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Dear Parents / Carers
As you heard again yesterday, the government has announced the country is in the ‘delay’ phase of fighting coronavirus. Schools across the country will remain open during this period. However, we will be postponing all forthcoming large events.
This means that the Year 2 trip to the Imax cinema has been cancelled and all PTFA events will be postponed until the summer term. Parents’ Meetings will be cancelled this week (please see separate information) and the Yr 3 Toucans assembly will go ahead just to parents. All future Friday class assemblies will be cancelled until further notice.
We are in discussions with our travel partners and insurance agents regarding the forthcoming trip to France and will update you on this soon.
So far, we still have not had any cases of coronavirus at Joseph Hood Primary School. As ever, we are following all of the advice being given by Public Health England and the Department of Health, this includes vulnerable members of staff having to self isolate.
Cleaning has been increased throughout the school, with students and staff reminded to wash their hands properly and regularly.
The health of our pupils and staff is our number one priority. Thankfully, the evidence so far from around the world is that children are not particularly vulnerable to coronavirus. However, it is still important that families and schools do all we can to protect each other and prevent transmission to others.
The NHS advice is that anyone with a high temperature and/or a new, continuous cough should stay at home for fourteen days. Please keep your son or daughter at home if they display these symptoms and notify us straight away. In addition, if your son or daughter has an underlying health condition that makes them more vulnerable to coronavirus, please discuss these circumstances with Ms Shepard, our school SENCO, Mrs Wright or myself.
Joseph Hood Primary School is also planning for a possible situation where we might need to close for a length of time. This is not because we have any plans to close, but because all schools need to prepare for this possibility.
To that effect, we have made plans for the two main responses to this virus.
• Scenario 1: - A lack of teachers due to staff self-isolating
• Scenario 2: - Forced School closure by Public Heath England
Closure due to Scenario 1 - A lack of teachers due to staff self-isolating
If we reach a critical number of absent staff members which results in a decision to close partially. We will consider a phased plan as follows:
Option 1 – School open as normal
• All pupils attend if well
• All staff attend if well
Option 2 – Staffing is predicted to be low
• School will be open to KS1 and KS2 with all EYFS children notified to stay at home and the possibility of merged classes for remaining children in school.
• All non-self-isolating staff will attend school
Option 3 – Staffing is predicted to be critically low
• School will be open to KS2 only
• All non-self-isolating staff will attend school
Option 4 – Insufficient staff for safe opening of the site
• School will be closed to all children
• All non-self-isolating staff will attend school
Parents / carers will be communicated with in the following way:
website for further information.
range of resources will be provided such as online software and work sheets).
Closure due to Scenario 2: - Forced School closure by Public Heath England
If the government closes all schools, we will:
• Text all parents / carers as soon as we are informed to give as much notice as possible;
• Publish any additional information on our website;
• Publish schoolwork for all year groups via our School website. A range of resources will be provided such as online software and worksheets. In cases where students do not have the IT or other resources to be able to work at home, we will endeavour to find a way of helping overcome this-please speak to your child’s class teacher as soon as possible to let them know if this is the case, and we will try to print off some home packs.
While closure remains a worst-case scenario, we wanted to reassure you that we are planning appropriately for this. In the meantime, Joseph Hood will remain fully open and will continue to follow the official guidance being issued to all schools.
We will provide further updates as and when they are needed over the coming weeks.
I would like to thank you for your co-operation and patience at this difficult time and ask that you try to remain calm, especially around your children, who may be getting anxious about the current situation.
Yours sincerely
Anita Saville