Saint Joseph’s Catholic Infant School
Recovery Plan and Risk Assessment Version 3 for November 2020
Contents
Recovery Plan
Appendix 1 Keep Education Safe- Operational Guidance for School Settings
Appendix 2 Neath Port Talbot Check in, Catch Up and Prepare for Summer and September Arrangements
Appendix 3 School Risk Assessments for reducing the risk of Covid-19
Appendix 4 Operational guidance for schools and settings from autumn term
Appendix 5 Managing Movement Around Schools
Appendix 6 PPE Information Poster
Appendix 7 Disease Outbreak Plan for Wales (2020) Public Health Wales
Appendix 8 CIBSE COVID -19 Ventilation Guidance
Saint Joseph’s Catholic Infant School
Recovery Plan and Risk Assessment Version 3 for November 2020
This recovery plan has been developed in line with the guidance provided by the Welsh Government document, ‘Keep Education Safe (Operational Guidance for Schools and settings (Covid-19)’ (See Appendix 1)
Guidance provided by NPT Council, ‘Neath Port Talbot Check in, Catch Up and Prepare for Summer and September Arrangements’ has also supported the development of the plan. (See Appendix 2)
This plan should be read in conjunction with the school’s risk assessments for reducing the risk of Covid-19. (See Appendix 3) and Operational guidance for schools and settings from the autumn term (See Appendix 4), Managing Movement Around School (see Appendix 5), PPE Information Poster (see Appendix 6), Disease Outbreak Plan for Wales (2020) Public Heralth Wales (see Appendix 7) and 8 CIBSE COVID -19 Ventilation Guidance (see Appendix 8).
Our aims and decision making will be guided by two clear questions:
- What is the best support that we can provide for our school community?
- How do we ensure the highest standards of safety?
As we move forwards these simple questions will guide and inform all our decision making. We will not implement any plan unless we are convinced that it is the right thing to do and we can do it safely.
This plan has been developed using the following 5 key principles set out by the Education Minister:
- The safety and mental, emotional and physical well-being of staff and students
- Continuing contribution to the national effort and strategy to fight the spread of COVID- 19
- Having the confidence of parents, staff and students – based on evidence and information – so that they can plan ahead
- Ability to prioritise learners at key points, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds
- Consistency with the Welsh Government’s framework for decision making, to have guidance in place to support measures such as distancing, managing attendance and wider protective actions.
Overarching Guidance for leaders and governors.
- Principles outlined above must be evident in all decision making. Our overall aim is to ensure that our decision making is calm and informed.
- We will be decisive in our decision making. Our community must expect us to respond clearly and with urgency to any safety issues raised.
- Senior leaders and governors must consider all the advice made available to them. Includes updated guidance for schools from Welsh Government.
- Excellent communication must be evident throughout the planning and implementation of our safety plans. We will work with all teams of staff and welcome input from trade associations, pupils and parents. We will share advice that informs our decision making.
- We will open and transparent at all times.
Recovery Plan and Risk Assessment for 3rd Phase of School Re-Opening November 2020
Rationale:
This plan will aim to ensure that we safeguard our community by:
- Always being alert to risk
- Reducing risk through effective organisation and controls.
- Reducing transmission risk by limiting interactions within the school community.
Simple plan is:
- Our classes will be put into 6 groups. They will spend their school day in their pod with a nominated teacher. They will see other children and staff but they will live and learn in their pod. Pod will be a ‘safety bubble’ approach.
- Their pod will have allocated staff for teaching and lunchtime supervision. This will reduce the possibility of contraction and transmission.
- In their pod, everybody will apply the best standards of care that we can.
- We will follow a rigorous cleaning routine.
- We have a simple model with four clear messages that our children can apply.
Stay Clean. We wash our hands regularly and use the hand sanitisers provided.
Be Hygienic:
- put tissues in bin.
- keep hands off each other and your face
- cough into sleeve or tissue etc.
- Keep a Safe Distance
- Ventilate
In all education, childcare and social care settings, preventing the spread of coronavirus involves dealing with direct transmission (for instance, when in close contact with those sneezing and coughing) and indirect transmission (via touching contaminated surfaces). A range of approaches and actions must be employed to control transmissions.
These can be seen as a hierarchy of controls that, when implemented, creates an inherently safer system, where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. These include:
1) Prevention- Minimising contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring that those who have coronavirus symptoms, or who have someone in their household who does, do not attend schools. They should remain at home and self-isolate and arrange a COVID-19 TEST. Those showing symptoms in school, should be in a separate room, supervised at a distance of 2 metres where possible until collected.
