Letter to Parents 17-06-202017 June 2020 (by admin) |
17/06/2020
Dear Parents/ Carers,
I am sure that you are aware that last week the Secretary of State for Education finally clarified the government’s position regarding the full opening of primary schools for a month before the end of term. He has accepted that most schools (particularly primaries) do not have the capacity, in terms of both physical space and teachers, to welcome back all students, but went on to say that if school do have capacity, then government would like them to accommodate the return of more children before the end of the summer term.
As a result of this statement, we (myself, staff and our governing body) are considering what this means for us here at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School.
In the last few months we have been asked to respond, usually at very short public notice, to circumstances we could scarcely have imagined as we entered into 2020. Over the past few weeks, we have been tasked with complete redesign and reorganisation of our classrooms and other learning spaces in school to ensure it was safe for a phased return of years Nursery, Reception, 1 and Year 6. Following several incarnations of risk assessments, this has meant: emptying classrooms of furniture to enable social distancing; sectioning off playground equipment and outdoor spaces; the installation of further hand washing and sanitising as well as acquiring sufficient PPE for staff. Revised timetables were then drawn up to allocate staff to these smaller groups, alongside opportunities for them to continue to provide work for- and monitor- online learning. We were of course, committed to doing all of this and more and thank the governing body and you, the parents, for your support in delaying the start until this was in place and the school was as safe as possible, following guidelines for your children to begin to return.
By the end of this last week, children in the year groups allowed to return have done so for four days a week. We are now reviewing the measures we have put in place and will amend them if necessary. Clearly, if anything needs to change we will inform you of this in due course.
At present, because of the physical size of our school, and the structure we have planned for groups who have already returned to school, I have to be honest with you and say that, we only have capacity to bring back one more year group. At the moment we are looking at bringing back year 4 from Monday 22nd June. More details of this will follow. Sadly, we simply do not have the capacity to take any other year groups at this time while current social distancing restrictions apply and classes are limited to groups of 15 maximum.
We understand that this situation is far from ideal and is frustrating for both yourselves and more importantly your children. You, and they, will have many questions about the future, some of which we cannot answer ourselves at the moment.
As a staff, we all feel concerned for the children who remain at home. We know that the vast majority have been keeping up with their learning by using our ‘work from home’ section on the website, but this can never replace the experience of physically being in school. If we were able to bring everyone back safely, believe me we would do it.
As yourselves, I await the next announcement from the government to find out what arrangements for September will be. Thankfully, the number of new infections and deaths from Covid19 continue to fall almost daily at present, so we are hopeful that September may bring the opportunity for a normal start to the school year but we can only, like you, keep our fingers crossed at this stage.
As the situation changes so rapidly at present, such as governmental discussions around schools opening over the summer, it is very likely we will communicate our responses to you as soon as decisions are made. Thank you for your unerring support over the past couple of months as it has made a difficult situation much more manageable and ensured we have all been able to stay safe and healthy.
If there is anything else I can help you with at this stage then please feel free to contact me at school- email is best at the moment for obvious reasons.
God bless and stay safe,
Mrs N Damms
Principal
