Further information regarding partial re-opening of school – June 8th 2020
22nd May 2020
Dear Parents/Carers
I hope my message finds you and your family well.
Thank you for your patience whilst awaiting further information, outlining the partial re-opening of school. Thank you also to those parents of specific children, for completing the online survey and replying to our messages too. You will now be aware that the government advised the partial re-opening of primary schools for pupils in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 classes.
As we move towards partially re-opening our academy for the year groups chosen for early return by the government, we completely understand that many of you will be concerned about the safety of your child as they prepare to return.
Please know that everything we are doing and every decision we make has at its centre, the safety and wellbeing of our pupils, staff and our wider community. This is why we have produced our ‘Supporting our children back to academy’ guide for parents and carers whose children are in nursery, reception, year 1 and Year 6.
Our classrooms, communal spaces and everyday procedures are being transformed and will look markedly different when we re-open. Our guide outlines the main changes and safety measures we are taking to support and protect your child’s health and wellbeing.
In close consultation with the Department for Education, our staff and with you, we are committed to taking a cautious and measured approach to re-opening our academy from Monday 8th June at the earliest and with that in mind we will be separating our returning children into small ‘bubble’ groups. These groups will be separated and be invited back to school for two days per week. This approach will maximise health and safety by ensuring children have limited contact with others and a deep clean can be under taken every Wednesday before the next group returns to school.
We will also ensure that the children of our key workers and our most vulnerable pupils continue to have a safe place during the day at Reedswood from 8 June, and our children at home have the support they need from their teachers.
Below are the allocated days for each returning year group:
Monday and Thursday – Nursery
Monday and Tuesday – Reception and Year 6
Thursday and Friday – Year 1
Numbers of pupils will be separated in to small ‘bubble’ groups during these allocated days. Each ‘bubble’ will be limited to small numbers, groups no larger than 7 for our younger children and no more then 10 for our year 6 children. We will determine which pupil is in which ‘bubble’ when we have a definitive list of attendees. We cannot mix groups of children and cannot guarantee that pupils will be with their best friends, but again, teachers will do their best to accommodate their needs. Not all of our class teachers are able to be allocated to all ‘bubble’ groups containing pupils in their class as we are working within such stringent directives. However, a lead teacher has been allocated to each year group and each ‘bubble’ group will be led by a consistent member of staff. Our teachers will oversee the pupils’ work (including those pupils remaining at home along with our ‘virtual’ team of staff) and liaise with the corresponding staff members.
Can we ask that children DO NOT bring any bags with them, other than a packed lunch bag if they’re not having a school dinner. Water bottles will be provided and tuck/snack items are available to purchase as normal so there is no requirement for them to bring their own water/snacks from home. Also, to minimise cross contamination can we ask that children are sent in a different set of clothes for each consecutive day they are in school, uniform one day and casual sports clothes the other day is fine.
If you choose to send your child in a face mask on the commute to school, then they will be asked to remove it at the classroom door where it will be put in a named bag until home time.
Start and End Times
The start and end times each day are important to adhere to and to keep within. This is to minimise the numbers of people at school at any one time. Gates will be staffed at the start and end of the day.
- Morning Nursery – start time 8.50am -9am
Collection time 11.00am – 11.10am
- Afternoon Nursery – start time 12.35pm -12.45pm
Collection time 2.45pm – 2.55pm
- Reception – start time 8.30am – 8.40am
collection time 2.10pm-2.20pm
- Year 1 – start time 8.50am – 9am
collection time 2.45pm – 2.55pm
- Year 6 – start time 9.10am – 9.20am
collection time 3.15pm – 3.25pm
- Key worker and vulnerable pupils – start time 8.30am
collection time 2.10pm
- Siblings from different year groups attending on the same day (e.g siblings in nursery/reception/Y6)– start time 9.10am collection time 2.10pm for all siblings
Collection and drop off points (staggered start/end times)
- Nursery and Reception – EYFS gate at the bottom of the stairs.
- Year 1 – Main entrance gates by the school office.
- Year 6 – Main entrance gates by the school office or gates to the rear of the school.
- Key worker and vulnerable pupils – Main entrance gates by school house.
- Sibling children attending on the same day – Main entrance gates by the school office.
Click here of staffing information
Health and safety measures
- Daily cleaning route and Wednesday deep clean
- Regular handwashing using soap and hot water
- Additional Covid-19 antibacterial hand gel in all rooms
- Lidded bins in all rooms and around the site
- Tissues in each room
- Good classroom ventilation
- Reduced movement around academy – one way system with signage, cones and floor markings
- New signage to ensure rules of social distancing rules adhered to
- Children will have personal labelled writing/drawing/painting equipment
- Small bubble groups limiting contact
- Staggered start and end times
- Staggered days to attend
- Staggered break and lunchtimes in ‘bubble’ groups
I sincerely hope that you find this communication useful. We will always seek to do our best. This is a very uncertain time for us all and things may well change again. I appreciate your positive support and encourage any enquiries, should you need further clarification of anything.
I wish you all the very best of health; stay safe and I look forward to the time when we can all be together again.
Yours sincerely
Mrs M Lathbury-Cox
Headteacher
Letter to parents – phased reopening June 2020
