Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope that you have had a lovely Christmas holiday and I am sending you the very best wishes for the new year.

As I’m sure you will have seen in the media, the children’s return to school is being discussed so I wanted to write to you just before they return tomorrow, Tuesday 4^th January 2022.  

The government guidance for schools was updated yesterday, however, there is very little change to primary school settings. The main change is the lateral flow testing on day 6 and 7 for positive cases and more emphasis on spaces being well ventilated which you can read more about below: 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

My letter will give you further detail about Everton Primary School specifically:
 

Drop off and Collection
This remains the same – children can arrive from 8.30am and the bell goes at 8.40am for the children to line up and enter school. Lessons begin at 8.45am. Collection time remains the same at 3.15pm also. Please could I request that adults waiting on the drive maintain a safe distance from one another and are considerate of others in close proximity. Please do not stay on the drive longer than you need to be.

Health and Safety Measures

• We will continue to clean the school regularly, including during the school day, and thoroughly.
• Children and staff will continue to hand wash/sanitise regularly. 
• Space between adults will continue to be maintained and face masks worn in communal areas. 
• Classrooms will be ventilated with windows open, and the air circulation will be monitored with the devices we have in the classrooms. 
• We will remain vigilant if symptoms begin at school and please do not send your child/children if they show symptoms. We will contact you and your child will need to be collected as soon as possible and taken for a PCR test, unfortunately a lateral flow test is not enough.

Class Organisation 

As I mentioned before Christmas, you have been really supportive in terms of the Covid-19 situation, and this has meant that we have only had to enter ‘bubbles’ once this academic year. The class organisation will remain the same and we will not revert to bubbles at this point, but this will be dependent on advice given to us if we have an increase in cases. 

In other news, Classes 2 and 3 are officially swapping classrooms as of tomorrow, Tuesday 4^th January 2022.

Staffing

Unfortunately, we may have staff absence difficulties going forward and this will probably be the case for most schools, therefore getting supply staff may prove difficult. We may have to look at merging classes and/or make changes to the class structure in order to organise in the best way that we can, whilst continuing to educate the children. Staff will be used flexibly to support classes/children where and when needed.

If a staff member is too ill, they may not be able to remotely teach so alternative plans will be put in place. We will always put your child/children at the forefront of any decisions that we make regarding any of our plans and adaptations.

Remote/home learning

Staff are planning in a way that means, if the need arises, learning can be carried out at home if your child/their class must isolate.  Staff will put their planning on Class Dojo and also email it out. In the event of any child/class having to isolate, we will use teaching videos and Zoom sessions to teach, including for smaller targeted groups.  The amount of work your child completes at home will obviously depend on how well they are.  

Breakfast and After School Clubs

These clubs will continue to be in place but we ask that they are used for essential childcare need only as the clubs may be affected by staffing shortages. Kixx and Doncaster Rovers’ After School Clubs will continue as usual on a Wednesday and Friday respectively. We will do our best to keep these clubs open but there may be changes to the timings. We will aim to notify you as soon as we possibly can so that alternative childcare arrangements can be made.

Visitors to school

Essential visitors only will continue to visit school. They will be expected to wear a mask and will not be in close contact with staff or the children.  

Face masks/coverings

Government advice states that face coverings for pupils are for secondary aged children and are not required for primary settings.  Adults in school will wear a face covering if/when necessary.  

Outbreak Plan 

During the pandemic we have had an outbreak management plan in place.  It will be instigated if cases are at a significant level in school or we are advised to implement it by the local authority/government guidance. 

If the plan is implemented this will mean we must take extra steps to limit the spread of the virus the main changes to school would be: the reintroduction of class bubbles; no school visitors unless absolutely essential (safeguarding/health and safety); limited or no after school clubs as we would need to restrict the mixing of groups; and if advised we would return to online learning.

All the measures mentioned above will be kept under review and are subject to change following the evaluation of our risk assessment and/or new Government and Department for Education (DfE) guidance. 

Please be reassured that our aim is to keep the children, staff and all of Everton Primary School’s stakeholders as safe as possible, whilst doing the best that we can to keep disruption at school to a minimum. We anticipate that this could be a difficult month or so, and therefore ask that you please bear with us, as we will always be trying to do our very best in what may be extremely challenging circumstances. 

We thank you for your continued patience and understanding during this time. 

If you have any further questions or queries, please do get in touch office@everton.notts.sch.uk or 01777 817350

Kindest regards, 

Mr Andrew Green

Headteacher