BELIEVE AND ACHIEVE SPORTS COVID19: RETURN TO COACHING POLICY
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES ………………………………………………………………………………… 4
PRE-SITE ENTRY …………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
CONTROL MEASURES ………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
LESSON STRUCTURE & CURRICULUM CONTENT …………………………………….. 10
DECLARATION …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
INTRODUCTION
As an organisation, Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd echo the message from the Youth Sport
Trust, Sport England and The Association for Physical Education in relation to the
utilisation of physical education and physical activity during these unprecedented times.
We are committed to working with all partner organisations to ensure students can
participate in purposeful physical education and physical activity throughout this
period. Understandably, there will be some apprehension to the continuation of the
teaching of physical education and admittedly it will not be as it has been previously,
nor will it be the preferred model of teaching.
However, by working together and making appropriate adaptations, we firmly
believe that meaningful teaching and learning can still take place safely following
the implementation of well-planned and thought out protective and social
distancing measures.
This policy has been created by the Directors of Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd, with the aim
of clearly outlining measures that are to be taken by both our organisation and all
education partners to help maintain the safety and wellbeing of everyone including
Believe and Achieve Sports team members, school staff and children.
It has been formulated to cover a variety of areas including kit, equipment, key
responsibilities and other considerations. It also documents the key expectations
that we request all partner schools to adhere to and implement consistently. A
collaborative approach is key to ensuring we can keep everyone safe.
While this is a working document; given the fluidity of the situation, we will ensure
that any changes or updates are communicated clearly with all staff members and
partners. There is a requirement for all Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd staff to read and sign
to acknowledge they understand and agree to the principles in the policy.
We also request that a member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) within our partner
school’s signs and dates the document below too and by doing so confirming that
they are agreeing on behalf of your school to acknowledge and work in line with the
mandatory measures stated within the policy.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
In light of the current situation, we feel that it is of the upmost importance to outline
the key responsibilities in relation to the possibility of COVID19 being transmitted
from person to person.
In the event that this occurs, Believe and Achieve Sports endeavour to have a transparent and effective line of communication with both our team members and all partner
schools. As a result, the following procedure will be enforced;
Should a Believe and Achieve Sports coach or member of their household develop
symptoms or test positive for COVID19 they must inform a Director
immediately. We will then ensure that this is communicated with the relevant
persons within the schools to make them aware of the situation and act accordingly. The coach will then be required to self-isolate and follow the NHS guidance in relation to tracking and tracing before being considered to return to work.
Should a child, teacher or an immediate member of their household that has
been attending a partner school, develop symptoms or test positive for
COVID19 the school must inform a Believe and Achieve Sports Director at the earliest
opportunity. We will then communicate with our coaches that have been in
contact with the individual to follow the necessary protocol with regards to testing and self-isolating if required.
All communication between both parties must be followed up in writing to avoid
any misinterpretation of the information that has been provided.
Pre-Site Entry
The ‘PRE-SITE ENTRY’ section includes a variety of measures that are required to
be taken before a Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd member of staff enters the school site.
Risk Assessments
Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd will conduct a risk assessment for the delivery of PE and
physical activity, taking into account all factors that may arise in light of COVID19
and where possible, tailor the risk assessment for each individual school’s premises.
Cleaning and Hand Hygiene
Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd will provide in depth guidance to all staff members in relation to hand hygiene and general cleaning procedures. Senior management will also
produce guidance on the cleaning of uniform and equipment which is to be followed
by all staff members.
Staffing
Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd management team will aim to minimise the risk of transmitting the infection from school to school by allowing each coach to attend only one school per week, where possible.
Where this is not possible we will make each school aware that their coach may have
been teaching in another location that week. This will be confirmed via telephone
and written communication in advance of their arrival on site.
Each school, unless otherwise agreed, will only have one member of Believe and Achieve Sports staff on site at any one time.
