Welcome to our school's website

Dear Parents,

Arrangements for Opening in September

Anyone displaying any symptoms of coronavirus (a new continuous cough, a temperature above 37.8 or loss of taste or smell) should not enter the school site.

Our protective measures include:

Classroom organisation - The focus for all children will initially be on building relationships again between themselves and the adults, as well as their wellbeing. Children will remain with the same children and staff, including break times and lunchtime.

Drop-off and collection - Children can be accompanied by more than one adult to the school gate, however only one adult can enter the school site. Upon entering the site between 8:30 - 9.00, you will see Ms Irwin at the school gate who will direct you to a path to the left of the school building. There will be numerous staff on standby to direct you and your child to the correct class room. They will welcome you and take the children in. Please follow the one-way system which will be clearly sign posted for your exit. The procedures will be the same for pick up.

Uniform - All children are required to wear full school uniform. Please ensure all uniform is named. Shoes need to be comfortable, appropriate for school.

Hygiene and cleaning

Everyone should wash their hands before leaving home and when returning home.

At school, children and staff will wash their hands regularly, e.g. on arrival, before eating and drinking, after using the toilet, after PE/sports activities and after coughing or sneezing.

Hands will be washed with liquid soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds. Alcohol based hand cleaners/gels will only be used if soap and water are not available and under close supervision. We have sufficent hand gel in school, therefore please do not supply your child with hand gel.

Disposable tissues and bins will be available in every classroom.

The ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach will be promoted and displayed in classrooms.

Surfaces will be cleaned more regularly than normal.

Children should only bring in essential items from home, e.g. lunch box, water bottle, coat, hat, no large ruck sacks please, this will reduce the possible spread of the virus.

First aid will be given where required and staff will wear PPE, as necessary for this.

Becoming unwell and developing symptoms

It is not necessary to take children’s temperatures every morning. If we suspect a child is developing a high temperature at school, we will check their temperature.

Children must not come into school if they are displaying symptoms (a new continuous cough, a high temperature or loss of smell and taste).

Parents must book a test if a child has symptoms.

If a child develops symptoms at school, they must be collected promptly and sent home to self-isolate and book a test immediately. Parents must inform the school immediately of the results of the test.

If a test is positive, or if asked by NHS Test and Trace, parents and carers must be ready and willing to provide details of anyone they have been in close contact with. Self-isolation must continue for at least 7 days from the onset of their symptoms before a return to school if they do not have symptoms other than a cough or loss of sense of smell/taste. Other members of the household should continue selfisolating for the full 14 days.

If a test is negative, self-isolation can end. However, it is best to avoid contact with other people until they are better.

Families must be ready and willing to self-isolate if they have been in close contact with someone who develops coronavirus symptoms or someone who tests positive for coronavirus.

If you have any questions then please e-mail admin@stanwayfiveways.essex.sch.uk or ring the school office between 9.00am and 3.30pm (01206 574849).

Thank you for your support. Keep well and safe everyone.

Kind regards

Jackie Irwin

Headteacher

18/9/20 13.35pm This is your daily email to keep you updated on the government’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Updated guidance for parents and carers

This is your daily email to keep you updated on the government’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

School and college responsibility for autumn exams

We have published guidance on public health arrangements for autumn exams, to enable schools, colleges and other exam centres to deliver exams in October and November in a COVID-secure way. The guidance is for school and college senior leaders, heads of exam centres, staff involved in exam delivery, multi-academy trusts and local authorities and applies to all types of exam centre. It covers guidance on preparing for autumn exams, including wearing of face coverings in exams, set up of the exam room, cleaning and arrival and departure of candidates.

The guidance should be read alongside the DfE’s guidance on schools and colleges’ responsibilities for the autumn exams and is supplementary to the public health advice in the guidance for schools, further education providers and special schools.

New process for reporting positive confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in your setting

The new dedicated advice service for nurseries, schools and colleges was launched yesterday. The service is for those needing support on the action they should take when they have been informed of a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in their setting (i.e. a pupil or staff member testing positive).

This new service has been introduced by Public Health England (PHE) and is delivered by the NHS Business Services Authority, working to agreed PHE and DfE guidance. It can be reached by calling the DfE’s existing coronavirus helpline number on 0800 046 8687, and selecting option 1. This option will take you through to the dedicated team of advisors who will inform you what action is needed based on the latest public health advice. They will work through a risk assessment with you to identify close contacts. Advisors will be responsible for referring more complex cases, as necessary, following a triaging of your circumstances during the call.

