Wearing a face mask.

To keep everyone in our community as safe as possible at Eastbrook we have taken the decision that from Monday 21st of September face masks will be mandatory for all students and staff when they are in indoor communal indoor areas such as corridors, the school reception, and the dining halls once students have finished eating. This decision has been taken on the advice of the Director of Public Health for Barking and Dagenham purely as an additional precautionary measure, and is consistent with most other school in the local area. When students are outside the buildings masks will remain optional as social distancing protocols are in place and are considered the most effective way of remaining safe. In line with current government advice we will continue with our position of not having masks within the classrooms.

It is important that students are aware of the advised procedures for safely taking a mask on and off. The link below gives some useful guidance on this

We ask that all parents take a moment to watch the clip and ensure that their child comes to school each day with a face mask.

If a child forgets to do so, we will provide a surgical mask for the day, but hopefully that won’t be necessary.. we are sure all parents and students recognise how important this is.

In a very small number of cases students may be exempt from wearing a face mask. Click here to read government guidance on this. However, I would ask all parents to consider this very carefully and speak to us.

This action has been taken to keep everyone as safe as possible

The start and the end of the day

Parents and members of the public passing the school at the moment will notice that there are far fewer students on the pavement outside the school and at the bus stops at the end of the school day.

As you know we have introduced staggered start and finish times for our students this year to ensure that the ‘student bubbles’ do not come into contact with each other. As an additional safety measure, we have insisted that students do not use the shops in the local area before or after school. This is simply to ensure that we do not have large gatherings of students from different year groups in the same place at the same time.

We consider this to be an essential safety measure, particularly given the current national position on gatherings of people, to minimise any risk to members of our school community. The students fully understand why we are doing this and have responded very positively to our expectations. My thanks also go to all parents for their support in this matter.

Reporting Covid related absences

The table below for guidance on what action to take should your child need to stay off school for any Covid 19 related reason. Please click on the image below and read carefully. As ever we are happy to answer any questions you may have.