Dear Parents and Carers,

Further to my previous letters about our plans and preparations for any potential disruption to school regarding Coronavirus (Covid-19), we thought it would be helpful to explain what we are doing.

Firstly, we continue to receive daily updates from the government and we continue to follow their advice.  I post the relevant information on the school website.

As a school, we have been through our emergency plans and developed contingencies should we have to close or partially close due to either government instruction or due to staff absence.  In the event of any closure, partial or full, we will send you a message via our text service (please be aware this has a limited number of characters which is why they can sometimes appear brief and to the point), on the school app, school website and by email.  It is essential that you ensure we have your latest mobile number and email for these systems to work – please keep these updated.  Most importantly, we remain open and hope for excellent attendance unless you hear, via one of these methods, to the contrary. 

The school has also increased significantly the cleaning of the school.  Our hand washing areas remain well-stocked, all children have been taught how to wash their hands properly and placed posters in key areas to remind us all to maintain good hygiene.

We are monitoring all school visits and making decisions on a case by case basis, again following the latest advice from the government.  Following this advice, the visit to Robinwood is still currently planned to go ahead.  As a precaution, we have decided to cancel all school assemblies for the current period.

We are now preparing to provide work for your children should we have to close the school for any length of time.  We are well prepared for this situation, with excellent IT systems in place.  We use Google Classroom: a streamlined, easy-to use tool that helps teachers set and manage work.  Within this tool we can replicate classes, distribute work, mark it and send feedback, and everything is in one place.  We also have other online learning resources, which include Bug Club for reading books, Times Table Rock Stars, Numbots and Spelling Shed.  We will use all these systems for work to be accessed.  As we further prepare these resources and in the event of having to use it, we will send out more information.

I know this is a very difficult time but I hope this letter gives you some comfort that we are making the best possible preparations and, in the meantime, continue to operate a full and normal school day, welcoming your children to school each day.

Best wishes

Anna Cvijetic

Headteacher