In yard. Children will line up keeping 2 m distance between class bubbles and collected by Teacher/ Teaching Assistant and accompanied to class.
Start time will be staggered for Year/Class Groups.
End of Day – Y2 Children will be released from front ramp to -parents who will be asked to wait, keeping socially distant in the yard between the main gate and the entrance to the school. Y1 (Mrs Turner’s Class) children will be released from the ramp exit 10 minutes later.
Release at end of Day – will be staggered.
Lunchtimes – will be staggered and food eaten in classrooms, tables to be cleaned before and after lunch, or eaten outside if weather permits.
Organisation of School Day
Staggered Approach
We will as far as possible keep them in their class bubbles. To do this we will stagger the start, lunch, end of the school day.
| Class | Arrival | AM Break | Lunch | PM Break | Pick Up |
| Y2 AW | 8:45 | 10:15-10:30 | 11:55-12:25
(Dinner Ladies 11:40-12:40) |
1:30-1:45 | 2:45 |
| Y1 ST | 8:55 | 2:55 | |||
| Y1/R JJ | 8:55 | 9:45-10:00 | 11:35-12:05
(Dinner Ladies 11:20-12:20) |
1:15-1:30 | |
| Reception EM/KT | 8:55 | 2:55 | |||
| Nursery AM | 9:00 | – | 11:30 | ||
| Nursery PM | 12:15 | 2:45 |
*For those children with siblings we will be flexible
Minimising Adult Interaction
We will stagger entrance and leaving times to the school to promote essential adult social distancing.
Drop off to both sides of yard. (Only exception to this will be if a child is ill). They will then be collected by a Class Teacher/ Teaching Assistant.
At the end of the day Year 2 (then 10 mins later Y1/ Mrs Turner) pupils will be released from the side ramp to the front of the school. Reception and Year 1 pupils from the main playground.
Simple Guidance Principles for Staff
- Do not come to work if you have coronavirus symptoms or go home as soon as these develop (informing your line-manager) and access a test as soon as possible. If you are unwell and able to do this, we can assist. If you are very unwell seek medical support as soon as possible through NHS 111.
- If somebody in your house has symptoms, you must not come to work and arrange to have tests.
- Make your well-being a priority. Through the staff Teams page we have highlighted the range of well-being services and support that we can offer.
- Practise really good hygiene. You have soap and cleaning materials in your classroom. We have also provided wipes for keyboards, phones etc.
- Clean your hands and wrists more often than usual – with running water and soap and dry them thoroughly or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered. Must use sanitiser or wash your hands on entry to the building and when you leave.
- Use the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach.
- Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes.
- Clean frequently touched surfaces often using standard products.
- Open windows to ensure improved ventilation
- Think about ways to modify your teaching approach to keep a distance from children in your class as much as possible. Avoid close face to face support (noting that it’s understood that this is not possible at all times, which is why hygiene and hand cleaning is so important). Staff should try and maintain a standing distance and communicate from ‘side on’ position when possible.
- Ensure that cleanliness and hygiene is excellent in your pod. Ensure that our children practise our 3 simple steps.
- Try and maximise ventilation. Keep your classroom door and windows open if possible, for air flow (Appendix 8).
- Teach outdoors when you can and maintain social distancing in these spaces.
- Model social distancing. Staff must demonstrate this. Limit your contact with other staff members, and don’t congregate in shared spaces, especially if they are small rooms. No more than 6 members of staff in the staffroom. A second staff area to be set up in Dining Hall, no more than 10 at a time.
| Saint Joseph’s Infant School Recovery Plan Checklist
|
|||||
| What needs to happen? | Before returning | On return | Ongoing | Actions needed and who is doing it | Completed |
| SLT and governors should ensure transparency in relation to guidance. Follow and recheck the appropriate government Covid guidance and updates on all issues.
Produce plan, share with governors and sign-off plan
|
· | · | · WG guidance is checked daily.
· New information will be shared with staff and Governors · Risk assessment will be continually updated. It is a working document.
|
Ongoing
Updated daily |
|
| Risk assessments need to be carried out as required and adapted:
· COVID19 Secure Risk Assessment · Classroom Risk Assessment · Vulnerable Staff Risk Assessment · Cleaning |
· | · | SLT/ Bursar/ Teachers review/ carry out RA | To be completed by Friday 29th June. Reviewed Sept 2020.Reviewed Oct 2020. Reviewed 9th November 2020. | |
| Staff, Governors and Wider Community
|
|||||
| Checklist | Before returning | On return | Ongoing | Actions needed/ thoughts | Completed |
| Plan for the phased return of pupils. Organisation (classroom, staffing, year groups, pods, siblings, etc.) | ü | ||||
| Ensure strategic and wellbeing meetings are held with all staff.
