Phased Opening Update | 1st June
Dear Parents/Carers,
We hope that this letter finds you and your families safe and well.
You will no doubt be aware that earlier this week, the government announced proposed re-opening of schools, starting with Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6. The provisional date for this to start is 1st June.
In consultation with other schools locally and with Future Generation Trust, St John’s has already begun to put together detailed action plans and preparations to enable the Academy to begin to re-open, if the government says that it is safe to do so.
Our aim is to communicate these plans with you as soon as possible so you know what the Academy’s reopening will look like in practice; please be assured that whatever happens, the well-being and safety of our pupils, parents and our staff will be at the heart of every decision made. It is crucial that we make considered, sustainable and safe decisions when planning potential school provision, in order to maintain the trust and support of our families, our staff and the wider community. We ask parents/carers to please bear with us as we consider the guidance we receive and use this to inform our re-opening plans.
The Department for Education has released the following guidance to schools and parents about potential arrangements for schools re-opening. Please follow the links to review the documentation.
Opening schools and educational settings to more pupils from 1 June: guidance for parents and carers
Actions for education and childcare settings to prepare for wider opening from 1 June 2020
The guidance encourages parents of children in the designated year groups to send their children to school when provision becomes available. We know that this has been, and continues to be, a time of uncertainty and worry for many families and it is understandable that a significant proportion of our parents will have concerns and reservations over sending their children back to school. We will of course make plans and arrangements that aim to make the Academy as safe as is physically possible. We are mindful that, despite these re-assurances, some parents may decide to keep their children at home, and there will be a variety of reasons for those decisions. We want parents and carers to know that there is no pressure on anyone to send their children to the Academy, and the government have stated that there will be no fines for non-attendance at this time.
In the meantime, the Academy remains open for vulnerable pupils and the children of critical key workers. We intend for this childcare provision to continue throughout any partial re-opening of the Academy, but as demand for these places increases and as year groups begin to return, in order to maintain a safe environment for everyone, there may be a limit on the capacity of this provision.
To help us with planning what provision we may be able to offer, how to organise the Academy site and to prepare classrooms, it will be extremely useful for parents of children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 to complete the short questionnaire below to detail their view on whether their child will attend school if it is re-opened.
Please complete a new questionnaire using the link below for each child you have that currently attends Nursery, Reception, Year 1 or Year 6 by Wednesday 20th May 2020.
Online Form Link (please note that the form is now closed)
We will contact parents of children in those year groups again with specific details of our planned provision, once schools have been formally asked to re-open by the government (when the fives tests have been met).
Thank you in advance for submitting your responses, which will help us immensely in our planning. Thank you for your ongoing support in these challenging times for our pupils, our families and our staff.
We send you all our best wishes and hope to see you all again soon.
Yours sincerely,
Miss S. Price Dr R. Grinsted
Headteacher Chair of Governors