Site Safety during COVID-19

There will be changes to the structure of the school day come September. All pupils will be in ‘bubbles’ and will arrive and depart school at the times indicated below. Lunchtimes will vary between bubbles as well.

Most teachers will stay with their bubbles only and not interact with other bubbles; however where we utilise staff specialities, staff may teach in another bubble but will ensure social distancing applies and use PPE where appropriate.

We ask that parents drop their children at the designated time and not before. Junior teachers will greet their classes at the junior side gate and infant teachers will greet their classes at the main front door. School pick up and departure We ask that parents pick up their children at the designated time and not before. Your child’s class teacher will remain with your child until they have been collected.

We kindly ask parents not to remain in the car park after school drop off and pick up to engage in conversations with other parents. This is in order to uphold current guidelines on social distancing as well as maintaining a swift exit from the premises.

If your child is in before school care, please drop off at the main entrance by 8.30am. We appreciate that some parents require before and after school care due to work commitments, but we kindly request that you only place your child in this provision if it is absolutely necessary; we have limited places due to social distancing guidance.

All clubs will be run within the bubbles (and outside where possible) from when your child’s class finishes until 4.30pm. Please collect your child from where you dropped them in the morning, unless they go to after school care, in which case, please collect from the main entrance. Teachers from external clubs such as dance, fencing and football will adhere to our COVID-19 guidelines and as such wear the appropriate PPE for the club.

Peripatetic Lessons

Peripatetic and LAMDA lessons will continue however all of these staff will wear the appropriate PPE and will abide by Caversham Prep COVID-19 guidelines regarding cleanliness.

Music

There will be no choir or whole school singing. Bubbles 2 and 3 will be taken to the dining room or upstairs in the Lodge with the windows open to sing. Ensemble will continue as normal, only more spread out.

Bubble 1 - Reception and Year 1

Provision here will be as per pre-COVID. Children in these year groups are not expected to have to practice social distancing and therefore classroom organisation will not have changed.

Bubbles 2 and 3 - Year 2 to Year 6

All tables will be in rows, facing forward with each place set at an appropriate distance from the next. There will be no cosy reading corners due to the need for constant sterilisation. Classroom based resources such as books and games will be used and shared within the bubbles and will be cleaned regularly. Resources that are shared between bubbles such as sport, art and science materials will be either cleaned frequently and meticulously or rotated to allow them to be left unused for 48 hours (72 hours for plastics).

Classroom equipment

Bubbles 2 and 3 are asked to provide their own plastic (wipeable) pencil cases which should be taken home at the end of every day and cleaned if possible. Each child should have:

The reason for this is to avoid cross contamination when children share items in the classroom. If a child is noticed to not have the correct equipment or has run out of something, the class teacher will send a reminder email to the parent.

No contact sport can take place currently which means that the usual Autumn term sports such as football, netball and rugby will not take place. Instead we will focus on the missed summer term sports of cricket and athletics, both which minimise contact between the children. There are currently no inter school fixtures planned for the Autumn term.

We are very proud of the uniform at Caversham Prep and we are very happy for the children to return to school in September in full summer uniform. They will need to be in their winter uniform after the October half term. Blazers may be worn, however at the moment this will not be compulsory as they are more difficult to clean regularly. Every Wednesday is Sports Wednesday. All pupils are to wear their PE kits all day.

Uniforms need not be cleaned any more regularly than usual and certainly do not need to be cleaned using methods which differ from normal.

We now have the systems in place for using technology for remote teaching and learning. These systems will remain and will be developed further over the course of the next academic year. In the case of a local lockdown, or a large group of children needing to isolate, remote learning can be quickly deployed so that no learning time is lost.

Whilst the usual teaching methods will resume at Caversham Prep, the use of technology will be incorporated more into daily lessons throughout the school. With the upper year groups having 1:1 technology from September, the opportunities for developing technology to enhance learning will be immense.

Entering the school building Unless it is an emergency, please make sure you have rung Mrs Manson beforehand so that staff are aware of who to expect and when.Unless it is an emergency, please make sure you have rung Mrs Manson beforehand so that staff are aware of who to expect and when. Speaking to members of staff We understand that there may be a need to speak to members of staff in the mornings or afternoons. We would like to reduce this as much as possible. Unless it is of immediate urgency, please ring Mrs Manson to book an appointment if a face to face meeting is necessary or to arrange a phone call. In addition, your child’s communication books/homework diaries can also be used for passing on messages and of course class teachers can be reached via their email addresses.

Mrs Williams will be outside the school every afternoon during pick up from 3.10pm onwards for informal, ad hoc, conversations.

If you would like a more formal face to face meeting with her, please ring Mrs Manson to arrange a time.