School Reopening Update
Dear Parents & Carers,
We are currently working on a strategy in response to the government’s planned phased re-opening of schools to more pupils from 1st June at the earliest. The safety of our school community is paramount at all times and we are drawing up plans of how this may work in our school. Every school will face its own unique set of challenges due to staffing, the number of pupils and the school site. Any planned reopening is conditional on our risk assessments in school These are some of the challenges that we are facing as we plan to re-open:
- The school is a lovely Victorian building; however, this means that our classrooms are small. Our classrooms can only accommodate 10 children when socially distanced. Our staff are preparing classrooms to accommodate these small groups of children in ‘bubbles’.
- Many of our staff work part-time and this reduces the amount of bubbles that we can have. In order to reduce the number of people that your child will come in to contact with, each bubble must have the same members of staff.
- The way that the site is arranged at school means that socially distanced movement presents a challenge. We have a long, narrow corridor. We have very few toilets and they are situated at the end of the corridor. We will need to zone areas of the school to ensure that each bubble is kept safe.
- Our staff are working hard to find solutions to reduce risk to children, staff and the community. This includes removing resources and furniture from the classrooms so that all areas can be cleaned regularly. Each child will have their own learning space and set of resources.
- The start/end of day times, playtimes and lunchtimes will be staggered for the groups to ensure that social-distancing takes place. Parents and carers will not be admitted into the building or be able to wait in a group outside.
We are currently waiting for further government guidance regarding the SAGE report as well as the government announcement on the 28th May. The SNMAT will be communicating with you early next week and this will provide clarification of how we will proceed with a phased reopening. We understand the anxieties around children returning to school and we will support whichever choice you may make.
Best wishes...and stay safe,
Mrs H-S