Many thanks for the positive comments sent in by parents about the quality of learning that your children are receiving, whether that is the remote learning children are experiencing at home or the face to face learning in school.

I am really pleased that the vast majority of children in all classes are regularly engaging with the video lessons provided by teachers and the work posted on SeeSaw or Microsoft Teams. It’s important that children continue to spend as much time and effort on their remote learning as they would if school was fully open. As some of you will know, teachers, Mrs Richardson and myself will persist in trying to contact you if children do not engage with remote learning.

I’m really proud, as are the school governors, of the enormous efforts of all members of staff to adapt to the new circumstances and continue to provide such an excellent quality of education. This includes, teachers, teaching assistants, admin staff, caretaker, cleaners and catering staff, all of whom have had to make significant changes to the way they work.

Myself and governors are, however very concerned at the increasing numbers of requests for school to accommodate the children of critical workers. In some classes requests have been made for over half the children to be given places in school. This presents a dangerous situation with regard to the safety of staff and children working on site with regard to Covid-19 infection and transmission. Following a governing body meeting last night we are drawing up a policy to limit the number of children of critical workers who can be offered on-site places. The policy will be published as soon as possible ready for implementation from Monday 22nd February (after half-term) and will not offer places on a first come first served basis, priority criteria will be published in the policy.

In the mean time I would ask critical worker parents to consider carefully all possible alternatives to requesting a place for their children in school. On a day when the number of Covid-19 deaths rose above 100 000 it is vital that we do all we can to limit the spread of infection and keep our school community safe.

Mr Waddington