1 February 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am writing with some updates about provision and services at St Giles and in Croydon.

ONSITE PROVISION:

We now have between 40% to 44% of our pupils who are accessing school for varying numbers of days during the week. We continue to restrict our class numbers in order to reduce the number of households crossing and to ensure that the virus does not spread within school. I am in touch with Public Health England regularly and continue to review this with them.

Every class is placed in a small bubble of two to three classes. Please note that because of this there may sometimes be short term issues with staffing that cause us to temporarily close a class. Please ensure that your child is dressed warmly if they are attending school as the rooms are being regularly vented. We ask all parents not to send their child into school if they are at all unwell. If you would like your child to attend school, please contact our office team so that we can discuss this with you.

Therapists and the school nursing team continue to be based on site. Clinics continue to run as normal in our Physiotherapy clinic. If you have been booked in, please call from the school car park or outside the door into reception. We will organise for a member of staff in PPE to take you round to the back door of the physiotherapy room so that you do not have to walk through the school.

LATERAL FLOW TESTS:

These are available for all staff and secondary pupils onsite. A 100 members of staff were tested last week. If your child is in year 7 or above, attending school and you want them to be tested, please contact our office team so that we can send you the consent form and privacy notice.

REMOTE PROVISION:

Every class has access to two daily Zoom sessions. Your child’s class teacher will be in regular contact to confirm the timetable for these sessions. Please try to ensure that your child attends both sessions. There should be an adult present in the room to support them. If your child is unable to attend, please contact your class teacher or the school office to let us know. It is important that your child is dressed appropriately and the room is quiet with the television switched off.

The school has obtained a number of tablets from the DfE for families with no access to a device. If you have been allocated a device, you should have received it or will receive it this week. Please contact us on Friday if you haven’t. Let us know if you do not have a reliable Broadband service. We have already ordered some 4G routers for some families with this issue and will order more if required.

We know that there a few children who are struggling to engage with the Zoom sessions. If this is the case, please let your class teacher know so that we can discuss some possible alternative provision for you.

VACCINATIONS:

We are pleased to let you know that Croydon have been able to access the vaccine for our staff team. The majority of our staff team have taken up this offer and vaccinations started this weekend. They are being completed after school and next weekend. We are also aware that several of our older pupils have been vaccinated. For more information about the vaccine, please see https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-vaccine/

OTHER INFORMATION:

The school has received information about Boloh, a helpline for Black, Asian and minority ethnic families who have been affected by Covid 19. Details about this service can be found on our website and will be sent with this letter. I am also sending a recipe booklet of Family Meal Ideas from the Croydon Food Flagship and the Croydon SEND Family Newsletter. These can also be found on our website.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff team, Governors and colleagues from Health and Social care for their hard work and support. Most importantly, thank you for the incredible job that you are doing supporting your children during this challenging time.

Best wishes,