Dear Parents / Carers,

I am sure that you have all heard the announcement over the weekend from Boris Johnson about the latest restrictions that come into effect from tomorrow. These restrictions do not specifically affect schools but the full guidance can be found here: www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november

So far, we have not received any direct guidance from the Department for Education regarding changes we need to make but I as I am sure you can imagine, we have been reviewing our risk assessments in school. It is our responsibility to keep everyone in our community as safe as possible, including children, parents and staff who are considered vulnerable.

We are therefore requesting that from tomorrow (Thursday 5th November), all adults who enter our school site are wearing a mask or face covering. This is in all areas, including on the playground and pathways. Obviously we are aware that some of you may be exempt and we completely understand that. Please also ensure that you are maintaining a two metre social distance with other people at all times.

You will see that staff out on the playground or at the doors are also wearing masks and we have also asked staff to wear masks in communal areas around the school. They will not be wearing them when teaching the children unless it is their personal choice to do so and we do not expect the children in our care to wear a mask at any time, again unless they choose to do so.

We ask that parents of Nursery children now please leave their child at the top of the slope down to the classroom and remind parents of Reception and Year 1 that they should not be going down the slopes from the playground at any time. Thank you to all parents who continue to follow these requests and ensure they stick to the one way systems we have in place.

We would also like to remind you once again that while waiting on the playground before or after school, children should be standing still with their parents. Please also ensure that you only arrive at school or drop off your child just before their class opens in the morning as we seem to have a lot of people on the playground, including unsupervised children from Years 5 and 6, for a long time before school starts.

We are really sad that we have had to temporarily stop our football and netball clubs that had started for children in Years 5 and 6. Unfortunately the national lockdown guidance (under section 7 about education) clearly states that extra-curricular clubs should not take place. We apologise for any inconvenience.

We know this is an anxious and uncertain time for everybody but we do assure you that we are doing all we possibly can in school to keep the children safe and we very much appreciate your support with this.

Yours sincerely

Mrs E. Birch

Headteacher