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Update on School Opening 2

4 January 2021 (by admin)

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

I would like to update everyone about the return to school tomorrow.

 

Quite a lot has changed since the end of term, including our area being moved into Tier 4 (Stay at Home). Last week there were several announcements from the government and so I thought it would be helpful to outline our position as it currently stands. This may of course be subject to yet more change if one is to believe the recent media coverage!

 

As many of you know, all secondary schools have been told to stagger the start of term and the vast majority of the pupils will be taught remotely so they can train and get the mass testing programme into place. You may have also heard that some primary schools in tier 4 will have to move to remote learning at the start of term too. This is not the case for primary schools in our area as it stands today.

 

I must stress to you that as a school, we hear the news at the same time as everyone else and, as I write this, we have been given no additional information from the government or Hampshire Local Authority.

 

We have been updating our risk assessments and have met with the governing body to discuss the risks for our school community.  As always, if there are any further changes from Government, we will write to you to let you know how they affect you and your family.

 

I can confirm that at this point in time, our school will open as expected on Tuesday 5th January.

 

Together, we all need to do everything we can to minimise the risks during these challenging times. Essentially the same arrangements will be in place as we had last term but, with the much higher infection rates, the new (more transmissible) variant and tier 4 restrictions, it is important we continue to work together to keep everyone in our community safe.

 

Please remind and familiarise yourself of the arrangements we already have in place:

  • We will continue to have staggered start and finish times to help minimise the numbers approaching our school site - these apply to all parents/carers and children. Please do not spend additional time talking with other parents in the playground. As soon as the teacher is present, you may leave your child and the school site.  We will let you know if we are concerned by telephone. 

 

  • Please arrive on time and not before unless you are dropping off another of your children.

Foundation Stage: drop off at 9:10am and collect at 3:30pm

Year 1 and 2: drop off at 8:40am and collect at 3pm

Year 3 and 4: drop off at 8:50am and collect at 3:10pm

Year 5 and 6: drop off at 9am and collect at 3:20pm

Please note that the classes will go into school within 3-4 minutes of this time and will begin the lessons for the day.    

 

  • At all times, parents/carers should keep at least 2 metres away from other adults. Parents must keep their children with them at all times.  If children are found playing away from their parents on the playground, they will be asked to leave with their parents. 

 

  • Encourage hand washing as much as possible throughout the day. You may want to clean uniform more regularly. 

 

  • Please try to remember to wear a face covering when dropping off and collecting your child(ren). All Staff will now wear a visor and/or mask as much as possible.  At present, we do not believe that face coverings need to be worn by children as they will cause more risk of the virus spreading.  For example, the children may play with them and leave them in the classroom for other children to play with.  This is our experience during the lockdown in March where only some children attended school. 

 

  • Currently the majority of staff have agreed that the measures put in place will keep them safe. This includes not having face to face contact with any adult outside of the staff bubble.  Please do not attempt to speak face to face with a member of staff in the playground unless it is a dire emergency.  Please communicate through writing a note or via email at admin@fairfields.hants.sch.uk and these will be passed on.  This includes any member of staff at the gate.  This will mean that staff members will not have to isolate if your family have a positive case.  If this is not adhered to, staff may have to ask you to stop talking to them as politely as possible. 

 

  • If you need to hand in a document, there are two post boxes for the school. One is green and is under the canopy and there is an additional one by the Main Office.  Please only enter the office for urgent enquiries.

The most important thing at the moment is to keep all pupils and staff as safe as possible and prevent any spread of the disease so I am pleading with you all to please keep a very careful eye on your son/daughter. If they have any symptoms, then keep them at home, follow the isolation procedures, book a test and get them tested as soon as possible.

Breakfast Club and After-School facilities will still be open.

We recognise that the impact of living in an area of rapidly increasing confirmed cases and living within Tier 4 restrictions will vary from family to family. We would like to reassure you, our parents/carers that we are as a school totally committed to doing all we can to make our school as safe as it possibly can be. We will of course continue to follow the latest government and Local Authority advice regarding mitigating risks of spread.

I met with the staff today to discuss the risks for them in continuing to attend work when their Unions have nationally advised them against this.  They have confirmed that they will attend work with the measures put in place to protect them from the virus.  This is also in the light of some local schools having staff who have chosen differently and resulted in school or year group closures. 

We have had concerns raised from parents who are worried about sending their child to school.  At present we are able to give work packs to pupils to complete if they are isolating or shielding for an extremely critically vulnerable member of their family (where recommendations have been given by a medical professional).  Other parents may choose to keep their children at home through their own concerns and anxieties.  Providing work for children at home through choice may not be feasible if more teachers and staff members begin to isolate.  We want to protect the workload and wellbeing of staff who continue to attend work, despite the risks to them as adults.  Please contact us if you are making this choice and we will make a decision on how best to support you with work to do at home.  This is likely to be references to websites in these cases as we want to save packs of work for isolation periods.   

 As a whole staff, we look forward to welcoming back your children as we are open.  There may be a time when this is not the case.  We want to try to recover as much lost learning from last year as possible while we can. 

Like all schools, we are now facing another challenging situation but by working closely together like we have so far, we can and will get through this. The good news about the vaccinations is the light at the end of this tunnel. Let’s all think positively for our children’s sake and believe 2021 will be a better year for us all.

 Thank you for your continued support.

 

Miss Kelly Dillon

Headteacher