2nd July 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,
As you may have heard on the news, we are planning for ALL children to be back in school in September and the government have stated that they expect everyone to attend.

Children will remain in class or year group bubbles throughout the day with separate breaks and no whole school activities such as assembly or eating lunch together in the dining room.

The government have suggested that there are staggered start and finish times for different classes or year groups to avoid large numbers of people congregating but we will do our best to ensure siblings can arrive and leave together. This will probably involve us making use of different entrance gates for different groups as well.

Classrooms in use for the bubbles currently in school have desks which are 2m apart but government guidance states that this level of social distancing will no longer apply in September and desks can be put back in the rooms to accommodate the whole class (up to 30 pupils). However, we still need to ensure a 2m distance between the teacher at the front of the class and the pupils so will endeavour to plan the rooms with rows of desks which all face forwards.

Handwashing, use of hand gel and other key personal hygiene procedures will remain in place and children will continue to have their own equipment (pens, pencils, erasers etc).

We will be unable to welcome parents and carers onto the school site for the foreseeable future to avoid cross contamination of bubbles but will endeavour to use other forms of communication (Class Dojo, Facebook, text messaging etc) as well as seeing people when they drop/ collect their children to make sure we keep you as informed as possible.

Advice encourages the return of uniform, but we would continue to encourage children to wear fresh clothing daily where possible. We have a lot of items of uniform in Lost Property along with a lot of clean, donated garments which we will make available to support families who may need additional clothing.

Our key aim in September is for all children to feel safe and happy in school so that we can get them ready for full-time learning again and for parents and carers to know that this is our priority. With this in mind, we have already planned to use a “Bounce Back” programme to support children’s social and emotional needs before moving on to the Jigsaw PSHE scheme.

We will be using White Rose Maths recovery curriculum for Maths and will be basing much of our work in English on high quality class texts which we can read and explore together and use as the basis for some exciting writing opportunities as well as a range of creative activities. PE will also play an important part in our daily routines.

We plan to use Nurture and Positive Play along with a range of specific maths, reading and spelling interventions to help our pupils get back on track but will wait a couple of weeks before starting these.

There may also be a delay in our ability to start Breakfast Club until we have a clear picture of what the start of the day will look like.

Please rest assured that all risk assessments already in place will be fully updated for September and these will be available should anyone want further reassurance that we have considered all eventualities and are fulfilling our statutory obligations.

The school behaviour policy will also be updated and communicated with parents and carers so that everyone is clear of our expectations.

School meals will be available as usual through Derbyshire County Catering.

There is a lot to consider and take on board but as I have already said, our key priority is for the children to return to a school in which they feel safe, happy and ready to learn and for parents and carers to know exactly what we are doing so that they are happy to entrust their children to our care.

Kind regards,
Mrs Hughes