Thank you message to parents from teachers during COVID
Answers
Answer:
Dear Parents
Thank you all for the care, commitment and courage you have shown in what has proved to be a
particularly difficult week. I've attached a summary of the government guidance if you need to refer
to it over the coming days. I have been in constant communication with Headteachers across
Calderdale and beyond and the Local Authority as I know a lot of you have questions about what
future provision will look like, what will happen during the Easter holidays etc.
This is the Local Authority line:
We are recommending that schools continue to operate individually next week to allow time for
planning and preparation. We are also unsure of the actual numbers of children and young people
who will attend settings on Monday given that the advice to parents who are key workers, is still that
many parents working in these critical sectors may be able to ensure that their child is kept at home
and that this is an offer with no requirement for parents to send their children to school if they do
not need or wish to.
This is the Department for Education line:
Many parents working in these critical sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home.
Every child who can be safely cared for at home should be. This is an offer to parents and carers and
there is no requirement for parents and carers to send their children to school if they do not need or
wish to do so. For vulnerable children, your child’s social worker will work with you to assess the
best option for your child.
The Calder Learning Trust is expected to remain open and continue to provide care for primary and
secondary children who are vulnerable and children whose parents are critical to the Covid-19
response and cannot be safely cared for at home over the coming weeks. What is clear from the
guidance however, is that childcare / school places should only be taken up by key workers who
cannot make any alternative arrangements for their children to be safely cared for at home by
anyone else so please consider this as there is a responsibility on us all to make every attempt to do
so to minimise the numbers of children in schools.
From Monday we will start to be in a much better position of knowing how many children we will
need to cater for on an ongoing basis over the coming weeks and from that point we can then begin
to plan more accurately what our educational offer and provision will look like. All our staff who can
be in on Monday, will be, and I am grateful to them for their on-going diligence in trying to keep
things as 'normal' as possible in these worrying and rapidly changing times. I have attached a
'Wellbeing Guide' to signpost and offer support for students (and parents) during self-isolation and
the period of enforced school closure.
Over the last few days a number of parents have contacted the school regarding either payments or
refunds for school trips. The Finance Team is currently working alongside activity providers and our
insurers to secure full refunds for the PGL Netball trip and the Geography Trip to Norway. As you can
imagine these companies are very busy at the moment and we cannot guarantee a specific date for
return of payments, but we will be issuing full refunds as soon as possible. We have also received
enquires about future payments for Activities Week in July. In these uncertain times we suggest that
parents do not upload further payments until notified. It is not known how long we will remain
closed for and we will need to wait and see as to whether Activities Week will take place. If the
school remains closed, parents will be refunded any payments made.