Thank you for your continued support at this challenging time.  Due to the Prime Minister’s announcement regarding the national lockdown this evening, at 8pm, school will be closed to all children tomorrow.

We require a little time to plan for the implications the national lockdown has for the school. The government were firm that anyone who can stay at home should. Safety and learning matters. We are keen to ensure our offer is aligned to the new government guidelines which have only just been released.  The Prime Minister has outlined that England is about to enter its toughest nationwide lockdown since March 2020. Hospitals are under immense pressure. With only a few exceptions, such as daily exercise, we will not be allowed to be away from home, for at least six weeks. 

Tomorrow morning, every child in the school will be provided access to their Google ‘self-isolating classroom’. This is different to their regular Google Classroom. For more information about this, please visit the school website.  The Google ‘self-Isolating classroom’ will be a temporary measure. We are aiming to implement a remote learning timetable to commence on Wednesday 6 January. We will confirm this offer, live teaching arrangements and protocols by the end of the day tomorrow.

The government is very clear that onsite provision is for parents/carers who are ‘critical workers’ and have absolutely no other option. If there are non-critical workers at home, or a critical worker who can work from home, they should be arranging the childcare. We need to prioritise places for those who absolutely require the provision or may be in a vulnerable position. We valued our families not using this facility unnecessarily in the last lockdown.  We will be emailing a childcare application form to every family tomorrow by 9am. This needs to be returned by 12 midday. Places for the provision will be confirmed by the end of the day. 

We appreciate that our communication to you is short notice and are sorry for the worry and inconvenience the next 24 hours may cause. However, we are keen to respond to the change in government position to provide the best possible offer for your child. Having seen how well we worked as a community during the last lockdown, working together, we know we will move forward harmoniously.