COVID-19 Policy
Updates added on April 28th 2021 as follows:
Face Coverings
In addition to all guests being required to wear a face mask when moving about the restaurant, our team will now be wearing them in public places.
Rule of 6
We will be sticking to the rule of six… You can be from multiple households or one household, but six is still the magic number!
NHS Test and Trace
The NHS Test and Trace poster is displayed at the front of the restaurant. If you have the NHS-Covid-19 App you can easily check in to The School House. If you do not have the App, we will be asking every guest to leave their details so we can submit these to the NHS Test and Trace.
We would like to thank you all for your positive support and look forward to welcoming you soon.
Contents of the document:
– Our Philosophy
– General Guidance
– Personal Hygiene
– Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
– Site Hygiene
– Team Health & Well-Being
– Social Distancing
– Guest Experience & Communication
– Menu & Food
Our Philosophy
At the School House, our number one priority is the safety and well-being of our staff, guests and suppliers. It is for this reason, we will be implementing and following the current Government Guidelines.
We all have a responsibility to continue to observe these guidelines and therefore no guests, staff or suppliers should arrive at the establishment if they have any of the symptoms of COVID-19.
All signage displayed throughout the building must be read and adhered too.
We have made some changes to our operation whilst maintaining the high standards of customer care and professional service that we provide.
This document, in conjunction with our site-specific risk assessments, sets out all the measures that we have put in place to ensure safety to all guests and staff during this time.
This guide may change to abide by the guidelines provided by the government whilst keeping a safe and hospitable environment for all the team and customers.
General Guidance
We kindly ask that if you are showing any symptoms of COVID-19 that you contact us to postpone your visit to us. Symptoms include:
– Loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – This means you have noticed you can no longer taste or smell anything, or things taste or smell different to normal.
– New or continuous cough – This means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
– High temperature – This means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
During this time, we will be operating on a book only basis to allow us to manage our guest numbers inside the building.
Please follow the signage around the venue whilst on site.
Due to social distancing measures, we are also unable to accommodate specific table requests at this time.
We politely ask that all guests arrive promptly for their booking time in order to ensure we stay within our capacity levels.
Every shift a senior team member will be assigned to ensure all our new policies and procedures set out inside this document are complied with.
Personal Hygiene
– Hand washing must be done by team members every 30 minutes, observing social distancing measures throughout the process where possible. Hand washing must be done with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds. Staff must wash their hands immediately after coughing or sneezing with soap and water.
– Hand sanitising stations are located at all entry and exit points and throughout the building for guests to use. Staff also have sanitiser at all key touch points such as till stations and waiter stations.
– Good personal hygiene is always an important requirement for all our staff. During shift times all hair must be tied up. Staff must change into work clothes in allocated locations at work where possible. All work clothing must be washed after every shift.
– All our staff will receive training on COVID-19 and our new policies and procedures prior to their return to work. Staff will also be regularly doing health questionnaires.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
– Gloves
All our kitchen staff will be required to wear gloves for all food preparation and cleaning.
Wash hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds or use hand sanitiser before putting gloves on and after removing them.
Avoid touching your face whilst wearing gloves as this could contaminate them.
Disposable gloves should be changed between tasks with sufficient hand washing in between.
– Face Masks
Wash hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds or use hand sanitiser before putting face covering on and after removing it.
Avoid touching your face or mask as this could contaminate it with germs on your hands.
Wash your face covering after every shift in line with the manufacturer’s guidelines.
Face masks are not compulsory but if requested they will be provided by the business.
Site Hygiene
– Daily site cleaning has been increased for dedicated disinfecting measures on all our key contact points and high traffic areas both front and back of house.
– Hand sanitising stations are located at all entry and exit points and throughout the building for guests to use. Staff also have sanitiser at all key touch-points such as till stations and waiter stations.
– Toilet cleaning will be in operation on an hourly basis with a record kept on-site, paying attention to frequently touched areas and surfaces, such as taps, rails, and door handles. Staff are to wash their hands with soap and water or sanitiser after every clean.
– Disposable napkins are to be used to reduce customer/staff contact.
– Tables will be deep cleaned after each sitting and whenever possible have longer periods between bookings to allow for a more thorough breakdown and disinfecting process.
– Hand dryers are now motion-sensitive, so customers do not have to touch anything.
