Dear Parent/Carers

Following the announcement of the phased return of children to school made by the Government, we would like to keep you fully informed of what is taking place in order to prepare and plan at Marland Hill.

Actions taken so far:

• The school has undertaken a full risk assessment, and completed a thorough recovery planning document to support the phased reopening of school. This is going to be shared with staff and Governors once it has been quality assured by the LA.
• Parents in the relevant year group [years 6 and 1 and Reception] have been contacted to establish their intentions to send their children back to school (Please note if you decide you would like your child to come back to school after initially saying no, then you must inform us, giving plenty of notice as this will affect staffing, groupings and rooms required)
• Key worker children are continuing to attend school, as required, linked to their parents’ working patterns. Key worker children will be kept in a separate group in a separate part of school with their own teaching staff.
• The Senior Leadership Team has met and organised how the staff can be structured as the children in different year groups return to school, as well as continue to provide for key worker children and other pupils who will still access home learning.
• There has been regular communication with staff to keep them informed about current guidance, roles and responsibilities, and preparation for the gradual reopening of school.
• Preparations have been made and are well underway in setting the school and classrooms up, ready for children to return.

As you are aware, the Government has identified four year groups that can begin to return to school. The guidance states that there must be a limit on the number of children in each class. In order for us to follow social distancing recommendations, we are able to fit a maximum of 8 children in a classroom. As you can imagine, with 60 children per year group, this is proving to be a very challenging task. In addition to this, we still have the children of key workers to provide places for and these numbers are also increasing as more key workers return to work. To support with this, we are staggering the year groups’ return, beginning with year 6, then year 1, and finally Reception. At the minute, we do not plan to reopen to Nursery children.

We are aware that some of you have to plan for returning to work and need to know what is going to happen, but we feel the health and safety of all pupils and staff has to come first and we have to plan out a careful and considered approach. Following LA advice, we anticipate being able to open after the 15^th June, but cannot yet give a definite date for the relevant year groups to return. We will do this as soon as we are able to. We are mindful, as parents, employees, employers, keyworkers and Local Authority representatives ourselves, of the real impact of the school closure upon families. This is the reason for communicating our decision to you as soon as possible to enable you to plan for your ongoing childcare.

Details for the parents of children in years 6, 1 and Reception who will be returning over the next few weeks will be sent in advance of each year group returning, but will include:

• Staggered start and finish times for each year group. We intend initially to begin with year 6 returning 8.45am – 2.00pm
• School will close on a Friday afternoon for cleaning and preparation for the next week. Year 6 pupils will need to be collected after lunch at 1.00pm on each Friday.
• We would ask that only one adult picks up a child/ren to ease the number of people outside school.
• There will be markings on the playground floor, and around door areas, to support social distancing
• Children will need to bring a water bottle and packed lunch to school and no other equipment or bag from home. The school will provide a grab bag for all pupils on free school meals.
• Weather permitting, many lessons will take place outdoors, as advised, to reduce risk.
• We ask that all children wear clean clothes everyday, rather than school uniform, and shoes that are practical for being outside
• There will be lunches in classrooms and a rota for playtimes and zones to use for outdoor learning so children can stay in their smaller groups or ‘bubbles’.
• School staff will be setting out classrooms for the return of some children separating tables and providing individual packs of resources. There will be a limited number of resources we can use, and cleaning of shared resources does have to take place regularly and after use of individual/groups of children.

Please do not send your child to school if they, or anyone in their household, is displaying COVID19 symptoms. Parents should be aware that if one child becomes unwell and tests positive for Covid 19, then a fourteen day isolation must take place of all of the group and teacher who are in that bubble. Testing is also available at identified locations across the region.

School for the children will feel very different and we need to prepare them for this.

We will begin to send information to the children about what they can expect when returning to school. They will explain different ways we have organised the children in groups, and the structure of the day. They will get to see how the classrooms look and find out some of the new practices we have to adopt when moving around school or interacting with each other.

We hope that this has given some insight into what is happening and how the next few weeks will operate. You will receive more information in the coming weeks, and as soon as we are able to.

A final piece of information to the families of all children who receive free school meals - if your child is in school these meals will once again be provided, but in the form of a grab bag. If children are not yet in school, the voucher system will continue.

Many thanks for the support you have shown the school over the last few months, Please note that some of these details may change as we respond to issues as they arise, we will keep you informed.

Please stay safe and well.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Alex Pridgeon