Information for Parents – Coronavirus and Educational Settings
March 20th update
Key Worker Notice:
IMPORTANT: For the safety of you, your family and society:
Government has made it clear that if you are a key worker it is important to keep your children home wherever possible and only send them if they absolutely need to attend.
Do not place your child, other people’s children, their families and my staff at risk of infection by bringing them onsite if there are safe alternatives.
The fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in education settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals.
Schools are therefore being asked to provide care (not education) for a limited number of children whose parents are critical to the Covid 19 response and cannot safely be cared for at home.
A list is therefore provided below of who the government deem a critical Covid 19 response worker. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home and following guidance issued, should do so where possible to reduce the risk of infection spreading.
PRIORITY OF PLACES WILL BE GIVEN TO FAMILIES WHERE BOTH PARENTS ARE CLASSED AS KEY WORKERS OR FOR SINGLE PARENTS
Health and social care
This includes but is not limited to: doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.
Education and childcare
This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.
Key public services
This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.
Local and national government
This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.
Food and other necessary goods
This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).
Public safety and national security
This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.
Transport
This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.
Utilities, communication and financial services
This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.
In addition, children are entitled to attend if: (you will be contacted directly if you fall into one of the following groups):
Attendance process for Key Workers:
Remember – to reduce the risk of infections, only bring your child to school if there is no safe alternative.
The school building will be open to these children between 8:15 am and 4pm.
You will be required to sign your child in and out and they should not be allowed to be ‘dropped off’. This is for safeguarding reasons.
Please note, you will be required to provide some evidence that you are within one of the categories identified. For many this will be work photo ID or letter / payslip from your establishment that confirms you are employed in that sector. This is to avoid abuse of the system and the risk of children’s attendance being higher than that necessary, thus increasing the risk of infection.
Whilst there will be educational activities available and guidance given, we wish to ensure a fair balance so that children attending school do not feel that they are having a ‘raw deal’.
Children should bring a packed lunch (unless they receive a free school meal, where a packed lunch will be provided). A basic breakfast will be provided between 8:15 and 9am.
MONDAY MORNING WILL BE BUSY AS WE PROCESS CHILDREN AND CHECK ENTITLEMENT AGAINST GUIDANCE:
Please be patient with my staff and give yourself plenty of time. Processing will start from 8 am on Monday.
Other notes:
ISOLATION: IMPORTANT NOTE for families of ‘Key Workers’:
If your child is currently in isolation as a result of themselves or any other family member showing symptoms of Covid 19, attendance will not be allowed until after the 14 isolation period has ended.
Should your child present with symptoms, they should not attend/will be sent home.
Provision of this service is subject to having sufficient staffing available.