April 3rd 2020

Dear Parents & Carers

Thank you to all parents and carers who are in communication with us. We hope that you are all keeping safe and well.

In our response to the Covid 19 virus we remain open to the families who are key workers or where we have been in touch.

This includes the Easter holidays

The staff continue to support the children both on line and in school – please let us know if you need any further support for your children. We are more than ready to support you!

If your children are eligible for a Free School Meal – then we will be in touch soon with details of the government support plan. We will need to be able to contact you by phone and email so please make sure your details are up to date. Please let the school office know if your details have changed. If we have been in contact with you to offer school day care/ or you are a key worker your child will be given  a school lunch unless you decide to provide a packed lunch.

Key Workers

We now have the detail available to us that we have been waiting for regarding who may be defined as a ‘Key Worker’ and therefore be able to consider using school based childcare provision.  The following is based on the Government’s directive to schools this morning.

We are asked to remember that, as a country, we all need to do what we can to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  That is why they Government has given clear guidance on self-isolation, household isolation and social distancing.  And the most recent scientific advice on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19 is clear.

The Government is stressing that, if children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading.  That is why the Government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open for those children who absolutely need to attend.

The fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.

We will therefore provide care for a limited number of children – children who are vulnerable and children whose parents are critical to the Covid-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.

Parents whose work is critical to the Covid-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined at the end of this letter.  Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home.  And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

We ask you to also confirm with your employer that, based on their business continuity arrangements, your specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service.

Please also follow these key principles:

• If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be
• Parents should do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should observe the same social distancing principles as adults

Thank you for being patient with us at this time and for all your support and kind messages.

If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors listed below, and you cannot keep your child safe at home then your children will be prioritised for education provision:

Health and social care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key public services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

If workers think they fall within the critical categories above they should confirm with their employer that, based on their business continuity arrangements, their specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service.