Dear Parents & Carers,
After a very long and difficult period for us all, we can finally welcome all children back to school from Monday 8th March. I would like to thank all of our families who have worked so hard, in very difficult circumstances to continue to support home learning. Hopefully after next week, you can hang up your educating job and return to the normal life you had pre-home learning.
Obviously, full school opening does not mean that school will return to pre covid, we will still have risks and controls in place to make sure we all stay safe and well. The risk assessment for full school opening is on our school website and I urge you to read it to familiarise yourselves with the systems in place. There are a few things that I would like to emphasise in this letter.
The entrance and exit points have already been sent out to you, can I ask that you please try and keep social distance when dropping off and picking up your children. The biggest risk to school reopening is community transmission from large gatherings of parents at gates. Try your best to maintain the spacing, and to not wait around either before or after drop off and pick up. Cars should not be a hazard to our children or to the community, so where possible families should walk.
Children will be expected in full school uniform, if this is an issue please let school know. PE kits should be brought into school in small bags and kept in school until Fridays. Packed lunches and water bottles are fine to be brought in. We will continue to try and minimise items shared between home and school, but reading books and phonics cards will still be allocated to your children.
It is vitally possible that if there is sickness in the household, then that person should be tested for corona virus. There has been information sent out around additional symptoms to the main ones, so please be careful about sending your child into school unwell, or if anyone living with them is either unwell or waiting for a result.
If you were one of the families who were eligible for a loan of a Chromebook or tablet, please return to school on Monday with the charging lead and the bags fully intact. These devices will be used in classes to continue to upskill the children on the use of the work platforms.
Finally, it just remains for me to say, we look forward to having your children back in school, we will look after them, and any anxieties around returning are normal. Once back, they will be able to regain those social skills, see friends and re-establish routines and boundaries. We will assess what each child needs and endeavour to catch up on lost learning.
I thought this image around catch up was very apt (please see attached letter).
Regards
Mrs M Walsh
Headteacher