28 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you for your patience whilst the Board Of Directors has been considering the best way to proceed as we move towards re-opening primary academies. There is a great deal to consider, and safety has been at the forefront of directors’ minds throughout.

The re-opening of SNMAT primary academies will progress in phases. During each phase we will review our work to ensure that, before moving on to the next phase, it is safe to do so.

The directors are clear that:

• SNMAT academies will prioritise vulnerable pupils and the children of critical (also known as ‘key’) workers.
• Before extending any provision and taking in more children, headteachers and senior leaders need time to ensure that the government’s new guidance (published on Sunday, 24 May) can be implemented. This guidance is impacting on risk assessments that we are currently undertaking.
• We must protect the groups of children and staff that either currently exist, or will be created as we move forward. This will mean that we move cautiously and steadily.
• Vulnerable children, and children of critical workers who have already been accessing the academy will continue to do so from 1 June. 

We have assigned specific dates to the first two phases:

1. Phase 1: 8 June

1. 1. SNMAT primary academies will open to the children of key workers who are not currently accessing the academy. This may be a phased re-opening for this group, with part-time provision a strong likelihood. 
   2. If the academy has further capacity, we will begin to welcome back children in Y1 on 8 June.

1. Phase 2: 15 June: If the academy has further capacity, we will extend the offer to more children. This may be phased and part-time, as new systems are embedded.

Headteachers will be in touch with you to share local arrangements. 

Yours faithfully,

Chris Moodie

Chief Executive Officer

Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham Multi Academy Trust (SNMAT)

Thursday 28^th May 2020

RE: School Re-opening

Dear Parents/Carers,

Following on from the information in the letter from Chris Moodie today, I would like to share with you what this will look like and mean for our returning children.

After lots of deliberation, it is clear that it is not yet possible to return our nursery children. We will do this as soon as it is safe and practical to do. Your child’s safety is too important to us for us to get this wrong! We do however have a plan that will mean we can still provide for the critical worker and vulnerable children and then gradually increase new ‘bubbles’ in the timeline set out below.

You will see that the timetable is not full-time. We feel strongly that the children will need time to adjust to the new ways of being in school. We will review how well this is going every day and adjust the timings as is necessary. We will let parents of Reception children know their own start date.

We can just accommodate the numbers that have requested a return but will not be able to do this if we have an increase in requests for more critical worker children.

We will be contacting all parents of returning children by phone prior to them starting so any questions that you may have will hopefully be answered well before they start. Please refer back to the guidance that I sent out previously about how to support school so that we can all stay safe together.

With sincere best wishes and thanks to you all,

Sarah Clarke (Headteacher)

26 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

You will probably be aware that, at the Downing Street briefing last night, the Prime Minister confirmed 1st June as the earliest date that primary schools can begin to re-open. This does not mean that schools will all open on this date and, indeed, a great many schools and local authorities across England have already signalled that this will not be the case. The Board of Directors for the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Multi Academy Trust are currently considering the date that primary academies within SNMAT will further expand their current provision. I very much hope to be able to communicate this date with you in the near future. As ever, please be assured that the safety of children, staff and communities will be at the core of the directors’ decision making processes.

Yours faithfully,

CMoodie

Chris Moodie Chief Executive Officer Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham Multi Academy Trust (SNMAT)

Friday 22^nd May 2020

RE: Changes to the provision for children who are already in school

Dear Parent/Carers,

I am writing to let you know firstly, that we are very proud to be able to support you by offering school provision for you during this difficult time. We acknowledge that these are very stressful and difficult times for you and your family and we are very happy to offer your child/children a school place while ever we continue to have capacity.

Secondly, I would like to share with you updates that we have had to enable us to plan for the return of more children. This will affect you and your family too.

Changes to our provision

1. Children should have a bath or a shower every day as soon as they come home from school and their clothes need to be washed. Clean clothes must be worn the next day. We will contact you to collect your child if they come to school in the same clothes as the ones that wore the day previously. School uniform is not to be worn.

1. Please check your child’s temperature before you bring them to school. Any temperature above 38 degrees will mean that your child should stay at home. Please let us know if you feel they have other symptoms of Covid-19 so that we can arrange for a testing kit should you choose to use one.

1. Your child will not be able to have any physical contact with the staff. Previously, our staff have been on a one week in, two weeks working at home rota. This was to allow them to be at home in case symptoms developed. Our capacity moving forwards will not allow for this and so we need to take precautionary measures to protect their safety. They will find this

very hard to do so please help us by explaining to your child how important it is that they try not to touch anyone who is not in their household.

