We are really excited to be able to welcome back so many of our Y6s from Monday 22nd June.

Here is some really important information for you to talk about before your child arrives on Monday morning. There is a lot of information to take in here and it is all important!  Our experience of being in school since we closed to the wider school community, has been that we have a really good time. It is strange and it takes a bit of getting used to, but we feel safe and it is a real joy to be with a group of children.

Who is my child with?

1. You will receive a text telling you whether your child is in Mrs Gwyther’s bubble (based in Room 6) or Mrs Rowe’s bubble (based in the school hall).

Where will they be based? How and when do they arrive and leave school?

1. Your child can arrive anytime between 9 and 9.15am. It is essential they do not arrive on site earlier than 9am as we are staggering their arrival with the arrival of key worker children. Children and parents must observe social distancing and should not cluster together to come into school.
2. Mrs Gwyther’s group will walk around the school building (on the outside) and enter through Room 6’s exterior door. So, walk through the KS2 playground, through the KS1 playground, through Room 4 and 5’s garden area, turn left after Room 8 and walk down the pathway at the edge of school to enter the classroom. There will be signs up to help!
3. Mrs Rowe’s group will enter through the playground door which is between the library building and Mrs Pope’s garden area.
4. Children can leave between 2.45 and 3pm. If they have permission to walk home independently, please email butler.s@pontesbury.shropshire.sch.uk or text school to give your permission. They will not be allowed to walk home without an adult unless we are certain your permission has been given. Children given permission to walk home will be allowed to leave at 2.45pm.
5. Parents/adults will not be allowed into the school building. Any queries should be telephoned or emailed into school.

What can they wear and bring to school?

1. Children should wear sensible, comfortable clothes and trainers (or shoes that are suitable for outdoor activities as well as being inside). They do not have to wear uniform. Please use your common sense about what clothes are suitable for the weather and for working in school. It would not be appropriate to come dressed for the school disco!
2. They should bring: a coat, a reading book, a water bottle (essential) and their lunchbox (including a snack). No school dinners will be provided – the kitchen is closed. Please make sure your child does not bring any pencil cases, toys or other objects from home. It is an important part of the way we lower risk in school that we minimise the number of objects being transferred between home and school.
3. Clothes should be changed and washed at the end of each school day.

What will the day be like for my child in school?

1. They will have their own desk and pack of equipment that is just for them. They will always sit in the same place in the classroom and the desks look a bit like they have been set out for a test. However, there will not be any tests! Although it looks a bit formal, we promise it is ok. It might feel a little strange to begin with but this is one of the ways we can reduce risk for everybody working in school.
2. They will eat their lunch at their classroom table. If it is a lovely day, we might go and sit outside (in a suitably spaced way) and have a picnic.
3. The staff in your child’s bubble will stay with them all day. Teachers and TAs will organise comfort breaks for one another during the day but, basically, they stick together with your child’s bubble from the start to the end of the day.
4. Staff from other bubbles will not be able to visit or swap around. We might be able to call or wave to one another, but we are strict about not mixing adults or children in bubbles.
5. They will have a morning break, a lunchtime break and an afternoon break. We will give each bubble their own playtime ‘zone’ to be in. Whilst we encourage suitable social distancing through seating arrangements, we do not make the children stand 2ms away from one another at break times. The government guidance recognises that this is not always possible or appropriate. The main way we lower risk for your child is by implementing stringent, regular hand washing routines throughout the day.
6. Hand washing – the children will wash their hands multiple times during the day. They have a designated sink area to wash their hands in and ample soap and paper towels with suitable adjacent bins. They will wash their hands at every transition point e.g. before using a chromebook, before and after lunch, before and after breaktime etc.
7. Your child will be able to go to the toilet whenever they need to. We have designated cubicles for each year group and we will remind them that it is essential to lower the toilet seat before flushing and to wash their hands thoroughly after going to the toilet. Good hygiene is clearly paramount at this time – children who are not compliant with these instructions may not be allowed to continue attending school.
8. We can’t exchange books the way we usually would. Please bring a good book in from home that your child will enjoy reading during the day. If you have any school books, or books from Mrs Rowe’s shelves, please return them. We will put them in book quarantine and then get them back onto the shelves.
9. Tissues are available in every classroom and we will insist that children ‘catch it, kill it, bin it’! There are pedal bins in every classroom and children will be asked to collect tissues if they feel they may cough or sneeze and they will have to wash their hands every time they use a tissue.

What work will my child be doing?

1. They will be working on the learning set on the school website. There may be some additional activities e.g. handwriting (Mrs Rowe has a slight suspicion that quite a few of our Y6s might not have done that much handwriting over the last few weeks…).
2. In transition week, they will be working on the transition tasks set by their secondary schools. This will be the same as the work being completed by Year 6s who are continuing to work from home.

What happens if my child or another child is poorly?

1. Please do not send your child into school with even mild symptoms that could be related to coronavirus. We will have to send them home immediately and it may result in the whole school having to close until a negative test result is produced.
2. If a child develops symptoms (linked to coronavirus) during the day they will be asked to sit in a quarantine room (the nurture room) and you will be contacted and required to collect them immediately. We may take their temperature with an infrared thermometer. If we have a credible reason to think that your child may have coronavirus symptoms, they will not be able to attend school again for 14days and we will ask you to get your child tested via NHS111 contact. In this case the whole bubble may have to stay away from school for 14 days. We will communicate with bubble parents if this situation arises.
3. If your child develops symptoms not linked to coronavirus, we will still phone you and ask you take them home! The current climate does not allow us the luxury of nursing children through the day.
4. If your child, yourself or a member of staff (or their immediate family) is required to quarantine by the NHS track and trace operation, your child’s bubble may close at very short notice. At all times, it is essential we have up-to-date contact details. If we experience difficulties contacting you at any point, we may have to ask you to keep your child at home.
5. Please discuss good hygiene measures with your child before they come in. It would be worth making clear that ‘pretending’ to cough (which might seem like a funny thing to do) has really serious implications.