19 minute read
Personal Appearance and Dress Code
PERSONAL APPEARANCE
The appearance of our teams has an important impact on the perceptions of children, parents and the public. All employees are expected to contribute to the positive impression of the School by being clean, behaving in an exemplary way and neat in appearance. The following criteria should be observed when you are in the school premises:
Advertisement
Hair must remain neat, clean and well-combed. Brown or black hair colouring is allowed only
Face or Body piercings are not allowed, except for regular earrings
Make up should remain light and natural looking
Subtle body deodorant can be worn
Hand and foot nails should be clean and neatly clipped. Only nail varnish of natural skin colour is allowed
Uniforms or casual office clothes should be free from stains and neatly pressed
Only closed toe shoes are allowed, unless a medical certificate is provided to require an alternative shoe style
Hair must remain neat, clean and well-combed. Brown or black hair colouring is allowed only. No over gelling or spikes.
Earrings or other body piercing accessories are not allowed
Moustaches must be well trimmed, neatlooking
Subtle body deodorant can be worn
Hand and foot nails should be clean and neatly clipped. Nail varnish is not allowed
Uniforms or casual office clothes should be free from stains and neatly pressed
Only closed toe shoes are allowed, unless a medical certificate is provided to require an alternative shoe style
Always have clean hands, wash them regularly; this prevents soiled uniforms and paperwork, whilst nicotine stains, chipped nail varnish show a lack of personal self-interest. Clean hands to prevent infections and disease spreading.
Remember to shower / bath regularly; use deodorant. However, don’t use overpowering aftershave, perfumes or excessive cosmetics. Employees should keep the uniform in good condition. No modification is allowed from the original model provided.
Uniforms remain the property of the school and must be handed back to the school on resignation.
ACCIDENTS & INCIDENTS
POLICY STATEMENT
OBJECTIVES Ainsfield School has moral and legal responsibilities to provide a safe and healthy work environment to its employees, students, visitors and parents. The headteacher is responsible for health and safety arrangements within the school. In the absence of the headteacher the assistant should take charge and make a detailed report. The school will make resources available so as to ensure health and safety of employees and others.
Each employee is expected to obey safety rules and exercise caution in all work activities. In the case of accidents that result in injury, regardless of how insignificant the injury may appear, employees should immediately notify the headteacher. Such reports are necessary to comply with laws and to initiate insurance and workers’ compensation benefit procedures in appropriate cases.
All parents should accompany their children in case of an accident otherwise the police should be notified to accompany the injured pupil. Parents have an option to subscribe to the Mauritius Union accident insurance per year. All hazards must be reported to the headteacher by teaching and non- teaching staff. Action must be taken by the head teacher and follow-up report made.
9.2 ACCIDENTS & HAZARDS
There are First Aid boxes in all departments (Nursery, Infant and Primary). In case of an accident, parents are notified immediately. All minor accidents should be recorded in pupil’s diaries. All teaching and nonteaching staff must notify accidents and incidents, which should be recorded in a log book. Moreover, parents must be informed and follow up made.
PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES 1. All exits are marked and free of obstruction. 2. Two or more doors have been opened on ground floor in case of OBJECTIVESfirebreak out. Fire drill to be done once a year. 3. Children to meet at assembly point. 4. Fire extinguisher situated on all floors of the building and in each department.
PROCEDURE 1. Raise the alarm 2. Anyone discovering a firebreak out must inform all colleagues. 3. Fire services should be called immediately. 4. Evacuate the building with the assistance of all teaching staff. 5. All non-teaching staff should mobilise to attack the fire by using fire extinguishers. 6. Teachers should in a single file line up pupils and proceed to the assembly point. 7. At the assembly point teachers should have their register and call out names of all pupils. 8. The school attendant should verify all toilets to be sure that nobody is left in the building.
