As I am sure you are aware, at the beginning of the week I received details from the Government of their plans to re-open schools from 1st June. I have been working closely with the school Senior Leaders and Governors on developing an appropriate response.
In order to understand my planning, you need to be aware that:
· all planning has been influencing by our commitment to reducing risks whenever possible
· we have put the health and safety of the children and staff first, before making any plans
· all plans are guided by our models of best practice in teaching and learning
The school plans to invite the year six and year one classes to return to school from June 1st. I have decided that at this point that it is not desirable or possible to manage a return to school for reception and nursery children, therefore they are not included in our initial planning.
The return to school will be phased, not all classes will return on the same day.
A major principle in organising the return is the principle of social distancing. We have calculated the maximum capacity of each room in the school based on placing children at tables 2 metres away from each other. Some rooms have a capacity of nine children, and others can accommodate 12 children. Each existing class will be split into groups between three classrooms, each manned by one teacher.
Year Six children will occupy the rooms in our new extension.
Year One children will occupy the year one, three and four classrooms.
Each existing class will return on different days.
Each year group will enter by different doors to preserve social distancing.
Year six classes will return first, for a full day.
Year one classes will return later in the first fortnight, but only for a half day initially.
We will operate staggered entry and exit times for each class.
Children will be working at tables on their own, and have their own bank of resources, that will not be shared with anyone else.
Children are strongly encouraged to return to school. If parents are not able to send their child back – because of existing family vulnerability or sickness in the household, there will be no fines issued. I hope to persuade you that we have taken all possible steps to reduce risks in school, to provide a safe place to return to.
Children will be instructed each day to:
· wash their hands on each entry to the building
· to keep 2m distance from everyone else
Teachers will be offered PPE to protect themselves from infection. We will measure each child’s temperature on entry to school, and exclude any child that shows symptoms of infection. The school will be cleaned with anti-bacterial resources at the end of each day.
Senior Leaders have written several bespoke risk assessments to manage risks, to match the emergency. These include a generic return to school RA, Fire evacuation procedures, managing the needs of SEND children, and safeguarding procedures. These will be reviewed once all classes have returned.
After the first two weeks, I will review our actions with senior leaders and governors, and act on the findings of the review.
It is important to note that approximately 33% of our staff are unavailable for work at the moment, either due to infection, vulnerability or the need to shield members of their families.
The Year Six and One teaching teams are developing an appropriate curriculum for the children to follow. This will be broad and respond to their needs, with a heavy emphasis on healing, responding to anxiety and providing opportunities that are fun and varied.
After half term, parents will not be allowed to enter the site, to protect everyone inside from possible infection.
I am busy adding more detail to our plans, more will be shared with you once they have been agreed.
The detail above will give you a significant amount of information to digest. I am aware it is not comprehensive and you may have a specific question you would like answered. Please send me a message if you have something specific you would like to clarify. I will do my best to reply as soon as possible.
All planning is subject to review and may be adapted to meet the needs of the community.
Mr Drew
Head Teacher
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