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Wednesday 10 March
Letter to Parents Regarding School reopening March 2021
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Home testing
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Letter to Parents From the Director of Public Health
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Symptom Guide for Parents
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Risk Assessment for Testing in School
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Risk Assessment
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Downloadable FAQ for Parents
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Self Isolating Guide November 2020
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Start and Finish Times
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| Year 7 |
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| Start |
8:25 |
| Finish |
2:40 |
| Entrance and exit |
Main student entrance |
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| Year 8 |
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| Start |
8:30 |
| Finish |
2:45 |
| Entrance and exit |
Back stairs in DT |
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| Year 9 |
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| Start |
8:35 |
| Finish |
2:50 |
| Entrance and exit |
Back stairs in Art and Food tech |
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| Year 10 |
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| Start |
8:40 |
| Finish |
2:55 |
| Entrance and exit |
Via doors opposite dining room |
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| Year 11 |
|
| Start |
8:30 |
| Finish |
3:00 |
| Entrance and exit |
Back stairs in DT |
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| Year 12 and 13 |
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| Start |
8:50 |
| Finish |
3:05 |
| Entrance and exit |
Main student entrance |
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FAQ for Parents
Organisation of students
Q. How will the school ensure that students and staff arriving safely can arrive safely?
A. We have planned to use staggered arrival times which will limit the number of people in one place. Each year group will also use a different entrance and exit (please see the letter to parents).
Q. How are students to be organised to maintain safety?
A. Students will be taught and accommodated within individual year group bubbles. Year 12 and 13 students form one bubble, each other year group is a separate bubble.
Q. What happens if it is raining when my child has PE?
If it is raining students will have a classroom based lesson instead of an outdoors practical lesson – we do not want students to have to sit in wet PE kit all day. If it is raining first thing in the morning on a day your child is due to have PE please still send them in to school in their kit as the weather may have changed by the time the lesson is due to take place
Health and Safety
Q. What risk assessments will be taking place?
A. A whole school risk assessment will be carried out. These risk assessments will be informed by guidance from Gov.org, Hertfordshire County Council and professional associations. These Risk Assessments cover a range of events and situations throughout the day. There will also be additional risk assessments for individual students if required.
Q. Will the students’ temperatures be taken on arrival?
A. Guidance says that this is not requested in schools
Q. Will soap and warm water be available at all times, with systems in place to ensure continuity of supply soap and sanitiser?
A. Yes, soap and water will be available in all toilets allocated to classes and staff toilets. We have already ordered a large supply of soap and sanitiser. This should provide an ample supply. However, as part of our daily and weekly reviews, we will monitor this accordingly.
Q. Will staff and students wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with water and soap on arrival, before departure and regularly throughout the day?
A. Yes, on entering the school students and adults will wash their hands Regular handwashing for students will take place upon request and will be supervised
by the class teacher allowing no more than two students at a time to go to the allotted hand washing area. All adults working with students will also wash their hands regularly. Students and staff will also wash their hands after using a tissue and after visiting the toilet.
Q. Are lidded bins available in every classroom?
A. Yes. Lidded bins will be available in all classrooms which will be used and emptied on a daily basis.
Q. Will students be regularly reminded to catch coughs and sneezes with a tissue or elbow?
A. All staff will need to remind students to catch coughs and sneezes with a tissue or elbow. There are digital signs up in various parts of the school which remind students to wash their hands and to ‘Catch it! Bin it! Kill it!”
Q. Will doors be kept open where possible to aid ventilation?
A. Yes, all classrooms have windows and doors open to ensure the rooms remain
ventilated.
Q. Will all areas of the premises be thoroughly cleaned on a daily basis with particular focus on surfaces that are touched by multiple people such as photocopiers, door handles, table/counter tops, computers including mouse and keyboard, light switches telephones, chairs, bannisters, toilets and toilet handles, sinks, taps and other areas touched regularly, with additional cleaning during the day as necessary?
A. Yes
Q. Will each classroom be provided with antibacterial wipes in case a student coughs or sneezes on a piece of equipment?
A. Yes – all classrooms will be equipped with antibacterial wipes and hand sanitiser.
Q. Will a one-way system be introduced?
A. We do not anticipate the need for this as we plan for there to be as little crossover as possible with staggered arrival times and break and lunch times. Students may use the corridors to go to their designated year group toilets and must walk on the left-hand side, maintaining a 1m distance between them and anyone else in the corridor. They should not leave the floor that they are working on.
