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Changes to Spring Opening for Schools
Posted on 30th Dec 2020I am sorry to email on New Year’s Eve but felt sharing information quickly would help families understand the changes announced last night by the Government regarding the opening of schools for the Spring term. Education Secretary sets out school contingency plans for England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
This means that next week we will only be open from Tuesday for face to face teaching for the children of critical workers and those who are deemed to be vulnerable. A list of these students is available here: Critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
On Monday I will send a form to all families for you to indicate if your child/ren will be attending because they fall into one of these categories and to confirm that they are well and not currently isolating due to close contact with positive Covid cases. Usual school transport will be in place and free school meals will continue to be available.
From Monday the school should receive our testing equipment to allow us to set up our mass testing. There will be an additional form to complete to give consent for your child to complete the test. I have attached with this parent mail information on the testing so that you can have an informed conversation over the weekend to decide if you are happy for your child to take part. Once consents are returned we will be able to invite your child into school to complete two tests between 3 and 5 days apart. Mass asymptomatic testing: schools and colleges - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The DfE have yet to confirm information on insurance and liability for volunteers to support with testing. We have therefore employed 4 agency staff to support over the next two weeks and have two members from the SET central team coming to school to support. I hope to have clarification over the weekend so that we can utilise those parents and carers who are able to be involved with testing as we continue to roll out this programme over the Spring term.
Remote learning for all year groups will be in place and as previously stated please ask your child to log into Teams on Monday using their usual school logon. If they have any difficulties they should email their tutor, Mr Keates, Mr VandenBergh or Mrs Embery during the school day on Monday.
Many thanks to all for your support over these next few weeks supporting remote learning and testing so that we can all return to face to face learning as quickly and safely as possible.
Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve,
Mrs Becky Arnold
Headteacher
How-to-do-your-test-COVID-19-instruction-leaflet-for-schools-1.pdf
