______Jellytots and New Wave Swim Squad Covid-19 operating guidelines for Parents_______
*Entering and Exiting the Swimming Pool
Social distancing must be maintained when entering and exiting the swimming facility.
Entrance to the swimming pool MUST be through the viewing gallery NOT the changing rooms. Exit will be via the changing rooms.
Please use the hand gel provided and wash your hands thoroughly before entry and exit.
Parents MUST arrive as close to their lesson as possible and NOT arrive early to reduce the amount of people within the facility.
Parents and Children MUST leave the facility immediately after swimming. You must not congregate in the changing rooms or entrance lobby.
Feeding babies and children is no longer permitted in the building. If you need to feed your child you must do it outside or in your car please.
Prams must be left in the corridor as you enter the building on the left hand side (not blocking any doors). You must use the one way system and leave the building to come back round to the entrance to collect your pram.
*Current COVID-19 related government restrictions that apply to everyone are;
a) Any swimmer/parent/guardian that has been in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 must self isolate for 10 days;
b) Any swimmer/parent/guardian with symptoms or signs of COVID-19 (see below) MUST NOT attend the swim schools until full recovery has taken place.
Symptoms of COVID-19 can range from mild illness to pneumonia. Symptoms can be any of the following;
* Fever
* Coughing
* Sore throat
* Shortness of breath
* Loss of taste or smell
* Temperature above 37.5 c
* Fatigue
* Unusual muscle aches and pains
* Diarrhoea
Jellytots Swim School and New Wave Swim Squad will pass on any necessary details to the NHS Test and Trace service if requested to assist should there be a confirmed case of COVID-19. We will NOT share your private information with anyone else for any reason.
*General New Pool Rules
Only ONE parent is now allowed to accompany their child for their lesson
No siblings are allowed to accompany the parent and child to lessons
Second parent is not allowed to wait in the lobby/entrance to the swimming pool - you must wait in your car
Accompanying parent not entering the pool (parent free lessons) with their child MUST wear a face mask or covering in the viewing gallery at all times
Parents must not interact with the teacher for general enquiries face to face during lesson time, this must be done via email or telephone to minimise risk to the teachers
Changing mats will no longer be provided for hygiene reasons and you MUST bring your own to every lesson
Swimmers MUST arrive in their swim wear before the lesson and change in the viewing gallery before entering the pool, NOT the changing rooms
Please only bring ONE swimming bag with you and nothing else
After your swimming lesson you can collect your bag and enter the changing room to get changed and then leave
You must change in a cubicle. Swimmers and parents will be asked to split themselves evenly between changing rooms and not take notice of the male and female signs (unless there is a religious reason or any other personal reason)
Parents should consider using dressing gowns/onsies for their children rather than fully getting them dressed (while the weather is warmer) to enable them to leave the facility quickly
If possible please shower at home to reduce the traffic poolside
Hairdryers must NOT be used
You must NOT shake your towels or clothing items as this could put the virus in the air
*How your lessons will be changing
We will be changing the lesson time to reduce the amount of people on poolside during a changeover.
To do this we must REDUCE the lesson time by 5 minutes.
This has been advised by the STA, along with the removal of “play time/free time” in the last five minutes of the lesson to eliminate the transition of the virus through toys. We will allow two and half minutes for parents to exit the pool with their children and then the last two and a half minutes for the next lesson to enter the pool.
(IF THIS CHANGE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO YOU THEN WE WILL REFUND YOU FOR YOUR LESSONS, HOWEVER WE WILL NOT HOLD YOUR PLACE FOR THE FOLLOWING TERM. WE WILL CONTINUALLY REASSESS THIS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GUIDELINES FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND THE STA, AND THE MOMENT WE FEEL IT IS SAFE TO REINTRODUCE TOYS AND EXTEND THE LESSON TO OUR USUAL HALF AN HOUR WE WILL DO SO. WE HAVEN’T MADE THIS DECISION LIGHTLY, BUT ULTIMATELY WE FEEL IT IS BEST ALL ROUND FOR EVERYONE’S SAFETY).
