Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister (May 28^th ) that all schools should open to more children: contrary to its claims, we do not feel that the Government has satisfactorily fulfilled its five tests for a wider re-opening of school to children in Reception, Yrs 1 and 6.

 

School will therefore remain closed to all except those children of Key Workers or identified as vulnerable until Monday 8^th June at the earliest.

 

We have studied the Guidance from the Government, Local Education Authority, Diocese and Unions at length. The most important considerations for having more people in school are the safety, health and welfare of everyone in the building. We do not currently believe the scientific rationale for a June 1^st wider re-opening is a sound one and the risk of increased infection is still too high. The PM’s determination to press ahead with a fixed date is seriously at odds with the scientific evidence released to date and the deep concerns expressed by parents and schools alike. The decision the Government made to open to children from Yrs 6, 1 and Reception was not based on any of the models put to them by SAGE, its own scientific advisors. On Wednesday (27^th May) at the Government Education Committee meeting, a DfE advisor also stated: “there are policy decisions that come on top of science and transmission evidence.” Make of that what you will.

 

Our position will be reviewed during the w/b Monday June 1^st and further communication with parents made, should we not be opening to more children on Monday June 8^th

 

School will not be closed on Monday 1^st June for the scheduled Training Day: we will be open to the usual Key Worker children that day. However, we need to deep clean the whole building again so will be closed to everybody on Friday 5^th June.

 

As discussed with Reception, Yr1 and Yr 6 parents via online meetings over the past week, our current, planned timeline now is:

 

MONDAY 8^th JUNE  2020

• School will be open as usual to those children who have attended during lockdown, on the exact same basis as parents have booked them in for the past ten weeks. Please continue to contact Mrs Eagles when you need your child to be in school.

 

If you are a key worker returning to work on June 1^st please do not just send your child to school. You must discuss this with the Headteacher first.

 

• Yr 6 to return. Part –time on  Monday and Friday , full time Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday.

Yr 6 parents will be sent further communication on this next week.

 

• After School Club will reopen (3.15 - 5.45pm) each day to children of Key Workers only. If you wish your child to attend, please contact Ms Core. This will be paid for in the same way as before.

 

MONDAY 15^th JUNE

• Reception class to return to school part-time. 9am-12pm each day. Rec parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 8^th June

 

• As last week  for Key Worker children

 

• Yr 6 to be in school full time 9am-3.15pm, on Monday to Thursday , part time on Fridays.

 

MONDAY 22^ND JUNE

• Yr 1 to return to school part-time 9am-12pm each day. Yr1 parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 15^th June

 

• Reception children may also be part-time still. That decision will be made during the w/b 15^th June

 

• Yr 6 and Key Worker groups, as previous weeks

 

Please can all parents in Yr 1 and Rec please let Mrs Eagles, Mrs Parker or Mr Smith know immediately whether your child will be coming to school on those dates or not. Please remember that the Prime Minister said last weekend that a parent’s instinct for the safety of their children over-rides any Government advice.

 

Until we have definite numbers of children in school , these plans may have to be altered accordingly. If we suddenly have a huge influx of key worker children, a wider re-opening may not be possible on the date planned .

We are working hard, following the latest government guidance, to develop and implement a number of new ways of operating. This Guidance has changed 41 times since it was first issued,so it is very difficult to keep up with. However, it will allow us to open as safely as possible, focusing on measures that we can implement to help to limit the risk of coronavirus transmitting within our school.

Full Risk Assessments are in place in school. These have been written by Leeds City Council and adapted to the needs of our school. They will be available on the school website as soon as we re-open.

We have decided to close to at lunchtime on Fridays to allow for a thorough cleaning of school before the weekend. Staff will all take their weekly Planning, Preparation and Asessment time together on Friday afternoon to avoid the need for anybody else entering their “bubble” as cover during the week and to ensure their classroom is cleaned well.

Some of the steps we are taking in readiness for reopening include:

• Asking that anyone who is displaying coronavirus symptoms, or who lives with someone who has them does not attend school. That includes both children and staff. We will immediately isolate a child in school who is showing symptoms and would expect them to be collected straight away by a parent or carer.

 

• All children who are attending will have access to a test if they display symptoms of coronavirus. The aim is to enable children to get back to school, and their parents or carers not to need to self-isolate any longer than is necessary, if the test proves to be negative. A positive test will ensure rapid action to protect other children and staff in school.

