PARENTS and carers across the county are being advised to wear face coverings when dropping off and collecting children from school.

The new advice from Public Health follows recommends that face coverings should be worn where it is physically difficult for parents to follow 2 metre social distancing rules.

This extra measure is being introduced to keep the whole school community safe, especially those who are most vulnerable.

At the beginning of the week, there were 30 schools across the county with full or partial bubbles closed.

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Dr Kathryn Cobain, Director of Public Health at Worcestershire County Council, said: “I’d like to ask for the support of parents and carers to keep to the social distancing guidelines at all times, when dropping off and picking up your children.

“We strongly advise wearing a face-covering if you’re unable to keep apart, by doing this you can help prevent the spread of the virus. Let’s continue our hard work and remain in the lowest tier of measures.”

Last week Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire Children First began the roll out of colourful lamppost wraps to over 200 schools to help remind residents of the importance of social distancing.

Councillor Marcus Hart, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Education and Skills at Worcestershire County Council said: “We’ve had positive feedback that our lamppost wraps are helping to remind our parents and carers in Worcestershire to keep to the social distancing rules when doing the school run.

“This latest advice from Public Health is another measure parents can take to help keep our school communities safe.”

Red Hill Primary School has already asked parents and carers to wear face coverings when on school premises.

Emily Calvert, headteacher of North Worcester Primary Academy, said: “At North Worcester, we asked parents to wear face coverings during drop off and pick up times over a week ago.

“Despite the one-way system and social distancing rules we had in place, we felt that the extra protection of a face covering would help our parents and teachers feel more confident at these cross-over times.

“We have since had a visit from two inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive who, after a lengthy inspection, determined that our systems were rigorous and practicable. 

“As a part of Rivers Academy Trust we continually work together to make the very best decisions in the interests of the all the children in our care.

“Our ability as a trust is rooted in the collaborative measures we put in place and we will continue to put safety at the heart of these decisions.”

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