Friday 18^th May 2020

RE: School Re-opening

Dear Parents/Carers,

I would like to start by thanking you all for your continuing support and understanding for our staff team as we work through the planning stages of a phased re-opening. Your kind words and thoughts are keeping us all going. I am incredibly grateful that you all appreciate how tricky these plans are to put into place.

It is clear, that any increase of pupil numbers must be done in a practical and safe manner. With this in mind, we are intending to do a phased return for children that will start with the youngest pupils first, as we have been asked to do.

Next week, when we have more definite numbers to plan with, we will talk you through what the three steps to this return will look like so that you can talk with your child and help them to prepare. We will show you a video of what the classrooms will look like, where the different entrances and collection points will be, and also discuss our individual planning in more detail.

Clearly, it would be foolish to plan for all pupils to return at the same time. We will increase our numbers little by little and only do so if we can prove that we can continue to look after all vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. If, at any time, we become unable to look after this core group, then I am afraid that provision for the children in other year groups will have to end.

In summary…

If your child is in F1, F2, Y1 or Y6

• Please respond to the form in parent mail if you haven’t already – by Monday lunchtime. No response or a ‘No’ will mean no school place will be planned for your child this term
• Plans will be shared next week for a phased return
• We have been asked to prioritise re-opening in the following order: F1, F2, Y1, Y6

If your child is in Y2-Y5

• Please keep using the Home Learning Menus and the online learning tasks and send us your pictures

All year groups

• Keep social distancing – households should not be mixing
• We’ll keep you updated as the National and Local information is updated

In my initial letter to you, when schools were first closed, I said that I could not wait for all children to return to school. This is still true. Please understand that we will continue to work towards this goal in a measured and careful way that protects your child and our staff as much as is practically possible.

With sincere best wishes and thanks to you all,

Sarah Clarke and the staff team at William Gladstone CofE Primary Academy