Daily Operational Protocols

On arrival:

• Gates will only open from 07:00 and will close at 07:35. Please ensure that your child is not dropped at school earlier, as all gates will remained closed.

• Children to arrive at school between 07:00 and 07:35 and are to enter at any one of the stipulated entry points.

• Parents do not drive into the school, or proceed beyond the screening or collection points.

• Any pupil whose temperature is 37.4, or above, will not be permitted to attend school.

• All children and staff must wear a mask/screen.

• Keep to the social distancing rule at all times.

Once in the school grounds:

• No children will be permitted into the school prior to 07:00.

• Children will go through a foot checkpoint and sanitize their hands.

• Children will proceed directly to the classroom, where the teacher will screen their temperature for a second time and record it, as per the required health protocol.

• All teaching staff will be present in their classrooms from 07:00, to ensure social distancing is adhered to.

• The daily register will be taken.

Break time will be staggered as follows:

• Reception to Std 4 – 10:45 to 11:05

• Std 5 to 7– 11:15 to 11:35

• Children in the respective year groups will have their break in a designated area, which will be overseen by duty staff to ensure social distancing is maintained.

• Estate staff will ensure that all surfaces are sanitized at break.

• At the end of break, children will line up, practicing social distancing, which will be overseen by staff, and a second temperature will be taken by staff and recorded.

• All children and staff to sanitize their hands on entering any classroom.

• All classrooms have basins in them to ensure good hand washing principles are adhered to.

• Further to this, extra outdoor sinks have been installed, as well as those in the existing toilet blocks.

• Classroom doors and windows will remain open for good ventilation.

Reception to Std 2 academic day will finish at 12:45:

• Reception children must be collected at 12:45 from their Reception Pen and all parents may only gain access via the Reception pedestrian gate.

• Std 1 children must be collected at 12:45 from the Std 1 playground and all parents may only gain access via the field gate entrance.

• Std 2 children must be collected at 12:45 from the ‘Waiting Tree’ area and all parents may only gain access via the Std 5 drop off gate entrance.

Std 3 to 4 academic day will finish at 13:15:

• Std 3 children must be collected at 13:15 from the ‘Waiting Tree’ area and all parents may only gain access via the Std 5 drop off gate entrance.

• Std 4 children must be collected at 13:15 from the stands on the field and all parents may only gain access via the field gate entrance.

   

Std 5, 6 & 7 academic day will finish at 13:30:

• Std 5 children must be collected at 13:30 from the Std 5 corridor facing the car park and all parents may only gain access via the Std 5 drop off gate entrance.

• Std 6 children must be collected at 13:30 from the stands on the field and all parents may only gain access via the field gate entrance.

• Std 7 children must be collected at 13:30 from the Music carpark and all parents may only gain access via the Music Department entrance.

• Please note, no children will be able to stay at school at the end of the academic day. Therefore, it is imperative that all children must be collected timeously at the end their respective academic day.

   

Daily Timetable:

• The timetable will be adjusted to incorporate the staggered break and finishing times for the respective year groups.

• The school day will begin with a registration lesson at 07:35 and the first lesson will begin at 07:45.

Classroom set-up:

• Classrooms will be set up “exam style”, with a minimum of 1 metre between chairs

• There will be no group seating

• Art, Music, Physical Education and Science, will assess how they can distance children appropriately while teaching.

• Doors and windows will remain open throughout the academic day.

• Markers will be visual to assist children in lining up using the appropriate distance.

Isolation Rooms:

• Further to the sick room, which shall be used for normal school incidents, further isolation rooms will be set aside, namely both French classrooms (Mrs Rossenkhan & Mrs Charama) and the Science Room.

Cleaning:

• All classrooms will be cleaned and all surfaces sanitized twice a day.

• All outside tables will be sanitized twice a day.

• If these outside tables are used during a class lesson, then they will be sanitized after the lesson.

• Extra basins, sanitization and soap dispensers have been installed.

• All toilets will be checked and cleaned on a 45 minute cycle by the Estate staff.

• All classrooms are equipped with appropriate hand sanitizer.

• All outside high volume areas will be fogged at the end of the academic day.

• Classroom fogging will be done regularly.

Communication:

• Signage will be placed on all the notice boards, entry points, toilets and throughout the school, highlighting the correct health protocols and expectations.

• Staff will share correspondence and literature with the children through various media in educating and highlighting health protocols and to generate knowledge, as well as understanding of the Corona Virus.

   

General:

• Children who are coughing, sneezing, have sore throats, or temperatures should stay at home.

• Any children who display any signs or symptoms of being sick will be sent home immediately.

• These children will be sent work through a pack, collectable at the administration office, or google classroom, once discussed with the class teacher.

• Full online lessons for sick children will not be expected from teachers.

• Absent children will receive work in the same way as sick children on a case by case basis.

   

Sick staff:

• Staff who are coughing, sneezing, have sore throats or temperatures must stay at home and request cover.

Thornhill Community:

• Parents/Guardians/Children will receive correspondence through Google Classroom or newsletters, as a means of briefing them on all the COVID-19 implementations before school reopens, and be informed of the measures in place.

• No children will be allowed to wait at school at the end of the academic day.

• Parents/Guardians are requested to take their children’s temperatures and monitor their health before bringing them to school.

• Parents/Guardians will be required to send their children to school with at least 2 material masks / screens and a packet of tissues.

• All children must wear warm clothing and I urge all parents to ensure that all items are clearly marked to ensure that children do not have to look for them in the lost property.

• Anyone seeking to enter the school during the academic day will need to do so via the administration office pedestrian gate. You will be required to complete the visitor book, in accordance with the COVID-19 protocols and will be escorted to the administration office. No entry will be allowed if this process is not carried out and no parent / persons will be able to go directly to the classroom.

• I would urge all parents to ensure that they only come to school to drop-off, or collect their children.

• If you would like to make an appointment to see a teacher, then please send an email to the teacher to organise an appropriate meeting time on Google Meet. Face to face meetings will be limited during this time until further notice.

   

Psycho-social support:

• Teaching staff will provide a service to build resilience and to defeat the fear brought on by the virus.

• Please make sure everyone’s contact numbers and emergency contact details are up to date.

• The school will provide the staff with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and training.

• Ensure scheduled and monitored handwashing and sanitization for employees.

• Provide washable face masks to all staff and ensure they wear them.

The School will continue to review these procedures throughout and should there be a need to change, then the necessary correspondence will be sent out.