Below is a range of information that will help you to get a better understanding of what a return to school will look like for children and will outline the measures we are putting in place to ensure the safety and well being of pupils, staff and our whole school community.
Dates for Pupils Returning
Following extensive discussions with our Governing Body and consulting all the guidance available, the following dates have been agreed to facilitate a phased return to school:
Week Beginning Monday 1st June – Children of Critical Workers and Key Workers only
Week Beginning Monday 8th June – Children of Critical Workers and Key Workers only
Week beginning Monday 15th June – Children in Year 6
Week beginning Monday 22nd June – Children in Year 1
Week beginning Monday 29th June – Children in Nursery and Reception
Daily Times and Entry / Exit from School
The offer for all year groups when they return is on a full time basis and we will have staggered times in operation to enable a safe arrival and departure for all children. The school day will be slightly shorter than normal with timings as follows:
| Hub | Start Time | Break | Lunch | Finish |
| Key Worker | 8am | 10.30am -10.45am | 12.30pm – 1.15pm | 3.30pm |
| Year 6 | 8.45am | 10am – 10.15am | 12.15pm – 1pm | 2.40pm |
| Year 1 | 8.55am | 10.15am – 10.30am | 12pm – 12.45pm | 2.50pm |
| EYFS Hub 1 | 9.05am | N/A | 11.45am – 12.30pm | 3.00pm |
| EYFS Hub 2 | 9.15am | N/A | 11.45am – 12.30pm | 3.10pm |
| EYFS Hub 3 | 9.25am | N/A | 11.45am – 12.30pm | 3.20pm |
If your child is not able to attend school on a specific day please ring school and leave a message on the answer phone before the start of the school day, as you would with a usual absence.
Please note that school will close to all pupils at 1pm on a Friday to allow the buildings to be thoroughly cleaned. This will also give staff a chance to plan and prepare work for the following week. Usually staff would have planning and preparation time during the school day, however as we need a consistent member of staff with each ‘hub’ and we are unable to let staff move between the various ‘hubs’ in school, this is the only time we can allocate for staff to plan and prepare.
Children will enter and exit school via the main school gate on School Street. All children and parents must remain outside of the school site until each hub is collected by school staff. You must maintain social distancing whilst waiting for your child to enter and exit school, paying close attention to the markings placed on the path for this purpose. This will be the same at the end of the day, with staff bringing each group of children back out to the main school gate to hand children over to parents. We ask that only one parent drops off / picks up your child to minimise the number of adults around the outside of school. I must stress the importance of collecting children promptly at the end of the school day and making sure you are keeping to your allotted time of arrival. Drop off and collection of our children has been specifically planned in line with our risk assessments and will broadly follow usual school opening times.Please also bear in mind our school is close to houses where residents are concerned and have asked us to remind parents about social distancing. Finally, most pupils will either walk or travel to school by car. However, if you do have to use public transport to travel to school, we kindly request that you observe social distancing as best you can when on public transport, wear a face covering as is mandatory on all public transport from 15th June and if possible, use hand sanitiser/gel on completion of your journey.
Uniform and Equipment
Children will need to wear casual, comfortable clothes and shoes each day. Examples of these include tracksuit bottoms, t-shirts and trainers. They will also need a jumper / hoodie as windows and doors will be open in classrooms to promote air circulation. Children will not be allowed to change clothes during the school day, therefore PE sessions will take place outdoors and in the clothes children have attended school in. No PE kits are required to be brought to school. Children may also need to bring a coat with them, but this will be weather dependent.
Guidance recommends that both staff and children attend school in clean, freshly washed clothes each day to prevent the risk of COVID 19 transmission and we encourage you to ensure your child comes to school in different clothes each day. This is why we have chosen to not ask children to attend school in uniform.
The majority of resources and equipment will be provided by school. However, children can bring the following:
- 1 x school bag / backpack;
- 1 x filled water bottle that will return home each day with your child;
- Sun Cream for self-application (weather dependent)
Children will not allowed to bring in their own pencil cases, stationary etc.
Hub Information
Your child will be taught in a ‘hub’ and based in a classroom space around our school site. This may not necessarily be their regular classroom and they may not be taught by their usual teacher. Information about where your child will be taught and who their hub staff will be, will be sent to you in an emailed letter from Mr Baines the week before they are due to return. The children within the hub will always remain in this hub and will not come into contact with other hubs during the school day. Children will work at tables spaced 2m apart and hub staff will be based at socially distanced locations in the classroom. As a result, staff will be unable to have direct contact with or work alongside children as they must remain in their designated areas and support children from a distance.