Q. How will staff keep 2-metres apart from students, even with these arrangements?
A. Students will be reminded and if this is deliberately ignored, the SLT will be contacted. Parents will be notified. For repeat offenders, students will be removed and parents contacted. Expectations for students are detailed in our revised behaviour policy and will be regularly reinforced throughout the day. Staff will be modelling correct social distancing at all levels throughout the day.
Q. How does the school propose to ensure social distancing at the start and end of each school day? Is it practical to stagger arrival times, if so how? How will parents be informed and the system monitored? Is there sufficient staffing to monitor the safe arrival and departure of students at varying times? How will overcrowding at the school gates or in the playground be prevented?
What will be expected of parents/carers in terms of social distancing and how will they be informed of arrangements?
A. We have organised staggered starts and finishes. We are also utilising four entrances which provide access to the school. SLT have been deployed to supervise entry and exit times. Parents
have been informed of these arrangements via email and through the website and the expectations will be reinforced when students return.
Q. It will not be safe to mark students’s books during this period. Will clear instruction be given that no marking should take place and the books should not be taken to and from home/school?
A. To ensure the health and safety of both staff and students. Staff will not be expected to mark learning completed in books and are not allowed to take books home with them. Students should keep hold of their books at all times. Feedback will be provided to students regularly in the form of quiz scores, use of exemplar answers and the highlighting of common misconception. Use will also be made of submitting written work via Show My Homework so that more detailed and specific feedback can be provided.
Q. What arrangements are proposed around access to student toilets to ensure no overcrowding during lesson times?
A. Students will ask to go to the toilet and the teacher will assess whether it is safe for them to do so. By considering whether any other students have already been given permission to go. Only one student should be allowed access to the toilet at any time. All student toilets are designated as unisex for the time being and students should only use the toilet closest to their classroom
Q. What signage will be displayed to support these new systems?
A. Appropriate signage will be available across the school e.g. Catch it. Bin it. Kill it, how to wash your hands
Buying food in school
Q. Will my child be able to buy food in school?
A. There will a limited selection of food available at lunch in order to speed up the queuing. Food will be served in takeaway containers and each year group will have access to a designated eating area. This will be cleaned between each sitting to ensure we maintain year group bubbles.
Q. Will my child be able to use cash in school?
A. Unfortunately we will not be able to accept cash in school. All student accounts must be topped up online using the schools online payment system. The instructions for downloading the app are on our website:
http://thenobelschool.org/about-the-school/online-payments-and-uniform/
Visitors on site
Q. What is the procedure for visitors?
A. Visitors will be kept to an absolute minimum. No more than two visitors will be permitted in reception at any one time. There will be markers outside the reception area and a sign asking them to wait outside if there are already two people in reception. Any visitors
entering the site will be met by a member of SLT and asked to wash their hands. They will follow the same regular handwashing routines that are in place.
Unfortunately, this includes parents. Parents will be requested to contact school,
including class teachers, via email during this time. Teachers can then reply to the
parents using email or phone.
Q. Will parents/carers be instructed that they may not enter the premises other than in an emergency situation?
A. All parents will be informed that they are not to enter the premises other than in an emergency situation. They will be encouraged to communicate with staff by telephoning or emailing the office.
Q. Will there be clear guidelines on entry to school about the procedures in place for essential visitors to the school? Will all visitors have to adhere to social distancing guidance?
A. All essential visitors will be given a copy of the visitor policy. Visitors will need to read and sign to confirm that they have read, understood and agreed to follow the code of conduct.
Q. How will other unauthorised visitors be kept away?
A. All visitors to the school arrive through the school reception which has a secure entry system. Visitors will not be allowed on site until it has been confirmed that their visit is authorised by SLT. Unauthorised visitors will be refused entry by office staff.
Student Illness
Q. What happens if a student shows symptoms of COVID-19 whilst at school?
A. The student will be immediately sent to Reception where a first aider will put on PPE and take them through to the meeting room by the main Reception doors. The student’s parents will be phoned and they will be asked to collect their child as soon as possible and take them to be tested. The parents/carers of the other students in that child’s class will be informed that another student has displayed symptoms. Parents will be asked to collect their students. The class will be closed until SLT receive written confirmation of a negative test result.
Q. What happens if a student or member staff is diagnosed with COVID-19?
A. If the child/staff member has been tested and is positive for COVID-19, all students and staff in their classes will be contacted and informed and sent home. These individuals within this group must attend a testing facility and receive the all-clear before being allowed to return to school.
