Letter to parents (07.05.)

Dear Parents and Carers,

‘Careful, considered and phased.’

These three words seem to be the buzzwords coming out of Government work groups now, when discussing the potential for any changes to the current lock down. However, I think it is important for you to know that until the Government issues guidance regarding schools ‘opening’, we will not be able to give you any information about how this will look here at Pathfield. We have been receiving many questions about what school will look like after half term. We simply do not know at this point, as we simply do not have the answers as no guidance has been released.  Again, once we know what the answers are, we will share them with you and your family.

During these unprecedented and strange times, we will continue to work, following our very carefully thought out risk assessments, to ensure the children, families and staff are kept safe.  As you know, we are providing childcare and respite provision for a small number of children in school.  Again, this has been carefully considered and arranged, adhering to the school’s risk assessment. To ensure everyone stays safe we will continue to work in this way over the next few weeks.

Please note that the guidance so far has been mainstream based. In fact, we are still waiting for the social distancing guide for special schools, which was promised a few weeks ago. Until we have all of this information and the new guidance issued, we will not be able to make any changes.

However, when the Government finally announces guidance for special schools, we will carefully consider how this impacts our current risk assessment and how we can ensure more students can safely access the site. Mainstream schools may be able to open for specific year groups due to the size of their classrooms and buildings but it is different for a special school like ours because many of our school community have vulnerabilities related to their health, which we will carefully consider, along with the reality of the size and layout of our classrooms. When the updated school guidance has been released to schools, we will work towards our school slowly re-opening; however, I want to reassure you we will do it carefully and in a considered way.

Thank you for your continued patience. I will update you with any changes as soon as Government guidance has been released for special schools, and we have been able to consider the safest options for every child and for all the staff.

The most important thing right now is to stay home and stay safe.

Cherie