14 May 2020

Dear Parents,

Hope you are well and taking care.

You will have heard the government announcement on Sunday about School opening to more children at the earliest from the 1 June. We have been looking at the guidance very carefully and have been planning how best to work with this to support the government priorities in helping more children to go back to school and in helping families who are key workers, and children who are vulnerable to attend school.

We have risk assessed this situation to take into account the safety of children, staff and families. We have a limited capacity and a reduced number of staff available. Therefore we can offer a limited number of places under the following criteria.

1. Pupils where either parent is a member of NHS frontline staff eg doctors and nurses
2. Pupils who have a social worker or are known to the school to be extremely vulnerable
3. Pupils where both parents are on the key worker list
4. Pupils where one parent is on the key worker list

You will have heard on the news that different year groups have been prioritised aswell  ie Reception, Y1 and Y6. It is our intention to offer the first places to children from families from the above criteria and then if there are any surplus places we will plan to give places to children from Reception, Y1 and Y6.

We need to emphasise, this is purely VOLUNTARY for parents. There is NO requirement that you take a place even if you are eligible. The best and safest place for your children is still at home.

Home learning will continue to be given through the school website for all year groups. You will still be encouraged to work with your children whenever possible and to maintain contact with their Teachers through the class emails. The children who attend school will only be given the same work which has been set for their Home learning. We will not be in a position to teach the usual curriculum, this is for childcare in the main.

If your child does attend school, they will be organised into small groups of 10. The children will spend the day with their group; they will stay in the same room, will have the same adults working with them, will have staggered breaks and lunchtimes, they will eat lunch in their class area. There is no guarantee that the children will be with their original class teacher or Teaching Assistant or with their class mates. There may be some mixed age groups.

There will be NO Breakfast Club at the moment.

School will be closed to ALL children on Fridays in order for the school to be deep cleaned and resources re-organised for the following week.

Please remember, this is not compulsory, it is your choice as a parent if you need your child to return to school.

Please bear in mind that this is all very new for us too. We would like nothing better than to be providing our usual schooling and way of delivery. However you can appreciate this is just not possible at the moment. We will review this offer by the end of June and please understand that it may well be subject to changes as we see how the virus develops and whether we always have enough staff to cope with the number of children in school.

In order to move ahead with the planning for this, we need to know by 1pm Friday 15 May if you are eligible and are intending to let your child return to school.

Can you email finance.strobertbellarmine@schools.sefton.gov.uk

Please indicate

I would like my child to attend school from 1 June.

 I am eligible under criteria ______.

I can/have provided proof of eligibility.

Kind regards,

Mairead Dowell