 

• We ask all parents and carers to ensure they organise a test for their child, in the event that they develop coronavirus symptoms, and notify us immediately of a positive test.

 

• Once in school, children will be in their own “bubble”of 8 (Rec) or 15 (Yr1 and Yr6 ) each day and will not be allowed to mix with other bubbles. Children can only ever be in one bubble from here on in. Each bubble will have its own entrance, designated room, Staff, playtime, area of the playground and lunchtime. Contact with other bubbles will be minimal, if at all.

 

• Key worker children will also be put into bubbles of no more than 15 pupils. Children of key workers who are in Rec, Yr1 and Yr 6 will not be allowed to be in the class bubble in the morning and the key worker group in the afternoon.Those children will be kept separate in the afternoons. If parents decide to leave the child in the key worker, not the class bubble, then s/he will stay there all day.

 

• Children will be expected to socially distance as best they can. However, we accept that some may forget this when they are out to play. There will be an adult there to remind them, however.

 

• Parents will not be allowed in school at all. Please prepare your child to be left at the door as you will not be allowed in the cloakrooms

 

• Asking parents and carers to physically distance from each other and from staff when dropping off and collecting their children and to limit drop off and collection to one parent or carer per household. Parents should wear masks in the playground wherever possible.

 

• Washing our hands more often than usual. We have developed routines to ensure children understand when and how to wash their hands, making sure they wash them thoroughly for at least 20 seconds using running water and soap and dry them thoroughly, or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered.

 

• Setting up many places in school where everyone can access hand sanitiser.

 

• Ensuring our children understand good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach and ensuring a good supply of tissues and bins throughout school.

 

• Implementing an enhanced cleaning schedule, ensuring surfaces touched by children and staff are cleaned regularly and throughout the day, including table tops, door handles and play equipment.

 

• Asking children not to bring soft toys to school

 

• Children can wear their own clothes each day, They should not wear the same clothes on consecutive days

 

The priorities for those in school will be helping children to adjust to new school routines, without many of their classmates around them for support. Teachers will also continue to post work on the VLE, Blogs and class pages for children to access from home if they are not attending school.

 

Given the current Government and DfE guidelines on how we need to keep children in their discreet bubbles in school, it will be impossible for us to have Yrs 2,3,4 and 5 back until September because we do not have enough staff or classrooms to be able to halve every class in school and run them as bubbles. But if we get version 42 and upwards of the guidelines and anything changes,we will alert parents as soon as possible

 

Thank you to everyone for your incredible work with the children since March 20^th. How many of you are considering a career in teaching now….?! Nobody in our profession has ever had to face such challenges before, or to make such impossible decisions. We know that our phased opening plan will not please everybody, but I think it’s the best option for us and has been thought about for a very long time. I know that you will all appreciate the myriad of complications  within which the Staff and Governing Body have been working and that should anything change nationally (i.e a “second wave”) we may be instructed to change our position yet again.

 

Our gradual approach should not be seen as us failing to deliver, but rather as a school working as hard as it can to solve a very difficult problem, with the needs and wellbeing of children and Staff at the heart of its actions. We have to live with the decisions we make and have followed guidance and risk assessments as closely and as best we can. Our worst nightmare is that school is opened more widely and somebody contracts the virus. There have been excrutiatingly hard decisions to make since the wider opening of school was announced: I guess only time will tell if they are right or wrong. The responsibility weighs very heavily, however.

 

Staff have been working tirelessly, whether in school or preparing online learning material from home. This, combined with coping with their own personal health and family situations, has been quite a juggling act for some. I guess many of you can relate to that! Our continued commitment to the children during lockdown cannot be faulted. The phone calls were an emotional tsunami for many of us, however…. I think the Staff have been absolutely magnificent and I know by the amount of communication I’ve had from parents, that you agree. I am not in the slightest bit worried about academic progress for our children: home learning has been so well supported by parents and carers so you’ve been totally fab too.

 

We hope that the videos we made for you have helped you to still feel like you very much belong to the wonderful Meanwood CE School community, which we are all missing so much and are so proud to be part of. Despite the mixed messages from the Government about standards of expected behaviour recently, please remember and put into practice what Barack Obama said:

 

 “When they go low, we go high.”

 

Enjoy being back in socially distanced groups of 6, stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves well, so that we can all be back together again come September. Thanks for all of your kind wishes and support. And the best news is, that the Premier League will be back soon………..!!!!!

