Write a letter to your father and share your thoughts about school re opening
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Letter to parents about post-COVID school reopening
Home News and Events Latest News Letter to parents about post-COVID school reopening
Dear parents and carers
We are writing to keep you appraised of our plans to begin the phased re-opening of William Ford Junior School to some pupils.
The government has asked us to plan a reopening of the school from any date on or after Monday 1 June 2020. It is our responsibility to plan a phased reopening based on our judgement of what is safest for our school’s children, families and staff. This letter explains to you our plan, although it is provisional and could be changed or postponed at any moment based on our interpretation of the ever-changing advice and evidence.
As things stand, we hope to open our doors to Year 6 pupils only from Monday 8 June. This is in addition to the children of key workers and a small number of other families from any year group who are already in attendance. We have chosen this date rather than the government’s preferred date of 1 June so that we can be more confident that the government’s five tests for the lifting of lockdown have been sufficiently well met. The government is due to release essential up to date information on 28 May. Opening our school on 1 June would not give us time to analyse this information well enough in order to make our school premises as safe as possible. When this information is published on 28 May, we may decide that we cannot reopen the school after all, and cancel any plans to do so.
You do not have to send your child to school. The government has requested that we encourage you to do so, but our local authority has told us that they will not support us in any attempt to fine families who do not send their child to school. You will, therefore, not be fined if you choose not to send your child to school before the end of the summer term.
We may only be able to offer your child a part-time timetable. This means that they may only be able to attend school on some days and not others. This is because we do not have enough classrooms or teachers to teach lots of small groups at the same time. We may also need to close the school for regular deep cleans.
In school, your child will be educated in a small group known as a ‘bubble’. Each bubble will probably contain about ten pupils with one teacher and one teaching assistant. It is very likely that these staff members will not be your child’s usual teacher and teaching assistant. Each bubble will have no contact whatsoever with any children or staff from any other bubble. This means that your child will not see or speak to anybody outside their bubble for the entirety of the summer term. This includes lunchtimes and break times.
Pupils will follow a well-planned and worthwhile curriculum, but this will not be their normal curriculum. It may not be as broad and balanced as usual, and is likely to emphasise activities to support pupils’ safety and wellbeing ahead of some of the more traditional subjects.
Within each bubble, hygiene will be the highest priority. Your child will be instructed to wash and sanitise their hands regularly. School cleaners will be on site throughout the whole school day and will repeatedly clean anything that is touched frequently such as surfaces and door handles. Pupils may not bring any equipment into school. They may only use the equipment that we provide them with. They may not share anything with another pupil.
Pupils will be kept as distant as possible from each other, but it will not be possible for strict social distancing to be maintained within bubbles. This means that the school is not guaranteeing that social distancing rules will be applied to your child, and the school cannot be held responsible for any outcome that may arise as a consequence of this lack of social distancing. Our behaviour management policy will be adjusted to make clear to children what the new contact rules are. Children will be praised and rewarded for keeping the rules, but sanctions for breaking the rules will be strictly enforced for everyone’s safety. In extreme cases, these sanctions could include exclusion.
Pupils’ movement in and around school will be severely limited. They will eat in their classroom. No hot food will be available, but children may have a school packed lunch or bring their own packed lunch. They should also have a named water bottle which will never be touched by any other person. They will have outdoor breaks, but will be kept separate from all other bubbles. They will not be allowed to visit the toilet on request, but must wait for their bubble’s allotted time. We hope that no pupil would have to wait more than 15 minutes for an available opportunity to visit the toilet.
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