Crowdfunder
During the pandemic, we have crowdfunded for an Elsley Food Bank and for more laptops and internet dongles, to help our families who've needed more support.
Please click on the blue link to help us raise more so we can continue to support our families.
COVID-Safety
All pupils are expected to attend, as per government guidance.
COVID-19 hasn’t gone away so it’s really important that we follow guidelines to minimise the risks to children, parents and staff.
Once we open, we want our school to remain open and safe, with children in school, so that our teachers and staff can focus on the children’s learning and providing an excellent education.
We have worked hard to introduce COVID-19 safety measures to keep children and adults safe.
In the mornings, parents and carers will drop children at the gate and will not enter the school grounds.
In the afternoons, to collect children, there will be a one-way system inside the school grounds.
Adults will be expected to:
- wear a face covering
- maintain physical distance
- follow the one-way system and
- wait in allocated areas for each class.
To help you to understand the new expectations, a video was sent before school started in September.
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Timings:
8.45am Gates open for soft start (every day)
8:55am School start time
3.15pm School finish time
3:20pm Gates open for parents/ carers to walk to collection points (soft finish)
3:30pm Collect between 3:20pm - 3:30pm
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COVID Symptoms
It’s really important that you know the main symptoms of coronavirus.
If your child or anyone in your household has any symptoms, you must not come to school. You must get a test and stay at home until you get the result. You can book a test by calling 119. Lines are open 7am to 11pm.
Or book online www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test If you attend a testing site, the result should be with you within 24 hours. If the test is negative, as long as your child has no symptoms and feels well, they can return to school the next day. Please keep the school informed about the result. If the test is positive, it’s essential that we know, so that others who have been in contact can isolate and prevent the disease spreading further.
Keeping children separate ('Bubbles')
In keeping with the government guidelines, we will be keeping separations between groups of children when they are in school. Year groups will be considered as ‘bubbles’ and will be kept separate at all times from other year groups. For most of the day, the children will only be with children from their own class rather than the whole year group, which further reduces physical interactions.
Travel to and from school
Please try to walk, scoot or cycle. If necessary, drive in your own car, parking 5 – 10 minutes away and walking the last part. Together with Brent Council, we have adopted a School Street scheme and the last part of the streets from Gaddesden Avenue, approaching the school gates, will be closed to vehicles. This will allow more space for people to keep 2m distance from each other.
Using public transport is discouraged. If you are using public transport, allow extra time as they have reduced capacity. The government has now made it necessary to wear a face mask on public transport. Use hand sanitiser regularly and do not touch your face until your hands are re-cleaned.
For your convenience, you can use any of the three gates when dropping off and collecting children. It’s really important to maintain physical distancing and so we have introduced one way systems when walking - both inside and outside the school gates.
Dropping and Collecting Children
In the mornings, parents and carers will drop children at the gate and will not enter the school grounds.
On the first days, for children going in to Years 1-4, their teachers will wait for the children near the gates, to show them where to go. Children going into Years 5 and 6 will be guided to the appropriate entrances. Once children know their routes, they will be supervised as they make their own way to their classrooms.
In the afternoons, to collect children, there will be a one-way system inside the school grounds.
Adults will be expected to:
- wear a face covering
- wait in allocated areas for each class
Children and adults will be expected to:
- maintain physical distance
- and follow the one-way system
So that we can properly show parents, carers and children these new expectations, on the first 2 days back on Thursday and Friday, 3rd and 4th September, arrival and collection times will be staggered.
At the end of the school day, parents may use any of the three gates and then follow the one-way system around the school site.
Parents will collect children from their designated collection points which will be shown to you on Thursday September 3rd. Parents are expected to stand in line, wear a face covering, and maintain physical distancing. Once you have collected your child, follow the one-way system and you may use any of the three gates to leave. Please dress appropriately for the weather as there are no shelters whilst waiting.
Increased hygiene and hand sanitisers
On arrival at school, everyone will be expected to use hand sanitiser. We have further hand sanitisers in classrooms. Over the last couple of years, we had already reviewed hand hygiene, ensuring that every child is taken to wash their hands immediately prior to eating, and we installed an outdoor hand washing station adjacent to the farm animals.
For COVID safety, we have further increased our cleaning and hygiene routines including high-touch items such as door handles and toilets, which are cleaned more regularly.
We have invested in a fast-acting anti-viral disinfectant, and in-between year group bubbles using spaces, this will be applied.
Toilets will be assigned to specific year groups and cleaned in between different groups. Children may still go to the toilet as they need to, throughout the day.
Maintaining distancing and separation of groups
We will not be having assemblies together so that year groups are kept separate.
At lunchtimes year groups will eat in a hall only with children in their year group, and to help us manage this we will be using two separate halls. Due to building works at the start of term, we have installed a temporary outdoor hall which you will see on the field, to ensure we can maintain the separation.
The halls will be cleaned and a fast-acting anti-viral disinfectant, safe for use with people, will be applied before the next year group uses the room.
In the playgrounds, year groups will be kept separate.
For most of the day, the children will only be with children from their own class rather than the whole year group, which further reduces physical interactions. Within classrooms, to avoid sharing and touching resources, the most regularly-used resources, such as pens and pencils, will be allocated to individual children.
Focus on well-being, your child's specific needs, and on high-quality education
As we have done throughout the pandemic, we are placing huge importance on the children’s well-being. Staff will be extra sensitive to support children through these times and may include circle time games, building relationships, and health and well-being, as well as establishing our usual high expectations for teaching and learning across the curriculum.
At Elsley, many of our children have arrived from other countries or other schools with many who had already missed some school time or were behind expected levels for their age or year group. We’re really proud that Elsley Primary School has an excellent track record for helping children to catch up. We will be carefully finding out what each individual child needs so that they can succeed and thrive.
Lunches
Lunches will continue to be cooked using only fresh ingredients by our catering company, Harrisons. They have their own rigorous COVID-safety measures and the open salad bar will be replaced by individual salad portions. Payment is online, as in previous years.
Isolating any potential COVID cases
We have had training and practised routines for isolating people with COVID symptoms. Staff have additional PPE and there is a dedicated isolation room for a child to wait before being collected by their parent to be collected. If you are contacted in these circumstances, it's essential that you follow the guidelines and arrange for your child to be tested. If there is a positive COVID case, we will work closely with local and national Public Health England (PHE) to take appropriate steps including further cleaning and isolation of known contacts.
School office and enquiries
The school office will initially remain closed to parents and visitors. An external office will be based near the front gates at Tokyngton Avenue and leaders and school administrative staff will be available in the morning or by appointment. Please call or email to arrange a time.
Thorough risk-assessment and principles for opening in 2020/2021
We want children, parents and staff to feel confident that we have undertaken a thorough risk assessment with safety measures to minimise risks. Our full risk assessment has been compiled to follow government guidance and with input from staff and governors. The risk assessment has been reviewed by Health and Safety at Brent Council. In preparation for opening in September, we established 5 principles to guide our approach to reopening the school.
If you have any further questions, please email us at admin@elsley.brent.sch.uk
Thank you for your understanding in the measures we have introduced, which is to try to keep Elsley Primary School open and safe, so we can provide our children with an excellent education.
Raphael Moss
Headteacher
Safeguarding If you have any concerns about the safety of a child, please contact:
Brent Family Front Door
Tel: 020 8937 4300
or email: brent.lscb@brent.gov.uk
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Watch our video which will give you information about the Covid-19 safety measures we have in place from September 2020
