Wiltshire parents urged to continue social distancing when doing school run
A letter has been shared with schools to be passed on to families
Parents in Wiltshire are being urged by the council to not meet up or hang around in groups and keep their distance when dropping or picking up their children at school.
Most education settings in the county are doing staggered starts to avoid this happening, but the local authority are concerned about adults gathering in playgrounds and outside of school.
Wiltshire Council have sent a letter to schools from Public Health Wiltshire Director Kate Blackburn to give to parents.
It says:
"We would ask that parents and carers limit their interactions with other people when doing the school run. Many schools have staggered drop-off times for their pupils to help limit the amount of people that come into contact with each other, so it's sensible for those who drop the children off to be cautious too.
COVID-19 likes people and we don't want to give it any additional opportunities to spread. I'd like to thank all parents and carers for their efforts so far, the overall case numbers are heading in the right direction and that's down to everyone's efforts."
There is also some concern that if the children see their parents getting close to others and chatting, that behaviour may rub off on them.
Kate Blackburn also told Greatest Hits Radio:
"Children are like fantastic little sponges and they will absorb what's going on around them and the better example we can all set to our children the more prospect there is of us returning to some sort of normality in June.
I have to say that across the county our educational settings, our parents, our carers have all been phenomenal throughout these last twelve months and this is really that last push. It might seem strange to see one of your friends at the school gate as an adult and not be able to go over and chat to them and stand together but it's only for a time limited period so we would really ask you to do as much as you can to make sure that you and the children are really staying apart as much as possible."