Latest News

Latest School News Updates

• SNMAT Letter To Parents

  Tue 12 Jan 2021 Chris Moodie - CEO SNMAT

  The following update, written by the CEO of SNMAT, has been sent out to our families today. It can also be found in the 'Letters' section of the website:

   

  Parents and Carers,

   

  Many of you will be aware that the government altered its guidance this weekend on who can access provision during the current lockdown. In a series of interviews and broadcasts over the weekend, ministers announced these changes and later changed the written guidance that schools must follow.

   

  I am writing to you now to outline how the government’s renewed guidance impacts the way that we work. I very much hope that the situation remains constant now until academies re-open fully.

   

  You will know that there are two groups of children accessing provision at present.

   

  1. Vulnerable Pupils: the government’s guidance has not changed. All vulnerable pupils should continue to attend.

   

  1. The children of critical workers: The guidance has changed significantly for this group:

   

  Critical workers should keep their children at home if they can.

   

  Practically, this means that children should stay at home if:

   

  • One parent is a critical worker, and another parent is at home

   

  • Work patterns (part-time, shift-work or flexible working) mean that a parent who is a critical worker is available to be at home during parts of the week.

   

  The reasons for this change could not be more stark:

   

  • The virus continues to spread and any unnecessary contact should be avoided.
  • We all must do our utmost to reduce interactions and stay at home.
  • Schools must play their part and offer provision only to vulnerable pupils and children of critical workers who cannot be looked after at home

   

  To support you, teachers and support staff are doing all that they can to provide high quality remote learning which is tailored to the needs of your children. SNMAT is supporting them to do this and we are seeing some exceptionally positive levels of engagement from parents and children. Our aim is to continue to improve this offer and make our remote learning as good as it can be.

   

  Next Steps:

   

  Please contact the academy office: office@hps.snmat.org.uk if the changes to the government’s guidance mean that:

   

  • you no longer qualify for provision

   

  • your work pattern means that you must reduce the number of sessions that your child attends*.

   

  * (Many critical workers have already provided details of work-patterns. This information will not need to be re-submitted unless your circumstances have changed since last week).

   

  The success of this change of advice on reducing the transmission rate relies on us doing what we can to eliminate all unnecessary contacts. With this in mind, I would like to thank you, in advance, for your support in implementing these most recent changes.

   

  I very much look forward to a time when I write to you with more positive news, and hope that this will come sooner rather than later.

   

  Look after yourselves and your loved ones.     

   

  Chris Moodie

  Chief Executive Officer, SNMAT

• SNMAT Letter To Parents

  Tue 05 Jan 2021 Chris Moodie - CEO SNMAT

  The following update, written by the CEO of SNMAT, has been sent out to our families today. It can also be found in the 'Letters' section of the website:

   

  Dear Parents and Carers,

   

  I am writing to you at the start of another period of academy closure. This is something that we had very much hoped to avoid, and it is with great regret that we can no longer offer provision to all children.

   

  The current situation across SNMAT partner academies is:

   

  • The government’s announcement last night gave us very little time to respond and make the high quality arrangements that we would hope for.
  • It is clear that, to be effective, the closure of schools must significantly reduce the numbers of children that are in schools.
  • Academy leaders are now processing a large number of applications for critical worker status.
  • We want to get this right and will be making the checks with employers that the government has advised us to in order that the provision is offered to parents who match the government’s criteria.
  • This will take some time and I would ask that you are patient as we process this work. It would be wrong to offer provision at this stage, only to withdraw it in the near future.
  • You may be aware that Teaching Unions have advised that the proportion of pupils in school during this lockdown should not exceed 10%. We are adopting a more flexible approach to this and are committed to providing critical workers with provision so that they can keep this country moving, protected, fed and looked after (amongst other equally core roles).
  • You will understand that there will be limits to the numbers of pupils that individual academies can accommodate – based on staffing levels and space. When we reach this capacity, we may have to make difficult decisions. To avoid this happening, I would ask that any requests for provision are limited only to the periods that they are absolutely necessary.  

   

  These are challenging times for all of us. There is some light at the end of tunnel, and I very much hope that, as the vaccination programme is unrolled, we can begin to return to the normality that we are all craving. In the meantime, we look forward to working together with you in the best interests of your children, the community and the country.

   

   Look after yourselves and your loved ones.     

   

  Chris Moodie

  Chief Executive Officer, SNMAT

• School Closure

  Mon 04 Jan 2021 Mrs H-S

  Following the government announcement earlier, school will be closed from tomorrow. For Tuesday 5th, we will only be providing places for children from critical worker or vulnerable families who had a confirmed place during the first lockdown.

   

  If you feel your circumstances have changed and you are now eligible for critical worker provision, please apply for a place from Wednesday 4th. The application form is available from the school office. After the necessary checks have been completed , we will then confirm if you have met the criteria for a place.

   

  For tomorrow's online learning, please access the Destination September page and the class pages on the school website. From Wednesday, we will resume our online learning via MS Teams and the website.

• Swimming Lessons

  Mon 04 Jan 2021 Mrs H-S
  The Schools' Swimming Service have announced that swimming lessons are cancelled this week. Unless there are any further changes to government guidance, swimming will now start on Tuesday 12th January.

• Start of Term

  Sun 03 Jan 2021 Mrs H-S
  Haggonfields Primary School will be open on Monday. The one-way system will be in place for collection and drop off. Please wear a face mask and follow social distancing guidelines. We request that you leave the school site as quickly as possible and do not wait in the one-way system. Thank you.