Covid-19 Information for Parents

Measures for Academic Year 2021-22

The Government has made it a national priority that education and childcare settings should continue to operate as normally as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Government have removed certain measures that were in place from September 2020 to July 2021. Schools are no longer required to operate in bubbles, wear masks, or have staggered times to the day or playtimes.

Unfortunately, the virus is still evident in our community and our priority remains to keep our children, staff and families safe. Therefore, we will be continuing with our high standards and increased amount of cleaning, ensuring that appropriate ventilation is in place at all times.

In the event that we have a member of staff or pupil test positive for Coronavirus, we will follow national and local guidelines. We remind our families that as of 16th August 2021, there aren’t any requirements for fully vaccinated adults or children below the age of 18 years and 6 months to isolate if they are close contacts or live in the same household as someone who tests positive. 

However, we also recognise that Covid-19 is still a highly transmissible threat to health, and therefore, there may be times that local and national health teams require us to implement some additional measures. The measures may be necessary in some circumstances, for example:
• to help manage a COVID-19 outbreak within a setting
• as part of a package of measures responding to a Variant of Concern (VoC) or to extremely high prevalence of COVID-19 in the community
• to prevent unsustainable pressure on the NHS

Please click on the link below to view our Outbreak Management Plan This will be implemented if we are advised to reintroduce any further measures to help break chains of transmission at our school or in the local community.

Outbreak Management Plan Pineham Barns 2021

In accordance with the DFE guidance, an outbreak has been defined as whichever of these thresholds is reached first:
• 5 children, pupils, students or staff, who are likely to have mixed closely, test positive for COVID-19 within a 10-day period; or
• 10% of children, pupils, students or staff who are likely to have mixed closely test positive for COVID-19 within a 10-day period.

If any child has to isolate we will immediately implement our online learning package for our pupils, further details of which can be found by clicking here

Please note, the school would only take any action if we were advised to by external public health teams. We will continue to update our families of any developments through our newsletters and other communication channels.

*Update: as of  29/11/21, face coverings are required to be worn by staff and adults unless exempt (including visitors) when moving around in corridors and communal areas

 

 

We will keep this page updated as guidance changes.