School reopening update from Local Authority

Councillor Robert Benham 

Deputy Leader of the Council 

Cabinet Member for Education, 

Children & Families 

London Borough of Havering 

Main Road, Romford, RM1 3BD 

email: CouncillorRobert.Benham@havering.gov.uk 

Our Ref: Date: 22 May 2020 

Dear Parent / Carer,

Coronavirus (Covid-19) – Phased Reopening of Schools 

I hope you and your family are safe and well at this difficult time. Thank you for your continued support to the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Being at home with your child(ren), and supporting their continued learning alongside your own work will be a significant challenge at this unprecedented and worrying time.

Many of you will have heard the Prime Minister setting out the government’s position that, as well as schools continuing to being open to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, a phased re-opening of schools could begin from 1st June at the earliest. This would begin with pupils in nurseries, reception, year one and year six.

Secondary Schools and Alternative Providers will also be planning their approach to offering some face-to-face time for pupils and we are working with Special Schools on their plans to increase gradually the number of children and young people on site, again from the 1st June at the earliest.

The government is clear that all arrangements will remain under regular review, and will happen only if the level of new infections continues to decrease among other conditions.

We are working with schools to support their plans for a gradual and phased reopening. A full health and safety risk assessment, taking in to account staffing levels and their physical capacity on the school site, will guide their plans. 

The safety of everyone in the school community is the most important thing for us in all of this. We all want to get more pupils back into school as soon as it is safe to do so because school is the best learning environment for our children. However, in supporting schools to re-open in a phased and gradual way, the first priority to consider will be the health and well-being of all pupils, their families and school staff. 

Although all schools are working hard to respond to the guidance sent by the Department for Education, some primary, infant and junior schools may not be able to offer full time provision for the relevant year groups, and any new arrangements may not be introduced exactly from the 1st June. Each school will need to think carefully about the guidance and respond to its own individual circumstances. 

With any return to school, there will be noticeable differences. Children will be in smaller groups to reduce the risk of infection and they may not be in their usual class group or classroom or with their usual teacher. The curriculum will also be different as in order to prevent the spread of the virus not all resources will be available. 

How children may attend school may also change. The return may be staggered with other year groups being brought back at different times. Children may not be able to attend every day, and the timings of the school day may also be changed to avoid parents congregating and putting themselves at risk. Home school activities will still be planned to children continuing with home learning. 

In all of this, all school attendees – parents and carers, pupils and siblings and staff – will need to continue to observe all guidance about infection prevention and control, including the regular handwashing regime that was in place before the closure. 

Schools will be talking to you about the offer and response that they are able to make based on the health and safety risk assessment that they have completed. 

It is not compulsory for parents to send their children to school at this time, and I am clear there will be no penalties if you choose to keep your child(ren) at home. All schools will continue to provide a home-learning offer to all pupils not accessing support on site, and will keep in regular touch with the families of all pupils, whether or not they are attending school. 

You can find more information in the attached government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june

I assure you that Havering Council is working closely with all our schools to offer a consistent and safe response to the proposed plans, and the health and safety of children, their families and staff remains everyone’s first priority during this period. 

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please do contact your school in the first instance. 

Thank you for your continued co-operation at this time. 

Kind regards, 

Cllr Robert Benham 

Deputy Leader of the Council Cabinet Member for Education, Children & Families

School re-opening

                                                                                                                                             22nd May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,


As you are already aware, the Government have announced their aim to open schools more widely from 1st June. This wider opening is for Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 in Primary schools. The wider opening relies on the five key tests set by the government, including the rate of infection is decreasing and the enabling programmes set out in the Roadmap are operating effectively (Actions document, 11 May 2020).


Schools have continued to receive guidance and information documents since the announcement because of the many considerations which are required in the current situation with the Coronavirus outbreak.


We have been working very closely with the Local Authority and Head teachers from the schools of Harold Hill. We are making arrangements together so that we all do the very best for our schools and wider community.


Schools are still waiting for further information to open more widely for our youngest children and the announcement to indicate whether the five key tests will allow for wider opening is planned for Thursday 28th May. For these reasons, we have made the collective decision that schools will not be able to open widely on 1st June. This week, the media have reported that this was a date that the government has indicated schools should work from.


