The safety of our community comprising of children and all adults that visit/work in the school premises remains of topmost priority to us and has been the core consideration in bringing children back to school to continue physical learning.
We are committed to ensuring the safest possible return to classroom education for children, their families and teachers. The following guidelines are aligned with global best practices and we have taken into account every aspect of school operation.
Requirements for entry into the School Premise
Entry point would be manned by trained security personnel to oversee flow and enforce the preventive measures.
All persons coming into the premise must meet the health requirements for entry and follow the relevant entry/exit protocol.
All authorized adults must wear masks before entry and while on the school premise.
Non-contact temperature check of all persons entering the school premise.
Obligatory use of the contactless hand sanitiser before entry into the school premise.
Fingerprint check-in devices would not be used, however alternative contactless methods: use of access cards only would be recommended for easy access into the premise.
Parents are strongly advised to check their children’s temperatures and screen for symptoms before leaving the house. Children who exhibit symptoms or who are feeling generally unwell are encouraged to stay home.
Staff are strongly advised to check their own temperature and screen for symptoms before leaving the house. Staff who exhibit symptoms or who are feeling generally unwell are encouraged to stay home.
Children may be accompanied by a maximum of 1 parent or guardian during drop off or pick up. Guardians must wear masks at all times and may accompany the child until the access point (but not enter the main school building). Accompanying guardians would hand children over to staff at the walk way and then exit the building. It is recommended that accompanying guardians be in good general health (to protect themselves from exposure).
Requirements for Exit from the School Premise
Only one person will be allowed to pick up a child, and entry into the school premise would be limited to the designated waiting area (muster point). During this period, you will be required to maintain a 2 metres distance from other people and wear a mask.
Staff Training
All staff have been trained on the safety and hygiene measures to prevent an outbreak of COVID 19 in the school. This training includes but not limited to disinfection, safe distancing, hand washing, use of masks, respiratory etiquette, waste management etc.
TTKC COVID-19 Referral System (including protocols and procedures to take if learners, teachers, administrators, and other education personnel become unwell while in school) has been established.
Parents’ Guidelines
Parents may choose the learning mode (whether their children will return to school for face-to-face learning or continue distance learning) for the coming term.
If parents choose to send their child to school physically, they will need to sign a physical return declaration that they will not do so if their child displays any COVID-19 symptoms.
Parents would also need to inform the school when they make trips outside the country.
Space Management
Contactless hand sanitisers would be present in all classrooms as well as running water and soap, children and teachers would be encouraged to make use of these upon entry and exit of the classrooms.
Strict rules would be adopted during rest room usage to ensure that proper social distancing is maintained. This would be strictly supervised by trained staff.
Surfaces would be cleaned, disinfected and fumigated regularly.
Classroom doors would be kept open when possible to increase entry/exit flow and avoid touching of door handle/knob.
Seating arrangement in the classroom would be 2 metres apart and activities that would bring about close contact would be kept to the barest minimum.
All teachers on the premise would wear masks and keep a distance from children except when necessary.
Classroom size of children has been reduced to a maximum of 15 pupils in a class, depending on the class and age of pupils.
High-contact surfaces such as light switches, handrails, doorknobs, toilet seats etc. will be cleaned and disinfected regularly.
Children shall take regular supervised breaks (preferably outdoors) but break times would be staggered to avoid mixing of different classes.
Light interaction outdoors while playing is permitted for short periods, and hand washing before and after break is mandatory.
All children are highly encouraged to participate in sports to maintain their health and well being.
Bubbles
Bubbles refer to a group of children and teachers/school staff that spend the entire school day together, and do not interact with others during this period. This strategy is particularly useful for reducing the risk of cross-transmission of the virus between young children who have difficulty practicing social distancing.
Bubbles would remain in the same classroom throughout the day (except for breaks) and toys and other shared resources will not be accessible to other groups without prior cleaning and disinfection.
The school would be adopting this method to help control/avoid the risk of cross transmission of the virus in the school premise.
Personal Belongings and Shared Supplies
To reduce the risk of contamination and carrying viruses, staff and pupils’ personal belongings would be reduced to a minimum.
Materials such as toys, books, manipulatives, models and other educational equipment etc. would be provided in adequate supply to reduce sharing.
A receptacle (with lid or small opening to prevent access by students) would be set up for any items that have been exposed to/come into contact with biological fluids (saliva, mucous secretions) for cleaning and sanitisation after class and prior to reuse.
Supplies such as worksheets, notebooks, and stationery should be stored separately in individually labelled containers.
Non-essential furniture, equipment, and resources would be removed or demarcated as off-limits, and those that are made available would be easy to clean and disinfect (i.e. non-fabric materials and surfaces).
Efforts would be made to reduce, where possible, the transfer of paper from home and to home by assigning homework using worksheets or assigning work online.
Morning Assemblies
Large assembles would be put on hold, however activities that take place during assemblies e.g. singing the National Anthem would be held in the classroom.
Safe Food Preparation
The school would comply with all requirements of personal hygiene, general cleanliness of workspace and utensils, temperature controls, food handling, storage, and food waste management in order to avoid any food contamination.
All employees would observe social distancing, hand hygiene, and wear face shields, gloves, and face masks while preparing and serving meals.
TTKC Response Team with Defined Roles in the School
The “Team Leader”, the school director.
A “First Responder”, the school nurse. who is the trained medical professional/healthcare provider, who is present in the school premises during the entire school day to offer emergency care to children and manage COVID-19 related incidents.
A “Facilities Supervisor”, Administrative officer, responsible for the hygiene management/sanitisation of the school and responsible for members/staff/pupils’ movements and utilization of facilities in the school premises.
A “Contact Tracing Supervisor”, Head Security responsible for reviewing staff and pupil attendance records in case a child or member of staff reports testing positive for COVID-19. This person will work with staff on ground to identify and record the group of people who may have come in contact with the affected person.
A “COVID-19 Focal Person”, Relationship Manager, responsible for communicating with staff, parents, and other relevant bodies in the case of any COVID-related incident at school.
Establishing a Quarantine Space within the School Premises
In this section, a “COVID-19 related incident” refers to a pupil or staff having sudden onset of symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath, cough or sore throat with or without fever.
In case a COVID-19 related incident occurs where a pupil is experiencing symptoms, the teacher must immediately inform the Team Leader, and provide the pupil with a surgical mask if he/she is able to tolerate wearing the mask.
The Team Leader must arrange for the First Responder to collect the pupil from their classroom and move them to the quarantine room while keeping a distance of 2 metres from them, and ensuring that the pupil avoids touching high-contact surfaces such as railings, doors, etc.
The Team Leader must also instruct the Facilities Supervisor to immediately have the classroom cleaned and disinfected, especially the affected pupil’s table and belongings.
The Team Leader must also inform the COVID-19 Focal Person, who will call the pupil’s parent/legal guardian to have them picked up immediately to be taken home/to a hospital.
The criteria for returning to school includes two negative consecutive results and clinical improvement, or the completion of 14 days since the first positive result.
The above also applies for any infected employee/staff on the school premise.