1. I have also decided to split the Critical worker group down into two smaller groups. Half will stay where they are currently, the other half will move to a year 3 classroom. They will be kept separate at all times to protect them as much as possible. This will mean that, if one half has to self-isolate, the other group may still have school provision. This will start after the half-term holiday.

1. We reaffirm our right to withdraw a place for your child if you and your household are not socially distancing. This includes asking someone else to bring your child to school or collect them. Only your household members can do this please.

This is true for all of the time that the government is saying that these measures are necessary for the safety of everyone. I have a duty of care to the other children and to the staff that are working alongside them.

You are all aware by now that school is closed next week due to a lack of demand for provision. This will allow us to take stock of the SAGE advice issued later today and plan accordingly.

As you will see from my other letter today, we are not yet in a position to say when we will be opening the school to more pupils. Planning for this needs to be very carefully done and it is clear that the 1^st of June is going to be too early for us. However, provision for your child is secure from the 1^st of June.

Many thanks for helping us to help you by keeping our staff team safe at this time.

Best wishes. Thank you to you for playing your part!

Sarah Clarke

Headteacher

Friday 22^nd May 2020

RE: Planning for the return of more pupils

Dear Parent/Carers,

Thank you all for the many kind words and wishes that are sent our way every day. It is so refreshing to hear that our work to support you all is appreciated. We intend to keep doing whatever we can to support you and your children with home learning and well-being. This is our top priority.

We are still not in a position to say when we will be able to have more children in school. The government is making their decision on the 28^th of May as to whether they think it is safe or not to do so.

Clearly, any increase in pupil numbers needs to be carefully measured against our capacity to provide for them safely so I intend to tread carefully and with extreme caution. We will therefore issue a plan for a staged return but it is highly unlikely that all requested places will be manageable. Please know that we will do what we assess to be practical and safe but which allows for us to look after the increasing number of critical worker children that we provide a place for.

The SNMAT Board of Trustees is meeting next week and will issue a statement that I will share with you regarding provision for more pupils. Their decision, along with the information we receive from SAGE later today, will help to shape our decisions and planning.

I will, of course, keep you all regularly updated. Take care of yourselves.

Best wishes,

Sarah Clarke

Headteacher

20 May 2020

Parents and carers,

When I wrote to you last week, I indicated that I would write again with an update when I could. Things have moved on quite significantly and I am now in a position to share the way that partner academies within SNMAT are planning to move forward. Things do, however, continue to be uncertain and – as such – our plans may also change in step with the government’s guidance.

 The government is making a decision on Thursday, 28 May about the re-opening of schools in England. At present, the earliest that this will be is during the week beginning 01 June. You will be hearing a great deal about this in the press and other media; much of this speculation - please be assured that we will communicate with you when we have a confirmation of the way forward.

 All SNMAT partner academies are actively planning to begin re-opening to more children.

 We will continue to prioritise the children of critical workers and vulnerable pupils.

 This is very new territory and, because of this, we want to know that our plans are effective before we move forward quickly. We will therefore trial our processes with limited numbers of pupils at first. When we know our strategies are working, we will look to re-open for more children. Your headteacher will be in contact to provide details and likely dates.

 All academies and schools are likely to be offering different approaches to reopening. This is because re-opening is completely dependent on the number of staff that are available to work. As with every other walk of life, there are members of staff in academies who have underlying health conditions, are shielding loved ones or have been advised to stay at home. In some academies the impact of this is limited; in others it has significantly reduced the numbers of staff who are available.

 It has been suggested that supply teachers are used where staffing levels are very low. We have considered this and decided that, given the amount of time that most children have been away from the academy, introducing unfamiliar faces at the point of return would not be helpful. It would aslo increase the number of interactions between children and staff and therfore raise the level of risk. We have consequently decided not to pursue this as an option.

 The planning that headteachers are involved in at the moment will mean that academies are very different places. Children will be in small groups that do not interact with others, and have the same staff every time they are in the academy.

These are called ‘bubbles’ and will help children, staff and the community to reduce the risk of infection and transmission.

  Many parents have already signalled that they do not want their children to return if we re-open in early June. I repeat the message that parents will not be penalised for this. If you have made such a choice and change your mind at a later stage, please be patient with the academy; it may take a number of days for the academy to make changes to accommodate more children. In some cases, where staffing levels are already at full capacity, it may not be possible for more children to attend until more staff are available. I know that you will understand that, if this is the case, children will be welcomed back as soon as they safely can be.

