As you are aware, all children will be returning to school in September. I am writing to you with the information you need to ensure that this is done as safely as possible.

Dates

• Parents/Carers of children in Nursery and Reception have been informed separately of their start date and integration process.
• Children in Year 1 to Year 6 will start back to school on Wednesday 2^nd September.

Class Organisation

• Nursery – Mrs Meronuik (teacher and Early Years Leader), Miss Taylor (TA), Mrs Norris (TA), Mrs Cummings (part time TA) and Miss Brown (Apprentice)
• Reception – Mrs Fernandes (teacher), Mrs Spensley and Miss Crosby-Stewart (Apprentice)
• Year 1 – Mrs Myers and Mrs Ward (teachers), Mrs Robson (TA)
• Year 2 – Mrs Cope (teacher and Team Leader), Mrs Williams (TA), Mrs Jones (PE)
• Year 3 – Mr Randall (teacher) and Miss Gales (TA)
• Year 4 - Mrs Freeman (teacher) and Miss Errington (TA)
• Year 5 – Mrs Patchett (teacher and Deputy Headteacher), Mrs Mackay (HLTA), Mrs Cummings (part time TA) and Mrs Jones (PE)
• Year 6 – Miss Richardson (teacher and Assistant Headteacher), Mrs Dames (TA) and Miss Taylor (TA), Mrs Jones (PE)

    Bubbles

To minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission, children will stay in their class ‘bubbles’. The bubbles will not mix at any time.

Pick Up and Drop Off

• One parent only to drop off and pick up.

• There will be a one way system. In the morning, children will be brought to school in the morning through the main gate and then parents will exit through the car park. At the end of the day, this will be reversed (so no children are ever walking through the car park). Parents will enter through the car park, pick up their children from the classroom door and then exit through the main gate. 
• The entrance and exit will be manned by Learning Mentors to guide children and parents.
• It is even more important that the car park is not used by parents other than to enter/exit by foot.
• The bottom gate will not be open.
• Parents must drop off and pick up children swiftly. Staff will not have time to have a conversation with you at this point and the staggered times will not work if parents linger. If you have any messages, please call the office or send an email.
• As children enter, they will be required to sanitise their hands.

Times of the school day

The arrival and departure of children will be staggered. Until we resume our normal timetable, the school will not be closing earlier on Friday.

• 8.30am - 11.30am / 12.15pm - 3.15pm Nursery
• 8.40am - 2.40pm Reception
• 8.50am - 2.50pm Year 1
• 9.00am - 3.00pm Year 2
• 9.10am - 3.10pm Year 3
• 9.20am - 3.20am Year 4
• 9.30am - 3.30am Year 5
• 9.40am - 3.40pm Year 6

Siblings can arrive and leave together. For example, a family with a child in Y2 and Y5 would arrive at 9.00am and leave at 3.30pm. The child who is waiting for their sibling waits in their own classroom until collected. We have contacted some parents of children in Reception who would have a very long day if they waited for their siblings and we have made other arrangements with them. If your children start and finish at different times and you wish to drop off and collect them at different times rather than siblings waiting for each other, that is fine.

It is vital that children arrive and leave on time. The staggered system will not work if people are early or late. Please help us by not asking if you can collect your child early unless it is absolutely unavoidable.

The School Day

Breaks

All classes will have their own space and time for breaks. Classes will not mix with other classes.

Lunch

• For the first two weeks (to be reviewed in September), children who have free school dinners (Key Stage 1 and eligible Key Stage 2 children) will be provided with a packed lunch. Kitchen staff will deliver to the classroom where children will eat their lunch. They will be supervised in the classroom and then taken outside to play in their designated space. As with breaks, classes will not mix.
• Any parent who pays for school dinners is initially asked to provide a packed lunch for their child.
• Children who bring a packed lunch must bring it in containers that children can open themselves – staff will not be permitted to touch it. Containers and bags will need to be disinfected when they are brought home.

In the classroom

• Wherever possible, children will be asked to be socially distant from each other and staff. This will be age appropriate. We accept that is not possible for very young children to understand and maintain social distancing. However, for older children this is easier to achieve and they will be expected to stay distant from each other and staff wherever possible. Desks will be separated and facing the front.
• Children will need to bring their own water bottle. They will not be able to access water fountains.
• Government guidance is that face masks are not worn in school. However, we understand that you may feel more reassured by wearing protection and so we have taken the decision to allow children and staff to wear transparent visors if they wish. The important thing is that teachers and children can communicate with each other and so we need to be able to see and hear each other speaking.
• If you think that your child may have an accident in school that would require a change of clothing this can be provided and kept in school. The Early Years staff will inform parents in Nursery and Reception about requirements for children in nappies or in the process of toilet training.
• Children must not bring anything into the classroom except their lunch, water bottle, reading book and a change of clothes (only if this is needed).
• Staff, using gloves, will choose a reading book for your child to read with you at home. When it is returned to school, your child will put it in a box where it will stay for 72 hours before it is put back into our library by staff.
• Teachers will inform you of the day your child will be doing PE. On this day, please send them to school in jogging bottoms and trainers. Do not send in a PE kit for them to get changed into at school. Unless the weather prevents it, PE will take place outside.
• Children will need to wear clean clothes every day. To support parents in this, the uniform policy will be relaxed.

Facilities

• Each class will use the toilet nearest to their classroom. No other class will use this toilet.
• No child will use the internal door into the corridor unless accompanied by an adult for a specific purpose.