9.4 FOOD SAFETY STATEMENT POLICY
Ainsfield School shall continually comply with legal and other requirements related to our services and products so as to provide the assurance that our foods are prepared under strict conditions of hygiene and control and ensure they do not cause any health hazards to the children and employees.
Any employee involved in the making, handling and distribution of food must acquire and renew their Food Handler Certificate in due time, giving notification of their appointment so as to make necessary arrangements.
◦ Access to the school building is restricted to employees, students, registered parents, authorised suppliers, authorised visitors. Access to main gates is controlled with locks during school hours. ◦ Installation of security cameras to monitor classes and school grounds.
◦ The school perimeters in particular classrooms, school grounds, hallways, halls, stores, eating areas and reception area are monitored by security cameras. ◦ Teaching and non-teaching staff are required to wear uniforms as form of identification. ◦ All visitors must produce ID's at the reception. ◦ Visitors are not allowed in the classroom during class hours. ◦ Early departure of pupils must be recorded in Early Departure
Book. ◦ The school has full right to refuse a relative to pick up a pupil unless permission given by parents.
◦ Divorced parents with no parental custody can be refused access to the school. ◦ Late arrivals of pupils must be recorded in Late Book. ◦ All employees must register their arrival and departure through the clocking device and manual attendance book. ◦ Employees checking out during the day must register at the time in and out on the clocking device.
PREVENTIVE AND SANITARY MEASURES
S A N I T A R Y M E A S U R E S
COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with and the imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education remains. Reviews and updates made to the existing policies must be followed in the documents themselves, as they pertain to realtime risk assessments, new laws and amendments as the circumstances in the school and the public health advice changes. This handbook only holds information relevant at the time of writing.
The priority of Ainsfield School is to deliver face-toface / online, high-quality education to all pupils. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.
Students, teachers, and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness.
Ainsfield School recommends all staff and eligible pupils take up the offer of a vaccine.
Each employee must wear a protective mask over his / her nose and mouth as well as ensure that every child aged 5 and above, wears a protective mask over the child’s nose and mouth. Same should apply when travelling in a shared vehicle space.
Every employee must ensure that he / she disinfects his / her hands regularly using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser, where same is available. Hands must be thoroughly washed with soap and water for 20 seconds or use hand sanitiser after using the washroom (toilet).
Every teacher shall ensure that appropriate measures are in place to implement the social and physical distancing rules in the classroom as far as possible.
Refer to the Sanitary Procedures for the Personnel under COVID-19 Conditions document.
10.4 CLEANING REGIMES
Staff in the Support Team will be observing the Cleaning and Sanitisation Protocol Procedure. This should include regular cleaning of areas and equipment (for example, twice per day), with a particular focus on frequently touched surfaces.
Refer to the Sanitary and Hygiene Guidelines - Supporting Department
Arrangements have been made for gate control. These include opening and closing of gate, recording of name of visitor, time of access to school, purpose of visit, and registration number of vehicle (where applicable).
Parents / Responsible Parties willing to meet the headteacher in connection with any matter relating to their ward are advised to seek appointment. Access can be granted to an employee / visitor who is fully vaccinated ( after two (2) weeks after his / her second dose or four (4) weeks after Johnson & Johnson vaccine), or is in possession of a documented medical certificate (certificat médical détaillé), duly certified by a panel of two Government medical officers that, by reason of his medical conditions, he cannot be vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine.
Regulated under the COVID-19 (Restriction of Access to Specified Institutions) Regulations 2021, no person shall have access unless he produces:
(a) his COVID-19 vaccination card certifying that he has been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine; or (b) in case he has not been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine, a RT-PCR test result slip certifying a negative result dating back to not more than 7 days from the date of the RT-PCR test was undertaken.
INFECTED CASE
An employee is qualified as infected pending a positive COVID test result and the issue of a medical certificate by a quarantine officer stipulating the requirement to quarantine / self-isolate for a specific duration. Sick leave is applicable to an employee who has been tested positive of Covid-19 and is in presence of an official test.
