Dear Parents,

 

I hope all continues to be well within your households. I understand how testing these last few weeks have been (for us all) but at least, thank God, you and your children are safe. Long may it last! You, as parents, and we, who chose teaching as a profession, have a joint aim –TO KEEP OUR CHILDREN SAFE!!

 

I am sure you will now be aware, the government is keen for us to enter the next phase of lockdown. This includes the beginning of the return to school for SOME pupils on 1st June (namely Reception, Year 1 and Year 6). As you will appreciate, with the best will in the world, this will not be a straight forward process, as there is much to consider. Essentially, our main priority is ensuring safety for all – pupils, staff and parents. One of the main messages from the government since the very beginning of this unfortunate period is that we keep our distance – as you can imagine, in all schools this is arguably an impossible task.

 

In the coming days, me and the senior staff, along with our ever-supportive governors, will be looking to make informed decisions as to how and when we can implement the re-opening of school to particular groups of children, (not necessarily on 1st June), whilst aiming to keep them as safe as possible – though unfortunately, through no fault of our own, at no time will we be able to guarantee this.

 

As Boris Johnson clearly acknowledged, any arrangements envisaged may change in the light of scientific evidence and advice in the days and weeks ahead.

 

At the moment, for us in school, there is no change to the guidance. We will provide care for those parents whose work is critical and any children who may be classed as vulnerable. Please be aware that we are not being asked to provide childcare for those workers who cannot work from home, the list of key workers has not changed. We know some employers will be encouraging you to return to work, but we are not in a position right now to extend places to other children until we receive further government and Local Authority guidance.

 

As you will be aware there will be no fines allocated, should you decide to continue to keep your children safe at home. We will keep you updated with all our preparations for making sure the school is as safe as possible, so you can make an informed decision.

 

The days ahead will need all of our patience with each other as we try to balance the needs of everyone in our school, local and national community. As always, we will keep you informed but for now, please try not to worry. Our plan for now is to continue to provide activities for learning at home, keep contact with you, our families, and continue to support each other in these very difficult and uncertain times

 

We would like to thank you for your continuous support in helping your child learn from home. We will need to keep going with this for a while yet, so please do continue to do what you can and stay in touch with us about how your child is doing.

 

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Breslin Head Teacher