 

Helen Eagles

HEADTEACHER

 

28/5/2/2020
















































 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister (May 28^th ) that all schools should open to more children: contrary to its claims, we do not feel that the Government has satisfactorily fulfilled its five tests for a wider re-opening of school to children in Reception, Yrs 1 and 6.

 

School will therefore remain closed to all except those children of Key Workers or identified as vulnerable until Monday 8^th June at the earliest.

 

We have studied the Guidance from the Government, Local Education Authority, Diocese and Unions at length. The most important considerations for having more people in school are the safety, health and welfare of everyone in the building. We do not currently believe the scientific rationale for a June 1^st wider re-opening is a sound one and the risk of increased infection is still too high. The PM’s determination to press ahead with a fixed date is seriously at odds with the scientific evidence released to date and the deep concerns expressed by parents and schools alike. The decision the Government made to open to children from Yrs 6, 1 and Reception was not based on any of the models put to them by SAGE, its own scientific advisors. On Wednesday (27^th May) at the Government Education Committee meeting, a DfE advisor also stated: “there are policy decisions that come on top of science and transmission evidence.” Make of that what you will.

 

Our position will be reviewed during the w/b Monday June 1^st and further communication with parents made, should we not be opening to more children on Monday June 8^th

 

School will not be closed on Monday 1^st June for the scheduled Training Day: we will be open to the usual Key Worker children that day. However, we need to deep clean the whole building again so will be closed to everybody on Friday 5^th June.

 

As discussed with Reception, Yr1 and Yr 6 parents via online meetings over the past week, our current, planned timeline now is:

 

MONDAY 8^th JUNE  2020

• School will be open as usual to those children who have attended during lockdown, on the exact same basis as parents have booked them in for the past ten weeks. Please continue to contact Mrs Eagles when you need your child to be in school.

 

If you are a key worker returning to work on June 1^st please do not just send your child to school. You must discuss this with the Headteacher first.

 

• Yr 6 to return. Part –time on  Monday and Friday , full time Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday.

Yr 6 parents will be sent further communication on this next week.

 

• After School Club will reopen (3.15 - 5.45pm) each day to children of Key Workers only. If you wish your child to attend, please contact Ms Core. This will be paid for in the same way as before.

 

MONDAY 15^th JUNE

• Reception class to return to school part-time. 9am-12pm each day. Rec parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 8^th June

 

• As last week  for Key Worker children

 

• Yr 6 to be in school full time 9am-3.15pm, on Monday to Thursday , part time on Fridays.

 

MONDAY 22^ND JUNE

• Yr 1 to return to school part-time 9am-12pm each day. Yr1 parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 15^th June

 

• Reception children may also be part-time still. That decision will be made during the w/b 15^th June

 

• Yr 6 and Key Worker groups, as previous weeks

 

Please can all parents in Yr 1 and Rec please let Mrs Eagles, Mrs Parker or Mr Smith know immediately whether your child will be coming to school on those dates or not. Please remember that the Prime Minister said last weekend that a parent’s instinct for the safety of their children over-rides any Government advice.

 

Until we have definite numbers of children in school , these plans may have to be altered accordingly. If we suddenly have a huge influx of key worker children, a wider re-opening may not be possible on the date planned .

We are working hard, following the latest government guidance, to develop and implement a number of new ways of operating. This Guidance has changed 41 times since it was first issued,so it is very difficult to keep up with. However, it will allow us to open as safely as possible, focusing on measures that we can implement to help to limit the risk of coronavirus transmitting within our school.

Full Risk Assessments are in place in school. These have been written by Leeds City Council and adapted to the needs of our school. They will be available on the school website as soon as we re-open.

We have decided to close to at lunchtime on Fridays to allow for a thorough cleaning of school before the weekend. Staff will all take their weekly Planning, Preparation and Asessment time together on Friday afternoon to avoid the need for anybody else entering their “bubble” as cover during the week and to ensure their classroom is cleaned well.

Some of the steps we are taking in readiness for reopening include:

• Asking that anyone who is displaying coronavirus symptoms, or who lives with someone who has them does not attend school. That includes both children and staff. We will immediately isolate a child in school who is showing symptoms and would expect them to be collected straight away by a parent or carer.

 

• All children who are attending will have access to a test if they display symptoms of coronavirus. The aim is to enable children to get back to school, and their parents or carers not to need to self-isolate any longer than is necessary, if the test proves to be negative. A positive test will ensure rapid action to protect other children and staff in school.

