Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you for your patience with regard to the phased return for our school pupils. I am sharing below the latest data for Covid-19 infections for our area in order to explain the school’s decision making and enable you to make the right decision for your family.

The picture below is taken from the government Corona Virus data website

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/#category=utlas&map=rate&area=e06000055

For those data whizzes out there you can look into this data further at:

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk

This has led the governors and Senior team to considerable discussion around what is the best way of approaching the continued phased return of pupils.

We have made the decision to have:

Year 1 pupils next week on Monday and Tuesday only with a cap of 15 pupils per class

Reception pupils next week on Thursday and Friday only with a cap of 15 pupils per class.

Delay the admission of Nursery pupils for a further week. 

Plan for the admission of Year 5 in the week beginning 29^th June (infection rates depending) – no action is yet required from parents for this.

If you completed a form for the initial proposed admission your child will be on the list for next week and you do not need to send it again. If you have changed your mind and now don’t want your child to attend, please let us know asap – thanks.

If you have not requested a place and want one then you need to copy the form at the end of this letter, paste it into an email and return it to the office as soon as possible

office@thehillsacademy.co.uk

Please note that remaining places will be allocated on a first come first served basis up to the cap of 15 and requests will not be considered later than 9am on Friday 12^th June.

 The structure of the school day

The school day will have a staggered start and finish , but sibling groups can arrive at the time of the earliest start.

Key Worker Bubbles arrival – 08:20, 15:35 departure
Year 6 – 08:30 arrival, 15:30 departure
Year 1 – 08:45 arrival, 15:15 departure
Reception – 09:00 arrival, 15:00 departure

Parents/carers will not enter the school building and we kindly request that you wear a face mask/covering during your time on or near the school premises.  Children will be met on the playground where they will need to stand two arms lengths apart from anyone else (this will be marked out, but please practise and remind this at home). A member of office staff will be available to collect any medicines. You can choose to send your child wearing a face mask, but due to the fact that they will probably frequently handle this (including to drink and eat lunch) it may not have any medical benefit in a school context.

Your child must not bring toys, pencil cases, book bags, stationary or other items (other than named water bottle and packed lunch if required). Named stationary will be provided by the school for every child.  Children in Year 6 are permitted to bring a book to read – but these are to be kept on their desk space and not shared.

On arrival at school your child will have his/her temperature taken (no child with a fever will be admitted to school) and wash their hands (handwashing will be frequently encouraged).

Lunchtime will be staggered. Cooked meals are available (through the usual booking system) and will be eaten in the hall on isolated tables over a period of time. Packed lunches will be eaten in the classroom or outside when appropriate.

Lessons will be taught outside as much as possible. There will be shade, but please ensure that your child has good quality/long lasting sun cream on before dropping at school (staff cannot apply this for them, but it is ok for them to have it in school if they are able to do it themselves). Please also provide your child with a sun hat/cap.

There will initially be no Prime Time provision for children other than those in Key Worker ‘bubbles’.  There will be no other clubs, assemblies or parent meetings. Any parental concerns or queries must be managed through emails and telephone conversations.

Staffing

Staffing will be as consistent as possible and staff are separated into staffroom ‘bubbles’ so that there is minimum physical contact or room sharing between staff. Staff have been provided with masks and visors. Please let your child know that their teachers might be wearing them. Because of timetabling and the need for some staff to continue shielding it is unlikely that your child will be taught by his/her regular teachers.

Behaviour

The school expects the highest standards of behaviour from all children and this remains the case. If the school deems that a child’s behaviour is causing risk to others then the parents will be contacted to collect the child and keep them at home until a way of managing the behavior is agreed.

Curriculum

The teachers will be following the planned curriculum which will be the planning that is shared with you at the beginning of the week. It is therefore helpful, if at all possible, that you work with that daily planning in order to ensure your child is ready for their learning or completes their learning depending upon which end of the week he/she is allocated. Support staff allocated to your child’s ‘bubble’ will support misconceptions and gaps.

PE will not be taught as per the curriculum due to the need to be distanced, but we will encourage physical activity and fitness.

The ICT suite will not be in use due to the communal nature of the facility, so we would ask you to continue using the planning provided by Mrs Williams, on the website, at home.

Clothing

We recommend that you take off your child’s clothes immediately when they get home. Try to wash after each wearing in order to reduce the risk of infection to your family.  Your child can wear school uniform if you have enough that fits, but please don’t worry if not – he/she can wear what is practical and easy to wash.  Please don’t splash out on school shoes – just send your child in comfortable shoes suitable for indoor and outdoor play.

Changes to plans and plan B

I am hoping that the plans will work and that after a reasonable period of time we will be able to expand our offer to other classes and to more days. The school, however, reserves the right to suspend the teaching offer if the plans become unmanageable, infection rates rise or staff availability is too low to meet safety requirements.

Thank you so much for your attention to this.  I am so looking forward to seeing children back in school!

Very best wishes

Moya Whitehead