Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates on what's happening in East Ayrshire schools and early childhood centres.
NHS Ayrshire & Arran guidance for parents and carers
Now that schools and nurseries have returned, NHS Ayrshire & Arran want to provide some advice if your child has symptoms of the common cold or similar bugs during this pandemic:
Face coverings
Young people over the age of 5 years will now be required to wear a face covering on school transport. We ask that parents and carers work alongside us in ensuring that their young people are ready to travel, by ensuring they have their face covering with them.
From Monday 31 August, we ask and encourage ALL secondary age young people to wear face coverings in corridors and other crowded places where social distancing is difficult. All of our young people (primary and secondary) have been welcome to wear a face covering in any area of school since we returned and we now ask for the full cooperation of secondary pupils in bringing a face covering to school for their own use to comply with this new guidance. A face covering will only be made available by school in the case of a young person forgetting theirs, or in an issue around access to such a resource. Parents should alert the school in the case of any difficulty with this.
We are absolutely aware that some of our young people cannot and should not wear a face covering for extremely valid reasons. We expect that all other pupils will wear a face covering in the circumstances above, however, as per guidelines, no pupils will be excluded from education for not doing so.
What is a face covering?
A face covering covers the chin, mouth and nose and is not necessarily a medical face mask, but these can be worn. A face covering is made of preferably two layers of cloth and should be washed nightly at 60 degrees or more, or in boiling water.
Return to school
Following the recent announcement from the Deputy First Minister in the return of schools, we are delighted to bring you more details on our plans to reinstate education for young people in East Ayrshire.
Wellbeing guide
Help and advice on supporting worries children might have about school.
School meals pre-order portal
From Wednesday 12 August 2020, our Catering Service will be introducing a Pre-order Portal for school meals in secondary schools. This can be accessed using an activation code which has been emailed to pupils' Glow accounts. Find out how to pre-order school meals on our school meals pre-order portal page.
Exam results and appeals
Update on the Barony Campus
The Barony Campus in Cumnock, Scotland’s most innovative, ambitious and inclusive learning facility will welcome the young people of The Robert Burns Academy on Monday 26 October.
Find out more on The Barony Campus page.
Travel and access information
Download the travel and access information for the Barony Campus (PDF 5.76Mb)
The Robert Burns Academy Passport
Download the Passport to the Barony Campus - The Robert Burns Academy (PDF 6.89Mb)
Allocation of early learning and childcare places
We have been in close contact with the Scottish Government throughout lockdown and have been awaiting the Phase 3 guidance on reopening early learning and childcare services. We are now in a position to confirm the allocation of places and parents and carers will receive direct contact from their centre shortly.
Read the latest update on the allocation of early learning and childcare places.
Press releases
Read our press releases:
Critical childcare
On Thursday 23 July, the Deputy First Minister confirmed that the provision of critical childcare for key workers as part of the emergency response to COVID-19 can cease after Friday 31 July.
East Ayrshire Council has agreed to continue this provision in line with our original dates. This means that the final day for critical childcare provision in early childhood centres will be Thursday 6 August and for school-aged childcare it will be Friday 7 August. There will be no further access to Childcare Hubs beyond these dates and on that basis we will no longer be accepting new registrations for this provision.
What about the safety of our schools and ECCs?
All schools and ECCs will receive a full clean prior to the children returning in August.
Since May we've been giving all educational establishments and Council premises have received an enhanced clean (Level 3) on a daily basis. This is a level of clean specifically designed to provide, not only a high level of cleaning, but a special focus on ‘touch points’ throughout the building.
The main bulk of the cleaning will be delivered before and after the school day, however this will be supported with regular ‘check cleaning’ and ‘touch point’ cleaning throughout the school day.
The use of Innu science products for cleaning across our schools allows us to provide cutting edge, long lasting and effective cleaning. These products minimise the risk of infection by leaving a protective layer on all surfaces. Along with traditional methods of cleaning these products are used in conjunction with Electrostatic spray guns to ‘mist clean’ in public areas as required.
All Council buildings also undergo regular and rigorous quality assurance inspections to make sure standards are maintained.
Registered childminders
From 25 March all registered childminders have been told only to provide childcare for children of critical key workers.
Minister for Children and Young People, Maree Todd MSP has written to each one of the near 200 registered Childminders in East Ayrshire via the Care Inspectorate registration system. Read the letter from the Scottish Government (PDF 159Kb).
You can find the latest guidance on critical childcare provision for keyworkers on the Scottish Government website.
If you are a registered childminder affected by these closures you can find out about Scottish Government financial support on the Scottish Government website.
Funded providers
Funded private and third sector providers can find out about Scottish Government financial support on their website.
What happens while my child is not at school/ECC?
All other children and young people will continue to receive educational input via online platforms such as Glow. School and centre staff will also be providing updates to you via the school app and other communication tools. Schools and ECCs will keep in contact with you and your family via regular communications to maintain the already great sense of community and togetherness in our schools and ECCs.
You can also receive regular email updates on education by signing up with our StayConnected system and selecting topics that interest you.
School transport invoices
Due to the schools closing on Friday 20 March 2020, it has been confirmed that subsidised school transport invoices will be credited for the time that they are closed.
Parents and carers are asked to cancel any standing orders for their school transport invoices.
All debt recovery has been suspended on these invoices until further notice.
We will be in touch with parents and carers soon regarding overpayments or underpayments.
School updates
We will make sure that all parents, carers and staff are kept informed with information about their child’s school/ECC by using the following platforms:
We thank all parents, carers and pupils for their understanding in these exceptional circumstances.
Useful links
Scottish Government
UK Government
Other links