Covid-19 school guidance

Covid-19 vaccinations for children and young people

If your child is aged 12 or over, they can also come forward for the Covid-19 vaccine at local walk-in vaccination centres. From 4 April, all children aged five to 11-years-old will be eligible for two doses of the vaccine 12 weeks apart.

If you are a parent or guardian, you will receive information offering you the chance to make an appointment for your child, with an explanation of how to do this.

Appointments will be available from your GP, in community pharmacies and in some walk-in clinics including the Wokingham Library vaccination clinic - please look out for more information.

If you have any questions, please email our Covid-19 vaccine support team on covid.info@wokingham.gov.uk.

Support for children and young people

Visit our webpage for more information and support for young people.

Getting to and from school

If they live close enough, children are encouraged to walk or cycle to school, both for their own safety and to relieve pressure on reduced capacity public transport. Visit the My Journey Wokingham website to see suggested walking routes.

There are a number of measures parents and their children can take in order to keep school buses safe.

Before the school journey

Children and young people aged 11 and over are encouraged to wear a face covering on public transport and dedicated school transport.
Journeys may take a little longer to ensure no crowding when getting on or off the bus, please be patient and wait 15 minutes past the scheduled pick-up time before reporting any non-arrivals.
When boarding and alighting from the vehicle, do so in a calm and orderly manner maintaining a distance from the passenger in front of you.

During the school journey

Where a bus pass is required, it must be shown to the driver rather than handing it to them to hold.
Passengers must fill from the back of the bus until it arrives and then leave from the front, avoiding passing others in the aisle.
Where available, passengers must use the hand sanitiser provided when entering and leaving the vehicle.
Passengers must treat all people at the designated stop, including other passengers and staff, with respect and understand that some may be at higher risk.
Passengers must not intentionally cough, spit, or invade another passenger’s space or the driver’s space.

At the end of the school journey

Passengers must take all belongings with them when exiting the vehicle, it will be more difficult to return forgotten items during this time
Passengers must check the area outside of the vehicle doors before exiting and adhere to the appropriate and current social distancing legislation, there may be other students or public passing the vehicle

Students and parents can also read the UK Government guidance or the Home to School Transport code of conduct addition (PDF document) if they are unsure of the behaviour expected.

Train travel

If your child gets the train to school, it is advised that they wear a face mask during their journey. For full rules on public transport use visit the UK Government website. Students in Wokingham Borough are likely to get the train with either Great Western Railway or South Western Railway depending on where they are travelling.

Read the Great Western Railway guidance here.
Read the South Western Railway guidance here.

Key UK Government Guidance

Term dates – these may differ based on teacher training days, check with your child’s school.
Schools and catchment areas
Free school meals
Home to school transport