School Closure Contingency Plan

School Closure Contingency Plan

At Holden Clough Community Primary our aim is the safety and well-being of our staff and pupils. We recognise that a school closure will impact differently on all of us and we acknowledge that children and families will face a variety of situations and challenges. With this in mind we take all steps possible to keep school open, but have robust contingency plans should school ever need to close.

We would ask all parents and carers to take the time to familiarise themselves with the information below so that our whole community can support our pupils and ensure minimal disruption to their learning if we should be forced to close for any reason.

Teaching & Learning:

Our aim is to keep our core purpose of teaching and learning continuing as effectively as possible. During a school closure each pupil will be provided with learning to do at home and has high expectations of all pupils to complete the work set. Activities and tasks will be shared on the Class Dojo, Microsoft Teams and our main teaching software CENTURYTech Platforms.  The contact will be made daily.  However, we do recognise that health and wellbeing are paramount and we appreciate that the level of work that might be undertaken by a child will reflect the situation and circumstances at home.

On a daily basis, we will be studying the updates from the DfE as well as the guidance issued by Public Health England and the NHS. We will be using these updates to help us develop and inform our contingency planning. We don’t get any guidance that isn’t already in the public domain.

Scenario Planning

We are planning for a number of different scenarios.

1. Children self-isolating due to a confirmed case / close contact 
2. Infection affects a small number of our school community - partial closure 
3. High levels of staff illness/absence make it impossible to staff all classes (temporary emergency class closure)
4. Instruction from the government to close the whole school (National Lockdown)

Our aim with this plan is that we will do all that we can to keep our students and staff safe, whilst at the same time continuing to provide them with a valuable education. Unless instructed by the DFE, our aim is to keep the school open and operational.

Instruction to close the whole school

We do not intend to shut the school, but we could be instructed to do so by the government as part of a future nationwide policy.

In this scenario, we will seek to maintain an element of online instruction and setting of work. This will vary according to the age of the children.  For the older children, Y4 to Y6, this will be teaching on Microsoft Teams whereby class will be split and taught in 2 separate groups: Group A and Group B.

Teams lessons will last maximum 30 minutes. See suggested timetable.

The younger Children’s education (Y1 to Y3) will be based on partial communication on Teams (children to log on, meet the teacher and class members and receive instructions on what to do). Then they will be directed to CENTURYTech (Y3) video clips, online resources and pre-recorded video clips on Teams Platform to play/ pause where necessary and complete the tasks. 

This will be further reinforced with Century Tech, Maths Rockstarts, Spelling frames, Reading Eggs, Lexia, Nessy, etc.

The log in details have already been sent to parents.

In EYFS the tapestry and Class Dojo will be the main source of communication. Live story sessions on Teams will take place once a day to ensure children meet their peers and see their teacher.

We are aware that some families may lack adequate hardware for on online approach to learning. Where this is the case, we could consider lending the child a laptop (limited number of laptops (10) are available). A family would still need to have their own Wi-Fi system to connect to or generous allowance of phone data through which to connect the laptop to the internet. If a loan of a laptop would be useful in this scenario, please contact the school office for availability and arrange collection. We have limited numbers of preloaded mobile data sim cards.

Our teachers are being provided with guidance on a range of strategies for sharing work and support and if we find ourselves in this scenario, we will issue specific instructions to pupils and parents.

2. Infection affects a member of our school community and a case is confirmed (Bubble closure)

In this scenario, the school would have to follow direct guidance and risk assessment from Public Health England. It is possible that some or all of a year group bubble could be closed.

A partial closure could affect school meal provision. Children who are entitled to benefits related free school meals, will be provided with weekly food parcels. Contact the school office to arrange collection.

In the event of a confirmed case in the school community: The school will follow the Covid-19 risk assessment and seek advice from the local Health Protection Team/ Public Health UK. The bubble closure will be based on various factors such as last contact with the confirmed case, child’s movements and close contacts (closer than 2 metres, longer than 15 minutes).

The home learning will be available as above.

3. High levels of staff illness/absence

In the event of high levels of staff absence, there may be some combination of classes and lessons may not be as formal as usual. Qualified teachers would have an overview of provision, but supervision of pupils could be delegated to suitably experienced support staff. We would have to make dynamic risk assessments to ensure the health and safety of the school community. In this scenario, it could be that the school would have to use supply teachers. All schools remain open unless DfE explicitly tells them to close

Our school has a high number of children who have 1:1 support to meet Special Educational Needs or Disability. Regrettably, staff absence may mean that we would not be able to meet the needs of certain individuals at that time and some children may need to stay at home.

If our kitchen was disproportionately affected by staff absence, then the school could remain open but children could be required to bring their own packed lunch.

Communication

During this period, we ask that parents follow the normal absence procedures relating to pupils: email or call school to inform us of the reason for the absence.  If any absence is linked to suspected virus ourbreak, please ensure that you speak directly to the school office on 0161 3305248 or email mail@holdenclough.tameside.sch.uk

Guidance on how to self-isolate to ensure this is effective will be announced through links we will provide to goverment webistes

Other events such as Parents’ Evenings

We currently run Hybrid model. In hte event of a lock down, these events will take place on Microsoft teams only.

Should plans change for these events, we will advise you using our normal communication channels.