Dear Parents, 

I thought I would write to give you an update on the planned procedures for opening schools from June 1st.

The Government have initially asked that the school open their doors to Year 6, Year 1, Reception children and the Key workers’ children.

In formulating this plan I have worked with County advisors, Governors, other local Headteachers and staff and I have prioritised the welfare of children and staff as my main concern. We have had to bear in mind current staffing levels and current health & safety advice.

The school will operate in four specific ‘bubbles’ of children who will have certain staff assigned to them.

The school will be open for children in Year 6, Year 1 and Reception from Monday through to Thursdays where the children and staff will operate in their own individual year group ‘bubble’.

The Key workers ‘bubble’ will still be available for qualifying children from Monday though to Friday.

Even though the government guidance says-

“We know that, unlike older children and adults, early years and primary age children cannot be expected to remain 2 metres apart from each other and staff. In deciding to bring more children back to early years and schools, we are taking this into account.”

 The school will operate as much as reasonably possible with regards to social distancing regimes which do include socially distancing adults during drop off and pick up. Therefore, after 8:30am on a daily basis the car park will be pedestrianised and we will ask you to line up with your children in the marked bays (2metres apart).

There will be a one way system in place, where parents will drop off children in the car park area and then walk through the playground and out through the passage that exits next to the War Memorial Club. If I could ask that you say goodbye to your child outside the school building and then leave via the one way system mentioned above.  

Timings-  

Drop off timings-

Key Workers 8:45am

Year 6 children 9am

Year 1 children 9:15am

Reception Children 9:30am

Your child will be greeted by a member of staff and ushered into the school.

Pick up timings-

Reception children 2:45 pm

Year 1 children 3pm

Year 6 children 3:15pm

Key Workers Children 3:30pm

Your child will be brought out to meet you.

If you have more than one child attending in more than one ‘bubble’, I would ask that you drop off at the first child’s time and also pick up at the first child’s pick up time.

Contact with school staff will need to be kept at a minimum, therefore if you have any queries please e-mail or phone in.

My reasoning for this is a combination of staffing and health & safety considerations. Fridays will be used by the staff to set work for children who are still at home and this will also give the opportunity for the school to initiate deep cleaning once a week to augment the daily cleaning routines. I have attempted this way rather than a part time morning or afternoon set to hopefully minimise disruption to people’s working regimes.

If your child is eligible to return to school, but you have decided not to take up the offer could you please e-mail Miss Newman at kat.newman@buxworth.derbyshire.sch.uk  This will help us with numbers and to organise supervision.

I would ask that you only send your child in with a coat and a drinks bottle. They may of course bring in a packed lunch if they are not having school dinners. Please do not send in book bags.

As you will remember from the previous e-mail the Government guidance states that if you have children in other year groups (2,3,4 & 5), they are still to remain at home for the time being, even if they are a sibling of a child attending school.

With regards to the children who are remaining at home, the staff will continue to set work on the school website.

All procedures will be reviewed on a weekly basis as the situation evolves and there will obviously be other measures I will make you aware of.

This is the current plan, but we are still waiting to hear from the Prime Minister whether the schools are to be reopened or not. We should have confirmation over the coming days, at the daily Coronavirus Government Briefing and if this is the case I will initiate the aforementioned plan.

As you will probably imagine this is a fluid process and unprecedented situation and I appreciate your support in implementing the plan.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best Wishes

Paul Bertram

Headteacher