Dear Parents and Carers,

as you will have heard today, the Governments ambition to get all children of primary school age back into school before the end of this term is now not going to be achieved. We said at the beginning of this half term, that we would review the situation within 3 weeks unless directed otherwise. The Governments announcement today means that we will continue with our current arrangements at this time. If the Government guidelines change regarding social distancing and other aspects of daily life, we will review our current risk assessments and inform you of any changes that we are able to make.We realise that this may be disappointing news for many of our families. We have been working on plans for how we can ensure that our Year 6 children can come together for a ‘socially distanced Leavers Celebration’  and will share these plans with you by the end of this week when we have finalised our arrangements.For our new EYFS children, we have plans in place in addition to our weekly messages and interactive challenges, for them to visit our EYFS classrooms and ‘safely’ meet the staff who will be with them in September. They will know who the teacher and teaching assistant are before they visit. We will let you know as soon as these plans are ready to share.In normal times, Wednesday 1st July would have been transition day. We have organised the classes for next year and will notify you before the 1st July so that you will be able to see a virtual video welcome to you and your child from your class-teacher for their next academic year.We have planned a supportive curriculum for the first two weeks when we return in September, if the Governments expectation announced today that all primary age children are to return fully in September. At our school we focus on the “stage” that the children are at in their learning as opposed to their “age”, When the children return, we will be able to see what ‘stage’ they are at , not only in their learning but in their socialisation, play and wellbeing. We will address any areas of development that need either support or indeed challenge and stretching.I hope that this update provides some reassurance for you in these unusual times.
Kind Regards
Kim Huggett