Q. What is the procedure for giving First Aid?
A. There is a first aider available on site every day for the students contactable via Reception. Whenever first need is applied, gloves, apron and face mask must be worn. Gloves, aprons and face masks must be disposed of appropriately after use.
Q. Is it clear to all staff and parents that only healthy staff and students who are not exhibiting symptoms, and who do not need to self-isolate, may attend school?
A. Yes. Please refer to the letter from the headteacher explaining expectations for parents
Q. If my child has symptoms of COVID-19, how can I get tested?
Please see the website below for guidance and testing sites in Hertfordshire.
https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/about-the-council/news/news-archive/coronavirus-frequentlyasked-questions
Monitoring
Q. Who will monitor that the systems are being complied with?
A. The Senior Leadership Team will monitor the systems in place.
Sudden changes to procedures
Q. If there are changes to procedures detailed, how will these be communicated with parents?
A. Changes will be communicated via e-mail.
Q. Is there a procedure to close the school at short notice if staffing levels fall to levels where safety cannot be assured?
A. Yes – the school has reviewed its Staff Absence policy. This policy details arrangements for closure of the individual classes – and indeed the whole school if required - if staffing levels fall to a level which is deemed unsafe by the Senior Leadership Team.
Q. Will the school close if there is no head teacher/deputy head teacher, DSL, SENCO, caretaker/adequate numbers of cleaning staff available of these key staff are unavailable?
A. It is our intention to keep the school open. Unless ALL DSLs are very ill, they will be able to be contacted remotely.
If cleaning cannot be carried out, then school will close.
Q. Will parents be told not to send their children to school if there is a shortage of staff for a particular class?
A. The school will continue to do its utmost to provide continuity of provision for our families. However, if staffing levels are unsafe, parents will be told not to send their children into school.
Q. Will I need to provide a water bottle for my child?
A. Yes, please. Water fountains will be switched off so the bottle provided needs to be big enough to last them all day. Water bottles should be kept by the students.
Q. Have assemblies and the coming together of other large groups, both staff and students, been suspended?
A. Year group assemblies will not be taking place, however, these will be run remotely with presentations being provided for each tutor group. This reduces movement around the school. We will not be holding any parental events during this time. Whole staff meetings can go ahead as long as appropriate social distancing can be adhered to.
Q. Will compassionate and proportionate behaviour policies that protect health and safety, while also supporting students who may exhibit problematic behaviours as a response to trauma they may have experienced during lockdown, be in place by the time wider opening begins?
A. Yes. Please see the Covid-19 appendix to the behaviour for learning policy alongside the original Nobel School Behaviour for Learning Policy
Remote education during a localised lock down
Q. What arrangements will be in place should the school have to close again?
A. In the event of closure we will revert to setting remote learning and providing feedback via Show My Homework).
Q. In the event of a closure, what are the expectations for remote learning?
A. Learning at home should follow the same principles as learning at school. Whether the input is live, recorded or written down, it should include an opportunity for recall, an explanation and an opportunity to practise. This isn’t a blueprint for every lesson but is certainly required for every sequence of learning. Individual teachers will, decide where during this sequence they want the students to receive feedback.
Students should be clear how they are going to learn each week and the work should be made available to students to access during their timetabled time-slot. Some students will require more scaffolding or support to access the work and this should also be made available to those students. Overall the amount of time a student spends working on any one particular subject should be commensurate with the number of hours allocated to that student on their timetable.
Q. What are the expectations for marking remote learning?
A. The expectations for remote/ online learning will remain the same with careful attention being given to providing students with feedback that tackles misconceptions and moves students on in their learning.
Safeguarding
Q. Under the current circumstances, what is the attendance policy?
A. It will be mandatory for students to attend school and fines or other penalties will apply. We will still ensure that no child is missing in education by following the guidance as detailed in the Attendance policy. Attendance monitoring will continue to take place on a weekly basis. Please refer to amended attendance policy.
Off-site visits
Q. Will students be able to go on a visit?
A. No, for the present time all school visits, including sports fixtures are cancelled.
It is a great privilege to be the Head of this wonderful school. Through support and challenge, every student is able to enjoy their learning and reach their full potential. In March 2018, Ofsted confirmed us as ‘good’; we now intend to be ‘outstanding’ at our next inspection.
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Tweets by @library_nobel
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