- If you’re in a secondary school, wearing a face covering like a mask is a good way to try and keep yourself and your school community safe.
- Each school might have slightly different rules about wearing face coverings. It is important to follow your own school’s rules about when and where you should wear a face covering.
- Experts recommend wearing a face covering indoors because they can help protect you, and others, from breathing Coronavirus droplets in or out.
- They can also help stop you touching your nose and mouth, which stops viruses moving from your hands in to your body.
- Wearing a face covering is especially helpful in areas where social distancing is more difficult or just not possible.
Click on the options below to learn more about how to use face coverings safely:
Viruses can collect on face coverings so it is important to use them very carefully:
- Wash or sanitise your hands when possible before you put your face covering on.
- Do not touch it whilst wearing it. The covering will stop working if it gets too damp from your breath or your fingers.
- Take it off carefully to avoid putting viruses on your face or hands.
- Wash it after you take it off. Fabric face coverings should be washed to kill the virus. They can be put in the wash with your clothes and use the same soap powder/liquid. If they can’t be washed straight away, put them in a plastic bag and tie it up. When ready to wash it put the plastic bag in the bin.
- Wash or sanitise your hands when possible after touching the face covering.
- It’s a good idea to have several face coverings so you can have one to wear whilst others are in the wash.
You may have already seen different types of face coverings. You can use the blue and white disposable masks, or you can:
- Buy a fabric face covering
- Sew a triple layer of cotton fitted to go over the nose and under the chin. Patterns are available free online and you can use an old sheet or t-shirt to make them.
- Tie a bandana or scarf around your head so that it covers your nose and mouth.
It is important that whatever you use covers your mouth and nose and fits you well and comfortably so that you don’t have to adjust it. If you touch it, you may stop it from working by moving germs between your hands and face.
Remember to follow your school’s rules about wearing a face covering. If you do not want or need to wear a face covering in school, it is still a good idea to wear one to protect yourself and others, particularly on your way to and from school.
Page 1 of 5