COVID-19
Information for Visitors to the School
Contact Tracing Log/Declaration
CDETB has issued a form (see below) for all Visitors or Contractors, to complete before entering the building. This form acts as a Contact Tracing Log and a declaration that the individual is free of COVID19 symptoms and is not currently meant to be restricting their movements or self-isolation..
Access to School
Access to the school building will be restricted to staff, students and essential visitors.
Essential Visitors
Essential visitors are deemed to be CDETB Head Office staff, DES Inspectorate, parents/guardians and contractors. Any other visitor to the school must be deemed to be essential by the Principal.
All essential visitors must have made prior arrangements with the Principal and have a pre-arranged appointment time. They will be informed that they must wear a face covering and to wait in a designated area.
Parents/Guardians
Parents/Guardians will be informed that they must have a prior appointment before entering the building. Telephone calls will be the preferred means of direct communication with parents/guardians.
Contract Tracing Log
The prompt identification and isolation of potentially infectious individuals is a crucial step in restricting the spread of the virus and protecting the health and safety of the individuals themselves and staff, students, contractors and visitors at the school.
Larkin Community College will maintain and process the data in compliance with the GDPR and the Data Protection Acts. The Data Protection Commission has provided guidance on the data protection implications of the return to work protocols. This advice can be found here:
https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/news-media/data-protection-implications-return-work-safely-protocol
Reception Areas
There is an automatic gate to manage entry to the school premises. It has a bell and intercom.
Porter staff will communicate with all visitors – either arriving on foot on cars using the intercom before entry onto grounds will be permitted.
Only visitors with pre-arranged appointments will be allowed on the premises.
When the visitor enters the premises they should wait in the designated waiting area, outside, or in their car until appointed time. They will then enter the building, sanitise their hands and speak with the porters through the newly installed window to the left hand side of the second set of doors.
A new system of automatic doors for entering and exiting the building has been installed.
A Perspex screen has been installed in front of the window into the porter’s office in the front hall.
Control Measures - To prevent Introduction and Spread of COVID-19 in Schools
One of the key messages to manage the risks of COVID-19 is to do everything practical to avoid the introduction of COVID-19 into the school. If infection is not introduced it cannot be spread. The risk of spreading the infection once introduced exists in all interpersonal interactions; student - student, teacher - teacher and teacher- student, and must be managed in all settings.
A range of essential control measures have been implemented to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID -19 virus and to protect the safety, health and welfare of staff, students, parents and visitors as far as possible within the school. The control measures shall continue to be reviewed and updated as required on an ongoing basis.
It is critical that staff, students, parents and visitors are aware of, and adhere to, the control measures outlined and that they fully cooperate with all health and safety requirements.
Staff, should note that they have a legal obligation under Section 13 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to comply with health and safety requirements and to take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves, their colleagues and other parties within the workplace.
Symptoms of COVID-19
In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 it is important to know and recognise the symptoms. They are:
⦁ High temperature – fever, 38 degrees Celsius or above
⦁ Cough – any kind of cough, not just dry
⦁ Shortness of breath or breathing difficulties
⦁ Loss of smell, of taste or distortion of taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
Further information can be found here: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/symptoms.html:
Visitors/Contractors should not attend/visit the school if they have any of the symptoms of COVID-19 - they should phone their doctor and follow HSE guidance on self-isolation;
Visitors/Contractors should not attend/visit the if they have been identified by the HSE as a contact for a person with COVID-19 to follow the HSE advice on restriction of movement;
If a visitor/contractor develops COVID-19 symptoms while at the school they must inform the Principal (or deputy principal if the principal is unavailable) immediately;
Everyone entering the school buildings must perform hand hygiene with a hand sanitiser;
Contractors/Visitors to the school must have made prior arrangements with the principal to visit the school and will have to follow certain protocols, hand sanitising, wear a face covering and being met a designated waiting area.
Physical distancing of 2 metres should be maintained between staff and visitors where possible.
Contractors/Visitors must wear a face mask.
Physical Distancing
All visitors to the school must maintain a minimum 2m distance between themselves and the staff member(s) they are meeting with.
Face Masks
All visitors/contractors to the school must wear face masks.
Respiratory Hygiene
Staff and students and contractors/visitors must practice good respiratory hygiene - which means covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or your bent elbow when you cough or sneeze. The used tissue must be disposed of immediately and safely into a nearby bin.
Every room used by staff/students/visitors will have a pedal bin with a lid for disposable of tissue.
Hand Hygiene
Signage/Posters promoting good hygiene will be visible around the school to remind staff and students and visitors/contractors how to wash/sanitise their hands properly, when to do it and the importance of doing it.
The HSE guidelines on handwashing can be found here:
https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/how-to-wash-your-hands.html
Hand wash basins are located in the appropriate toilet facilities. In order to avoid congregation of people around basins and to facilitate physical distancing a limit will be placed on the number of people that can occupy the toilets at any one time
Hand Sanitiser
In order to avoid congregation around hand sanitisers they are being placed at several locations around the building and in the front hall.
The school is using alcohol-based hand sanitisers because the evidence of effectiveness is best for alcohol based hand rubs.
Handwashing Facilities
There are wash hand basins, liquid soap, running water and hand drying facilities available in all toilets, kitchens and food preparation areas.
The handwashing facilities will be cleaned regularly throughout the day and checked to ensure adequate supplies of liquid soap and paper towels.
There is no evidence that hand dryers are associated with increased risk of transmission of COVID-19. In order to facilitate physical distancing every alternate (adjacent) hand dryer has been disabled.
Posters displaying hand washing techniques and promoting hand washing are placed near all handwashing facilities. These posters are either laminated or presented in a clear plastic sleeve.
Frequency of Hand Hygiene
Posters will placed near handwashing/sanitising facilities informing students and staff they should perform hand hygiene:
⦁ On arrival at school;
⦁ Before eating or drinking;
⦁ After using the toilet;
⦁ After petting animals;
⦁ After playing outdoors;
⦁ When their hands are physically dirty;
⦁ When they cough or sneeze.
