Letters to Parents – 3rd March

3^rd March 2021

Dear parents/carers
Return to school on the 8^th of March

 As mentioned in my letter from the 24^th February, school will reopen for all pupils in all year groups from Monday the 8^th of March. As a school we are delighted that we are able to welcome back some pupils we have not seen for a number of weeks and look forward to restarting the progress that was made recovering from the initial lockdown.

For the full reopening on Monday, it will be important to note the following:

Entry and exit times

• Blossom Tree Nursery: Entry 8:30am and 12:30pm Exit 11:45am and 3:30pm
• Nursery: Entry 8:30am and 12:30pm Exit 11:45am and 3:30pm
• Reception: Entry 8:30am Exit: 2:45pm
• Year 1: Entry 8:50am Exit: 3:05pm
• Year 2: Entry 8:50am Exit: 3:05pm
• Year 3: Entry 9:00am Exit: 3:15pm
• Year 4: Entry 9:00am Exit: 3:15pm
• Year 5: Entry 8:40am Exit: 2:55pm
• Year 6: Entry 8:40am Exit: 2:55pm

Coronavirus restrictions

Please can we remind parents to stick to their specific entrance and exit times and try to come to school with as few people as possible. Avoid gathering in groups in the playground and prevent your children from running around or mixing with other classes.

I do know that this will be difficult for some children as they might not have seen some of their friends for a number of weeks, but it is really important that we stick to the social distancing guidelines so that this period of lockdown is the final period of lockdown.

Working in class
As with the return to school in September, there will be a strong reminder about the importance of handwashing and social distancing in class. All pupils and staff will regularly wash their hands through the day, with this being firmly built into class routines.

From the start of the spring term all staff have agreed to take part in twice weekly lateral flow testing to help prevent the asymptomatic spreading of the virus. As well as this step, from Monday all staff will be required to wear a face mask while walking around school, but not in class. At this point there is no requirement for pupils to wear face masks in school, unlike secondary school pupils.

On Friday the 5^th of March there will be two head teacher Zoom assemblies letting pupils know about the return to school. The link will be sent out on Wednesday the 3^rd of March.

Rapid lateral Flow tests for households

From the 1^st of March the government have announced that households and childcare and support bubbles of primary and secondary-age pupils could be eligible to have access to rapid lateral flow tests. To find out how to order or collect some of these testing packs, click on the following link.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff?utm_source=1%20March%202021%20C19&utm_medium=Daily%20Email%20C19&utm_campaign=DfE%20C19

School meals
School meals will operate as in the autumn term. If your child was on pack lunches, they will still be on packs lunches unless you have notified the school office. The same will go for school meals.

Breakfast Club

If your child/children attended breakfast club, they can continue to attend. Breakfast club will open at 8:00am.

School transition closure
School will close after pupils have had their lunch on Friday the 5th of March. This will allow staff to prepare school for the full return; rearranging classrooms, putting in place the social distancing measures required and setting up teaching areas that had to be rearranged for this period of school closure. This will mean that on Friday the 5th of March there will be no afternoon nursery and morning nursery will finish at 11:30am.

• Blossom Tree Nursery: 11:30am
• Nursery: 11:30am
• Reception: 12:15pm
• Year 1: 12:30pm
• Year 2: 12:30pm
• Year 3: 1:00pm
• Year 4: 12:45pm
• Year 5: 1:15pm
• Year 6: 1:00pm

Illness within school
As there is a risk of increased rate of coronavirus in the community after school returns, it will be very important to stick to the advice regarding illness.

• If a child is unwell keep them away from school.
• If a child has symptoms of a new and persistent cough, a temperature above 37.8° or any issues to do with taste or smell, they will need to stay off school and book a coronavirus test. If the test comes back positive, the child and the household must isolate for 10 days. If the test comes back negative, the child can return to school when they are feeling better.
• If anyone in the household has a new and persistent cough, a temperature above 37.8° or any issues to do with taste or smell they need to book a test and any children in the household cannot attend school until the results come back and the person is negative. If the results are positive, the household must isolate for 10 days.

As a school we do anticipate that there will be occasional cases of coronavirus affecting staff or pupils and this could lead to the closure of classes. If this does happen, remote learning will be provided.
Remote Learning Medals

As a school we wanted to recognise the hard work and dedication our remote learners have put into their work over the past 9 weeks. We recognise that all of our pupils, both inside and outside school, have worked incredibly hard to deal with the lockdown, but we wanted to recognise the children who have had very limited time in school, no opportunities to meet with their friends or teachers and no opportunity to have the normal routines of a learning day.

If any pupil has spent less than 10 days in school before the 24^th of February, they qualified for one of our remote learning medals and these should be arriving in the post over the next couple of days. Although we have to thank all of our pupils and all of our parents for helping us get to the stage of a full return to school, I am hoping that this small recognition of endeavour, as we did when we recognised all or our pupils in school during the first lockdown, will be a welcomed reward for some.

Through out this week all staff have been working on the their return plans for pupils. All staff recognise that for some pupils, they have only been in school for 18 weeks out of the past year; for others, they have been in all of the time. Over the coming weeks our main priority will be to get all pupils back into school and back to learning. We want them to meet up again with their friends and play and learn together. We want pupils to take part in PE, as well as read; to further develop their maths skills as well as draw and make music. The sooner that starts safely, the better.

Yours faithfully

Mr Dooris

Head Teacher