Forest School Provision & Training

The UK Government has released guidance relevant to Outdoor Education Settings (including Forest School)after announcing that providers who run community activities, holiday clubs, after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school provision for children will be able to operate over the summer holiday with safety measures in place.

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Please note that the following policies and procedures are subject to change in line with government guidance. These will be updated as the situation changes.

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The recommendation is that providers keep children in small, consistent groups of no more than 15 children and one or two staff members.  This means that when your child attends the first session they will remain in that group for future sessions (Weds & Thursday in any one week)

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The key measures that every setting should have in place are:

 · minimising contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring those who have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms do not attend their setting. This also applies if a member of their family has symptoms or if they have been advised by NHS Test & Trace as ‘a close contact’ to isolate at home

 · encouraging staff and children attending to clean their hands more often than usual, including before and after activities and before and after using toilet/washroom facilities

· ensuring good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach

· cleaning frequently touched surfaces more often than usual using standard products, such as detergent or bleach

· increased frequency of cleaning of toilets and washrooms

· minimising contact and mixing between groups of children by altering the environment to allow for social distancing between children and keeping children in small consistent groups.   Out-of-school settings providers may not be able to accommodate parents and carers being present during a session due to guidelines on group sizes and social distancing.

It is particularly important during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak that parents ensure the provider has your most up-to-date contact details in case of an emergency, such as your child falling ill with coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms while attending the setting. You should also keep an accurate record of when and where your child attends out-of-school settings to help NHS Test and Trace identify people who may have been in contact with your child should they test positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

Cleaning protocols are in place to limit coronavirus transmission in public places. It is advised that touch points (e.g. handrails and gates) should be particular areas of focus for increased cleaning. Frequent cleaning of work areas and equipment between use, using your usual cleaning products, is advised. As is clearing workspaces and removing waste and belongings from work areas at the end of shifts.

We will have restricted group size to 15 children together throughout the day in order to avoid larger groups of children mixing.

Play equipment is cleaned between different groups of children or quarantined for 72 hours; multiple groups do not use it simultaneously

Children will be in the same small groups each day, and different groups are not mixed on subsequent days in any 1 week .

The same teacher(s) and other staff/helpers are assigned to each group and, as far as possible, these stay the same during the day and on subsequent days.

We will clean hard surfaces that children and young people are touching, such as toys, doors, sinks, toilets, light switches, bannisters, more regularly than normal.

 We will ensure that toilets do not become crowded by limiting the number of children or young people who use the toilet facilities at one time. 

Outdoor activities can go ahead if the learning environment is occupied by the same children or young people in one day, or properly cleaned between cohorts.

 If anyone in an education or childcare setting becomes unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature, or has a loss of, or change in, their normal sense of taste of smell (anosmia), they must be sent home and advised to follow the COVID-19: guidance for households with possible coronavirus (COVID-19) infection guidance.

If a child is awaiting collection, they should be moved, if possible, to a room where they can be isolated behind a closed door, depending on the age of the child and with appropriate adult supervision if required. Ideally, a window should be opened for ventilation. If it is not possible to isolate them, move them to an area which is at least 2 metres away from other people. If they need to go to the bathroom while waiting to be collected, they should use a separate bathroom if possible. The bathroom should be cleaned and disinfected using standard cleaning products before being used by anyone else. PPE should be worn by staff caring for the child while they await collection if a distance of 2 metres cannot be maintained (such as for a very young child or a child with complex needs).