18th May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

First of all, I want to thank you all for the incredible job that you are doing as to support your child’s learning at home. Your regular feedback has been invaluable as we work with you to develop new ways to work at home with your child.

I am writing to update you about the latest news from St Giles and to let you know what the plans are for the next few weeks.

Since the Easter holidays, we have continued to work closely with you and also our colleagues in health and social care to support our learners in many different ways. We have continued to:

• make regular phone calls home to ensure our learners are well, discuss your thoughts about the future, support you with routines and learning activities and pass on advice and support from other agencies

• create and distribute activity packs to support our learners at home, deliver ICT and physio equipment, make regular updates to our website and online learning and sing-along sessions

• hold online Child in Need, Looked After Child and Education Health Care Plan Meetings

• arrange visits for families with no outdoor space to our playgrounds and organise in-school sessions for individual learners in classroom areas that can be easily and safely cleaned with trained staff following the updated guidelines for care homes

As you know, last week the Government asked Primary Schools to plan for a phased return to school for learners in reception, year one and year 6. Special Schools have been asked to work towards a phased return of children and young people without a focus on specific year groups and informed by risk assessments

At St Giles we will continue working with you to assess how safe it is for your child to access activities on our site. We plan to continue to extend the offer of in-school sessions informed by advice from our school nurses and the updated care home guidance. Sessions will be held in easily cleaned classrooms with staff who are fully trained in cleaning and use of staff PPE to provide a safer environment for your child while they are at school. Sessions may not be for the full school day and groups will be very small to ensure safe social distancing. We will discuss and share any plans with you before a first visit.

I realise that many of our learners will be unable to access activities on our school site as their families have been advised they should be shielded. We remain committed to supporting our learners at home as needed.

During half term, we will be making our regular calls, discussing your thoughts about the future and working with you to continue to assess how safe it is for your child to access activities on our site. The school site will be closed because our fire doors are being replaced and we also have some site surveys taking place.

Wishing you, your child and all your family all the best