8 January 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am writing to update you about the opening plans for next week. You may be aware that there have been a number of guidance changes this week which have impacted on the speed at which we have been able to open classes and also on the number of staff who are able to work face to face with pupils.

School Places Next Week

If you requested a place in school, we will be contacting you this afternoon to confirm details. In most cases we have been able to offer school places. We will follow the call up with an email confirming details. We will also send an individual risk assessment form for your child listing the possible risks and benefits. Please feel free to add any comments and send the risk assessment back.

Your child may recently have received guidance to shield. Guidance yesterday on “Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools” states “Clinically extremely vulnerable pupils are also advised not to attend school”. If your child has recently received this advice and you would still like them to attend school, we would encourage you to talk to our school nursing service and the Health care teams who support your child. If you are happy for them to attend, we will be asking you to sign a form stating that this is the case.

The school day will start at 9.30 to allow staff to take part in the Covid-19 lateral flow tests. Please make sure that your child is well. We do not want children to attend if you have any concerns about their health.

We will not have the school kitchen operating next week, so please send a packed lunch in with your child. If your child receives school dinners, you will be receiving vouchers. Please make sure that your child is dressed warmly as we have been advised to vent the classrooms regularly. You may want to send in a blanket or rug for them.

Please note that we do have a number of staff who have been advised to shield and sadly we also have some staff who are unwell. We will be following the risk assessment sent out to parents and carers yesterday and will not be moving staff to cover in other bubbles. This means that there may be occasions when we have to close a class at short notice.

Testing

We now have a testing centre in school and all staff working in school will be encouraged to take a lateral flow test for COVID-19 on a weekly basis. If your child is in our Upper School, you will receive information next week about the testing process. This is voluntary and you can decide whether you want your child to take part.

Home Learning

For those children not in school, we plan to continue the daily morning and afternoon Zoom sessions with activities set during the day. Where possible, this will be with your child’s class, but there may be situations where two groups join together for this. You should have received a home learning pack either electronically or through the post. Please let your child’s class teacher know if you need more home learning activities. You can also continue to access the home learning page on the school website.

If you are having any issues with Wi-Fi or do not have access to a device for your child, please let us know so that we can support you with this.

Health Services

Our Health colleagues are continuing to run clinics on our site and if you and your child have an appointment with them, please feel free to attend. Next week there will be a Feeding clinic and a CPIPs clinic running. If you are arriving by car, please drive into our car park and call from there. If you are arriving on foot, please call from outside the front door. We will be asking you to enter the physio room through the back door.

Emma, our speech and language therapist, and our physiotherapy team are happy to talk to you on the phone or make a virtual appointment with you if you have any concerns about your child. Our school nurses urge you to contact you with any health concerns for your child and they will look at the safest way for your child to be seen.

Finally, I thank you for your patience and support during this difficult time. Please contact us if you have any concerns or questions.

With best wishes