Social distancing must be maintained within the water. 2 metres apart when stationary and 1 metre apart when moving is what the STA have deemed to be acceptable.
Parents and Children will be encouraged not to practice breathing techniques in the direction of others, and a back to back, or back to front positioning in the water will be advised during lessons.
The teachers will be utilising the pool space and exercises in accordance with social distancing.
Your teacher will NOT be getting into the pool to teach for most of the lessons (parent and baby) - unless there is a risk to life which will always take precedent. They will teach from poolside and have a clear view of the class to monitor social distancing. For parent free classes we will be raising the pool to 0.8mts so that the children can stand in the pool and one of the teachers will be in the water to teach wearing a face mask.
Teachers will no longer be passing your baby to you when you get into the water. You must use the steps.
Swimmers must not share equipment, including goggles
*Cleaning
Lancaster school will be cleaning the facilities between each let, so it will be fresh for our use
We will be cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting all the equipment after use and will have a strict log of when it has been done, by whom and at what time. Between lessons on each day the use of equipment can be submerged in the pool and be used by the next class. Deep cleaning will take place at the end of the day.
(You MUST NOT let your children put equipment in their mouths)
Our staff have been briefed and trained on the importance of hygiene and cleaning during this pandemic
SOCIAL DISTANCING MEASURES
We have reduced our Jellytots class sizes to 8 parents (and baby) to maintain social distancing. Usually we can take between 12-10 in the pool for certain classes. The pool is 10x5 meters and we could take 10 still, but we feel that would be difficult to control - and although this will drastically reduce our profit as an organisation we feel this is the best way to move forward for this term. The New Wave classes will be 12 children maximum rather and 15 as we can space them out with less difficulty.
In some cases we may feel that parents may need to come into the water to help their children in parent free classes if they need more manual support than the teacher can safely provide. This will be discussed with you in advance.
No high fives, hand shakes or contact will be made from the teachers. Thumbs up and verbal positive praise will be used instead to encourage and motivate the swimmers
We will use sinkers to mark 2 metres distancing around the pool
SAFETY AND GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES - Quoted from STA Covid-19 Swim Schools Re-Opening Guidance V20-7
THE LATEST GOVERNMENT INFORMATION BASED ON SCIENTIFIC ADVISE STATES;
“Where settings can keep children and young people in small groups 2 metres away from each other, they should do so.
While in general, groups should be kept apart, brief transitory contact, such as passing in a corridor, is low risk.”
Arguably, the government’s principle of “duration and proximity” could be equally applied in a children’s (pre-schoolers and primary age) swimming lesson - keeping young swimmers 2 metres apart whilst stationary in the pool and reduce this rule whilst a swimmer briefly moves/transitions past another swimmer i.e minimum 1 metre as per WHO (World Health Organisation) social distancing recommendations
*** Thank you for taking the time to read this ****
If we all follow these new guidelines we can keep swimming whilst keeping everyone safe
IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS THEN PLEASE CONTACT ASHLEY IN THE OFFICE - office@jellytots-swimschool.com
We have put together a walk through video of Lancaster School (filmed on a iphone in 10 minutes - so please excuse the production value!).
PLEASE WATCH IN HD
This will show you how to enter and exit the building from September 2020 and information on how we will be operating safely for the oncoming terms.
Please watch to the end to see our parking spaces. It's very important for new clients to know where we are allowed to park as spaces are limited and we don't want to upset the school or The Westcliff Centre which have the spaces at the end of the car park - furthest from the school.
(Classes after 4pm can park anywhere because the school has finished)
Please also make sure you have carefully read through our Covid-19 operating guidlelines for Jellytots, New Wave and also Aquatherapy. I will be resending them to Jellytots and New Wave today.
We are so excited to be getting back to swimming tomorrow and we're really happy with how Lancaster School have laid out their one way system to keep us all safe.
Thanks for watching everyone!
