Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to our new and very strange spring term at school. I hope everyone remains safe and well as we move through another national lockdown. At least this week we have had a bit more notice of what is happening in school and have had more time to prepare for the start of term on Wednesday. Things are still changing and being updated almost daily at the moment and it is hard to keep up sometimes. After the announcement on Monday we know this is now going to be the situation until at least the February half term so we can try and put as much in place both for the pupils at home and the ones in school. This week I have set up a staff rota to cover both kinds of learning and to also minimise the number of staff who need to be in school on any week. We also have staff shielding as before or self-isolating but at the moment we are able to cover all the bases.
Following the recent announcements from the government and the local authority I would like to confirm that the government has triggered the Education Contingency Framework due to the rapidly rising rates of Coronavirus cases within London as a result of the more transmissible variant of the virus. Both the government and borough state that the safest place to be is at home and you must only leave home for essential reasons such as food, work or medicine. This means that the government is delaying the return to school for most children in primary school until at least the February half term (12th February 2021).
For the majority of our pupils, learning will continue to take place remotely online at home from this Wednesday. School will continue to provide online learning for children remaining at home from Year 3 to Year 6 and this will be updated weekly. We had some technical difficulties on Wednesday which were from one of the providers of our learning platforms but hopefully things have settled down now. The staff are working very hard to fine tune and add to the online curriculum and are checking in daily to see which children are logging in and doing the work set. I have timetabled regular sessions over the next few weeks for teachers to meet together either face to face or remotely to update how it is going, share good practice and ensure good levels of consistency across the year groups. If you are having difficulties with the remote learning then please ring the school and ask for me. I will assess what the issue is and then if needed pass you on to our IT Systems manager Mr Couch who can provide expert technical advice. We will look at each case individually and come up with the best solution we can. Already this week we have been able to help around 10 families on a range of issues.
From this Wednesday, school will only be open to vulnerable children and children of critical workers. Any children of critical workers who have attended previously can continue to do so unless your keyworker status has changed. Examples of critical workers include NHS staff, police and supermarket delivery drivers. Please check the critical worker list on the government’s website carefully before deciding to send your child to school – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision If there is a parent/adult in the household who is NOT a critical worker and working from home, then if you can, please keep your child at home. I know the government has added some categories to both lists since the first lockdown back in the spring and early summer of 2020 and we are taking more children this time. However we have a safe limit as to how many pupils we can have in school on any one day plus as I mentioned above I need to allow staff to be able to run the remote learning effectively while other staff run the face to face lessons in school. I cannot expect staff to do both at the same time. As of today we have around 40 pupils in school which is manageable and safe given the restrictions and measures we still have to put in place. If you wish to send your child into school from next week onwards, you need to ring and speak to me first so again I can assess the situation and make a decision. I may have to prioritise cases e.g. where both parents or carers are critical workers over where one parent or carer works and another is at home. I have to say a big thank you so far to parents as you have all been very good and supportive in communicating with the school to check the arrangements and inform us of any changes. This makes it so much easier to manage the current situation.
Key Worker/Vulnerable Group.
For the pupils who are currently in school, these are the arrangements to ensure we can provide as normal an experience as possible for the children. We have organised them into year groups so there are 4 groups for learning rather than the 8 classes. They will not necessarily always be taught by their regular class teacher as some weeks they may be doing the remote learning for the other pupils at home. The school day will run from 9:00am to 3:00pm (we are not currently running our Breakfast Club or After School Club). The children should be in full school uniform each day; Friday will still be non-uniform but the children do not need to bring £1. We will not be using the sports coaches at this time but still want to do PE in school. I have timetabled myself to do some PE with the groups. Next week all the children will have PE on Wednesday so should come to school in their PE kit on that day. If your child normally has a school dinner that will still be the case as we will be providing hot meals as normal.
We ask that you continue to remain vigilant to any symptoms of Coronavirus within members of your household and do not send your child to school if they display any of the symptoms (even if they are key worker or vulnerable pupils). If in doubt, please get yourselves or your child tested. All Waltham Forest residents are able to get tested even if they are not showing any Coronavirus symptoms, as this will reduce the spread of infection to others. If your child or a member of your family tests positive for Coronavirus, you will need to self-isolate as a family for 10 days and inform the school, even if your child is working at home. This is going to be the situation in school until at least 12th February. The government will review this regularly so we will need to wait and see if we are able to fully reopen after half term. The school will continue to follow all aspects of enhanced cleaning and protocols outlined in risk assessments, which will be reviewed. We understand that these are very challenging times for us all, both emotionally and physically. The safety of our school and community remains paramount and we ask for your support at this time. We will continue to be in touch through texts and newsletters to keep you updated of the situation as it progresses and teachers will be in regular contact via the remote learning platforms. We will continue to be here if you should need any support and please do not hesitate to get in touch by phone or email.
Federation
Just to update everyone on the timeline towards the federation of the two schools in 2021. The new federated governing body came into place on 1st January and they will now oversee the appointment of the new head in mid-January. The closing date for applications is next Monday 11th January and the governors will then interview any candidates the following week. As I mentioned before the Christmas break, I have now officially resigned, but it is still my intention to be here throughout the spring term to work alongside the new governing body, supporting the transition towards the federation and to then step down at Easter. I will of course continue to keep you updated throughout the next few weeks.
Meanwhile I continue to wish all our families the very best and hope and pray you all keep safe and look out for each other. Although things seem very bleak and dark at this time, together we will get through this and St Joseph will protect his school and community. It is not how I would plan my last term here but the best “leaving gift” I could receive would be to have everyone back in school before the end of term and be able to celebrate our 120th birthday as one community.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
