Effective infection protection and control

Transmission of coronavirus mainly occurs via respiratory droplets generated during breathing, talking, coughing and sneezing. These droplets can directly infect the respiratory tracts of other people if there is close contact. They also infect others indirectly. This happens when the droplets get onto and contaminate surfaces which are then touched and introduced into the mouth or eyes of an uninfected person.

Preventing the spread of coronavirus involves preventing:

• direct transmission, for instance, when in close contact with those sneezing and coughing
• indirect transmission, for instance, touching contaminated surfaces

ARA are employing a range of approaches and actions with our children and young people which create an inherently safer system where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. These include:

1. Clean hands often

All staff, children and young people will clean their hands more often than usual, particularly after arriving at school, touching their face, blowing their nose, sneezing or coughing, and before eating or handling food.

To clean their hands they are washing their hands thoroughly for 20 seconds with running water and soap and drying them thoroughly, or they use alcohol hand rub/sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered.

2. Respiratory hygiene (catch it, bin it, kill it)

All adults, children and young people are encouraged to avoid touching their mouth, eyes and nose. To cover their mouth and nose with disposable tissues when they cough or sneeze. If a tissue is not available then they are to sneeze into the crook of their elbow, not into their hand. Tissues are to be disposed into a disposable rubbish bag and hands immediately cleaned with soap and water or by using a hand sanitiser.

3. Minimise contact and mixing

The classroom layouts and timetables (such as staggered break time and lunch time) are in place to minimise contact and mixing. All of our children and young people will have received clear guidance from staff on safe distancing and have floor markings in key areas of the Academy to support this.

What happens if a child or young person fails to follow all of the safe distancing rules?

Primary Children: very young children will need regular reminders and a structured day with plenty of physical activity included to support them. Most children will get used to the routine and will follow expectations. Where this doesn’t happen there will have to be sanctions in place whereby the child is removed from the class/activity to enable their understanding of the importance of safe distancing. This sanction may well have to be applied several times before the understanding of the child increases and their behaviour follows expectations.

Secondary Children/Young People: older children, teens, and young adults need to understand that they have a direct impact on how this virus spreads. Safe distancing saves lives and it is important for them to follow the guidelines very closely – we have to help them know the rules have changed. If our young people fail to follow our safe distancing rules then there are sanctions with escalating consequences:

• reminders of the safe distancing rules (staff modelling these throughout)
• removal of the young person to a different area of the classroom
• removal of the young person to a different classroom
• parents informed and asked to speak to their child there and then on the phone or later that evening
• Formal internal exclusion - with work set to be completed
• Fixed term exclusion – with work set to be completed

Depending on the frequency and severity of the social distancing rules being broken an appropriate sanction will be applied and that may not be in the order presented above. If consequences have been applied with parents also involved and there fails to be any improvement then home learning would be the next step.