Welcome Back To St Mark’s – September 21

Summary

• Welcome back! We hope you’ve had a GREAT summer break!
• Welcome to our new children and families in Year R and across the school. We hope you feel very ‘at home’ with us.
• Click here for details about September Arrangements
• School bags – just Year 6 please. We’ll provide book bags for Years R-5.
• Please complete the going home arrangements form here.
• Please read the Covid changes below
• Parents and Carers – please wear face masks onsite and avoid the office
• Welcome to our new members of staff – let’s give them a St Mark’s welcome 🙂
• A MASSIVE thank you to Mr Blake, Mrs Barbour and our site team for their efforts over the summer.

PE Days

PE starts W/B 13th September (28th Sept for Year R). Please wear PE kit to school on the days you have PE. See the uniform list here.

• Monday – Year 4
• Tuesday – Year R
• Wednesday – Year 2, Year 6
• Thursday – Year 5
• Friday – Year 1, Year 3

COVID – Summary

• If a child has symptoms, however mild, please don’t send them in. We will also send children home who show symptoms, however mild.
• A child only needs to isolate if (a) they are showing symptoms (b) they have had a positive result (c) they are instructed to by NHS Track and Trace or St Mark’s. (d) they are on quarrantine from a red country.
• A child doesn’t need to isolate if (a) a child or adult in their class tests positive (b) they are a close contact of someone who has tested postive, including someone in their own household such as mum, dad, brother or sister.
• Please continue to use the covid@stmarksprimary.net email to inform us of symptoms/positive cases, although NHS Track and Trace are taking over contact tracing.
• Unless there is an outbreak, classes won’t be closed if there is a positive case. This is government guidance.

COVID – Positive Cases and Isolation

As was the case last year, if your child has any Covid-19 symptoms, you should keep them off school and book a PCR test. These tests can be booked here. If the test is positive, your child cannot attend school and will need to self-isolate for 10 days from the onset of the symptoms or the date of the test if there were no symptoms. Day 1 starts the next full day. NHS Track and Trace will then contact you to establish who your child’s close contacts were.

If someone within a class or group tests positive, there is no longer a need for the whole class/group to self-isolate. If NHS Track And Trace contact you because your child is deemed a close contact, you should book your child a PCR test. If they are positive they then need to isolate otherwise they can continue at school.

If someone in your household receives a positive PCR test, we would strongly encourage you to book PCR tests for all the family members. If they are positive, they will need to isolate but if negative and either U18 or fully vaccinated, they do not need to isolate. Similarly, all staff who are a fully vaccinated also do not need to isolate if they are a close contact.

All staff are doing regular LFD tests to try and help prevent infection being introduced into the school and causing disruption to the children’s education. Regular LFD tests are available for anyone who wishes to use them. They are available, free of charge, on line here or can be collected from local pharmacies. These tests help identify asymptomatic infections and avoid those people infecting others. We would encourage everyone to use these tests
regularly.

COVID- What arrangements are the same at school?

• Washing hands and good respiratory hygiene
• Enhanced cleaning – extra cleaning for regularly touched surfaces/equipment
• Ventilation – windows and doors open (coats!!!)
• Masks to be worn by parents and carers when on site
• Adults – please avoid the office. Phone/email as before
• Staff are carrying out LFD tests twice a week
• Children and staff will go home if they show symptoms
• We’ll still have zoned playground areas and stagged breaks, but in year groups.
• Staggered start and end of the day, although timings are different
• Google Classroom work will be provided if a child is self-isolating and is well enough to access it

COVID – What’s arrangements are different at school?

• We no longer do any contact tracing – NHS Track & Trace do this. We will keep some records though.
• Double-vaccinated adults and anyone under 18 do not have to isolate, even if someone in their household has COVID or symptoms. A PCR test is strongly advised.
• ‘Bubbles’ or classes won’t close. If there is an outbreak (essentially 5 or more cases or 10% of a group), we will contact PHE and follow their guidance.