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Posted on: 21/05/2020Letter to Parents - update on 21st May 2020
Dear Parents,
As promised, I am writing to update you on the steps we are taking to reopen the school for Year 6, Year 1 and Reception.
The school is finalising all its Risk Assessments in order that the measures required are in place to safely reopen the school.
We will of course continue to update parents as soon as we have more details and are due to hold another governing body meeting next week to discuss the results and to make a decision on the best way forward. It is my intention that I will write to parents on Friday May 29 with a further update.
In the interim period, I would like to share with you some of the findings of the survey that we have conducted among parents about the reopening of the school.
St Francis Class (13 responses) 66% No 33% Yes
Comments:
I am not confident that it would be safe for my children to return to school at present. I would prefer to continue with homeschooling.
We believe it is too soon to send kids back to school, and yes we are struggling between our careers and our kid's education, but we are giving our best to succeed at both.
St Bernadette (25 responses) 60% No 40% Yes
Comments:
Until a vaccine is found, the risk of catching the virus continues. Children clearly don't suffer from the virus as badly as adults so the risk to them is minor. The risk to teachers is likely to be significant and the school must assess this with them. It looks like we will be living with the virus for a long time but we will know more each day about prevention, risk and cures. The risk to society of the virus spreading in schools remains unproven, in my mind, but we are learning all the time. In September we will know a lot more and be better prepared.
I don’t feel comfortable with it. I need to know what measures have been put in place to protect the children from Corona Virus.”
Year 1 St John Bosco (20 responses) 70% No 30% Yes
Comments:
For schools to reopen in the current climate, rate of infections and deaths need to continue to drop for over a longer consistent period. In addition, staff needs to be trained in spotting symptoms of the new covid-19 related Inflammatory disease that is affecting hitherto well children.
Maintenance of social distancing is near impossible for the children to follow and for the staff to enforce especially at lunch and playtime. Therefore the above two points are key when schools are reopened. Children with underlying health conditions must not be at risk.
Also a concern is the crowding in the morning and afternoon when children are dropped and picked up from school. How is social distancing enforced during these times within the school premises? Without the answers for these queries, it seems premature to throw the doors open in the midst of a deadly pandemic.
I feel this year should be scrapped and they go back in September this would give the school time to make appropriate risk assessment and make adequate safe measures to keep the kids and staff safe in September. Also the school's should be fully decontaminate ready for September. I don't see the rush in sending the kids back for just few weeks and go off again for the summer holiday. They should start in September and this would give us a better picture as to what will happen in this Covid crisis.
St David’s (22 responses) 72% No 27% Yes
Comments:
We are unsure of sending our daughters back to school in June as COVID-19 is still not fully understood/controlled. Restrictions are being slowly lifted and we await the impact. Until more is known we are happy to continue with home schooling. Perhaps a reassessment for children to return following the summer holidays would be better timing.
We still feel uncomfortable about the safety of returning to the school environment
How can you possibly send kids to an enclosed environment with exposure to so many different households in a time like this?
Year 6 St Patrick’s (20 responses) 65% No 35% Yes
Comments:
There is no rush considering that the year six are no longer sitting for SATs. The risk outweighs the benefits.
If it is not safe for me to return to work how is it safe for teachers and children? I don't believe that the schools have enough time to think and plan for the social distancing of managing children. Although the rate of infection is slowing down as they say no one wishes to be part of the small minority affected. Simply put, I do not children and staff safety first and not convinced that us the case here.
If we are allowed to meet only one person outside our household in the open space how safe is it for 15 children and their teachers to be in a classroom for long periods of time? With only few weeks of academic year left I don't see the point to reopen now and risk children's and school staff health. The online schooling is going well and we are happy to continue this way.
I would like to thank parents and staff for their contribution to the survey, which we will use to help inform our decisions. It is clear parents and staff still have many questions hence I am sharing the government’s latest guidance:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june
More information about the protective measures schools are being asked to implement to keep children and staff safe can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings
Kind regards
Sean Small
Headteacher
Posted on: 27/04/2020Letter to Parents - update on 27th April 2020
Dear Parents,
As we enter week 6 of school being closed, I just wanted to give you all an update of what has been happening.
From week 1, the school has been open to children of Key Workers. We have had between 5 and 10 children in daily, with 3 staff in attendance, together with staff from the kitchen providing lunch.
Over the past weeks, we have continued to operate independently, catering for our children and not joining with other schools to pool our resources. We thought this decision was the right course of action to keep our children safe in these worrying times.
The children coming in have been from across all year groups. In addition to doing their work in the Computer Suite, they have had PE and Music sessions and engaged in some independent reading. The staff spend their time helping the younger children whilst the older children have been encouraged to work in the Computer Suite on activities set by their teacher.
Home Schooling
We as a school have been successful in putting in place a system that is sustainable for the period of closure.
During the week before we closed, staff were given some training on how to use Google Classroom. Since then, all teachers have been uploading work for their children and the aim of this work has been to follow year group expectations as set out in the National Curriculum. We appreciate this may not always be possible, but we are doing our utmost to put everything in place and to try and ensure the children have minimal gaps in their learning at the end of this difficult period.
On the whole, it has been seamless in its implementation and children have enjoyed this new style of learning. I would like to thank you for your continued support, and we know we would not have such a high level of engagement from the children without your involvement. Please continue to find the system that works best within your household and don’t hesitate to contact the teachers or myself if you are experiencing any difficulties logging on or submitting work.
Free School Meals – Government Voucher scheme
Those OLOG families that have been eligible for the Government Scheme, have received their vouchers. Apologies, if they have come a little late, this is purely due to the high demand nationally.
Reception 2020
The school has now received its list of the new EYFS children in readiness for our Reception class for September.
In these challenging circumstances, I have asked the office staff and the Reception team to discuss alternative arrangements for their preparation to ensure this transition will go smoothly. If this affects you, we will be in touch over the coming weeks explaining the details.
Thank you all for your continued support and I look forward to seeing you all in the not too distant future.
Regards,
Mr Small
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