and which dates it is payment for. The correct money will need to be included. We are looking into whether using Parent Pay is an option, but at the moment it would seem not. Please make payment before the date, or at the very latest, the start of the week you are paying for.
• We really need to keep numbers as low as possible at the Breakfast Club, so we will be operating a maximum number for each bubble. Please do not send your child to Breakfast Club if you have a viable alterative. In the event that we reach maximum numbers for a particular bubble, we will have to prioritise key worker’s children. Please do not assume that your child has a place for a particular week, until you receive your confirmation email from the Breakfast Club Manager, Mrs Taylor

After School Clubs
For the duration of the autumn term we will not be running any after school-clubs. This will be reviewed for the Spring Term or when we are told it is safe to resume these activities.

At the point of sending this letter to parents (Friday 17^th July), school is unaware whether or not the after school club, Kidsland, is able to offer their usual service. Kidsland will contact parents directly regarding their service from September. New parents, please contact Kidsland directly if you would like more information from them.

www.kidsland-kidsclub.com      yvonne@kidsland-kidsckub.com      07966224968

Bubbles (class groups)
Children and staff will stay fixed to a class bubble so that the transmission of germs is reduced to solely that group. They will have no/extremely limited contact with other children in other bubbles in school. The bubble will stay together for the entirety of the day and there will be no physical whole school events (such as assemblies or super singing).

Children will come straight into their bubble space in the morning, using sanitiser as they enter. Once the children are all in are all in, staff will check to make sure the basins are not being used, and then will supervise hand washing for children in their bubble. Sanitiser will be used frequently through the day, with children washing their hands or using sanitiser, after they arrive, after playtime, before and after lunch as a minimum.

Toilets and sinks will be cleaned throughout the day.

Bubble pupils will play together at break and dinner but stay separate from other bubbles. They will eat dinner in their own classes and lunchtimes will be staggered.

Within the bubbles, pupils cannot and will not be expected to keep a two metre gap from one another, although our junior pupils in particular will be encouraged to think about personal space.

This means that pupils will continue to mingle within their own bubbles – pupils at this age naturally wish to interact in close proximity with one another and, to not allow them to do so, would reduce a large amount of the purpose of school at this age. The government have recognised that schools would not be able to open to all pupils if a distance of 2 metres was to be maintained between all pupils. Also, experience tells us that young pupils may understand the concept of keeping a distance but are unlikely to stick to it. However, staff should/must try to keep a reasonable distance from pupils, and how they interact with children will be different. E,g, when helping a child, they should not get down to the same level, rather, they should stay stood up, so that the child and adult are not breathing in each others faces.
 

Adults will need to keep to social distancing guidance when possible, and will still be asked to limit close contact with the children.

The Local Authority have clarified that there are three key protective measures that schools must take. Where one measure cannot be adhered to strictly, then one or both other measures should. These measures are:

1. Bubbles – keep groups of children separate/not mixing
2. Hygiene – extra hand washing, cleaning, sanitizers, catch it-kill it-bin it
3. Distancing – 1m+ wherever possible. Staggered starts/end of day and break times.

Online Learning – Plan B
If there is another National or more likely, a local Lockdown, then school will revert to providing online learning through an online learning platform. It is likely we will also use this platform to set and check homework during the year. We are in the process of setting this up. This should enable us to use a wider variety of teaching resources, as the new platform will allow great flexibility for staff to use a greater variety of teaching methods.
If a Class Bubble has to isolate then the children in that bubble will revert back to learning online, via the learning platform. This will also be the case for any pupil who is shielding. We will give you more details about this in the first week or so in September.

Curriculum
During the first few weeks of term, teachers will look at what pupils have learned whilst at school this term, and what has been achieved at home. We know that pupils keep on learning even when they are not taught. Some pupils will have gone beyond expectations because of the activities they have carried out at home and there will be some pupils who have struggled to complete much of the set work.
valuate what has been
What the children need to learn when they return, and what they can be taught, will be significantly disrupted by the ongoing situation. The focus must be returning to school in a calm, safe manner and it is unlikely that many pupils will be in the right frame of mind to absorb the curriculum at their usual pace. Therefore, there will be a temporary focus on these areas until things can return to normal. We will continue with our emphasis on rebuilding relationships and supporting the wellbeing of all pupils and staff. There is little evidence as yet of the impact on mental health due to the coronavirus - the missed time from work, education and loved ones. So at Ashleigh we will continue to allow space within out school week to explore any concerns and give necessary support. After all, without emotional well-being pupils are unable to work to the best of their academic ability.
It is now more than ever, that Ashleigh’s nurturing community (inside and outside of school) need to demonstrate strength and compassion in order to help pupils thrive once more.