The self-confinement period may be prolonged as the quarantine officer may determine (initially 10 days period). The Medical Certificate of Isolation Period must be submitted to the headteacher to validate the accountability of the leave.
The employee should not leave his / her place of residence without the authority of the quarantine officer. After the period of 10 days, the employee may resume work without any further test to be done on the last day of isolation.
An employee is considered to be in close contact with someone with COVID-19 positive if:
A. The person has been in close contact by less than 2 metres for a period of 15 minutes within 24 hours.
B. He / She was not wearing any face mask during close contact.
C. Direct exposure to respiratory secretions ( Eg coughed, sneezed, sharing glasses, utensils, smoking, kissing..)
D. He / she was caring for a person who has COVID-19. E. He / She was living with a person who has COVID-19. Close face-to-face contact ( under 1 meter) for any length of time - including talking to them or coughing on them.
That employee can be requested or request to be selfisolated as a precautionary measure for a maximum of 10 days, for which no test is needed. The nature of leave will be accounted under the annual leave policy.
Further to a reported case of infection, the administrative staff must notify the local authorities which will require the school / section to be temporarily closed for 48 hours during which, a deep disinfection exercise will be carried out by the Public Health Sanitary team.
The Ministry of Health and Wellness may issue guidelines to the Ministry of Education to order the closure of specified institutions, places or premises, or restrict the access of a category of individuals to those mentioned places, or just require that children stay at home and pursue their studies online.
The headteacher will consider whether it is possible for specific staff should be undertaking certain roles to work from home without disrupting to faceto-face education. Clear instructions of possible online classroom settings and schedules, work-from-home planning and the roster of any requirement to attend to the school premises for preparatory work will be communicated. The start and end time of duty remain unchanged for each respective category of employees.
11.0
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Y C I L O P . T . I
POLICY STATEMENT
The following policy shall apply to all students, teachers and staff of Ainsfield School unless otherwise specified. The computing and network facilities at Ainsfield School are a vital component of the academic environment. Each person using the network must be considerate of other users. The purpose of these facilities is the support of teaching, learning and research by its authorised users.
Internet / Intranet / Extranet-related systems, including but not limited to networking equipment, computer equipment, software, operating systems, storage media, network accounts providing electronic mail, wireless, and web browsing, are the property of Ainsfield School. These systems are to be used for educational purposes serving the interests of the school, and of our teachers and students in the course of teaching and learning in accordance with the policies of Ainsfield School as are in effect from time to time. The use of the internet and computer facilities are not for private, commercial business, political or religious use. The data transmitted, and files in the network are the property of Ainsfield School.
Ainsfield School hereby exercises and reserves the right to monitor, supervise and limit the use of computers and the network. The administration shall ensure that each student in the school receives the policy and procedures regulating the use of computers and network.
Users must not engage in activities that will interfere with services provided to all network users. (This includes but is not limited to misuse of email, propagating virus hoaxes, “spamming”, illegal download activity, “computer hacking”, “network sniffing”. The inappropriate use of bandwidth (streaming Netflix or conducting business other than Ainsfield school business) causing internet outages for users of the network is strictly prohibited.)
All users must be aware that they should not have any expectation of personal privacy in the use of these computer systems.
Under no circumstances is a student or employee of Ainsfield School authorised to engage in any activity that is illegal under local or international laws while using Ainsfield School resources. The following activities are strictly prohibited:
1. Violations of the rights of any person or company protected by copyright, patent or other intellectual property laws or regulations, including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of “pirated” or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by Ainsfield School. 2. Unauthorised copying of copyrighted material including, but not limited to, digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books or other copyrighted sources, unauthorised downloading or use of copyrighted music, or movies and the installation of any copyrighted software for which
Ainsfield School or the end user does not have an active license is strictly prohibited.
