Daily update 4th May 2020

I hope you all had a restful weekend and are all keeping well.

Back to school preparations – the next phase:

This week in school we are beginning to make preparations to allow more children back to school. As we went into lockdown so quickly, this will take a little while and we will all need plenty of time to help us adjust to new ways of working. In school, we aim to reflect the social distancing and hygiene requirements that are in place elsewhere. So for example, the changes that are in place at the local supermarket, could also be in place at school. As you can imagine, school will feel very different.

As the guidance and requirements change in our wider community, so they will at school.

                                   I’ve added a photograph of today’s attempt to comply with the current social distancing requirements.

As yet, we do not know the Government’s expectations on how children should return to school, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to be prepared. I’m sharing this with you now in the hope that you may feel reassured that we will be doing everything we can to keep everyone safe and also to help you to start talking to your children about how school may be different when they return. My aim is to give you all plenty of thinking time to make the transition back into ‘normal life’ as smooth as possible. I understand that you may be anxious or have particular worries about children returning to school (or maybe it cannot come soon enough... 😊). These feelings are all perfectly understandable and each of you will have your own personal circumstances to consider.  Please do not worry, we have plenty of time to talk things through.

The Government will be announcing at the end of this week a plan for coming out of lockdown. This will include the possible reopening of schools to more children. This will most certainly be phased and we will aim to do so with your co-operation and input. There will be no sudden decisions made and we will evaluate the impact of every move before making further decisions.

I am more than happy to answer any of your questions or talk through your concerns or worries regarding the possibility of your child(ren) coming back to school. Please contact the school by phone or e mail in the normal way and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

For the time being, please continue with the excellent work you have been doing to keep yourselves safe. Keep being kind and patient.

Janette McClintock

Headteacher