 

• We ask all parents and carers to ensure they organise a test for their child, in the event that they develop coronavirus symptoms, and notify us immediately of a positive test.

 

• Once in school, children will be in their own “bubble”of 8 (Rec) or 15 (Yr1 and Yr6 ) each day and will not be allowed to mix with other bubbles. Children can only ever be in one bubble from here on in. Each bubble will have its own entrance, designated room, Staff, playtime, area of the playground and lunchtime. Contact with other bubbles will be minimal, if at all.

 

• Key worker children will also be put into bubbles of no more than 15 pupils. Children of key workers who are in Rec, Yr1 and Yr 6 will not be allowed to be in the class bubble in the morning and the key worker group in the afternoon.Those children will be kept separate in the afternoons. If parents decide to leave the child in the key worker, not the class bubble, then s/he will stay there all day.

 

• Children will be expected to socially distance as best they can. However, we accept that some may forget this when they are out to play. There will be an adult there to remind them, however.

 

• Parents will not be allowed in school at all. Please prepare your child to be left at the door as you will not be allowed in the cloakrooms

 

• Asking parents and carers to physically distance from each other and from staff when dropping off and collecting their children and to limit drop off and collection to one parent or carer per household. Parents should wear masks in the playground wherever possible.

 

• Washing our hands more often than usual. We have developed routines to ensure children understand when and how to wash their hands, making sure they wash them thoroughly for at least 20 seconds using running water and soap and dry them thoroughly, or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered.

 

• Setting up many places in school where everyone can access hand sanitiser.

 

• Ensuring our children understand good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach and ensuring a good supply of tissues and bins throughout school.

 

• Implementing an enhanced cleaning schedule, ensuring surfaces touched by children and staff are cleaned regularly and throughout the day, including table tops, door handles and play equipment.

 

• Asking children not to bring soft toys to school

 

• Children can wear their own clothes each day, They should not wear the same clothes on consecutive days

 

The priorities for those in school will be helping children to adjust to new school routines, without many of their classmates around them for support. Teachers will also continue to post work on the VLE, Blogs and class pages for children to access from home if they are not attending school.

 

Given the current Government and DfE guidelines on how we need to keep children in their discreet bubbles in school, it will be impossible for us to have Yrs 2,3,4 and 5 back until September because we do not have enough staff or classrooms to be able to halve every class in school and run them as bubbles. But if we get version 42 and upwards of the guidelines and anything changes,we will alert parents as soon as possible

 

Thank you to everyone for your incredible work with the children since March 20^th. How many of you are considering a career in teaching now….?! Nobody in our profession has ever had to face such challenges before, or to make such impossible decisions. We know that our phased opening plan will not please everybody, but I think it’s the best option for us and has been thought about for a very long time. I know that you will all appreciate the myriad of complications  within which the Staff and Governing Body have been working and that should anything change nationally (i.e a “second wave”) we may be instructed to change our position yet again.

 

Our gradual approach should not be seen as us failing to deliver, but rather as a school working as hard as it can to solve a very difficult problem, with the needs and wellbeing of children and Staff at the heart of its actions. We have to live with the decisions we make and have followed guidance and risk assessments as closely and as best we can. Our worst nightmare is that school is opened more widely and somebody contracts the virus. There have been excrutiatingly hard decisions to make since the wider opening of school was announced: I guess only time will tell if they are right or wrong. The responsibility weighs very heavily, however.

 

Staff have been working tirelessly, whether in school or preparing online learning material from home. This, combined with coping with their own personal health and family situations, has been quite a juggling act for some. I guess many of you can relate to that! Our continued commitment to the children during lockdown cannot be faulted. The phone calls were an emotional tsunami for many of us, however…. I think the Staff have been absolutely magnificent and I know by the amount of communication I’ve had from parents, that you agree. I am not in the slightest bit worried about academic progress for our children: home learning has been so well supported by parents and carers so you’ve been totally fab too.

 

We hope that the videos we made for you have helped you to still feel like you very much belong to the wonderful Meanwood CE School community, which we are all missing so much and are so proud to be part of. Despite the mixed messages from the Government about standards of expected behaviour recently, please remember and put into practice what Barack Obama said:

 

 “When they go low, we go high.”

 

Enjoy being back in socially distanced groups of 6, stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves well, so that we can all be back together again come September. Thanks for all of your kind wishes and support. And the best news is , that the Premier League will be back soon………..!!!!!

