4.1.22
Dear Parent / Carer,
Following on from my letter at the end of the Autumn term, I would like to update you on arrangements for this coming half term. We are expecting to welcome all pupils back on Thursday 6th January. Very little has changed in terms of how the school will operate – our main aim, as always is to work within the National guidance to limit the spread of the virus within school and ensure pupils are able to attend school and learn safely.
In order to support the school we will ask you to wear facial coverings on school grounds and maintain social distancing whilst following our one-way system. Our school times will remain the same 8.50am until 11.20am for Nursery, 8.50am- 2.50pm for STF children and 8.50am-3pm for all other mainstream children. However, we have decided to open up our doors at 8.40am until 8.55am each morning to ensure we have a smooth drop-off and limit the time parents have to congregate at the class door. Please do not arrive before this time as we are trying to limit the contacts between the school community. From Thursday, Year 1 children will exit through the Nursery door at 3pm once the ISTF children have left at 2.50pm. This is to help parents and carers waiting for their children at the door to maintain social distancing.
Breakfast club will be open from Thursday 6th January at 8am. Foundation phase pupils will continue to use the hall and KS2 pupils the gym.
We will now re- introduce paired classes as bubbles. This way we can utilise the staff from both classes to remain open in a safe way for all our children to learn. The bubbles will be: Nursery/ Reception, Year 1 and 2, JSTF and ISTF, Year3 and 4 and Year5/6.
Classrooms will continue to be well-ventilated throughout the day so it might be helpful to ensure your child has an extra layer of clothing underneath their school t-shirt.
The rules around self-isolation for close contacts has changed. The guidance is as follows:
“All over 18’s who are fully vaccinated (having received 2 full doses of an approved vaccine) and children aged 5-17 are now asked to take lateral flow tests every day for 7 days.” It is recommended that these tests are taken before school each day. There is no need to self-isolate unless there is a positive LFD test or symptoms develop. Children under the age of 5 are not required to self-isolate or test as contacts.
The main challenge for our school over the coming weeks is going to be with staffing levels. I am hopeful that we will not need to utilise any periods of remote learning but if there is a need to do so, we will give you as much notice as we possibly can. Our staff are currently planning in case we do need to move to remote learning however it is a priority for me to keep school open for our children for as long as possible and as long as it is safe to do so. I am sure that you can appreciate that the current situation regarding the pandemic is constantly changing and we will try to communicate any changes to you as quickly as possible via schoop, class dojo and this website. If you haven’t already signed up to schoop or class dojo please do so at your earliest convenience.
By Friday 7th January you should have received a link to your child’s hwb class. This is where you will find the work if we do need to move to remote learning. Please ask your child’s class teacher for more information if it is needed.
Thank you for your continued support and a happy new year to you all!
Mrs Davies