24th February 2021
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are incredibly pleased that the Government have now confirmed schools can re-open to all pupils on March 8th. We know that the announcement on Monday was eagerly awaited by many parents and the news couldn’t have been better.
Already this week, staff have been working out plans for ensuring children can look forward to coming back in to school and that once they are settled, learning can quickly be aligned to needs of each individual child. We know that you may have questions regarding the return to school; we will try to cover everything in this letter, but if you still have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
For nearly all arrangements, we will be reverting back to the plans we used in September. More details about this can be found by reading the ‘COVID Home School Agreement’ that accompanies this letter. It is incredibly important that ALL parents and carers stick to these rules. As role models for our children, we know that we need to be behaving in ways that set good examples for our children so please stick the guidelines- thankyou.
As a reminder, the drop off and pick-up times are 8:40-9:00am and 3:10-3:30pm. Please try to use the full 20-minute windows to drop-off and collect children, particularly when picking up.
We are expecting the children to return in full uniform and on PE days- jogging/tracksuit bottoms, PE T-shirts and school tops. We appreciate that it might be difficult to replace items that children may have grown out of but if you can do your very best to keep to our uniform expectations- especially by wearing school tops, we would appreciate it. As always, if you have any queries regarding uniform, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
As the Government have clearly signalled that March 8th is for reopening across schools, this means attendance is now mandatory and the usual, pre-lockdown guidance is in place for us to use when supporting families with absence or when children regularly arrive late.
Children will continue to be taught in class ‘Bubbles’ with a strict timetable for breaktimes, use of the dinner hall, assemblies etc and clear plans for use of corridors, toilets and doors.
It will now be even more important that we provide our children with the right curriculum when they return. This will begin by ensuring children have the key skills, knowledge and understanding that they will need as a minimum, in order to progress to the next year group. When children have achieved these, learning expectations will quickly increase and will allow children to return to working at a level appropriate for their ages and abilities. We also know that many children were either already working at higher levels or that over the lockdown, you have been working really hard to help your children excel at certain subjects. We are well aware of these children and will ensure these boys and girls are stretched and challenged where appropriate.
We will be sending out reminders over the next week or so, to make sure we are all ready for school life to get back to ‘normal’.
You may recall that some primary schools took an extra INSET day before Christmas. We have also been informed that we will most probably lose our INSET day in May. As a way of helping us ensure our staff training is not reduced, we will be closing to all our current reduced numbers of children on Friday March 5th. This means all staff can be fully trained and prepared for the recovery curriculum we will be delivering from March 8th onwards. Thankyou for your support with this.
Finally, in order to give our children something exciting to look forward to, we have planned a super first week back which should really give them a boost and help to alleviate any ‘returning to school’ worries- more details will be on the newsletter on Friday!
Please get in touch if you have any questions,
Thank you for your support.
Mrs Cooper
Coronavirus - Home School Agreement
Our School
We will do our best to:
- Provide an environment that is regularly risk assessed for the safety of pupils and staff.
- Adhere to the social distancing guidelines as set out by the government, as much as we reasonably can.
- Support your child’s wellbeing, such as by giving them someone to talk to if they feel anxious or overwhelmed.
- Contact you if your child displays symptoms of COVID-19, so they can be taken home and can self-isolate.
- Inform you if a staff member or child in your child’s ‘bubble’ shows symptoms of COVID-19, and help the NHS test and trace system to get in touch with you if the staff member/child tests positive and the rest of the ‘bubble’ needs to self-isolate (please note that we will not be able to share any personal details of the person who tested positive).
- Follow and encourage robust hygiene and protective measures, including frequent cleaning and hand washing.
- Provide meals as usual during the school day.
- Communicate between home and school through the sch.life app, telephone calls and/or e-mails.
Our Parents/Carers
I understand and agree that:
- I need to monitor if my child or anyone in our household has symptoms of COVID-19 (e.g. a high temperature; a new, continuous cough; or a loss or change to their sense of smell/taste)
- If my child or anyone in our household shows symptoms of COVID-19, I will not send them to school and we will self-isolate for the appropriate length of time set out by the government.
- If my child shows symptoms of COVID-19 in school, I will collect my child as soon as possible.
- If my child shows symptoms of COVID-19, I will have them take a test and, if they test positive, inform the school and work with the NHS test and trace system to identify anyone who’s recently been in close contact with my child (I understand that the school will not share the personal details of anyone who tests positive with others)
- I will do my best to avoid public transport in peak hours when taking my child to and from school, and I will wear a face covering.
- When dropping off and picking up my child: I will stick to the timings for my child, use the designated entrance and one way system, adhere to the social distancing rules set out by the government and leave school immediately after.
- If I need to enter school, it will be at the main entrance/ office where a 1 in 1 out system is operation.
- I will provide my child with a water bottle and lunch if appropriate. Items will be handed/taken in via the classroom door to avoid too many instances of using main entrance.
- I will remind my child about good hygiene practices such as: regularly washing their hands thoroughly; avoiding touching their eyes, nose or mouth; and coughing or sneezing into their elbow or a tissue, and disposing immediately of any used tissues.
- I will support the school’s procedures for a safe environment.
Our Pupils
When I’m in school, I will do my best to:
- Follow good hygiene practices, including: washing my hands well and often; not touching my eyes, nose or mouth; coughing or sneezing into my elbow or a tissue, and throwing any used tissues in the bin straight away.
- Follow my school’s behaviour rules as normal.