 

Helen Eagles

HEADTEACHER

 

28/5/2/2020



































 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister (May 28^th ) that all schools should open to more children: contrary to its claims, we do not feel that the Government has satisfactorily fulfilled its five tests for a wider re-opening of school to children in Reception, Yrs 1 and 6.

 

School will therefore remain closed to all except those children of Key Workers or identified as vulnerable until Monday 8^th June at the earliest.

 

We have studied the Guidance from the Government, Local Education Authority, Diocese and Unions at length. The most important considerations for having more people in school are the safety, health and welfare of everyone in the building. We do not currently believe the scientific rationale for a June 1^st wider re-opening is a sound one and the risk of increased infection is still too high. The PM’s determination to press ahead with a fixed date is seriously at odds with the scientific evidence released to date and the deep concerns expressed by parents and schools alike. The decision the Government made to open to children from Yrs 6, 1 and Reception was not based on any of the models put to them by SAGE, its own scientific advisors. On Wednesday (27^th May) at the Government Education Committee meeting, a DfE advisor also stated: “there are policy decisions that come on top of science and transmission evidence.” Make of that what you will.

 

Our position will be reviewed during the w/b Monday June 1^st and further communication with parents made, should we not be opening to more children on Monday June 8^th

 

School will not be closed on Monday 1^st June for the scheduled Training Day: we will be open to the usual Key Worker children that day. However, we need to deep clean the whole building again so will be closed to everybody on Friday 5^th June.

 

As discussed with Reception, Yr1 and Yr 6 parents via online meetings over the past week, our current, planned timeline now is:

 

MONDAY 8^th JUNE  2020

• School will be open as usual to those children who have attended during lockdown, on the exact same basis as parents have booked them in for the past ten weeks. Please continue to contact Mrs Eagles when you need your child to be in school.

 

If you are a key worker returning to work on June 1^st please do not just send your child to school. You must discuss this with the Headteacher first.

 

• Yr 6 to return. Part –time on  Monday and Friday , full time Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday.

Yr 6 parents will be sent further communication on this next week.

 

• After School Club will reopen (3.15 - 5.45pm) each day to children of Key Workers only. If you wish your child to attend, please contact Ms Core. This will be paid for in the same way as before.

 

MONDAY 15^th JUNE

• Reception class to return to school part-time. 9am-12pm each day. Rec parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 8^th June

 

• As last week  for Key Worker children

 

• Yr 6 to be in school full time 9am-3.15pm, on Monday to Thursday , part time on Fridays.

 

MONDAY 22^ND JUNE

• Yr 1 to return to school part-time 9am-12pm each day. Yr1 parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 15^th June

 

• Reception children may also be part-time still. That decision will be made during the w/b 15^th June

 

• Yr 6 and Key Worker groups, as previous weeks

 

Please can all parents in Yr 1 and Rec please let Mrs Eagles, Mrs Parker or Mr Smith know immediately whether your child will be coming to school on those dates or not. Please remember that the Prime Minister said last weekend that a parent’s instinct for the safety of their children over-rides any Government advice.

 

Until we have definite numbers of children in school , these plans may have to be altered accordingly. If we suddenly have a huge influx of key worker children, a wider re-opening may not be possible on the date planned .

We are working hard, following the latest government guidance, to develop and implement a number of new ways of operating. This Guidance has changed 41 times since it was first issued,so it is very difficult to keep up with. However, it will allow us to open as safely as possible, focusing on measures that we can implement to help to limit the risk of coronavirus transmitting within our school.

Full Risk Assessments are in place in school. These have been written by Leeds City Council and adapted to the needs of our school. They will be available on the school website as soon as we re-open.

We have decided to close to at lunchtime on Fridays to allow for a thorough cleaning of school before the weekend. Staff will all take their weekly Planning, Preparation and Asessment time together on Friday afternoon to avoid the need for anybody else entering their “bubble” as cover during the week and to ensure their classroom is cleaned well.

Some of the steps we are taking in readiness for reopening include:

• Asking that anyone who is displaying coronavirus symptoms, or who lives with someone who has them does not attend school. That includes both children and staff. We will immediately isolate a child in school who is showing symptoms and would expect them to be collected straight away by a parent or carer.

 

• All children who are attending will have access to a test if they display symptoms of coronavirus. The aim is to enable children to get back to school, and their parents or carers not to need to self-isolate any longer than is necessary, if the test proves to be negative. A positive test will ensure rapid action to protect other children and staff in school.

