Returning to School

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Dear families,

I hope that you are well and keeping safe and that you and your young people enjoyed the half-term break last week.

I am writing to outline how this half-term will look for students in and out of school. As you know, the information coming through to schools from the Department for Education has been patchy, late and ever-changing. This has made it very hard to plan with any certainty how our educational provision will look, and to communicate that effectively to you. I know that some schools announced their plans and then had to change them, which wasn’t something that we wanted to do.

Please do read the linked document and it has all of the detail. However, as a summary:

• We have just, this week, begun Stage 3 and on Monday 15th June will progress to Stage 4.
• Students in Years 7-9 will remain at home for the remainder of the school year and lessons will be set online (the only rare exceptions to this are students who are receiving counselling/PFSA/1:1 sessions in school for an hour a week/fortnight).
• Students in Year 10, whose families wish them to, can come in to school for one morning a week on a rota. This will begin on Monday 15th June and is outlined in the attachment.
• There is no negative repercussion for families who do not wish their Year 10 child to return to school yet – they will receive the same work as those in school and non-attendance will not be ‘chased’.
• Everyone coming in to school will be subject to strict social distancing and hand-washing measures.

Nationally this week, primary schools that have had more students in have seen attendances of around 50%.

Those of us who have, and continue to, follow the rules and guidance on ‘lockdown’ have and still do make huge sacrifices. There are many members of staff who have been in school to support your children who have not been able to see their own families, and I know that the same applies to many of you. I am worried by some of the images and news reports that we have seen in the last week where people seem to assume that social-distancing isn’t something that needs to happen anymore. If your child has been in a situation whereby they have not obeyed social distancing rules, for example at a beach, protest or park, then they are not welcome in school. We all have a responsibility to look after ourselves and our families and I also have that responsibility for our students, their families and my staff – something I take very seriously. One person’s actions can affect many.

If your child or anyone is in your household has symptoms then the current advice, at the time of writing, is for them to stay at home. Further detail of the guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus .

We will be in contact with families of Year 10 students over the next week to confirm the arrangements for their return to school. In the meantime, there is a survey on the Parent Portal which we will send you a link for today. This is to indicate to us whether your Year 10 student will return as per the attached plan, or not. This will allow us to plan accordingly, knowing how many students we have in each day.

As always, if you have any questions or queries then please do feel free to contact me on gregg.morrison@prestonschool.co.uk or email our staff, most of whom have their email address on the ‘Contact Us’ tab of the website.

Best wishes, stay safe and keep looking after each other.

Yours sincerely

Gregg Morrison

Principal

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