Before and After School

• To support working parents, we will be operating our before and after school child care clubs. Places MUST be booked in advance and places are not guaranteed. Please call the school or send an email to princebishops@durhamlearning.net to book a place for September.
• The clubs will be held in the hall, which will be marked into zones so that class bubbles are not compromised. Please be aware that this may mean that some children may be in a zone on their own if there is nobody else from their class there. Although this is not ideal, we must make safety a priority.
• Children will collected from breakfast club and dropped off at after school club by via the external hall door by a TA.
• To ensure the before and after school clubs are manageable, parents are asked not to book places for their child unless there is a genuine child care need.

Parents in School

Parents and Carers will not be admitted into the building unless it is an emergency or they have a prearranged appointment. If you wish to speak to a member of staff, please call or email.

Please ensure that your child has everything they need for the day as you will be unable to drop things off for them without prior arrangement.

When someone is unwell

• Children should not come into school if they have COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive in the last 7 days. They must self-isolate for at least 7 days and must be tested if they develop symptoms.

• Anyone who develops COVID-19 symptoms must be collected as soon as possible by parents/carers and access a test.
• The Heateacher’s office will be used for children awaiting collection with closed doors and open window. It will be cleaned afterwards.

Medication

If your child has been prescribed medication that needs to be administered in school, please hand it to a Learning Mentor at the gate and give us consent via email at princebishops@durhamlearning.net.

Cleaning Hands

• All pupils will use hand sanitiser when they arrive at school, return from breaks and before and after eating. Warm water and soap will also be available and children will be expected to wash their hands regularly. Classroom staff will demonstrate and supervise in an age appropriate way.
• Warm water is available at all times in the toilets but sanitiser will avoid overcrowding.

Ensuring good respiratory hygiene

• Pupils will be regularly reminded to catch their coughs and sneezes with a tissue or elbow.
• Windows be kept open at all possible times (temperatures allowing) to aid ventilation.
• Internal doors be kept open where possible to aid ventilation.
• Tissues will be available in every classroom and work area.
• Bins will be lidded or provided with a cover and they will be double bagged.
• Bins will be emptied daily and bins thoroughly cleaned.
• Paper towels and bins be provided in every toilet.

Enhanced Cleaning

• Cleaning arrangements will be extended to cope with the increased numbers of staff and pupils in attendance in September.
• All areas will be thoroughly cleaned on a daily basis, with particular focus on frequently handled surfaces such as door handles, light switches, table/counter tops, handrails and bannisters, chairs, computers including mouse and keyboard, photocopiers, telephones, shared learning resources or toys, specialist equipment for SEND pupils, toilets and toilet handles, sinks, taps and other areas touched regularly. Additional cleaning during the day has been arranged between bubbles using the same space.
• Each classroom will be provided with gloves and disinfectant spray in case a pupil coughs or sneezes on a piece of equipment or furniture.
• PE equipment and IPads that cannot be cleaned after use, will not be used for 72 hours.
• The handling of pupil’s work will be minimised. Staff will undertake ‘live’ marking and guide children in marking themselves, using this as a teaching opportunity. Work such as extended pieces of writing that cannot be marked in this way, will be marked in school using gloves that are immediately disposed afterwards. This will be completed as soon as possible after the child completes the work so that timely feedback can be provided.

Wearing personal protective equipment

Staff who administer first aid or intimate care will wear full PPE.

Engaging with the NHS Test & Trace process

• All parents, staff, children and visitors must comply with the NHS Test and Trace system.
• Children who are sent home with symptoms will not return to school until either the isolation period has passed or a negative test result is provided.

Managing and containing confirmed COVID-19 cases in the school community

• Anyone who has been in close contact with confirmed cases will be sent home and they will be advised to self-isolate for 14 days.
• Children sent home with symptoms do not return to school until either the isolation period has passed or a negative test result is provided.
• The school will liaise with the local health protection team as necessary and identify close contacts in the event of any confirmed cases.
• The school will seek the advice of the local health protection team on sharing information about the identity of confirmed cases.

Social distancing

• Bubbles will be the size of a class and the adults that work in them.
• Teachers and support staff working with students in a particular bubble will remain separate from students in other bubbles wherever possible. Due to the nature of their role, a small number of staff may need to work between more than one bubble but this will be kept to an absolute minimum.

Measures within the classroom

• The lay out of classrooms will be adapted and furniture removed in order to increase distance between staff and pupils and between staff and other staff.
• Desks will be separated and children will face the front.
• Children who are old enough will be asked to maintain distancing from staff wherever possible.
• Staff and children will be able to wear PPE (transparent visor) if they wish.

Measures elsewhere

• Parents are asked to ensure that children’s clothes are washed when they return home from school. Children should be in clean clothes every day. To help with this, the uniform policy will be relaxed.
• There will be no assemblies.
• Only Teachers and TAs will access the reading book library, using gloves.
• Children will not walk around school unaccompanied. Staff must ensure that they walk in single file, socially distant from each other.
• Breaks are staggered and children will have lunch in the classroom initially. Yards are allocated.
• Toilets for each class are allocated.
• Any child who needs to be withdrawn for reasons other than COVID-19 symptoms will use the Learning Mentor’s rooms.
• No visitors will be admitted into the building without an appointment.

Transport

• If using public transport, you must wear face masks.
• Please consider your route to school to reduce the risk of contact with other people.

Attendance

• Unless a child is shielding (because they are extremely clinically vulnerable), self-isolating (because they or a family member has COVID-19 symptoms) or ill, there is an expectation that they will attend school. The normal attendance policy and processes will apply.
• If your child is going to absent, please call us on the morning of their absence on 01388 451278
• When children are shielding or self-isolating, they will be provided with remote learning activities. This will be in line with the activities already planned and prepared by teachers for children in school. It will be sent electronically.

We are very much looking forward to our children getting back to school and getting on with the huge challenge of making up for lost time! Please help us by adhering to the arrangements we have made to keep our school community safe.

We will see you in September. In the meantime, have a wonderful summer and keep safe!