Dear parents and carers of Key Worker children 

On Friday the Government issued new guidance relating to schools providing cover for the children and carers of families where at least one parent is a key worker. 

The term ‘key worker’ has changed to ‘critical worker’ and the eligibility criteria changed to those parents and carers whose:  

‘work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and EU transition response’ 

The guidance also explicitly asks that: 

‘parents and carers should keep their children at home if they can.’ 

 We are currently looking after, on average, 60 children each day and this necessitates nearly all school staff to be in full time to look after this number of children.  

The Covid-19 pandemic and the threat it poses to society has dramatically increased since Christmas. We are now, once again, in a national lockdown and the strict rules by which we have to live are imminently going to be made more stringent; the Government’s chief medical advisor, Professor Whitty, has spoken this morning explaining that we are about to go through ‘the most dangerous time of the pandemic.’ 

I ask you therefore, if you are currently a key worker family, to look at your situation and, if at all possible, to keep your children at home. 

As a minimum, if you work part time, your children should not be in school on your days off; also, if a parent or carer in the household is working from home then you should not be sending your children to school: 60 children in school and nearly all staff is inherently a dangerous situation. Staff and children are at significantly increased risk of contracting Covid-19 because the transmission rate of the new variant has increased by 70%. Even though the virus has little effect on primary age children, the increased threat for the virus to be passed between households and families, including school staff, now means that, to mitigate this, numbers of children and staff on site must be reduced. At the beginning of the March lockdown, we were averaging between 4 and 8 pupils each day! 

So, in conclusion I ask: 

• If you are working from home, please keep your children at home. 
• Ask yourself, ‘is my role absolutely critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) or EU transition response’. Please do not send your children to school if you are not. 

In this first instance, I hope that my request will lead to a reduction in the number of children requiring critical worker cover. I can then rota staff, especially clinically vulnerable or critically clinically vulnerable staff who are currently coming into school each day, so far less time is spent in school thus reducing the risk of contracting COVID-19. 

As headteacher, my duty of care to my staff is to risk assess and mitigate as much as possible the significant threat that the COVID-19 virus poses. If numbers of required critical worker places does not reduce, then changes in procedures to keep staff safe, including a reduction in on site staff, will inevitably impact on critical worker child cover where it is genuinely needed. 

Thank you in advance for your continued support. 

Mr Langford 

As of tomorrow, Tuesday 12^th January, Wraparound Club is being cancelled. This is due to the dramatic increase of Covid-19 cases locally and across the country since Christmas and the increased transmission rate of the new variant.  We realise that this will be an inconvenience for the few who are using it and apologise for any inconvenience.  Senior Management will be reviewing the situation every fortnight and we will let you know as soon as we can reopen it.

In the first instance, bookings that have already been made for the next fortnight will be cancelled (your payments will go into your child’s credit on School Money).

Thank you for your understanding.

Mr Langford

Dear parents 

Today we have opened for our Key Worker and Vulnerable children. We have striven to provide a place for all Key Worker families who informed us of a required place by 3.30pm yesterday afternoon. 

I realise that there are still families with at least one key worker parent or carer who may require a place for their children. If this is the case, I ask that you contact me directly using: 

head@pontesbury.shropshire.sch.uk 

Since the country was upgraded to Alert Level 5, as a result of daily infections surpassing 60,00 cases, and we entered full national lockdown again, Government advice now states that society must work from home if at all reasonably possible. Guidance also states that there need only be one family member who is a key worker for that family to be eligible for a school place during lockdown. This has resulted in a significant rise in pupils in school compared to the first lockdown and we are now extremely close to the maximum number of pupils we are able to take whilst ensuring the health and safety of all staff.  

I therefore ask all key workers to please look at your situation at home and consider whether it is essential to send you child to school, especially during these few weeks when infection rates are so high and a family member is working from home. I can assure you that children at home undertake the same work as those in school and that at home they are, quite frankly, in a safer environment. 

Can I also request that children coming to school only bring a coat, water bottle and snack / lunch box. Reading books will not be going home and school will provide all necessary writing materials so no pencil cases please. This is to minimise the amount of items being transferred between school and home. 

Finally, please ensure you DO NOT arrive at school before 8.40am in the morning when doors will open. This morning, several children arrived at 8.30am! 

Home learning started today for all children, whether in school or at home and, as I am sure you can imagine, teachers are now incredibly busy juggling the preparation and uploading of work, looking after keyworker children and assessing completed work. Teachers will respond to emails and communications from children and parents as soon as possible but I ask for your understanding and patience if there is a small delay. I also ask that teachers are not contacted via email in the evening; if you need to email, please contact me using the above link.  

Thank you to all key worker families for your consideration as to whether you feel a place for your child is absolutely essential, especially if you are using our key worker provision 5 days a week. Please rest assured that, as a key worker, you will not lose your place if you feel you are able to keep your child at home: it will be available for the whole of lockdown. 

As always, if any wish to discuss your situation with me, please do not hesitate to contact and to all parents, please do contact if you wish to discuss anything. This is a tremendously difficult and stressful time for all of us so please do contact if you feel you need to, especially with difficulties accessing home learning due lack of usable devices in the home. We will always do our best to help. 

Stay safe 

Mr Langford 

Dear Parents,

With Covid cases on the rise locally as well as nationally, this is a serious reminder that if a parent or child has symptoms, that person must get a Covid test and their entire household should self-isolate.  If you are unsure about the symptoms you or your child has, please ring NHS 111 for advice or go to https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

A parent must not send their child/ren to school, even if it is the parent with symptoms and not the child.  When you receive the results of the test, please inform the school immediately (whether positive or negative).

We have collated the essential information below from the NHS and the Gov.uk websites.

The most common symptoms of Covid are:

• A temperature of 37.8 degrees Celsius or above;
• A new continuous cough or three coughing episodes in 24 hours;
• A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste;
• Also, some people locally have reported having a headache.

If the test comes back negative, the children can return to school immediately (but, as already stated, please ring school to let us know first), assuming they are well enough to return.

If you test positive for Covid 19 you must self-isolate for 10 days from the day the test was taken, and (as of 14th December) the rest of your household must also self-isolate for 10 days from the day the test was taken.

You could be fined if you do not stay at home and self-isolate following a positive test result for COVID-19, or if you are a contact of someone who has tested positive, and you are notified by NHS Test and Trace that you need to self-isolate.  It is also an offence to knowingly provide false information about your close contacts to NHS Test and Trace.  Failure to comply with these requirements may result in a fine of up to £10,000.

A reminder too, that parents must wear face masks while on the school premises at any time.  Thankyou, as always, for your co-operation and understanding.

Mr Langford