National Lockdown January 2021 : Important Information for Key Worker Parents & Parents of Vulnerable Children

5th January 2021

Dear Parents/Carers,

Return to School: Key Worker & Vulnerable Children

First and foremost, thank you for your patience and support today! As you can imagine, trying to organise a two-way school support agenda has been tricky but we are getting there! We know you will be keen to know the plans for your child accessing school from tomorrow so hopefully this information is going to be beneficial to you.

You have been offered a place at school for your child based on either:

  • Confirmation of your Critical/Key Worker Status
  • Support for your child in the capacity of their EHCP status (or other vulnerability as deemed appropriate by the school)

We appreciate you may not need to send your child to school every day, but we would appreciate your support in following the timetable on the days they WILL attend. On the days they will not attend they can of course access the home learning support and further information will be shared on this over the next day or two.

Arrival/Departure Times & Gates:

Children will be met on the yard by the Year Group staff assigned to each bubble:

Year 3: 8.30am to Gate 1 (Bottom of Chapman Street) 3.00pm departure

Year 4: 8.40am to Gate 3 (Top of Chapman Street nearest Sea Road) 3.10pm departure

Year 5: 8.50am Gate 1 (Bottom of Chapman Street) 3.20pm departure

Year 6: 9.00am Gate 3 (Top of Chapman Street nearest Sea Road) 3.30pm departure

There is NO Early Bird provision at all until further notice. Arrival/departure times will remain the same for the 6 week duration but tomorrow we will provide a follow on message regarding the access gates from Thursday.

Group Organisation:

We have done this in the safest and fairest method open to us and children have been organised in alphabetical order. Due to the staffing implications for the home learning agenda, your child may not necessarily be taught by their usual class teacher or be with all of their friends but they should be with some children known to them.
We have done this to keep group sizes to a maximum of 15 per group. Groups will be secure year bubbles and we will NOT be mixing year groups; once assigned to a group, your child will remain with that group for the next 6 weeks. All of our other safety protocols around social distancing, hand hygiene and movement around the school site will be fully observed.

Lunchtime Arrangements:

There is no major change to your child’s lunchtime plan; if they normally have a hot meal, they will continue to access the dining hall as usual although we would remind you that the menu choice has been reduced slightly as per the information to parents shared at the end of term. Children who normally bring a packed lunch should continue to do so. Please ensure your child has a refillable water bottle.

Equipment from Home:

Please ensure your child only arrives with their water bottle and packed lunch bag where applicable; no other equipment from home is necessary. Children do NOT need to wear school uniform but should come dressed in appropriate warm, comfortable clothing and trainers suitable for outdoor activity as we will try to get children outside for fresh air as far as possible. Doors and windows are being kept open at the moment to allow for effective ventilation so the building is not overly warm - please therefore ensure your child has plenty of warm layers on as it may get chilly.

We will share any other updates with you tomorrow and of course e-mail me if there is anything other question or query you may have :-

[email protected]

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Kind regards to all.

Joanne Anderson
Business Manage
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