18tMarch 2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
RE Coronavirus School Closures
I’m sure by now you will know that the Government has this evening made an announcement on Education:
As of the end of the school-day on Friday 20th March, all schools nationally have been ordered to close by the Government until further notice.
As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs.More specific details will become clear over the course of the next 24-48 hours.
From what we know this evening, the ‘key workers’ include:
· NHS staff
· Police
· Fire service
· Social care workers
· Delivery drivers
The other group that schools are being asked to stay open for are ‘vulnerable children’. The initial Government definition here is:
· any child with an Education Health and Care Plan; and
· any child with an assigned social worker
I will write to you tomorrow to confirm further detail on these lists of ‘key workers’ and ‘vulnerable children’ as we receive it from the Department for Education.
We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your child may fall into one of these categories. Please phone the office and inform Mrs Bowater if you believe you qualify as a ‘key worker’ or ‘vulnerable family.’ We’ll be in touch again as soon as we are sure who this does apply to.
All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards.
Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by parent mail.
What we’ll continue doing while your child is at home
Your child’s learning is of course important to us, so we’ll continue to help your child to learn.
such as: