Please see below for a series of important messages/reminders from Public Health during the second national lockdown:
• Please ensure that you maintain social distancing from others when dropping off and collecting your child from our school. Please continue to follow the guidance issued by us to help with this.
• For those travelling by car we ask that you wait in your car until your specific drop off time. This will reduce the amount of people assembling in and around the school grounds and will help with social distancing.
• We recommend that all parents/carers entering the school premises (and in other congested areas around school premises) wear a face covering in addition to social distancing. This an extra safeguard to reduce the transmission of the virus. Please note that this does not apply to those who are medically exempt.
• You must keep at least two metres apart from other parents/carers at all times. Where you are unable to do so, wear a face covering.
Messages for your parents/carers to talk to their children about
• Please remind your child about our policy on face coverings.
• Limit the number of people they walk to/from school with.
• Please make sure your child attends school in usual uniform/PE kit with an appropriate coat for winter conditions.
• Please remember the school ‘bubbles’ do not apply outside of school (i.e. children should avoid mixing with friends outside of school, even if they are in the same ‘bubble’ at school).
Message to pass on to parents/carers about self-isolation
If you are self-isolating:
• Please ensure that if you or a member of your family has Covid symptoms or has been asked to self-isolate (e.g. if they are a close contact of someone who has tested positive) that you and your household follow the self-isolation guidelines.
• Please do not send a child to school if they or a member of their household has symptoms, or if they have been asked to self-isolate.
• Please follow the national guidance:
o For individuals who have tested positive or who live in the same household as someone who is positive for covid-19: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection
o For close contacts who do NOT live in the same household:
• If you require any further support (e.g. shopping, medication) whilst you are self-isolating please visit https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/help-you-during-coronavirus-covid-19 for further information.
Messages for parents/carers on current lockdown restrictions
• The new national restrictions can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november
• In summary:
o You can leave home for education (formal provision, rather than extracurricular classes such as music or drama tuition,) training, registered childcare and children’s activities that are necessary to allow parents/carers to work, seek work, or undertake education or training. Parents can still take their children to school, and people can continue existing arrangements for contact between parents and children where they live apart.
o You and your children must not meet people socially. However, you can exercise or meet in a public, outdoors space with people you live with, your support bubble (or as part of a childcare bubble), or with one other person.
There are several ways that parents and carers can continue to access childcare during the national restrictions https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november#childcare-and-childrens-activities
Parent info poster – we are aware that parents are keen to understand the procedures that schools are having to follow in the event of children starting to show symptoms whilst at school or when there is a positive case at school. This poster can be shared with parents / carers to help make the national guidance clear.
Cold or coronavirus poster – please see the attached poster from public health to reinforce the message about when children should be in school and when they shouldn’t.
Use of emollient: GPs have been reporting an increase in families requesting prescriptions for emollients for children as a result of increased handwashing and colder weather. In most cases an over the counter emollient will help this condition and so a GP appointment and prescription is unnecessary. In partnership with Health and Safety the following guidance has been produced to reassure settings that these types of emollients are able to be used without falling into a ‘medicine’ category and do not need a prescription.