Senior management will conduct an internal risk assessment and provide health and
wellbeing questionnaires to all staff members to establish those that may be at high
risk.
Control Measures
The ‘CONTROL MEASURES’ section consists of a number of factors that must be
put in place in order for Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd to deliver PE and physical activity in
schools safely.
This section is broken down into Believe and Achieve Sports’ responsibilities and also the
responsibilities of the school. It also contains a range of additional factors that are
not mandatory but are recommended.
Mandatory Believe and Achieve Sports Responsibilities
Lesson Planning:
- All lessons, where possible, must factor in social distancing guidance and the
avoidance of equipment sharing. However, the government acknowledge
that social distancing (the 2-metre rule) may not always be possible in a
Primary and Early Years setting. Therefore, in line with the Public Health
England guidance, frequent and consistent hand cleaning and minimising
contact during lessons is the priority.
Lesson Environment:
- All PE lessons, including dance, should take place outdoors as this can limit
transmission and make it easier to allow for distance between both children
and staff.
- The area used for PE should include a clearly marked out area for the coach
to occupy for the duration of the PE lesson. The coach should make it clear
to all children that they must not enter that area during the lesson.
- Where the lesson allows, each child should have their own marked out
area/zone for them to work in which adheres to the social distancing
guidelines.
Equipment:
- Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd will refrain from bringing sports equipment into school,
therefore only using the equipment that is made available to them by the
school. This is to ensure that all equipment used has been thoroughly cleaned
in advance of use and stays within one school premises.
- The use of bibs will be strictly forbidden within PE lessons.
- All equipment used must be kept separate from clean equipment and cleaned
either before being used again or stored away. It is the responsibility of the
coach to ensure the equipment is kept in a safe place before being cleaned.
- The Believe and Achieve Sports coach must take all equipment needed for the
morning/afternoons lessons to the teaching area prior to the start of their
timetabled period of teaching. This will ensure that the coach is not required
to unnecessarily walking through the school building in between lessons.
Communication:
- The coach should effectively communicate safety measures at the start of
each lesson to the children and must ensure that all children are reminded
throughout the lesson about social distancing measures and handling
equipment.
- The coach should make contact with a member of SLT to ensure they are
aware of any changes to fire procedures or specific plans on site they must
be aware of prior to teaching.
- The coach should communicate with a member of SLT to ensure they know
where the safest place is for them to take any breaks including their lunch
period.
Other:
- We are aware that specific measures will be in place throughout the day to
stagger arrival and departure times as well as break periods. To ensure we
are continuing to minimise risk when on site, Believe and Achieve Sports do not deem
it safe to continue with extra-curricular provision before, during or after
school.
- To help reduce the risk of transmitting the infection from one site to another,
we have suspended all dance provision across our partner schools. This will be
reviewed on an on-going basis and we will ensure that we communicate any
changes as and when necessary.
Mandatory Schools Responsibilities:
Group Sizes:
- Group sizes must not exceed 15 children. However, the group size must be in
relation to the space and facilities that are available at the school. This must
be agreed in advance by both the teaching staff and the Believe and Achieve Sports
coach.
Hand Hygiene:
- All children must have adequate facilities to wash their hands upon entering
and exiting a PE lesson. This will help to reduce risk should there be any
unavoidable sharing of any equipment during the lesson.
First Aid:
- A first aid plan of action must be put in place and communicated clearly to all staff members. Believe and Achieve Sports staff members, unless in anemergency are not responsible for the first aid of children to ensure that social distancing measures can be up kept within the environment of a PE lesson.
Equipment:
- All equipment will be provided by the school.
- All school sports equipment is to be cleaned before and after use. Following
the use of the sports equipment, it must be clearly separated from any clean
equipment and factored into the school’s cleaning regime.
- Schools must communicate the cleaning regime for sports equipment to
ensure the coach knows when the used equipment will be cleaned and
available for use again.
Travelling Around School:
- The school should have a safe and effective plan in place for children to travel
around school including to and from a PE lesson.
