5th March 2021 Letter to parents

Friday, March 5, 2021

Dear Parents/Carers,

 Arrangements for the return to school – Monday 8^th March 2021

We are looking forward to welcoming children back next Monday 8^th March.  This letter sets out some important information about your child’s return to school and procedures that are in place to ensure the safety of all pupils and staff.

Symptoms of Coronavirus

Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell.  If your child shows symptoms that concern staff during the school day, we will contact you to collect them and you will be expected to arrange for them to be tested for coronavirus.  There are two ways to arrange a test – you can book a coronavirus test online or call 119 if you have no internet access.

We are required to submit daily figures to the Department for Education regarding our school community. If a member of your household has symptoms, tests positive for Covid-19 or has been requested to self-isolate, please contact the school either by phone or email. Thank you.

 Uniform and personal belongings

• If your child has school uniform that still fits, we would like them to come to school in uniform but our priority still remains that clothing should be freshly laundered for each day.  This may mean that you send your child in non-uniform on some occasions, which is acceptable for the time being. We expect children to return to wearing school uniform after Easter.  If your child is in Year 6 and has outgrown their uniform, they may attend school in non-uniform but clothing should be appropriate for a school setting.
•  Please make sure your child has a coat and an extra jumper/sweatshirt as we will be teaching outside regularly and windows will be opened to ensure good ventilation.
•  Personal belongings should be kept to a minimum.  Children will need a named water bottle as the water fountain will not be in use and their book bags.
• Children who have packed lunches should bring their food in a bag or box which can be wiped down with disinfectant.

 Drop off and collection times

To keep us all safe, we would ask that only one adult drops/collects children at school.  Drop off times in the morning between 0850-0900, collection from school at 1515. Could parents/carers wait in their vehicles and staff will greet your child(ren).

All visitors to our school are asked to wear a mask on the school site and our staff will be wearing masks when they greet you.

School Transport

Your transport provider will advise you as to any routines they wish children to follow on school transport.  All children on school transport should continue to wear masks whilst travelling to and from school.

Lunchtime

School lunches will be available from next week.  The cost of meals will be £2-10 per day, which is £10-50 per week or £31-50 for the remainder of this term.  Please can money for school meals be brought in on Mondays in a named envelope.  If your child has a packed lunch, please ensure that sweet treats are kept to a minimum and that it includes fresh fruit or vegetables.

Juice/Milk will be available from Monday 8^th March. Please bring £2.00 for milk and £1.00 for juice, cash only please.

PE sessions

Staff will inform you as to when children will be doing PE lessons. On these days, children will come to school in their PE kit including tracksuit bottoms/leggings, t-shirts, and trainers, and will remain in these for the day.  They may be asked to bring a change of footwear.

Class 1 PE – Tuesday and Friday

Class 2 PE – Tuesday and Thursday

Learning in school

For the time being, our four schools will be working in their own buildings.  There will be some shared virtual learning activities but no travelling between the schools.  No educational visits are planned and we will not be resuming swimming lessons for the time being.  We will however be taking the opportunity to increase children’s knowledge of the local area and we are planning local area walks and activities.  Detailed planning and risk assessments have been carried out to ensure the safety of all members of our school community and we will be continuing to monitor the Covid situation carefully as the school year progresses and amend our procedures accordingly.

Hygiene

Good hygiene is essential to all of us to stop the spread of infection.  We will be continuing to ask children to wash their hands at regular intervals throughout the school day and sanitize their hands as they enter and leave the building.  We will also be continuing to teach children about good respiratory and hand hygiene.  Please help staff by reinforcing these messages at home.

I hope this letter answers any questions you may have about your child’s return to school but please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further concerns.  We look forward to seeing everyone back in school next week.

Kind regards,

Sarah Hodgkinson

Executive Headteacher