3. Providing information about, or lists of, Ainsfield School employees or students to parties outside Ainsfield School. 4. Revealing your account password to others or allowing use of your account by others. This includes family and other household members when work is being done at home.
5. Executing any form of network monitoring devise or software which will intercept data is strictly prohibited. Any user identified as using a devise or software on the network considered harmful to the stability and security of the network will be reprimanded accordingly and could lead to the dismissal from school.
6. Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (e.g., viruses, worms, Trojan horses, Network Sniffers, etc.)
7. Any form of harassment via email, telephone, paging, or posting of inappropriate information to the Internet (including but not limited to instant messaging and social networking sites) whether through video, pictures, language, frequency, or size of messages. 8. Use of a school email address or account other than your own.
9. Any user found to have violated this policy, applicable ICT laws and regulations, or posted classroom or system rules is subject to loss of computer and network privileges and other disciplinary action including disciplinary committee (students), termination (employee), and criminal prosecution.
Posting to the web (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) or through email of inappropriate information (personal contact information, or school name or address), derogatory comments about other people or about the school, or inappropriate artwork, photographs or unauthorised video of the school or school personnel is not allowed. The appropriateness of said postings shall be determined by the Administration of Ainsfield School.
No picture or footage of the daily activities of the school or featuring of children shall be allowed to be posted on any social media unless they are screened and approved by the administrative staff / headteacher.
Online activities which are considered inappropriate: • Identifying or posting images / videos of children • Abusive or personal comments about staff, governors, children or other parents • Bringing the school in disrepute • Posting defamatory or libellous comments • Emails circulated or sent directly with abusive or personal comments about staff or children • Using social media to publicly challenge school policies or discuss issues about individual children or members of staff • Threatening behaviour, such as verbally intimidating staff, or using bad language • Breaching school security procedures
In case of infectious diseases occurring in epidemic forms, that may require the temporary closure of the school, the teaching staff and other personnel of the educational institutions shall be required to engage in, produce and conduct, distance education and online learning programmes, including broadcast lessons.
The teaching staff will be assisted by the administrative personnel in order to engage in, producing and conducting a high quality distance education, in a timely fashion. The standard of distance education will be subject to administration, monitoring and supervision by the Ministry and any of its statutory bodies, with the purpose to maintain the quality of delivery and educational aim.
ASSISTANCE
The administration must ensure that training is regularly refreshed with teachers, and that appropriate trouble-shooting support is available, so that transfer to the remote environment can happen seamlessly when needed.
Teachers are encouraged to use different interactive, teachercreated resources such as: • worksheets • tests and quizzes • video or sound recordings of explanations hosted on platforms such as YouTube, or available on a school, remote-access area.
Any online education offer should mirror that which is taking place in school as much as possible. Any employee who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any requirement mentioned shall be deemed to be in breach of his contract of employment; may be liable to disciplinary proceedings. This “work-from-home” scheme applies during the delivery of online classroom activities.
Staff required to hold or support online classroom must maintain professional practice as much as possible. When communicating online with parents, carers, pupils and students, staff members should:
i. communicate within school hours as much as possible (or hours agreed with the school suit the needs of staff) ii. communicate through the school channels approved by the headteacher iii. use email accounts provided by the school (not personal ones) iv. avoid sharing of personal information v. ensure parents are clear when and how they can communicate with teachers (resources to support communications are available) vi. ensure logins and passwords are secure and pupils and students understand that they should not share this information with others
Teachers should try to find a quiet or private room or area to talk to pupils, students, parents or carers. When broadcasting a lesson or making a recording, consider what will be in the background.
Teachers sometimes might be required to contact pupils or parents by telephone to explore ways to secure re-engagement. Every incident and difficulty met must be reported to the administration / headteacher.
The administration must ensure that training is regularly refreshed with teachers, and that appropriate trouble-shooting support is available, so that transfer to the remote environment can happen seamlessly when needed.
MONITORING
