Here is what you need to know: 

ATTENDANCE 

The Government’s expectation is for all children to be back in school unless they are unwell, in quarantine following a visit to a non-corridor country or self-isolating due to COVID symptoms.  If this is the case for your family, we would appreciate you letting us know as soon as possible. 

BUBBLES 

We will reduce contact between classes and adults as much as possible. We have separated Infants and Juniors as our two Bentley ‘bubbles’, which should allow our school to stay open in case of a confirmed COVID need. Within our small school this enables us to reopen childcare, to run sports and to ensure that the whole school curriculum can resume. We also have put in place many small changes and amendments to keep safe which staff are fully trained in and ready to implement.  

ENTRY & EXIT 

Year R 

Week commencing 7^th September – 8.45 – 9am – please enter through the Recreation Ground gate to the Year R outside space on your allocated day.  Parents will be able to stay with their child for an outdoor activity until 9.15am if they wish.  Collection from the Recreation Ground gate at 1pm.  Children will come out of their room to meet the class adult at the gate and then to you.  

Week commencing 14^th September - 8.45 – 9am – all children please enter through the Recreation Ground gate to the Year R outside space.  No parent access to classroom.  Collection from the Recreation Ground gate at 11.40-11.45am or 3.05-3.15pm (please refer to the original communication for your child’s schedule).  Children will come out to meet the class adult at the gate and then to you.  

 

Year 1 & 2 – start of the school day 

8.45-8.55am social distanced on playground, can start to line up from 8.40am. 

Parent and child enter onto site via main school gate.  Please follow the painted arrows and line up by your class number on the playground (on the netball court). 

Children enter school building through courtyard gate closest to Rainbow room and through main door. Parent exits school grounds through staff gate. 

Children may be dropped by car at vehicle access gate with a member of staff opening the car door. If you choose to just drop your child off, please access School Lane via Hole Lane to drive down School Lane with the school on your left.  Parent must stay in car. 

 

Year 3 & 5 – start of the school day 

8.45-8.55am social distanced on playground, can start to line up from 8.40am. 

Parent and child enter onto site via main school gate. Please follow the painted arrows and line up by your class number on the playground (facing the sports halls). 

Enter into building through courtyard gate closest to sports hall and through own class access doors in courtyard area.  

Parent exits through staff gate to avoid creating a pinch point. 

Children may be dropped by car at vehicle access gate with a member of staff opening the car door. If you choose to just drop your child off, please access School Lane via Hole Lane to drive down School Lane with the school on your left.  Parent must stay in car. 

 

Year 4 – start of the school day 

8.45-8.55am social distanced on playground, can start to line up from 8.40am. 

Parent and child enter onto site via main school gate. 

Pupils enter into building through main front door. Please follow the painted pathway avoiding the hedge area.  

Parent do not go back through main gate but exit through staff gate to avoid creating a pinch point. 

Children may be dropped by car at vehicle access gate with a member of staff opening the car door. If you choose to just drop your child off, please access School Lane via Hole Lane to drive down School Lane with the school on your left.  Parent must stay in car. 

 

Year 6 – start of the school day 

8.45-8.55am social distanced on playground, can start to line up from 8.40am. 

Parent and child enter onto site via main school gate. Line up towards own classroom, alongside the sports hall.  

Enter into building through classroom back door (at the back of the sports hall). Please follow the painted pathway avoiding the hedge area.  

Parent exits through staff gate to avoid creating a pinch point. 

Children may be dropped by car at vehicle access gate with a member of staff opening the car door. If you choose to just drop your child off, please access School Lane via Hole Lane to drive down School Lane with the school on your left.  Parent must stay in car. 

 

Years 1-6 – End of the school day 

Only one adult to pick up children each day please. Classes will be lined up on playground at 3.15pm ready for collection.  Siblings may accompany that adult but please be mindful of social distancing expectations. Parents enter through staff car park gate to avoid creating a pinch point. The gate will be opened by a member of staff at 3.15pm and parents should queue up by the gate, socially distanced and also on the opposite pavement. Parents will be let in for collection in groups to avoid crowding on the playground.  

Please follow the red arrows along the hedge and do not stop to chat. Staff will send your child to you and please then keep walking to support everyone in our community.   

Any contact with staff must be made via phone message or email rather than in person.  

All parents and children to leave through main school gate in the afternoon. 

 

Bus children 

Bus Children will enter through staff car park gate as usual.  The bus will make two runs – one for Infants and one for Juniors, in line with our bubble groups.  These new timings will be sent to you by text later today.  Please advise school by email as soon as possible if you do not wish your child to be collected on Monday morning.   Mr Lucas will be wearing a face covering whilst driving the minibus but your child does not need to unless you wish them to.  If your child is wearing a mask on the bus they must have a plastic bag to place it in and seal it before entering the school building. This should be stored in their book bag. Please also ensure you have complete the Masks Form and returned it to school. 

