Covid-19 Risk Assessment January 2022

Dear parents and carers,

Happy New Year!

I trust you and your families had a lovely Christmas holiday and are looking forward to the new term at Purley Oaks.

Last term, despite the high levels of absence due to Covid-19 and illness, the children have made good progress in their learning. This is due to their aspirational attitude towards learning, the dedication of our staff and the strong working relationships formed with you.

Returning to school will bring us all back together in the same building. We know we have to be careful in the current climate to minimise the risk and disruption to the children’s learning as much as possible. Senior leaders have updated our Covid-19 risk assessment – you can find this attached and on our website and I have highlighted changes since November in yellow. As always this is subject to change at short notice.

We must be prepared to switch to online home learning if the situation deteriorates. If this becomes necessary, we have many devices available to loan to children who need them. Ideally the children will need a device each to access lessons and learning tasks. The children are familiar with these devices as we use them in computing and other lessons. They make accessing Google Classroom easy. We can also provide dongles to enable our children to access the internet at home. We will send out a separate message to find out who needs to borrow a device.

Most routines remain the same as last term for the children. Our meetings will be held via Microsoft Teams to minimise the risk to staff. Notable changes are:

  • we will suspend after school clubs for the spring term
  • parents’ evenings will be held via video or telephone call
  • parents and carers to contact the school via email, Weduc or telephone – any face-to-face meetings must be by appointment only
  • one parent/carer only to drop off and collect children
  • maintain at least one metre social distance from others on playgrounds
  • ventilation of classrooms is key so children can wear extra layers when necessary

Please note that Breakfast Club will run as normal. Holiplay will also run as normal depending on availability of staff.

Finally, please can I remind parents and carers to keep children at home if they are unwell. You will be asked to take your child for a PCR test at a designated NHS test site if your child has any of the following Covid-19 symptoms:

  • High temperature (above 37.8 degrees)
  • New continuous cough
  • Loss of taste and smell

I would ask you please to follow the protocols we have in place to minimise the risk to our community. I know by working closely together we can continue to make Purley Oaks as safe as possible for our children to learn and thrive.

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow.

Yours sincerely,

Mr R J Griffin

Headteacher

Purley Oaks Primary School Covid Plan January 2022