School Summer Term Activities Guidance – Warwickshire Education and Public Health
Given the extension of restrictions to the 19th of July we are advising all schools to plan summer term activities in line with the updated Stage 3 of the Roadmap and updated information from the Department for Education on 15 June.
The general principle for summer term activities is schools and colleges must continue to risk assess and plan activities in line with the system of controls and should follow government guidance.
This decision has prompted all Local Authorities to re-evaluate end of term arrangements in order to minimise the risk of infection whilst the vaccination programme continues to be rolled out at pace.
National guidance allows for outdoor school activities to take place following consideration and mitigation of risks. This includes not mixing bubbles of children. You should keep bubbles for day to day school operation also for the remainder of this half term. The children are used to the routine and organisation. The following local guidance is provided to support you in reducing the risk of transmission, bearing in mind younger adults and school-age pupils who are yet to be vaccinated, and the ongoing and increasing risk of transmission within school settings.
You have worked incredibly hard over the last year to ensure safety of students and reduce risk of transmission on school premises. Whilst school fetes and end of year celebrations are important social events for the school, you will want to avoid hosting activities that present significant risks related to COVID-19 spread. Careful event planning is crucial.
This guidance has been produced to support schools and educational settings through this next challenging period. Decisions have been made to ensure consistency of approach across the Authority, to take into account the national guidance and bring us in line with our neighbouring authorities.
Principles
- To have a consistent approach across the authority.
- Not to mix bubbles, as specified by P.H.E and national guidance.
- To further facilitate joint working between Early Years settings, Primary and Secondary schools.
Warwickshire Public Health recommendation for any school activity:
- Hands - hand sanitiser and hand washing facilities readily available and use encouraged.
- Face - face coverings must be worn if needing to access indoor areas (e.g: accessing toilets) – noting that outdoor events pose the least risk.
- Space – social distancing is to be maintained between bubbles. Teachers / supervisors should continue to practice social distancing between themselves and pupils.
- Fresh air – hold activities outdoors wherever possible. You may wish to erect outdoor shelters. To be considered ‘outdoors’, shelters, marquees and other structures can have a roof but need to have at least 50% of the area of their walls open at all times whilst in use.
- Control numbers attending at any one time in order to allow social distancing between people from different households, but also ensuring that school bubbles do not mix. National guidance states “any parents attending outdoor events must adhere to current social distancing requirements. Where outdoors spectators can gather in groups of up to 30 – the legal gathering limit. Multiple groups of 30 are permitted”. However, it is important to note that national guidance remains that you should stay 2 metres apart from anyone who is not in your household or support bubble where possible, and this remains our strong local advice[1].
- Anybody with any of the three main COVID symptoms (new continuous cough, high temperature, loss/change in sense of taste/smell), or less common symptoms of COVID-19 (sore throat, headache, fatigue, muscle pain) should not attend and should isolate and book a PCR test.
- By the end of the week beginning 15th June 2021, it is anticipated that anyone aged 18 and over will be able to access a COVID-19 vaccination. This should be widely promoted to attendees prior to the event, with communication about the importance of having two vaccinations: nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/
- Attendees should complete an LFD test before attending the school activity, as part of ongoing twice weekly testing, which we continue to strongly encourage. On receiving a positive LFT, the individual should isolate with their household and follow up with a confirmatory PCR test.
- Contact details of attendees must be collected. Records should be kept for 21 days.
- Send clear pre-event communications outlining COVID-Secure behaviour expectations.
- Avoid lift-sharing to/from school which would mix bubbles. Where this is impractical face coverings must be worn by driver and passengers (unless exempt) and windows opened for the whole journey.
- Avoid the sale of alcohol – this will move the event to a higher level of risk as people are likely to let their guard down after a drink or two! Additionally, alcohol sales would have to adhere to the same regulations as for hospitality sector, providing table service to seated customers only.
- Cleaning before, during and after school activities (including regular touchpoint cleaning) will need to be a priority; ensuring appropriate products are used. Please follow below guidance: gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings
Additional guidance for Summer Fetes
- Control numbers of people attending at any one time (please see generic guidance above) and ensure bubbles do not mix.
- Encourage participants to use a one-way system around stalls or activities.
- Use COVID Marshalls to monitor social distancing and the flow of participants around the site, paying attention to and addressing any bottle necks.
- Encourage social distancing where queues are likely – social distancing signage and floor markers should be used.
- Avoid activities which involve multiple people touching the same items, particularly where items cannot be sanitised between use, such as tombolas.
- Avoid activities which require close contact, such as face painting.
Managing numbers onsite and maintaining school bubbles
We recommend using a booking system, such as Eventbrite, to help you plan for and control the capacity of your event. School year group could be given a specific slot/start time to book to avoid mixing between year groups. Social distancing onsite should be encouraged to avoid unsafe mixing between bubbles.
Staggered arrival times and implementing a one-way system will enable you to maintain a flow of participants and to avoid excess numbers of participants at any one time. For example; Year 1: 10-10:30 / Year 2: 11-11:30 / Year 3: 12-12:30 / Year 4: 1-1:30 / Year 5: 2-2:30 / Year 6: 3-3:30
Stalls and Activities
Stalls involving serving food or drinks (e.g., cake stalls) should ensure hand sanitiser is available and used by both stall holder and customers. Disposable/single-use items (plates, cups) should be used.
Provide activities where individuals can be spaced apart or stall holders can facilitate involvement without close contact or sharing of items, e.g., Guess the weight of a sweet jar, guess the name of a cuddly toy, fancy dress competition, goal scoring competitions etc.
Alternative outdoor events could be held such as a school treasure trail / scavenger hunt.
Further fund-raising and activity ideas are provided by PTA+ (see below)
pta.co.uk/events/ideas
Please note the fete activities suggested via the link below include options for how such activities can be adapted for “Virtual Fairs” – this is the most COVID-19 Secure option. Some of the activities are not COVID-Secure if delivered in-person.
pta.co.uk/events/fairs/always-updated-guide-to-summer-fair-games-and-stalls
Sports Days
Sports days can go ahead. In line with the rest of the system of controls, pupils and students must remain in their bubbles, and early years children should remain in their consistent groups as is usual for your setting.
Sports equipment should be regularly cleaned throughout the event, ideally between uses.
Spectators must adhere to current social distancing requirements. National guidance states that where events take place outdoors, spectators can gather in separate groups of up to 30 – the legal gathering limit, and that multiple groups of 30 are permitted. However please note that within this national guidance continue to recommend that individuals socially distance from people outside of their households (please see generic guidance above)
School Leaver Events
Marking the end of school for school leavers is important to young people. During Stage 3 of the Roadmap nightclubs are not allowed to open. At this stage of the Roadmap indoor dances or Proms which cater for more than one bubble should be avoided. Stage 4 may now come into place on the 19th July; however, there is still the potential for extension beyond that date. With case rates rising across Warwickshire we recommend you plan for an alternative celebration event.
If events are held outdoors these may cater for multiple bubbles within a year group, whilst ensuring that bubbles do not mix.
National guidance advises against large group gatherings indoors for more than one bubble (or in early years more than one consistent group). Outdoor events may go ahead with careful risk assessment, planning and control measures in place.
The Warwickshire County Council Public Health Team has considered the level of risk involved in having prom events and advise opting for a more controlled option.
In the place of prom, schools can have an Outdoor Dinner/Picnic. Please see guidance below for such events.
- Supervisors must be present to ensure that COVID-Secure guidance is adhered to.
- Only the school year group and staff who will supervise will be allowed to attend the dinner.
- Pupils from across a single year group can attend an outdoor dinner/picnic, however table plans should keep pupils within existing bubbles. If children/young people have not been part of an existing bubble recently (e.g. Year 11) then they should be assigned to bubbles of similar size to other year groups – and asked not to mix between bubbles.
- All attendees will be required to take a LFD test on the day of the dinner. If the year group is still attending school, they will be required to take a LFD test before returning to the setting after the event has taken place.
- Face Coverings do not have to be worn for an outdoor activity, however these should be worn if individuals need to go indoors, for example to use toilet facilities.
Venue
All dinner events must be held outdoors; this means the venue should not be enclosed, with walls, windows or doors. You may wish to erect outdoor shelters. To be considered ‘outdoors’, shelters, marquees and other structures can have a roof but need to have at least 50% of the area of their walls open at all times whilst in use.
Each table at the event should seat 6 pupils maximum.
Table should be 2m apart, there must be seating charts and there should be no changing of seats, under any circumstances.
Movement
We strongly advise that these events are table service only, with food orders submitted prior to the event.
If table service is not practical and a serving station is to be used, each table should get up one at a time to ensure there are no mixing of table groups whilst queueing. Avoid self-service of food or drinks.
There should be no dancing, and no gathering of pupils.
Service
Service should, as much as is practicable, be in line with guidance for the hospitality sector. Face coverings must be worn to serve meals.
More on this can be found via this link:
www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/restaurants-offering-takeaway-or-delivery
Music
If there is music, it should be played at background levels, not so loud that people need to shout to be heard.
Photos
There should be no large group photos; students can be allowed to take individual photos, or photos with pupils in their table bubble.
Toilets
Existing controls should remain in place (limiting numbers, hand sanitiser available on entry and hand washing facilities on exiting), with additional consideration of queue management to minimise risk of mixing between bubbles. 2m social distancing signage and floor markers can be used for this purpose.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-friends-and-family-covid-19