St Denys Church: Guidelines for Onsite Small-scale Gatherings

Reducing the Risk of Covid 19

Date: 10^th July 2020

These Guidelines aim to balance welcome, safety and well-being for all those involved, and to reflect government guidelines.

The Group Leader should also read the Risk Assessment ‘Small Scale Group Gatherings’ which underpins this guidance.

And please liaise with Martin to make and confirm your booking.

What house rules do all Group Members need to be told?

• Stay away if you have symptoms
• Clean your hands with hand sanitiser on arrival and departure.
• Keep your distance from one another (ideally 2m, but over 1m if caution taken such as not directly facing each other, wearing a face mask.)
• No passing items to each other (e.g. plates, biscuits, pens, phones)
• Only go inside for the toilet or to arrive/leave the group.
• Tell the Group Leader (Host) if you display symptoms within a week.
• If it is raining then the group is postponed.

How Many People Can Come?

We suggest that you aim for the following:

• 1 or 2 people to be your Hospitality Team (the only people serving refreshments to the Group Tables & clearing away refreshments after people have left)
• 1 or 2 Table Hosts (this can include the Group Leader), and they should stay with the allocated Table
• 10 guests (hosted in groups of 5 max, as with a Table Host this makes 6)
• If unexpected guests turn up, they will need to be accommodated on chairs separate from the existing groups (we suggest an Overspill area)
• If you want more than this, you will need to set up at least 3 large tables on the grass outside the Office.

Note: Government Guidelines currently allow social groups of 6 people, up to a total of 30 people at an event, as long as people don't move between groups and as long as we have the capacity to fit people in whilst maintaining social distancing. In practice,  we are setting up the Preschool Garden for hosting groups and we estimate this can fit 2 Groups of 6, plus the Refreshment Team and a small Overspill space for 1 or 2. 

Do I need to record details about who comes?

• YES. The Group Leader is responsible for recording the name and contact details of everyone who is present for the activity, including team, group members and unexpected attendees. 
• The Hospitality Box has contains Registration Forms you can use. 
• Please store this information securely for 21 days after the group has met.

Where Can We Meet?

• Outside at the moment. 
• We strongly suggest using the Preschool Garden, and we are aiming to have it set up for the summer. This will have 2 large tables set up for groups of 6 which allow people to sit socially distanced, plus a Refreshment Table and an Overspill area. 
• Alternatively you can set up the area outside the Church office, but you will need a team to set this up and clear it away safely.

What guidance is there for serving refreshments?

You're aiming to minimise multi-handling of items and the movement of people in close proximity to each other, so

• Only the Hospitality Team should serve food and drinks, and they should serve directly to the person consuming the food or drink (not passing plates, mugs, spoons from one group member to another)
• Use waitress service, where the Hospitality Team take the order, serve the items from the Refreshment Table and bring it to the person sitting at the table. 
• Serve food in individual portions on small plates(eg don't pass a plate of biscuits around where people might pick up or come into contact with more than one)
• Only serve food that has been pre-packaged in a shop or made by someone with a Food Hygiene certificate. The Hospitality Team should open any packages and serve out the food.
• Crockery, cutlery, flasks of hot water, milk etc can be brought from the kitchen. Please limit the number of people who go into the kitchen to as few as is realistic. 
• Only clear away food and washing-up from the table after everyone has left (to avoid stretching over people, or multi-handing).
• Make use of the dishwasher. It can be emptied by one of the Church Centre Team at a later point. 
• It is strongly recommended the Hospitality Team were disposable gloves (available in the Hospitality Box).

What activities can we do?

• Conversation and refreshments are the best things at the moment.
• Avoid anything that involves passing items to one another or getting close together or sharing objects (Pens, phones, plates, cutlery, pieces of paper)
• Sadly no singing at present.

What cleaning do we need to do?

The Church Centre has a Hospitality Box with cleaning products, disposable gloves, hand sanitiser (as well as the Registration Forms)

• Please wipe all table-tops before and after the session using the cleaning products in the box. 
• The Hospitality Team should wipe all kitchen surfaces and cupboard doors they use.
• If you use any other non-kitchen items from the Centre, please clean with cleaning products before putting away.

The Centre Staff will ensure the toilets, entrance and corridor doors have been cleaned after use/before the next group are in.

Are people allowed in the building?

• Only for limited reasons: to arrive and leave, to go to the toilet, and to shelter from a rain shower in the Main Church.
• The Hospitality Team (and other team when setting up or tidying away) can go into the kitchen
• If people go into other rooms, these rooms will also need to be cleaned, which will significantly stretch resources. So do try to avoid this.

What should we do if a group members reports showing symptoms over Covid 19 within a week after the event?

• Report this to Martin office@stdenys.com and Sue & Carol the wardens (wardens@stdenys.com) and they will advise you on what needs to be done.
• If you don't get a response in 4 hours, ring the Church Mobile- 07410 951531