Return to school newsletter
Dear Parents,
As you know, some pupils will be returning to school on June 1st. This is a tricky thing to organise! I’d like to add some more detail to the outline plans I mentioned in my previous letter. Hopefully, it will be helpful. Please remember that the return only applies to children in EYFS, Year 1 and Year 6. All other children – apart from those in our key worker group – will still stay at home for the time being.
Tomorrow, teachers will begin to phone parents of children in relevant year groups to check with you whether your child will be returning. Please remind yourself of the contents of my previous newsletter (13th May). What I write here is in addition to the information I posted previously. There are a number of changes we will have to make in order to best keep our children and our staff as safe as possible.
Children will be in the same group of between 10 and 15 children with the same (in most cases 2) members of staff. Each group will spend the day together – including their break and lunch times. Children and adults from one group will not mix with children from another. This is to avoid the danger of any symptoms spreading from one group to another.
This means that not all children will be able to be with their current class teacher and some of their friends may be in a different group. Please take the time to explain this to your children before they return. It’s important that they understand that they may not be with their teacher and that they might not be mixing with some of their friends.
All children who come to school at this time will have to be delivered and collected by an adult. This includes Year 6 children who may be used to travelling to and from school on their own. We can only accommodate children who are brought to school and collected by an adult. This is to avoid the risk of any symptoms spreading from one group to another on the journey home.
If your child wears a face mask on the journey to school, please make sure that you remove it before they come into class. Children will forget to look after them and we cannot have used face masks left on desks or chairs or needing to be picked up and thrown away.
The school day is likely to be slightly shorter – I will provide precise timings at the end of this week. Please note that start and finish times will be different for each group.
We will not be able to provide Breakfast or After School Club at this time (apart from our key worker group). This is to avoid the risk of any symptoms spreading from one group to another. All children will need to be delivered and collected on time.
The school office will operate on an appointment only system. Appointments can be made via phone or email but otherwise it will be closed. Please do not go to the office without an appointment as regretfully, we will not be able to see you. Parents will not be able to enter the school buildings – nor will they be able to speak to the teacher in the morning or at home time. Please make an appointment, send an email or use Seesaw if you need to speak to your child’s teacher – this includes their group teacher or their usual class teacher.
I will write to you again at the end of this week and hopefully, by then, we will be able to tell you which group your child will be in. You may have questions that I have not yet answered – please feel free to email or phone if you need to talk to me or think I may be able to help.
I send you all my very best wishes and look forward to seeing some of you at least, very soon.
M Hanks
Headteacher