Uniform
Children are expected to wear normal school uniform.
Although we no longer need to request that the children wear clean uniform each day, we do advise that personal hygiene be strictly monitored to prevent cross contamination of germs.

PE

Children will be asked to come in to school in their PE kits, on their PE days. School sweat shirts can still be worn on those days, children can wear trainers (no laces for younger children, and children must be able to tie laces if they have them), if children have them and you want them to wear them, tracksuit bottoms can also be worn as the weather gets cooler. Teachers will let you know in the first few days of school in September which days are PE days.

Equipment
Children must limit what they bring to school. No toys will be permitted. A pencil case to leave in school is required. A coat and water bottle should be the only items to come back and forth from school. Small book bags/back packs are permitted but large ruck sacks are not. Cloakroom space will be limited.
Lunchboxes made of washable fabric or plastic are also advised.

Behaviour
Our behaviour policy is still applicable. However, there is one important alteration specific to the Covid-19 response and the need for social distancing:

In the event that a child refuses to adhere to social distancing guidelines, staff will make every effort to educate the child about safety in order to change their behaviour.

If this behaviour continues and the child shows disregard for the health and safety of others in their classroom, the teacher will ask a member of SLT to remove the child from the classroom to another room. The parent will be contacted to collect the child.

We appreciate that the younger pupils will find it extremely hard to observe the social distancing rules and we will give them lots of praise and encouragement to be as socially distant as is reasonable. The above sanction will only be used in the event that a child is refusing to follow the rules.

DFE guidance states:
School attendance will be mandatory again from the beginning of the Autumn term. This means from the 1^st September, the usual rules on school attendance will apply:
· parents’ duty to secure that their child attends regularly at school where the child is a registered pupil at school and they are of compulsory school age;
· schools’ responsibilities to record attendance and follow up absence
· the availability to issue sanctions, including fixed penalty notices in line with local authorities’ codes of conduct
·Where a pupil is unable to attend school because they are complying with clinical and/or public health advice, schools are expected to immediately offer them access to remote education. Schools should monitor engagement with this activity.
·Where a pupil is unable to attend school because parents are following clinical and/or public health advice, absence will not be penalised.
·All other pupils must attend school.

First Aid
Please do not send a child to school with any symptom of Covid-19. This can be anything from mild cold symptoms, to upset tummy and a rash or indeed the most prevalent symptoms of persistent dry cough and high temperature.
In the event of your child becoming unwell at school, they will be taken to the Sunshine room and will wait there until they can be collected. They will need collecting as quickly as possible. The supervising adult is required to wear a disposable apron, gloves and facemask.

If a child cuts themselves or has an injury, we will administer first aid as usual but will take the additional precautions of:

• Adults will need to wear disposable gloves, apron & mask if a wound needs attending.
• If possible, we shall ask pupils to clean and dress their own wounds (put on a plaster).
• For bumps, a disposable ice pack will be given.

Staff will obviously continue to be kind and nurturing towards children, but will be less able to offer physical reassurance or comfort.

Covid -19 Suspected case
If a pupil or adult is ill and they display symptoms similar to Covid-19,
Schools must:

• wear PPE when dealing with the pupil/staff
• isolate the pupil/staff to a dedicated space (Sunshine room)
• contact home for staff/ pupil to be collected.
• Staff and pupils must not come into the school if they have symptoms, and must be sent home to self-isolate if they develop them in school
• parent/ individual – book a test: online via NHS testing system or Call NHS 119.

 All children can be tested, including children under 5, but children aged 11 and under will need to be helped by their parents/carers if using a home testing kit.

Test returns as negative:

• inform the school immediately
• if the test is negative and if pupil/staff member feels well and no longer have symptoms similar to coronavirus (COVID-19) then they can stop self isolating
• they could still have another virus, such as a cold or flu – in which case it is
  still best to avoid contact with other people until they are better
• other members of their household can stop self-isolating.

Test returns as positive:

• inform school immediately
• individual must isolate for at least 7 days from the onset of their symptoms

They can return to school only if they do not have symptoms other than cough or loss of sense of smell/taste. These symptoms can last for several weeks after the infection has gone.

The 7-day period starts from the day when they first became ill. If they still have a high temperature, they should keep self-isolating until their temperature returns to normal. Their household should self-isolate for the full 14 days from when the symptomatic person first had symptoms, following ‘stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection’.
Any positive result will be shared with the child/adults Bubble who will all be asked to self-isolate and seek testing. The Bubble will only return to school once the period of 14 days self-isolation (from the last date they were in contact with the infected person) has ended, or a negative test result has been given.

Links to Government Guidance

I look forward to seeing all again in September.

Stay safe and well,

Mr. Matthews