Team Health & Wellbeing
Our team health and well-being are our top priority, we aim to make the establishment as comfortable for our team as possible.
We do advise our staff to avoid public transport to get to work.
The mental wellbeing of our staff is vital, we will continue to support our team during this time.
When entering the building each staff member will complete a health check and temperature check. These are checked daily. In the event of a staff member showing symptoms, they will be asked to return home and follow the current isolation guidelines. The member of staff must then report this to their manager through a phone call immediately. Any member of staff who shares a home with someone who has symptoms of COVID-19 must also follow the current isolation guidelines.
We have also carried out an internal staff assessment to identify who is vulnerable/extremely vulnerable/living with someone who is. This is included in our risk assessment.
Social Distancing
In line with government guidance, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a distance of 1-2m should be observed between individuals from different households, where a distance of 1m is observed measures such as not sitting face to face will be implemented.
Back of House
– Signage will be in place to encourage social distancing. Team members will be encouraged to keep and face to face interactions to a minimum and observe social distancing as much as possible.
– Start and finish times will be staggered where possible to avoid congestion in areas.
– Team members should sanitise their hands before and after using the till to sign in. The machines are also disinfected regularly.
– Key areas of congregation such as staff rooms and waiter stations will be clearly signed with hygiene procedures and carefully maintained.
– Team members are encouraged to take their breaks outside when possible.
– We are working closely with our suppliers to ensure all our deliveries are left in set locations with delivery times spaced out. Any team member accepting deliveries must wear disposable gloves when doing so.
– Kitchen sections are clearly marked out with floor markings to assist with social distancing.
– Rota’s will be carefully devised to avoid different teams mixing.
– Each section will be operated by one member of staff where possible. In situations where more than one team member is required ‘rota-partnering’ will be in place to ensure the same people work together.
– Walk-in fridges and dry stores are always limited to one-person access.
– Front of house staff should minimise the time spent in the kitchen and observe social distancing where possible. Where this is not possible, for example across the pass, staff should stand on a diagonal to the pass to avoid face to face contact as much as they are able to.
Front of House
– Signage and temporary partitions will be in place to encourage social distancing.
– We are operating a table service only policy where customers cannot be served at the bars.
– Tables will be spaced 2m apart. Where this is not possible, tables will be spaced at least 1m apart with seating back to back.
– A one-way system will be implemented where possible, please follow the signage on site.
– Card machines and telephones, along with any other shared equipment will be sanitised after every use. Telephones are allocated to a single manager every shift to avoid cross-use.
– Each till will be allocated to a single member of staff per shift where possible to minimise cross-contamination.
– We are unable to pour wine at the table.
– Staff are required to leave mobile phones in their cars or in an allocated space in the business office. This is to minimise cross-contamination from outside of the building as they are such a highly used item close to the face.
Guest Experience & Communication
We will be continuing to adapt this guide as information will be continuing to change.
Experience is a concept built around atmosphere, engagement, building connections, and going over and above to deliver exceptional service at every step of our guests’ journey. Current restrictions will make it harder for us to follow our usual service model, but we will approach every change with compassion and understanding to make the experiences we provide as comfortable, safe and memorable as possible.
All our email communications will be updated to inform guests about our new measures and processes including Social Distancing requirements.
Phone confirmations will also be updated to include new process information.
A current version of this guide will remain on our website with monthly updates in line with new scientific information and government guidelines.
Guests with any symptoms will be asked not to visit the restaurant for any services.
Our Menu & Food
We have investigated all our food and drink options, as well as how they will be temporarily advertised.
– Minimising Waste – This has been achieved by removing less popular items. As fresh food operators, all our produce is prepared fresh every day and with expected reduced trade, we will need to ensure we reduce wastage to a minimum.
– Reduce Holding Stock – With reduced sales, holding stock values will need to be reduced also, this can be assisted by reducing the number of high-cost items with lower sales volume.
– Simplify Processes – Some of our menu items are complex and require multiple stages of preparation and delivery. In an environment with social distancing measures in place, these complex processes will need to be reduced to allow a smoother kitchen operation.
– Production Capacity – We have analysed out menus to ensure each of the sections in our kitchen have a maximum number of dishes allocated to them. This took into account popularity and complexity to assist with achieving social distancing within our kitchen and on our bar stations.
– Menu Changes – Due to having a smaller menu, this gives us the opportunity to change dishes on a daily basis if needed.