14.05.20 LCT Update to Parents

14.05.20 LCT Update to Parents

Dear Parents,

I do hope you and your families are safe and well. Thank you for the many lovely and supportive messages I have received from many of you each week.

The purpose of this letter is to provide you with the position of the Trust on extended opening of our schools following the Government announcements and guidance we have received this week.

Primary – HLC Primary and Wrekin View Primary

Currently, we are in the planning stages to bring Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 into school from the 1^st June IF the government decides it is safe to do so because infection rates in the UK are significantly lower and the trajectory is for this to continue to decline, and subject to our own risk assessments. If this is the case, then the following is being planned to be in place in our primary schools:

In order to manage this as safely as possible for our children and staff we are focusing on a rota model of a Week 1 and Week 2 timetable for children in Nursery, Reception, Y1 and Y6 so that we have 8-10 children in the same classroom with the same member of staff.
Week 1 children will be in school all week and then be sent home for the following week with work to do at home which builds on the learning of their week in school. The following week the other half of children (Week 2) in these year groups will attend school. We will alternate until we know what the next step is for our primary schools.
This arrangement will allow us to provide high quality learning in that week, give great continuity for the children and their teacher and allow us to catch children up. It also means that we can maintain social distancing, even though this will be a challenge with young children, high standards of hygiene and keep children almost as a safe-contained group for school work, breaks and lunches so they only socialise with their little group.
A building management plan and risk assessment will be in place to manage staff and children safely in our buildings, meeting the Government guidelines that have been issued to schools.
Home Learning will continue to be provided for children in Y2, Y3,Y4, Y5 as packs so these children, who may return later in the term, are still supported at home but we will not be able to support at the same level as we have been, as all our staff will need to be teaching the children in school.
We will maintain the provision for the children of key workers and vulnerable children, those children will join their class group if this class is in school so they access the same learning.

Secondary – HLC Secondary, Ercall Wood Academy, Charlton

The provision required for our secondary students is very different and the current planning for these students is:

All Y10 students will begin to attend school from 1^st June, working in small groups with their teachers so we can better support them when they are working at home
They will have very personalised timetables of when they need to be in school during the second half of the summer term. The Government is asking us to focus on these students so we can do the very best to support them with their GCSEs before the start of Y11
Y7, Y8 and Y9 students will continue with Home Learning and will not be back in school until September
We will maintain the existing provision for the children of key workers and vulnerable children
A building management plan and risk assessment will be in place to manage staff and students safely in our buildings, meeting the Government guidelines that have been issued to schools

Queensway

The provision at our Special School will also be different:

Any children in school will be on part-time timetables so we maintain social distancing

Priority will be to Y6 and Y10 students but other children will be invited into school to work with staff
We will maintain the existing provision for the children of key workers and vulnerable children
A building management plan and risk assessment will be in place to manage staff and students safely in our buildings, meeting the Government guidelines that have been issued to schools.

At this stage there is a lot of work we need to do with our staff and with our buildings to prepare for this. We will be sending far more detail out next week once we have finalised arrangements and had any additional information from the Department of Education. There is no guarantee that we will be opening on 1^st June, it may be delayed but I wanted to share our planning with you, so you have a clear understanding of our thinking at this stage.

As I have said in my previous correspondence, we are working in very challenging times and being asked to educate children very differently within some significant constraints. I want to give you my full assurance that we will do everything possible to ensure the safety of your child and to make school that happy, welcoming place they know.

I know you will continue to support us and recognise we want to make the right decisions at the right time for our children, young people and our staff.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Gill Eatough

CEO LCT