This new advice service has been introduced following a significant increase in calls to PHE’s Health Protection Teams since the start of the new school term. The new service, working together with Health Protection Teams, aims to ensure calls are handled promptly.

We want to ensure education settings have access to the advice they need to make decisions. This dedicated advice service is designed to expand the options available for that support. This approach will free up capacity of PHE’s Local Health Protection Teams to deal with more complex cases, for example special schools and universities, or outbreaks. Depending on your local arrangements, you may also want to inform your local authority of a positive case in your setting. Where more detailed local arrangements are in place with your local authority, and are working, you can continue to receive support through that route to take action in response to a positive case.

The advice service will be open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and 10am to 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

The DfE helpline also remains available for all other queries about coronavirus on 0800 046 8687, including for advice on those displaying symptoms. Please listen carefully to the available options and select the one most appropriate to your setting’s current situation.

To reflect this change, we’ve updated:

The information below hasn’t changed since our last update.

Exam Results Helpline available until 18 September

The Exam Results Helpline, delivered by the National Careers Service, has been extended and will be available until 18 September to provide additional support to students and their parents as they consider their next steps. Callers to the helpline will have direct access to experienced careers advisers who can advise on the different options available to them including T levels, A levels, GCSEs, BTECs, apprenticeships and other vocational options. Support will also be available on topics such as clearing, university, gap years and the autumn exam series.

Phone: 0800 100 900

Opening hours: Monday to Sunday from 8am to 10pm

Department for Education coronavirus (COVID-19) helpline

The Department for Education coronavirus (COVID-19) helpline is available to answer questions about coronavirus (COVID-19) relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline by calling:

Phone: 0800 046 8687

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm

Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm

Staying Safe Online when Self-Isolating

As schools are closed and children are expected to access a lot of learning online it is important that they stay safe. As a parent it is important you are monitoring the time your child spends online and what they are accessing.

Here are some top tips to keeping your child safe online:

1. Having a conversation – As a parent or carer the best tool to support your child in leading a happy and safe life online is open conversation. This link takes you to a parents’ guide with advice on how to begin these conversations and how to work together as a family to support your child online.

2. A family agreement is a great way to start a conversation with your whole family and as you have everyone at home it’s a fantastic way to set boundaries and discuss how you are going to use technology during this time.

3. Screen time boundaries – The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) have provided guidance for screen time for under -18s. They have advised that although there is no set time to adhere to it is important that screen time does not impact on exercise, family time and that devices should be avoided an hour before bed to reduce impact on sleep.

4. Parental controls – These are designed to help prevent children from accessing inappropriate content online. They can also be used to set usage times and monitor activity.

5. – Cyberbullying - Being a victim of cyberbullying can be very distressing for a young person as messages can be sent anonymously and it is difficult to know who the bully is. Moreover, the bullying doesn’t always end once the victim has left wherever the bully might be (eg. school) as it can continue 24/7. For tips to prevent cyberbullying click here.

6 – Young children staying safe – Ofcom’s latest research has shown that 86% of 3-4 year olds have access to a tablet at home so it is important to keep young children safe online.

7 – Staying connected – There are lots of different ways to stay connected whilst self-isolating at home. There are also lots of new apps being used such as Houseparty and Zoom to find out about new apps and their risks use the NSPCC Net Aware website.

8 – E-Safety education – E-safety is a prominent part of the curriculum and while your child is not at school it is important that they are still made aware of the risks. Visit this website for activities for different ages about online safety.

9 – Making a report – reportharmfulcontent.com is a website designed to help you report anything which you believe shouldn’t be online. There’s guidance about how to report different types of content as well as help with the next steps you can take if your report isn’t actioned by the site or service you have made it on.

10 – Speaking to someone – depending on the age of your child there are a range of places they can go for help. For younger children they can call Childline for help and support and for older children The Mix offer free and practical advice. For parents and carers The O2 and NSPCC helpline can help with any questions or concerns you may have about keeping your child safe online.

There is lots of support out there for staying safe online here are some more useful websites: Internet Matters, London Grid for Learning , Net Aware, Parent Info, Thinkuknow and UK Safer Internet Centre.

For further information visit https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/keeping-children-happy-and-safe-online-during-covid-19 where some of these tips are taken from.

Stanway Fiveways Primary School

Ready Steady Learn - to be the best we can be