Dear Parents,

I last wrote to you on the 13^th May about the Government’s ambition to open schools to more children from June 1^st.  You have probably seen a little coverage about their plan in the media! It is important to keep in mind that the Government have stated that this is a conditional plan and as such its implementation will be dependent on many factors around the spread and containment of the coronavirus.

Since the 13^th May we have been reviewing and digesting the government guidance that arrives in our inbox on a daily basis. The guidance is extensive, but in summary tells us that adhering to the following principles will mean a return to school is safe:

• avoiding contact with anyone with symptoms
• frequent hand cleaning and good respiratory hygiene practices
• regular cleaning of settings
• minimising contact and mixing

Our planning has focused heavily on these 4 principles to ensure the risk of contracting Covid-19 for children and adults is minimised. Ensuring we follow these principles in school, as well as a continued expectation to support home learning for pupils not in school, has meant completely reorganising all aspects of school life including timetables, behaviour codes, curriculum planning and delivery, marking & feedback procedures, the physical layout of the school, staff deployment, rotas, cleaning and hygiene procedures, H&S expectations and much more. These changes have necessitated writing a completely new staff handbook to cover all aspects of the school day. This has been a complex task for us – the risk assessments alone reference 9 different government or professional association planning guides.

Although we are still working positively towards opening to more pupils, the complexity of the task does mean that school governors have approved a plan to open in a measured, staggered way that allows for staff training and preparation. In practice, this means:

• 1^st-5^th June: Staff will be in school for training and preparation
• 8^th June: School will open to Y6 pupils
• 9^th June: School will open to Y6, Y1 and Reception pupils
• We will be contacting parents of F1 children next week and will plan for a potential return for these children from the 11th of June.
• Please note, school will be closed to the groups above every Wednesday to allow for cleaning and for planning and preparation of resources for pupils in school and at home.

Keyworker parents should continue to book childcare for their children using the booking link sent out each week. If you have questions about this, please email us. Please note, school will remain open to the children of keyworkers every day, including Wednesdays. From the 1st June all children of KPNS Keyworkers will ATTEND KEYWORTH PRIMARY. When you arrive please wait, socially distanced, on the back playground and a member of SLT will greet you and show you where you need to go.

This staggered start should give parents confidence that all staff will understand and can follow the new guidelines and procedures they will need to use on a day to day basis.

Children coming to school will continue to follow a curriculum very similar to the one we have been sending home over recent weeks, based on a weekly learning mat. The children of keyworkers in school will also be working through their learning mats and can continue at home if they are attending part time.

Learning mats will be sent home for children in all year groups on a weekly basis. However, the parents of children learning at home must expect less communication from teachers – splitting each returning class into smaller ‘bubbles’ means all staff will be in class teaching every day.

Please see the attached leaflet for more information about our plans to open to more groups of children. However, please contact us using contact@keyworth.notts.sch.uk if you have any questions ahead of your child coming to school in line with the timetable above. We will provide a FAQ blog early next week to respond to these questions.

We will contact the parents of children in F1, F2, Y1 and Y6 next week asking them to let us know if they intend to send their children back to school.

We have received many supportive messages in recent weeks – these have meant a lot to staff and have been hugely appreciated.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Kind regards,

Peter Cresswell