A detailed message for the most considered wider opening will be shared as soon as we have received the information we need to do this. Each school will intend to inform communities of the protocols and arrangements they are planning at the beginning of June.


We greatly appreciate your support and patience as we navigate this challenge together as a school and wider community.


Best wishes and stay safe.


Yours sincerely,


Mrs L. Smith                                  Mr J. McLucas

    Head teacher                                          Head teacher                                   

School Reopening

Dear parents/carers,

Re: Possible reopening of school to more pupils in June

As you know the government has requested that schools reopen to pupils in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 from 1st June if it is judged safe to do so. This judgement will be made based on data collections of current infection rates and the spread of Coronavirus in the community. Of course we continue to provide provision for all our vulnerable children and those of keyworkers as required by parents.

It is a very unsettling time for us all, but rest assured that we are going to be doing everything we can to make sure we are ready to receive these year groups if it is safe for our school to reopen. However you know your personal situation and your child best and as a parent/carer it is your choice whether to send your child back to school at this particular time. Please be assured that you will not be fined if you consider that the safest place for your child is to remain at home.

We need your help and your opinion

I want to reassure you that we are not going to be pressuring anyone to send their children to school. In order to assist us in planning for reopening it is essential for us to know if your child will attend. Once the school has an indication of numbers we can put together a plan of what reopening will look like. You can tell us your opinion now by clicking here to complete this form.

Please submit this form for every child in your family who are in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 or Year 6 by no later than Monday 18th. Thank you very much for your help and cooperation, it is very much appreciated.

We are creating a detailed action plan that we will share with you as soon as possible so you know what changes to expect to our school routines and procedures as we work towards reopening. The safety of your child and our staff will be a priority at all times and I can also advise you that:

• We will limit class sizes - pupils will be in groups of no more than 15 therefore they may not be in their normal friendship groups. Pupils will remain in the group that they are placed in for the duration of their time in school and will not mix with other groups.
• It is highly unlikely that your child will be in their usual classroom
• Children are unlikely to have their normal teacher or their normal support staff
• The curriculum will vary and will be reduced with limited availability of resources
• We will be staggering break times, and pick-up and drop-off times to avoid adults gathering at school
• There will be regular supervised hand washing routines in place for pupils and hand sanitizer will be made available
• We will increase cleaning in school before, after and during the school day.
• We will strictly be keeping pupils and staff with coronavirus symptoms at home. If your child displays symptoms they will need to be collected from our isolation room immediately
• We will be limiting access to the school for all parents and visitors and will prefer that all communication will be via email and telephone 

Sadly, I am sure you will understand that I cannot eliminate the possibility that your child will be exposed to the virus whilst at school and I cannot guarantee that pupils will maintain a social distance from each other at all times.

We would like to thank you for your continued support in helping your child learn from home. If your child will remain at home beyond 1 June, we will continue to support you and them with home learning. Please do continue to stay in touch with us about how your child is getting on.

We will keep you updated once we know more about as and when schools will be able to reopen for other year groups.

Warm regards,

Linda Smith                    Alan Kemp

Headteacher             Chair of Governors

Mead Primary School
The Learning Federation

Year 6 message

A message from the year 6 team.

Good morning,

              

I'm sure you have questions following Boris' broadcast last night re-the possible phased opening of schools from June 1st for Reception, year 1 and year 6 pupils.
At this point we know no more than you, but we are expecting guidance over the next few days and rest assured I will keep you informed as/when plans for the safe return of our pupils are in place.
In the meantime take care and stay safe.
Mrs L. Smith

V.E. DAY CELEBRATIONS

We have had a tea party to celebrate V.E day with the few pupils we had in school. As you can see a good time was had by all, including the staff who really enjoyed the jelly and ice cream!!

       




PLEASE BE REMINDED WE ARE NOT OPEN FRIDAY 8TH MAY
If you are planning a special event for this day please remember to abide by the safe distancing rules.
Stay safe and hopefully see you all soon.

Our Thank you Mead rainbow

We now have a giant rainbow outside school .The rainbow says thank you to the NHS and shows just how much we miss our Mead children. Around the rainbow there are lots of hearts with sticky labels on. If you are out as a family for your daily exercise we would love you to post messages on the rainbow. The messages can say thank you to the NHS or show how much you are missing school .We look forward to reading your messages.