Message for Critical Workers
Dear Parents,
With the first week of Spring Term under our belts we are glad to have been able to settle relatively smoothly into a new routine, offering in-school provision for our vulnerable children and those from our critical worker families whilst providing online remote teaching to all our pupils at home. We have been able to reach this point thanks to the tireless efforts of staff in preparing and improving our systems whilst adapting to ever-changing circumstances.
What is clear from this week, however, is that the number of pupils eligible to attend school under the critical worker provision is much higher than during the first lockdown. We therefore need to ensure that we can accommodate those most in need whilst recognising that we must continue to do everything that we can to keep staff and pupils as safe as possible in school in light of recent Coronavirus developments.
As I am sure you will understand, running a dual system of educating and supervising children in school whilst providing remote learning to those children at home places an additional logistical staffing burden on the school as teachers are deployed to remote teaching whilst staff are still required in the classrooms for those being educated in school. The extremely rapid rate of transmission of the virus at the moment means that we must do everything we can to protect our school community: pupils, parents and staff alike.
The guidance from the Department for Education has been updated in the last 48 hours reiterating that whilst children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school, if required, parents and carers who are critical workers should keep their children at home if they can.
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Accordingly, we are now asking you to review your needs and consider only sending your child to school if it is absolutely necessary in order to carry out your critical worker role. We will still provide a full time education for those children where there is no alternate provision.
It is our desire is to accommodate parents’ needs as far as possible whilst keeping children and staff in school safe but, just like other schools, we are balancing difficult priorities. While we have carried out all the required risk assessments and put the relevant procedures in place to keep school safe, we recognise that younger children in particular find it very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain social distancing. For this reason, if we can find ways to reduce the number of children in school on any day, especially in the younger groups, this would reduce even further the risk of spreading infection.
Please take some time if you can to review your own situation and consider where you can reduce your need. Please send any updates to us as soon as possible via win-headteacher@win.jtmat.co.uk to enable us to plan for the weeks ahead. If we do not hear from you, we will presume that you wish to continue with the current provision in school.
Thank you in advance for your help and support in this matter.
Miss Goodson