 Please be assured that all SNMAT partner academies are receiving advice and guidance from our Health and Safety advisors. This is the same team that are advising the majority of schools across Nottinghamshire. We will be carrying out risk assessments in every academy and following the guidance closely.

 In order to keep the remote/online learning working for those year groups that have not been identified by the government for a planned return to school, it is very likely that partner academies will be closed to all except critical worker’s children and vulnerable children for up to a day each week. This will also allow for more extensive cleaning of the areas being used.

I recognise that this is a great deal of information, and that it is likely that headteachers have also been keeping you up to date. At SNMAT, we are all very much looking forward to returning to some form of normality as soon as it is safe to do so; this will remain our key priority as we move into the next phase of this situation.

Please look after yourselves and your loved ones.

Chris Moodie Chief Executive Officer, SNMAT

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

Dear Parents and Carers

I am writing to you on behalf of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Multi Academy Trust (SNMAT) to update you as to the re-opening of schools in the near future. I am sure that you are following the latest government announcements and I wanted to ensure that you know what academies within SNMAT are doing to prepare for this.

First of all, I would like to thank you for the support that you have shown for schools in the past seven weeks. I know that a huge number of parents (many of them key workers themselves) have made sacrifices in order that their children are looked after at home. Thank you also for supporting your children with their home learning. We know that this is not easy, and teachers have been very proud of so many of the children as they have been working at home.  

The government has asked that schools plan for re-opening for specific year groups. The earliest that this will be is the 1^st of June. This of course is dependent upon the country reaching the five key tests set by the government at that time, including that the rate of infection is decreasing. As you would expect, the safety of children and staff is our utmost priority. We are all very much looking forward to getting back to normal at some point in the future but – in the meantime – when we do start to re-open schooling, things will be very different to how they were in the past. We are awaiting further guidance from the government but at this moment in time, the key points that we can share with you are:

1.The government are planning for a gradual return to normality. This means that, where it is possible and safe to do so, we will open to the specifically identified year groups first. These have been identified in priority order as nursery (F1) and reception (F2), year 1 and year 6.

2. The government has not yet indicated when they expect other year groups to return to school but has expressed a hope that this will happen before the summer holidays begin. In the meantime, teachers will continue to provide online learning until the government directs us to re-open for these year groups. Your headteacher will be in touch to provide further guidance about this as, when schools begin to re-open, it is very likely that all of the available teachers will be in school teaching.

3.We have received guidance from the government about implementing protective measures in schools. Headteachers and their staff teams are currently using this guidance in their re-opening plans.

4. It is likely that re-opening strategies will be different in different schools. This is because each one is very different: the number of staff that are available will be a key factor, alongside basic things such as the number of entrances and the location of toilets and hand-washing facilities.

5. It is possible that when we re-open, we will do so in a phased manner. It may be that not all of the priority year groups are able to return straight away on 1^st June. This might also mean that children in the identifed year groups are offered part-time schooling in the first instance, with different start and end times for different groups. Please be assured that, where we can, we will offer full-time schooling.

6.We are aware that some parents have indicated a reluctance to send their children to school during this crisis. This is a parental choice. Whilst the government has made it clear that they are encouraging children in the stated year groups to attend, parents will not be fined for non-attendance. Headteachers will be in touch with the parents of the identified year groups in the near future to establish the number of children that will be returning as this will have a significant impact on our planning.

 7. Class sizes will be limited to a maximum of 15, with smaller groupings where possible. We will be encouraging social distancing (whilst recognising that this is very difficult for the younger children) and groups will be isolated from one another to reduce the risk of transmission. This means that children will remain in their group throughout the re-opening period and will not mix socially or be able to swap with other groups.

8.We remain open to the children of key workers.  We will apply criteria that reflect the government’s guidance on this. In the same way, we remain open to pupils who are identified as being vulnerable.

9.In order for the re-opening of schools to be a success, we must all work together. This means that all children who attend a school when it re-opens must follow social distancing guidelines at home too, otherwise the risk of infection will be substantially raised for all involved. We will be issuing more guidance about this in the near future.

I realise that this is a lengthy communication; there is a great deal of work to be done between now and re-opening and I know that the government will continue to provide us with guidance. I can reassure you that we will continue to update you when our planning has moved on. In the meantime, may I wish you well on behalf of the academy, thank you for your ongoing support and ask that you continue to be safe.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Moodie

Chief Executive Officer

Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham Multi Academy Trust (SNMAT)