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