Dear Parents/Carers,
As you will be aware, schools have been asked to prepare to open to children from selected year groups from Monday 1st June 2020. We all very much want children and staff back in school and things to go back to normal, but only when it is safe to do so.
I would like to briefly explain how implementing some of the safety measures may change the way school operates. Due to limited group sizes and distancing requirements, children may not be supervised by their own class teacher or teaching assistant and may have to be taught in other areas of the school. Children will be socially separated into groups or ‘Pods’ in order to further limit any spread of illness. Each group/pod will have between 5 to 15 pupils, depending on the room size. This will allow us to try to maintain some form of social distancing although full 2 metre social distancing cannot be guaranteed. Children will stay in their group/pod with their designated adult for the majority of the day to avoid cross contamination. There will be a rota for breaks and time outside.
I fully recognise that this is an extremely unsettling time for you all, and that the decision whether to send your child back to school will be causing you concern. We recognise and respect that you know your child and your personal circumstances the best so we will not be pressuring any parents/carers to send their child in to school. Nor will families be penalised for keeping their child at home.
The actual decision on whether some children will return from the 1st June is still reliant on the scientific tests/targets set out by the government being met. The government’s roadmap says: “It is possible that the dates will be delayed if these conditions are not met. Changes will be announced at least 48 hours before coming into effect.” The government has set a review date of 28th May.
We will shortly be texting parents who have children in the specified year groups to ask if they would like their child to be considered for a school place from Monday 1st June. If you receive a text we would be grateful if you could reply to the text with either Yes of No or alternatively send a private message on our Facebook account including your child’s name or Contact Us. When we have an idea of numbers we can continue to plan for a phased reopening and we will contact you all with further information in due course.
We are working hard to find the best way to put government safety advice into place within our school setting and can assure you that we will do utmost to keep our school community safe.
Mr S Cornforth
Headteacher
