Dear Parents & Carers

Following the announcement from the government on Sunday, I am writing to you to let you know that we are working hard to prepare for a possible re-opening of school to more pupils, in addition to the children of critical key workers who have already been in school during the current lockdown.

If schools do open at some point after the half term break. The transition will need to be extremely gradual and carefully monitored in order to ensure that we can use our level of staffing and school space as safely as we can to minimise the level of risk for everyone. Any decisions that are made linked to potential reopening to more pupils will have the welfare of our children and staff at the very centre.

I know that there will be many different views in the Grange Family about the potential reopening of school to more pupils. Some parents and carers feel happy to send their children back to school providing safety measures are in place, but some parents and carers do not feel that it is safe to do this because of social distancing guidelines and the continuing threat of COVID-19. The views and opinions of those parents who cannot or do not want to send their children to school at the moment will be fully respected.

In order to be as fully prepared as possible for a potential reopening of school for more pupils at some point in the future, I would like initially to gauge your thoughts on whether or not you would like to send your child(ren) back to school, if this was an option by completing this short questionnaire.  

Before you share your thoughts and give me your answers regarding this, please carefully read the bullet points below as well as this document –
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june

School may look very different if we are able to open in June/July. Here are a few key points which I need you to be aware of arising from the guidance.
 • We may  start initially by welcoming pupils from a specific year group in to school, then potentially phasing in more pupils when it is safe to do so.
•  A part-time timetable is highly probable in order to ensure that we have enough spaces for groups of children, adequate levels of staffing, to allow for thorough cleaning of spaces and resources and to give staff time to plan and prepare for both online and face to face provision.
• The children will be working in small groups. The children will not necessarily be with their usual class teacher or be in their usual classroom, however, the staff members who are allocated to your child's group will be consistent and won't change.
• We will endeavour to enforce social distancing as best as we can (2m) for both children and members of staff, therefore physical interactions between children and staff will be extremely limited, unless it is absolutely necessary (eg, for first aid etc.).
• The small groups of children (or 'bubbles') will not be allowed to mix with the other pupil groups in school or other members of staff, even at play times and lunch times (these will have to be staggered and in different areas of the playground). The group that pupils are allocated to will be the group that they will stay with.
• We will stagger school start and finish times to keep families safe and request that only one parent is present for this. We would also seek to have a clear system to enter and exit the school grounds (outside). No parents or carers will be permitted to enter the school building for the time being.

***If you have more than one child in school, please complete a separate form for each child that you have so that we can collate the information and results easily and efficiently. There is no need to write written comments on all of the forms in this case, just write written feedback on one of the forms and complete the multiple choice questions for any additional children's forms.***

Thank you all so much for your help and for your continued support. It really is very much appreciated.