Our teaching and learning approach to reintegrating children back into school will centre around ‘Three R’s’. We have all heard a lot about the Government ‘R’ rating in recent months, so at Howden we’ve decided to adapt this and create our own ‘R’s!’ So, our ‘Three R’s’ are:
Re-engage – We are acutely aware that children will need time to re-engage with school. They have not attended for a substantial period of time and will need support, guidance and time to get used to being with us again. Some children will be in different classrooms and / or with different teachers. Time will be needed to establish relationships, routines, structures and expectations; just as we would normally do at the beginning of an academic year. We intend to do this in a very pastoral way, utilising an increased number of Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) lessons to establish comfort, confidence and mental well being related to being back at school. We will communicate clearly and often with parents/carers during this phase to ensure you have a good understanding of how your child is settling in to being back at school.
Review – Teachers will then take the time to review with children what has been provided for home learning and how much of this has been understood and retained. They will also review children’s knowledge of basic skills in reading, writing and use of number and will use this as a starting point from which to move learning forward.
Recover – Teachers will plan for and deliver lessons that support children to recover from the lost learning time of the last three months. We intend to make this interactive and engaging to further enhance pupils learning and understanding, particularly in English and Maths. We will also develop cross curricular themes of learning based around topics that will cover subjects such as Science, Geography and History.
Children will have structured access to Ipads and computers so they can complete online learning tasks such as Mathletics and Lexia. All technology will be sanitised before and after use and children will be asked to wash hands after using them.
Break times will be taken on the main yard / school field where children will be positively encouraged to maintain a social distance from all other children unless they are a sibling. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any access to the outdoor play equipment for children to use at this time.
Lunch Arrangements
From Monday 15th June, lunches will be in the form of packed lunches only. In most cases, children will bring a packed lunch from home. If your child is entitled to a free school meal, they will be provided with a school packed lunch. You are not, however, obliged to take up this offer and you are welcome to provide a packed lunch from home for your child if you so wish. Lunch will be eaten at your child’s designated table in their hub which will be sanitised before lunch time. Alternatively, if the weather is fine, hub staff may choose to take children outside to have a picnic on the school field. Your child’s lunch box and water bottle will be sanitised on entry to school with anti-bacterial wipes.
Hand Hygiene
All children will be encouraged to wash their hands thoroughly at given points throughout the day: on entry to school, before and after using ipads, before and after break and lunch times, before eating, after toileting and before leaving school for the day. We also have hypo-allergenic moisturiser available to prevent pupils from getting sore hands or children are welcome to bring their own from home.
First Aid / Illness
The government guidelines do not require school staff to wear PPE as a matter of course, however staff have been given the choice to wear whatever level of PPE they are comfortable with for them to successfully carry out their duties in school. In circumstances where a child requires First Aid, is unwell or appears to be displaying symptoms of COVID-19, staff will wear gloves, aprons, face masks and visors as appropriate to protect themselves and your child when social distancing is not an option. If your child has an accident, becomes ill or requires First Aid you may be called to take your child home.
We ask that your child does not come to school if they are ill or if they or anyone in your house is displaying symptoms of COVID 19. The symptoms of COVID 19 are:
- a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back;
- a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours;
- a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.
If your child becomes unwell at school, with suspected COVID symptoms your child will be isolated in the Headteachers Office and you will be asked to take them home, adhere to government self-solation guidance and seek a test to ascertain a diagnosis.
If we receive notice of a confirmed case of COVID 19 the school may need to close, at short notice for deep cleaning and staff and families may be asked to follow government guidance regarding self-isolation.
Preparing for Return
For those children returning to school it will be useful for parents to help them to understand that school looks very different at the moment with tape demarking walk ways and tables spaced out inside the classrooms. It is very important that children understand social distancing rules and that they can’t be close to each other or touch their friends at playtime etc. Please practise washing hands effectively and reminding children about not touching their face, biting nails etc before they return. We will of course sensitively remind children of these throughout the day.
Contacting School
Unfortunately, parents will not be allowed on the school site. If you need to contact school please phone or email. Our main office entrance area will have a strict 1 person only rule. This is clearly signposted as you approach the main entrance.
Thank you for taking the time to read this information and we appreciate your support in putting the points mentioned into practice in the weeks ahead. We understand that a return to school may seem very daunting as we continue to live through highly unusual times. Our main aim is to ensure all children, staff and families are kept as safe and at as little risk as possible. We have put extensive measures in place to minimise the risk, but, as you will be aware, we cannot fully eradicate it.
This will not be school as we know it, but we will endeavour to make it as pleasant as possible for all our returning pupils. Should you have any questions or queries about children returning to school, please do not hesitate to email me at howdenparents@durhamlearning.net
To further reassure parents / carers of the measures we have put into place, please find below a pdf copy of our return to school planning document and school specific risk assessment that has been agreed by both staff and our Governing Body. We also intend to add some photographs in the coming weeks to the ‘pupils page for returning to school’ to give a ‘virtual tour’ of what school looks like.
You may also like to read the following advice for parents and carers – click on the image to see an enlarged version.
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