Dear Parents/Carers

Further information regarding the return to school in September

I am pleased to be able to write to you with further information regarding the wider return to school in September.  Whilst there is plenty to digest in this letter, I hope that it will assist in making the transition back to school as smooth as possible for you and your child.  Our full risk assessment will be uploaded to the school website on Friday.

The government guidance details a set of actions school must take.  They are grouped into ‘prevention’ and ‘response to any infection’ and are outlined below.

We are expecting all pupils to be back in school from Monday 7^th September.  Many of the systems and procedures we have been successfully using during the summer term will continue and the main points are explained below;

Bubbles

Children in Years 3 to 6 will spend the majority of time within their class bubbles with their class teacher(s) and will not mix with other children.  The exception to this will be during lunch times when they may be in a year group bubble outside.  Reception, Years 1 and 2 will operate in year group bubbles so that we can offer our full educational provision.  Bubbles will have staggered break and lunch times for year groups so that there are fewer children in the playground at any one time. 

We will endeavour to use outside spaces wherever possible including travel around the school thus avoiding internal corridors.  Small bags and coats may be brought to school but please do not send in any non-essential items.  In Years 3 to 6 we will continue to arrange desks facing the front so children do not face each other. Children will have their own zip wallet or may bring a small pencil case with equipment from home to avoid sharing items with others.   

Drop-off and pick-up times

We are operating a staggered timetable for pupils, see below.  Please ensure that you keep to the times allocated to your child’s year group to ensure that pupils receive their allocated learning times and can enter the school safely with minimal contact.  Consequently, siblings must be dropped off and picked up at the correct gate and time.

Please drop your child off at these gates only as the Tythe Barn entrance gate will continue to be closed as it is too narrow to allow social distancing.  We recommend that children walk to school wherever possible.  You must only come during your time slot to drop off and collect your child to ensure the safety of our community. We appreciate that it may be difficult to time this exactly, so please ensure that you and your child follow social distancing rules at the gates which will be opened at these times.  When the children arrive there will be a member of staff who will direct the children to walk into their classroom.  Please also leave promptly and avoid congregating outside the gates. 

We will repeat the process in reverse at the end of the day and send the children out of the gates to waiting parents.  Older children may walk home by themselves if this is normal practice.

This sounds like a lot of do’s and don’ts but we have had a very successful partial reopening following these guidelines.

Lunches

Our preferred option continues to be a packed lunch and lunch boxes are now permitted to be used again. Hot school meals will resume for children in Reception and Years 1 & 2 and for those KS2 pupils who are eligible for free school meals.  All other children will need to bring in a packed lunch.   We will be using the Hall for hot meals and classrooms for packed lunches.

A named water bottle and healthy break-time snack may be brought as well.  Water bottles should go home every day and be washed thoroughly.

Medicines

If your child needs any medicines then please send these into school on the first day together with the appropriate forms.

Uniform

The children should wear their normal school uniform and on the days they do PE they should come in their PE kit (teachers will advise the days in September).  We are very proud of how smart our children look in their uniform and we expect the same effort for PE, so please ensure that PE kit complies with the uniform guidance on the school website, including a winter PE kit for when the weather changes.  Haircuts should be smart and appropriate for school.

Curriculum

We recognise that children and families have had different experiences during lockdown restrictions.  Mrs Brooks has written to you recently regarding a forthcoming parent survey that will be crucial to us understanding any worries or concerns that you or your child may have.  Please do complete this before the start of term when you receive it at the end of August.  We will be using this information to plan the first few weeks of term so that we can establish a strong sense of children’s well-being and mental health, because we know that this needs to be established before any other meaningful learning can take place. 

We will continue to teach an ambitious and broad curriculum in all subjects from the start of the autumn term.  Existing flexibilities mean that we are able to create time to cover the most important missed content from previous years.  As part of our transition arrangements, staff have passed on this information to your child’s new teacher and this ‘catch-up’ will take place throughout the academic year.  As always, staff will be continually assessing children to plan for the next stages in their learning.

For our new intake of Reception children, again we will focus on ensuring that the children are happy and settled in their new environment before focusing on early reading, number work and phonics.

Attendance and absence

School attendance will be mandatory again from the beginning of the Autumn term.  Pupil absence should be recorded in the usual way, by telephoning the school office on the morning of absence.  If your child is unwell for any reason, then please keep them at home.  If they show any Covid symptoms then you should not send them to school and arrange a test as soon as possible.

If they become unwell at school with Covid symptoms then we will keep them in a designated room until they can be collected and tested as soon as possible.  Please ensure we have your up to date contact details.

Visitors/Communication

Parents and visitors will still be unable to enter the school site without a prior appointment and only for essential business.  Please send any messages for teachers or booking requests via the school office phone number or email.

I hope that this will give you an idea of what school life will be like in September even though there may be other details that I haven’t touched upon here.  Obviously much the information contained in this letter is subject to change depending on local and national circumstances and I will write to you again before the start of the new term with any updates or additional information.  There will also be a Frequently Asked Questions document to answer your queries/questions, so please keep an eye of our school website for this and the latest information.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Yours sincerely

Ian Holmes

Headteacher