15th June 2020

Good Morning,

I hope you are all well and enjoyed the amazing weather once again over the weekend.

This week we will be delivering more home learning packs to your home. We hope you find these useful in supporting your child’s education at home and if you have any suggestions or improvements please do not hesitate to contact me or speak to your child’s teacher when they next contact you.

This letter is very similar in content to the letter I sent out on the 2nd June but I feel it is very important for all parents to be fully informed as it contains very important information. Please read it all carefully and be aware all this information may change at the last minute.

Keeping children safe

Our primary objective, as always, is to ensure the safety of all children and adults who attend school.  We can do everything in our power to reduce the risks to children and staff posed by COVID 19 but we cannot eliminate them. 

It is obvious that early years and primary aged children cannot be expected to remain 2 metres apart from each other and staff. Instead, schools are asked to work through a ‘hierarchy of measures’ to reduce the risk within these groups:

• avoiding contact with anyone with symptoms
• frequent hand cleaning and good respiratory hygiene practices
• regular cleaning of settings
• minimising contact and mixing

As always if your child or anyone in your household has symptoms of Covid-19 please stay at home and contact 111 to arrange a test. You must also let school know as soon as possible.

If we suspect your child has symptoms of COVID-19 in school they will be isolated immediately and we will be asking you to come and collect your child as soon as possible. Please can you make sure we have your up to date contact details so you can be contacted throughout the day.

What if I choose not to send my child back to school?  

As I have previously stated on several occasions, the decision over whether your child returns is solely yours. We have attempted to provide detailed information for you to consider and I would urge all families to make the decision that is right for you and you feel most comfortable with, remembering that any decisions are not final for the whole half term and will be reviewed regularly. There are no right and wrong answers in this situation and, again, I will support all families with their decisions.

When might my child be able to return?

In order for children to return safely to school in larger number the school is taking a careful, phased approach, introducing one year group at a time. The proposed dates that school are working towards, but will be continually reviewed, are

• Monday 22^nd of June for Reception and Nursery (those starting school in September)
• Wednesday 24^th June for Year 1

Please note that school will be closed all day on a Friday to allow for additional cleaning to take place.

I know through contacting Nursery, Reception and Year 1 parents our numbers for children planning to attending when school re-opens.

I will be sending out a text message to those families who we have down as returning to school next week by 1pm Tuesday 16^th June. If you do not receive a text message by then and would like your child to return to school please contact school by 1pm Thursday so we can plan for this.

I am more than aware this is far from ideal for all our Year 2 children. I am hoping that we might be able to have some face-to-face time with small groups of children in school before we break up for summer. As always we are working closely with the Juniors to ensure a smooth as possible transition in these difficult times.

How will school be different?

Sadly, school will look and feel slightly different from when the children were last in. We are doing our best to keep these changes to a minimum. Key changes are

• Bubbles of no more than 15 pupils, who will stay away from any other bubble through staggered playtimes and lunchtimes. The same staff will work with these bubbles the majority of the time.
• Different staff may be required to teach your child, often in a different classroom than they are used to but I am trying to keep this to a minimum.
• Resources that are likely to transmit the disease such as soft toys and toys that are hard to clean will be removed from the classroom.
• Regular hand washing throughout the day.
• Increased cleaning of the classroom throughout the day.
• A changed curriculum to reflect the challenges posed by reduced timetables and limited resources.
• No access to school unless by prior appointment.
• Strict social distancing by parents on the premises at all times as you will be able to clearly see when you arrive at school. Only one adult will be allowed to drop off and pick up.
• Children will be given their own pencil, colouring crayons etc.
• Strictly no items such as toys, dolls or teddies from home coming into school.
• Children will be allowed to wear their own clothes, but must wear freshly washed clothes each day.

We will be having staggered pick up and drop of times in order to ensure social distancing is adhered to. The only entrance to school will be through the main gates. The back gate to the Health Centre will remain locked all day.

 The staggered pick up and drop of times are;

If you child is eligible for 30 hours you will be need to provide them with a packed lunch as you normally would. All other children will receive a meal in school.

In the event that a child refused to adhere to any of these guidelines, staff will make every effort o educate the child about safety in order to encourage a change in behaviour. If this behaviour continues and the child shows disregard for the health and safety of other in their classroom you will be contacted to come and collect your child.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at james.wadddington@meadowheadinfants.blackburnsch.uk

Take care,

Mr Waddington

Acting Headteacher