Getting Ready for Monday

Dear Parents and Carers,

I do hope you’ve all had a lovely summer, have enjoyed your stay-cation and haven’t been too annoyed by the huge amount of traffic that we’ve all seen and experienced!   My family and I ran away from the traffic and beaches and headed inland to explore Dartmoor, which was lovely, although I’ve also kept in touch with the many projects that took place, and are currently being finished at school over the break.

We have several things being developed and enhanced here and, since the school’s looking so lovely at the moment, we’ll make sure we blog all about it within the first few weeks of the term.  (Above, is a just one photo as a tease of some of the things we’ve been up to – with HUGE thanks to Woodstock Windows for being so quick, efficient and accommodating.)

We’re all looking forward to welcoming you back next week.  I know that several teachers have letters and communications ready to be sent out so no doubt you’ll be receiving them very soon, but I thought I’d write about some more ‘top level’ items and recap on some important points before we all congregate on the playground next Monday.

As you’ll know, the Government has stated that, ‘…given the improved position, the balance of risk is now overwhelmingly in favour of children returning to school.  For the vast majority of children, the benefits of being back in school far outweigh the very low risk from coronavirus.’

Our Risk Assessment covers all the areas that the Government have advised schools on, and is based on the template that Devon County Council worked hard to complete at the start of the summer break.  I believe that the routines and procedures that we’ve put in place, enables us to mitigate risk and provide a safe, ‘Covid-secure’ environment for your child.  We have uploaded it to the website so you can view it, but I hope to bring some important points to your attention here, so you can help us to maintain its effectiveness.  Please be aware that this is a process that will evolve over time and experience and that some details may change.  We will keep you updated as much as possible via our emails, blogs and the school website.

We have split the school into two bubbles to help us to minimise mixing within the whole school.  Our EYFS unit and Class 2 are our Bubble 1… and Class 3 and Class 4 are our Bubble 2.   As the frequent messages tell us, washing hands and being careful and considerate about respiratory hygiene is crucial to minimising risk.

We’ve written a double page leaflet that should contain all the information you need regarding our return to school, but please get in touch if you need specific detail or have any questions.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Julian Thomas