 

Wraparound Childcare 

Due to lower numbers with more spread out entry and exit times, everyone attending childcare or clubs may come onto site and exit through main gates as we have always done. Please remain mindful of social distancing expectations.  

 

WHAT TO BRING 

Bookbag and named water bottle, PE kit in a named PE bag.  PE kits will remain in school until half term when they will be sent home for washing, apart from Year 6 who will come into school in their PE kits twice a week (days to be advised). Bookbags should be emptied regularly and should only contain your child’s reading and library books. New reading records will be issued on Monday - please keep old ones at home. All homework tasks will be set on Seesaw. No pencils cases thank you, all stationery will be provided in school as usual.  

LUNCHES 

The lunch options can be found at the foot of this page.  Packed lunches may be brought into school again from September but we will require these to come in a hard lunchbox which is cleaned every day (no soft or material lunch bags). 

UNIFORM  

Full school uniform will be required each day. Please label everything! PE kits in school by Wednesday please.  Outdoor games will happen throughout the school year so green or plain black tracksuit bottoms will be required along with trainers rather than plimsolls. Please remember that children need a change of socks for PE.   Outdoor play and learning will be a big part of our Recovery Curriculum so please ensure all children have a waterproof coat with a hood. Wellies, old trainers or other suitable outdoor footwear should be named and can be left in school to be sent home each half term.  

The PTFA are running a second hand uniform sale from 10.30am – 12pm tomorrow (Saturday 5^th September) in the school playground by the Sports Hall.  All items are £1 each; please bring change where possible.  Please enter through the staff car park and adhere to social distancing guidelines. 

WRAPAROUND  CHILDCARE  

Breakfast club will resume from Tuesday 8^th September with separate Infant and Junior groups. 

Afterschool club will resume from Tuesday 8^th September with separate Infant and Junior groups. There will be a collection at 4.15pm (£4 a session) and one at 5.15pm including a high tea (£10 a session). All sessions will need to be booked half-termly in advance and paid for half-termly in advance.  Bookings are now open via www.scopay.com.  Please note we are limited on numbers so book ahead where you can.  

TEACHER CLUBS 

We will resume teacher clubs in bubble groups from Monday 14^th September.  Information about these clubs will come out on Monday with forms needing to be returned by Wednesday morning. 

COVID EXPECTATIONS 

Everyone will wash their hands on entry, after toileting and before eating. The only change to this is the entry hand washing. We have two types of HCC recommended soaps to support any child with eczema. We have good stocks of school hand sanitisers, but will only use these when hand washing is not possible.   

It is vital that we all stay alert to any COVID symptoms and that anyone with symptoms seeks medical advice and testing. The main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are: 

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature) 
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual) 
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal 

Please ensure you keep school informed of any medical symptoms. You may email us at any time or ring between 8.15-8.30am to let us know of any pupil absence for any reason.  

Should a child show symptoms within the school day we will ensure they are withdrawn from the class and looked after by us in a separate room until you can come to collect them. You would then contact medical support and get tested, updating the school of the outcome.  

The government advice for parents can be found by clicking here. 

TRACK AND TRACE 

The school expectation is that all members of our community will use current Track and Trace protocols to keep our community safe. In addition we will hold careful daily school records for registers in case of a bubble or school lockdown. Open communication remains vital between home and school to ensure that we support one another in our community. 

FACE MASKS AND HAND SANITISERS 

Teaching staff will not wear face masks in class unless very close contact is required. We may wear them when there will be close adult to adult contact, such as at collection times. As we may occasionally wear face visors or face masks and will show these to the children at some point over the course of the next week.  

We do not plan children will need a face mask at all in school. We appreciate you may wish your child to wear one and if this is the case, please complete the attached MASKS form and send it back into school. We will be very happy to speak to you about this.  

We have two types of soap and plenty of hand sanitiser in school. We request that you do not send in any individual supplies of these as we can only use brands which comply to our Hampshire Children’s Services requirements, and which have been fully risk assessed for allergies etc.  

We fully appreciate this email may not cover all of your specific questions so PLEASE do email or ring us about your concerns so we can share more detail and ensure we are aware of your views. Please know we have a very thorough risk assessment which informs our practice and have been working on this carefully to ensure a safe return to school for everyone.  

It is natural for every pupil to feel a little anxious about the start of the school year but this has been a year like no other. If your child is feeling worried this weekend please reassure them we are really looking forward to welcoming them back to Bentley and that it is going to be a brilliant year. We have lots of great plans and their teachers can’t wait to see them! 

Mrs Pinchess and the Bentley CE Primary School Team