Hi Everyone,
The government have now, as you will be aware, released guidance regarding the school re-opening with some of our children beginning to return to school from 1st June 2020. INITIALLY THIS WILL ONLY BE OUR RECEPTION, YEAR ONE AND YEAR SIX AND KEY WORKER/ VULNERABLE CHILDREN.
Myself and the governors (in consultation with the LA) will not hesitate in suspending or delaying the opening of the school in the event that Public Health and Health & Safety measures would be compromised. At present the 1st of June is an aspirational date and is subject to change.
As I’m sure you can imagine the situation is a huge challenge to us in school however we will not compromise on the safety of either our children or staff. I realise you trust me, the staff and the governors to keep your child safe and whilst we will do everything within our power to minimise the risks it is impossible to keep the children two metres apart at all times. We are dealing with children who have a lack of understanding of the severity of the situation and will ,through human nature, want to hug, greet and play with their friends.
Staff members WILL NOT be issued by the government with PPE unless administering first aid.
Our aim is to reduce the class sizes as far as possible below 15. All teachers and teaching assistants who are able to come into school will be working with groups of children and all classrooms and break-out spaces across the school will be utilised. This means your child will need to work in different classrooms and with a different adult. The adult they are assigned will ‘bubble’ with them at least until the end of term. There is no way around this if we are to attempt to keep everyone safe.
There will be no hot meals during the return to school until the end of the Summer Term as we feel by offering daily packed lunches to the children we can reduce further transitions into the dining hall and children will be able to either eat these in their designated room or outside.
We will attempt to get all year groups into school between June 1st and the end of term but this may mean that your child is not back at school for the full period. For example if Year Six were to return first they may spend two weeks in school and then have to leave to allow another year group a short period of time in school.
Start and end times to the day will have to be revised to allow the safe arrival and departure of the children to and from the school site.
It is also worth noting that at this early stage that school will be closed each Friday, during this phased period. This will allow a deep clean to be conducted each week, and also allow staff to plan both the home learning, for those children not in school, but also the learning for children accessing school. Key Worker children will still be able to access school on a Friday if required.
Whether you wish to return your child to school this term or not is your decision as parent/carer. I fully respect whatever decision you decide upon. If you decide to keep your child at home during this period there will be no fines or further action taken by school between 1st June and the end of the Summer Term.
PLEASE CAN YOU COMPLETE THE SHORT SURVEY ATTACHED? This will give us a much clearer idea of how many children we will be expecting to return to school for the rest of Summer Term from 1st June. Once we have this information Mrs Todd and myself can begin to add more flesh to the skeleton plan we have started to compile this week. Once we have our plan securely in place this will be shared with you. PLEASE COMPLETE ONE SURVEY FOR EACH CHILD IN YOUR FAMILY and if you can complete ASAP that would be great. The DEADLINE IS TUESDAY 19TH MAY 2020.
Thank you so much for all of the support we have received from our parents during this worrying time. You have all been amazing.
Stay safe and enjoy your weekend.
All my love
Helen Smith
