Managing Risks related to Covid-19
On this page, you can find out about the measures we have put in place to keep our school safe, and give you very important organisational information.
Please click on the drop down menus below:
supporting your child's return to school
Barnet council have a wide range of useful resources for parents, carers, teachers, children and young people on their Back to School page. Some of these include links to the latest government guidance, tips on how to get back into a routine, important information on potential changes to the school setting and advice on dealing with anxiety.
There’s also a guide for parents and carers here: Parent/Carer Booklet
There’s a presentation for children here:
Attendance
School attendance is compulsory for all pupils.
A small number of pupils will still be unable to attend in line with public health advice to self-isolate because they have symptoms or have had a positive test result
If your family has travelled abroad, we expect you to return to school when we reopen. You must ensure that you isolate in line with the government requirements.
If you have any concerns, or if your child will not be able to attend school on 2nd September, please email the school on admin@gsis.barnetmail.net.
system of controls
As it is overwhelmingly clear that children need to be in school, we need to make our building as safe as possible for our school community, whilst we remain in this period of the pandemic. The “system of controls” is the set of actions we must take to do that.
There will no longer be a requirement to keep the children in "bubbles", but we will be maintaining the following safety measures:
- Individuals who are required to self-isolate MUST NOT attend school
- The adults in school will wear masks in communal areas, but not necessarily in class.
- Thorough hand-washing will be carried out routinely throughout the day. Please practise this at home! You might like to sing the NHS Handwashing song here: NHS Hand-washing Song (You Tube)
- We will promote good respiratory hygiene by promoting the “catch it, bin it, kill it” approach to using tissues to catch germs: Catch it, Bin it, Kill it!
- We will maintain enhanced cleaning, including cleaning frequently touched surfaces often, using standard products such as detergents.
- We are keeping our rooms very well-ventilated.
In specific circumstances:
- We will ensure individuals wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) where necessary.
- We are promoting and engaging in asymptomatic testing, with all staff being offered lateral flow tests to use twice a week during September. Parents have access to this too (see below to find out how to get yours).
We will always:
- Promote and engage with the NHS Test and Trace process.
- Contain any outbreak by following local health protection team advice.
timing of the school day
We have a "soft start", so children are not all coming in at the same time. The doors open at 8.50am, ready for a 9am start. The school day will end at 3.15pm.
Lunch breaks and playtimes will still be staggered, as this has been helpful.
school uniform
physical education (PE) kits
after school clubs and childcare
Funtime will be starting up again in the first week back, and our after-school clubs will start up in the following week. Specific information about this has been sent out via Parentmail, and you can access contact information here:
Asymptomatic testing for parents
Parents and other adults in households with children at school, who do not have symptoms, can now access regular, rapid coronavirus (COVID-19) testing. This includes childcare and support bubbles.
Tests are fast, easy and completely free. There are different ways for a household, childcare or support bubble to collect their test to take at home, twice-weekly:
- through your employer, if they offer testing to employees
- by collecting a home test kit from a local test site – anyone aged 18 or over can collect 2 packs of 7 tests
- by ordering a home test kit online – please do not order online if you can access testing through other routes, this frees up home delivery for those who need it most
If you have any queries about the tests please call 119 (free from mobiles and landlines). Lines are open every day from 7am to 11pm.
Children of primary school age (and below) without symptoms are not being asked to take a test. Testing is voluntary, but strongly recommended to all who are eligible.
It will be vitally important that all members of our school community comply and fully engage with the system of controls that have been set out by the government. This includes:
- Minimising contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring that those who have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms do not attend settings (schools).
- Fully complying with the governments “Test and Trace” programme.
- If you are travelling abroad, adhering to any quarantine periods that are in place when you return.
All information from the UK Government can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
We have revised our Risk Assessment in order to support our planning for the return to school, The DRAFT Risk Assessment can be accessed below, and this will be sent to the school staff, governors and the unions for approval. It should be noted that areas highlighted in blue are measures that are subject to update, and some areas are likely only to be implemented if we have an outbreak within the school or community. The DRAFT Outbreak Management Plan is also below:
