The government have released a planning guide for primary school leaders to help prepare them to open their schools for more pupils during the coronavirus outbreak. 

Key Points 

The government expects schools and trusts to work closely with: 

• parents, staff and unions as they normally would, when agreeing the best approaches for their circumstances 
• their local authorities to determine what services they require and agree on any specific arrangements during this period 

Preparing your school 

• Health and safety check of the building– consider undertaking a check of the buildings concerned 
• Cleaning and hygiene– Once children are back in school, all frequently touched surfaces, equipment, door handles and toilets used during the day will need to be cleaned thoroughly each day.

You may also wish to consider your plans for: 

1. the availability of soap and hot water in every toilet (and if possible in classrooms) 
2. the location of hand sanitiser stations, for example at the school entrance for pupils and any other person passing into the school to use, and their replenishment 
3. the location of lidded bins in classrooms and in other key locations around the site for the disposal of tissues and any other waste, their double bagging and emptying 
4. ensuring you have a good supply of disposable tissues to implement the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach in each classroom and enough to top up regularly
5. Movement around the school– try to reduce possible contact between different groups of children 

Reviewing your staff for availability in school 

• Audit your whole staff to ascertain who will be available to be in school from the week commencing 1 June 
• You may also be working with some staff who are anxious and may value the opportunity for discussion and reassurance. 
• Clinically extremely vulnerable individuals are advised not to work outside the home. 
• Clinically vulnerable individuals who are at higher risk of severe illness– have been advised to take extra care in observing social distancing and should work from home where possible 
• If clinically vulnerable (but not clinically extremely vulnerable) individuals cannot work from home, they should be offered the safest available on-site roles, staying 2 metres away from others wherever possible 
• If a member of staff lives with someone who is clinically vulnerable (but not clinically extremely vulnerable), which includes those who are pregnant, they can attend work. 
• If a staff member lives in a household with someone who is extremely clinically vulnerable, it is advised they only attend work if stringent social distancing can be adhered to 

Familiarise yourself with the maximum safe group size 

• Unlike older children and adults, early years and primary age children cannot be expected to remain 2 metres apart from each other and staff. In deciding to bring more children back to early years and schools, we are taking this into account. 

You should, therefore, follow these measures as best as you can:  

1. avoid contact with anyone with symptoms 
2. frequent hand cleaning and good respiratory hygiene practices 
3. regular cleaning of settings 
4. minimising contact and mixing 

•  Children, young people, and staff where possible, should only mix in a small, consistent group and that small group should stay away from other people and groups 
• For primary schools, classes should normally be split in half, with no more than 15 pupils per small group and one teacher 
• Vulnerable children and children of critical workers in other year groups should also be split into small groups of no more than 15. 

For the complete list of government guidance, please visit gov.uk