Sunday 17th May 2020
School Partial Re-Opening
Dear Parent/Carer,
Hope this letter finds you all safe and well.
As you will already have heard, schools are being asked to partial re-open to specific groups of children FROM the 1st June.
The partial re-opening is for children in these year groups:
Nursery
Reception
Year 1
Year 6
As a school we are in the process of carefully planning what this means for our school and how we will go about ensuring that we do this as safely as possible. The safety of pupils and staff will be our primary concern in this planning process and will remain so throughout.
What I can share with you now is that any children coming into school in these specific year groups will be ‘staggered’ in gradually. This is to ensure that we can carefully go through all the new procedures and expectations that will be put in place for your children. We hope to start the specific year groups on these dates.
Nursery – 1st June
Reception – 2nd June
Year 1 – 3rd June
Year 6 – 4th June
I can also share with you at this time some of the measures that we will put in place to minimise any risk and encourage social distancing. These measures are in line with Government, DfE and Enquire Learning Trust guidelines.
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1 |
Signage around school – both external and internal – reminding people that social distancing is being practiced in and around school. Children will also be spoken to about this upon re-entry and what this looks like in practice. |
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2 |
Clear signage for entrances / exits into the school building for different classes / year groups. Please note that pupils will not necessarily be using their regular classroom as groups will be spread in classrooms throughout the school. |
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3 |
Staggering of start and finish times for those year groups within school. This is because we have very tight entrances / exits onto the site and staggering will help to prevent any congregating of parents and relieve these pinch points. |
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4 |
Only one adult should bring a child to school or pick up. This is to help minimise the number of people on site at any one time. |
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5 |
No parents / carers / visitors into the school - except for those agreed by the principal. We will ask parents to call school with any messages or queries to be passed on. Signage will support this as well as a re-organisation of the main entrance. |
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6 |
Clearly marked spots / areas for pupil collection at the end of the day, as well as for pupils lining up in and outside of school. This is to enable us to practice social distancing in these situations. |
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7 |
Teaching groups will be organised in no more than 15 pupils with one or two adults. They will be with children within their own year group. They will work within one classroom. We are calling these ‘groups’ a ‘Bubble Family’. These ‘families’ will not mix with other ‘families’ throughout the school day. |
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Classrooms will be organised to enable social distancing. Tables will be spaced out. Children will be given a ‘space’ to work at and movement will be minimised in many cases. It will not always be possible to socially distance younger children within each group but they will not mix with other groups. Open spaces and increased hygiene will be used to protect them. |
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Older children, Year 1 and Reception will be given their own set of resources to use and keep at their table to reduce ‘sharing’ of resources. The younger children will be provided with their own whiteboards, whiteboard pens and some additional equipment such as counters. |
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10 |
All staff will be verbally promoting and modelling social distancing throughout the school day. |
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11 |
Good hygiene and hand washing will be promoted and carried out with the children throughout the day. |
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12 |
Cleaning of resources, surfaces etc will be carried out throughout the day (spot cleaning) and thoroughly at the end of every day. |
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13 |
Areas of the school will only have a specific number of pupils / adults in at any one time e.g. toilets. |
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14 |
Movement will be minimised around school. |
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15 |
Large gatherings such as assemblies will be suspended. |
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16 |
Playtimes and lunchtimes will be staggered. Children to keep within small groups of no more than 15. Older children will be encouraged to play games that allow some level of distancing. Younger children will have lots of space to run around. Play equipment will be shared as little as possible and if it is shared, it will be cleaned between uses. |
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Lunch hall will be organised to enable social distancing during lunchtime. |
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18 |
Relevant PPE used by First Aiders when caring for ill or injured pupils / adults. |
Can you guarantee my child will stay 2m away from others?
No. The DfE acknowledge that social distancing amongst very young children is impossible to guarantee. That is why we are making small bubble groups that do not mix with others. The government assure us that in this scenario the children are safe.
Still, within these groups we will be promoting social distancing as much as possible. Older children will have their own table with no one else sat at it. Younger children will be well spaced out. Many lessons will also happen outside, if possible, which is recognised to be safer. Classrooms will be well ventilated and cleaned, and children will be taught and reminded of good hygiene practices.
What will they learn?
We will provide a proper curriculum focussing on early reading and phonics for the younger children. English and Maths basic skills will be the primary focus for the older. There will also be wider curriculum lessons and some creative learning. Throughout the time in school there will also be a strong focus on mental wellbeing.
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These will by no means be all the measures that we put in place but will begin to give you an idea as to the work that is being undertaken in school and what it might be like for your child if they re-enter.
I understand that it’s a very worrying time for everyone, but please rest assured that I have done everything I can to make it as safe as possible for our school to reopen. We are not going to put any pressure on you to send your children in to school however the government advice is that with this plan in place, school is a safe place for your children.
Many of you undoubtedly will still have concerns and worries – please do get in touch with me through ‘contact’ on our website to discuss anything that may help. Alternatively, school will be contacting each family this week to talk to you about what you would like to do come June 1st.
Best Wishes,
D. Linacre
Mrs D Linacre
Principal