School Workshops – Talk The Talk Covid 19 Policy & Procedure
As society emerges from the nationwide lockdown, the simple act of talking to each other will be more important than ever.
That’s why Talk The Talk continue to make their suite of oracy workshops available to schools in order to support the transition from lockdown to the new normal.
Talk The Talk is committed to ensuring the safety of its employees, workshop trainers, school staff and students. We have therefore put a series of precautionary measures in place to reassure our schools that we are providing the safest possible environment for all students who participate in our workshops.
Our suite of oracy workshops have always been classroom based and highly practical. We provide one trainer for each class of students, this means we have always worked within bubbles and remained in the same classroom for the full school day.
In addition, we have differentiated our delivery activity so as to ensure compliance with the prevailing social distancing measures in your school.
School Visits
Before being allowed to enter school premises, any workshop trainer or Talk The Talk employee will have to confirm the following three statements with Talk The Talk:
1. I have been free of symptoms of a new, continuous cough, loss of taste or smell and/or high temperature for 14 days.
2. If I live with others and I or one of them have symptoms as above, then all household members have isolated at home for 14 days.
3. I am not subject to a quarantine order following an overseas trip or a regional ‘lockdown’.
Any workshop trainer or employee who is unable to confirm the above will be reminded of their responsibility to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and will not be permitted to enter school premises under any circumstance.
Any workshop trainer or employee who is in a position prior to delivery whereby they cannot confirm the above statements will be required to inform the Director of Talk The Talk immediately.
Talk The Talk staff will maintain regular contact with school staff who have arranged workshops to ensure that all those involved are up to date with relevant guidelines, policies and procedures and to ensure safety at all times.
Keeping Students & Staff Safe
All workshop trainers and Talk The Talk employees must be vigilant of their surroundings and take the necessary precautions to keep themselves and others safe and healthy. Trainers and Talk The Talk staff will:
Follow physical/social distancing rules
Maintain high levels of hygiene – including but not limited to the regular washing of hands and use of hand sanitizer
Follow school timetables on staggered start, finish and break times
Cover their mouth and nose with their bent elbow or tissue when they cough or sneeze and throw the tissue away immediately
Ensure they have access to a face mask/covering at all times should one be required when moving around the school premises.
The safest and most responsible thing for anyone working in schools is to conduct a lateral flow test on a twice weekly basis in order to do everything in our power to protect others and ourselves. Our trainers carry out regular lateral flow testing as a matter of course.
If we are informed by any workshop trainer or member of staff that they have tested positive for, or are presenting symptoms of COVID 19, we will contact any schools that they have visited whilst working for Talk The Talk to notify them immediately.
In addition to any ‘track and trace’ approaches, or similar, taken by schools we will also be operating the following pro-active approach to further minimise COVID-19 transmission risk. We will contact each school we have worked with 7 days after delivery of our workshops to check if any COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the year group bubble that we worked with. Should any cases be reported we will immediately stand down the trainers involved.
-Talk The Talk
Updated 13.4.21