- Children should be brought to the PE lesson by a member of the teaching
staff and the coach should not be expected to either collect or return the
group to their classroom, unless otherwise agreed.
Communication:
- All partner schools must complete and return the ‘Safe Practice
Questionnaire’ provided prior to the start of any Believe and Achieve Sports provision.
- A member of SLT should make contact directly with the Believe and Achieve Sports
coach to ensure they are made aware of any changes to fire procedures,
safeguarding policies or specific plans prior to teaching.
Staffing Arrangements:
- An additional member of staff, preferably the main ‘bubble’ teacher must
remain in the PE lesson for the full duration to ensure that the coach can
maintain a safe level of practice for all children that are involved.
Other:
- In order to help reduce the risk of transmission, children wearing earrings
must not be asked to remove them by the coach or the school. Instead the
child will not be able to take part in the planned PE activities. It is the
responsibility of the school to provide the child with an activity to do and/or
liaise with the coach to provide a role for them within the lesson that is safe
to carry out.
Further Recommendations:
- Where possible, the Believe and Achieve Sports member of staff should be prepared
to stay in their teaching environment for the timetabled teaching periods. For
example, 09:00 – 12:00 with them only entering the building or walking
around the school in the case of an emergency or to use any toilet facilities
that are available.
- We recommend that adaptations are put in place so that children can either
come to school in their PE kit on their timetabled PE days or only change their
footwear for the lesson. Children may also need to bring additional clothing
in case of poor weather. Early Years children should not get changed for PE.
Lesson Structure & Curriculum Content
For obvious reasons, Believe and Achieve Sports may not be able to follow the curriculum
areas planned for this time of year and as a result the model of teaching will differ
significantly. The management team will ensure that all coaching staff are provided
with guidance and support for delivering PE and physical activity safely in a school
environment.
Most notably, the brief and debrief that will be provided at the start and end of each
lesson will be focused on advising and reminding children of the social distancing
measures and hygiene practices that are in place to minimise the risk of transmitting
the virus.
The lesson content will be devised from guidance supplied by the management
team at Believe and Achieve Sports which will include activity ideas that have been adapted
to take into account social distancing measures and will refrain, where possible, from
using or sharing equipment.
Curriculum areas that include excessive contact such as invasion games will be
forbidden and instead lessons will mainly focus on individual challenges and children
trying to achieve personal bests. This will include, but is not limited to, circuit
training, hand/foot eye coordination, athletics and other fundamental skills used
across the PE curriculum.
All Believe and Achieve Sports staff have taken part in an in-depth training session on safe
practice when teaching physical education in the current climate. This training
session also covered elements with regards to assessment and making adaptations
to the success criteria and expectations within each lesson. All lessons will work off
prescribed lesson objectives provided by the Believe and Achieve Sports management team.
During our whole team training session, we addressed a number of factors that we
need to take into consideration including the fitness levels and behaviour issues that
may arise as a result of the majority of children being at home for the duration of
the lockdown period. Our coaches will work with staff members to ensure that the
behaviour of children does not compromise the measures put in place to keep
everyone safe.
It is likely that the intensity of each PE lesson will be reduced significantly in the
initial stages while our coach assesses the impact being at home has had on the level
fitness amongst the individuals within the group. During each session, the coach will
also refrain from increasing the intensity to a level that may result in excessive
sweating, by introducing this measure we aim to reduce the risk of transmitting
infection through bodily fluids.
DECLARATION
By signing below, I confirm that I have read, understand and acknowledge the details
set out in the ‘COVID19: Return to Coaching Policy’ that has been provided by Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd, including my role and responsibilities to ensure the delivery of PE
and physical activity can be carried out safely.
On behalf of Believe and Achieve Sports Ltd:
Name: Stefan Gordon
Position: Director
Organisation: Believe and Achieve Sports
Date: 28/05/2020