Dear Parents / Carers,

I hope you are all well and your children have settled in happily.  I just wanted to clarify a few parts of our new systems and routines.

Symptoms of Covid-19

The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
  Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms.
  If you, or a member of the household, have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus:
• Get a test to check if you have coronavirus as soon as possible.
• Stay at home and do not have visitors until you get your test result – only leave your home to have a test.
• Anyone you live with, and anyone in your support bubble, must also stay at home until you get your result.
  Book a test via:
  https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/get-a-test-to-check-if-youhave-coronavirus/
   
   
  We are bound to have children with high temperatures as we go into the winter months, but we need to stay vigilant.  If a pupil shows symptoms, they will be sent to my office to wait for a parent to collect them and go for a test.  They cannot come back to school until:
• a negative test has been received or,
• have self-isolated for 10 days (14 days for the rest of the household) following a positive test result.
  If there is a confirmed positive case in school, we seek advice from the Local Health Protection Team.  The likely outcome will be the class bubble is sent home as there is likely to have been contact across the class bubble.
  Visiting the School Office
  Any queries please email the office staff via office@stpeters.snmat.org.uk or ring 01623 489980.
  If you need to buy school uniform, try to ring / email orders and come to the office to collect and pay.
  We are accepting visitors but on an appointment basis or, where possible, via telephone conversation.
  Drop off and Pick up – I know you already know this!
  Use the one way system (Year 1 – Year 6) that leads around the back of the community centre to the playground.  All classes have their own entrance.
  Foundation Stage use the gates outside the main entrance. 
  Please don’t park in the school carpark unless you are a blue badge holder.  There are lots of children (and parents) walking through and we do not want any accidents.
  If you are a blue badge holder, try to aim for the start or end of the drop off window.
  During the school day
  Children are washing hands regularly throughout the day and where possible, keeping doors and windows open.
  All classes have staggered breaktimes and lunchtimes.
  Only three classes are timetabled outside for breaktimes and each have their own area of the school playground to use.
  All desks in classrooms face the same direction, so children are shoulder-to-shoulder, rather than face-to-face.
  Children are eating their lunch in their classrooms, so there is not any mixing in the school hall.
  Sadly, there is no whole school collective worship, so they are in the classroom bubbles.  I never thought I would pre-record a collective worship!
   
   
  I hope that dispels some of the myths around school life at the moment.  We are trying to keep the majority of the school day normal, but there was bound to be some changes.  I am trying to make myself available outside at the start and end of the day, so feel free to ask questions and do not be offended if I keep a level of distance!
  Many thanks for your ongoing support, my staff and I really appreciate it especially during these strange times.
   
  James Marshall
  Headteacher