 

• We ask all parents and carers to ensure they organise a test for their child, in the event that they develop coronavirus symptoms, and notify us immediately of a positive test.

 

• Once in school, children will be in their own “bubble”of 8 (Rec) or 15 (Yr1 and Yr6 ) each day and will not be allowed to mix with other bubbles. Children can only ever be in one bubble from here on in. Each bubble will have its own entrance, designated room, Staff, playtime, area of the playground and lunchtime. Contact with other bubbles will be minimal, if at all.

 

• Key worker children will also be put into bubbles of no more than 15 pupils. Children of key workers who are in Rec, Yr1 and Yr 6 will not be allowed to be in the class bubble in the morning and the key worker group in the afternoon.Those children will be kept separate in the afternoons. If parents decide to leave the child in the key worker, not the class bubble, then s/he will stay there all day.

 

• Children will be expected to socially distance as best they can. However, we accept that some may forget this when they are out to play. There will be an adult there to remind them, however.

 

• Parents will not be allowed in school at all. Please prepare your child to be left at the door as you will not be allowed in the cloakrooms

 

• Asking parents and carers to physically distance from each other and from staff when dropping off and collecting their children and to limit drop off and collection to one parent or carer per household. Parents should wear masks in the playground wherever possible.

 

• Washing our hands more often than usual. We have developed routines to ensure children understand when and how to wash their hands, making sure they wash them thoroughly for at least 20 seconds using running water and soap and dry them thoroughly, or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered.

 

• Setting up many places in school where everyone can access hand sanitiser.

 

• Ensuring our children understand good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach and ensuring a good supply of tissues and bins throughout school.

 

• Implementing an enhanced cleaning schedule, ensuring surfaces touched by children and staff are cleaned regularly and throughout the day, including table tops, door handles and play equipment.

 

• Asking children not to bring soft toys to school

 

• Children can wear their own clothes each day, They should not wear the same clothes on consecutive days

 

The priorities for those in school will be helping children to adjust to new school routines, without many of their classmates around them for support. Teachers will also continue to post work on the VLE, Blogs and class pages for children to access from home if they are not attending school.

 

Given the current Government and DfE guidelines on how we need to keep children in their discreet bubbles in school, it will be impossible for us to have Yrs 2,3,4 and 5 back until September because we do not have enough staff or classrooms to be able to halve every class in school and run them as bubbles. But if we get version 42 and upwards of the guidelines and anything changes,we will alert parents as soon as possible

 

Thank you to everyone for your incredible work with the children since March 20^th. How many of you are considering a career in teaching now….?! Nobody in our profession has ever had to face such challenges before, or to make such impossible decisions. We know that our phased opening plan will not please everybody, but I think it’s the best option for us and has been thought about for a very long time. I know that you will all appreciate the myriad of complications  within which the Staff and Governing Body have been working and that should anything change nationally (i.e a “second wave”) we may be instructed to change our position yet again.

 

Our gradual approach should not be seen as us failing to deliver, but rather as a school working as hard as it can to solve a very difficult problem, with the needs and wellbeing of children and Staff at the heart of its actions. We have to live with the decisions we make and have followed guidance and risk assessments as closely and as best we can. Our worst nightmare is that school is opened more widely and somebody contracts the virus. There have been excrutiatingly hard decisions to make since the wider opening of school was announced: I guess only time will tell if they are right or wrong. The responsibility weighs very heavily, however.

 

Staff have been working tirelessly, whether in school or preparing online learning material from home. This, combined with coping with their own personal health and family situations, has been quite a juggling act for some. I guess many of you can relate to that! Our continued commitment to the children during lockdown cannot be faulted. The phone calls were an emotional tsunami for many of us, however…. I think the Staff have been absolutely magnificent and I know by the amount of communication I’ve had from parents, that you agree. I am not in the slightest bit worried about academic progress for our children: home learning has been so well supported by parents and carers so you’ve been totally fab too.

 

We hope that the videos we made for you have helped you to still feel like you very much belong to the wonderful Meanwood CE School community, which we are all missing so much and are so proud to be part of. Despite the mixed messages from the Government about standards of expected behaviour recently, please remember and put into practice what Barack Obama said:

 

 “When they go low, we go high.”

 

Enjoy being back in socially distanced groups of 6, stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves well, so that we can all be back together again come September. Thanks for all of your kind wishes and support. And the best news is , that the Premier League will be back soon………..!!!!!

 

Helen Eagles

HEADTEACHER

 

28/5/2/2020