Letter to parents
Friday 18th September 2020
Dear Parent/Carer
Return to School 2020
Since our return to school in August, the Senior Leadership Team and I have been monitoring and assessing how the new routines and procedures are working. We are delighted to report, that so far, most changes have been implemented with minimum fuss and we have you – our parents and school community to thank for that. It is our absolute delight and pleasure to be back in school with our pupils.
As you are aware, we are using the ‘bubble’ model to protect our pupils and school community as far as possible. Staff from P1-3 provide cover two afternoons per week for our P4-7 teachers to allow time for planning and preparation. On Thursday afternoons, we would have had our pupils mixed into smaller groups and staff would have rotated activities every several weeks. Obviously, we are unable to do this at present. This has resulted in some staff having to enter up to 3 different bubbles as opposed to 2. Having considered the risk and potential consequences if there was to be an outbreak of Covid-19, we have revisited our original plan and, in consultation with the Board of Governors, have opted for the following changes to take effect from Monday 28th September 2020:
P4-7 pupils will go home early on Friday afternoons (staggered times below)
P4 will remain in school until 2.50pm on Thursday afternoons
P2-3 no change to times
P1 will stay until 1.30pm from Monday 12th October (reviewed at half term)
Collection times for P4-7:
- o P4 & P5 Monday – Thursday @ 2.50pm Friday @ 2.10pm
- o P6 & P7 Monday – Thursday @ 3.05pm Friday @ 2.15pm
No 3pm bus on Fridays – pupils may use the 2pm bus or may need to be collected at school.
Please understand that this is a temporary arrangement as our ultimate goal is to keep our school open for as long as possible. This will give staff the extra time needed to get items cleaned, sanitised and prepared for the following week. This new timetable will be revisited at half term.
I appreciate this is yet another change, and I hope you will understand the reasons for it. The children will not be missing any curriculum time, as Thursday afternoons were entirely used for Clubs. We have also found that our pupils are able to work more effectively in the morning and the fact that we are more confined to our classrooms with less movement makes the afternoons less productive. It was also felt that an earlier finish on Friday afternoons would be less disruptive for childcare and work schedules.
I trust that you will understand the reasons behind this change and support us as we trial it over the next few weeks.
Yours sincerely
Mrs H McCabe
Principal