Make time for all staff to talk to senior leaders about their personal situation if required: · Thoughts on returning, fears, concerns about returning, · what will be easy to accomplish, what will be hard, · fatigue (Staff have continued to work), · changes in circumstance, retirement, pregnancy, bereavement. · additional worries about members of their family and friends. · Remind them of any internal support plan/system that is in place · Discuss ability to return to work. |
· | · | · | · Team meetings continue via Microsoft Teams.
· SLT ensure meetings with staff and regular contact · Maintain focus on signposting to essential well-being services. · Well-Being services highlighted in staff update on Teams.
|
All staff consulted
By Tuesday 1st September 2020. |
| Check with latest WG guidance Identify staff who can’t return to school at this point those with shielding letters or those who have been identified as high Risk in the All Wales Covid 19 Workforce Risk assessment Tool and consider if they can work from home. | · | · | · SLT review staffing weekly.
· Checked on self-declarations and current screening advice. · HT contacted all staff on 25th May. · Seeking advice from LA on security/clarity for different groups of staff shielding. |
Completed before staffing rotas compiled. | |
| Consider options if necessary staffing levels can’t be maintained (including school leaders and key staff like designated safeguarding leads and first aid providers). | · | · | · Have ‘stand-by’ staff and protocol for support for a pod if required. | Staffing rotas planned and agreed by Wednesday 3rd September 2020 | |
| Staff, Governors and Wider Community
|
|||||
| Checklist | Before returning | On return | Ongoing | Actions needed/ thoughts | Completed |
| TEST,TRACE,PROTECT strategy
A record of all visitors- discuss need to include mobile number/email Set up School Internal Covid Tracking to ensure safe return to school for those isolating/ Positive result |
· | · | · | JBR/CJ review existing system | |
| Review SEN – learners with special educational needs. Specific help for the changes in routine, plan for changes eg. Social stories (JBE/CL/JJ) | HB- Social story?
A? |
||||
| Management of Confirmed cases of COVID-19 – Follow Positive COVID 19 Case Protocol Version 4 30th October 2020
Cluster- is defined as 2 or more cases among learners or staff within 14 days or an increased rate of absence due to suspected or confirmed cases of COVBID –19
A potential incident is defined as two or more confirmed cases of COVID –19 among learners or staff who are direct close contacts, proximity contacts or in the same “contact group*” in the school, within 14 days. * same class
|
· | See Disease Outbreak Plan for Wales (2020)
|
|||
| Wellbeing of Head teacher, staff and SLT safeguarded. | · | · | · Regular meetings.
· Signposting to services. · Regular contact with CoG and HT.
|
||
| Reassure and consult with staff about expectations for planning on return to work | · | · | · | · Expectations around how to plan for the class- See resources from ED P
· Tuesday and Wednesday will be Preparation for return of whole school · Lunch Time supervisors informed of return to work, they will be allocated to one pod |
Ongoing. |
| Ensure all teams have accessed training for new ways of working. Includes:
e.g. Catering team and safety protocols. Cleaning staff and use of PPE/safe working practice Health and Safety management for SLT Briefings led with staff on ‘safer’ teaching practices. |
· | · | · | · SLT lead all teams and arrange training. Checked by HT on 22nd June. | Completed by 22nd June |
| Letter to Parents
|
· | · | · Shared on web/ Teacher to Parents | August 2020
Update September 1st 2020.October Update. November Update. |
|
The risk assessments and recovery plan will be monitored and reviewed on a weekly basis.
Appendix
Appendix 1 Keep Education Safe- Operational Guidance for School Settings
https://gov.wales/keep-education-safe-operational-guidance-schools-and-settings-covid-19
Appendix 2 Neath Port Talbot Check in, Catch Up and Prepare for Summer and September Arrangements
Appendix 3 School Risk Assessments for reducing the risk of Covid-19
Appendix 4 Operational Guidance for schools and settings from the autumn term
Appendix 5 Managing Movement Around Schools
Appendix 6 PPE Information Poster
Appendix 7 Disease Outbreak Plan for Wales (2020) Public Heralth Wales
Appendix 8 CIBSE COVID -19 Ventilation Guidance