IMPORTANT NOTICE: Next phase of re-opening school

Friday 22^nd May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Following on from the letter recently posted on our website, I would like to give you more information about our next phase of re-opening based on our risk assessments and planning. We are doing our best to continue to keep you as up to date as we can in these challenging times.

Subject to Government confirmation, we plan to reopen Northmoor Academy from Wednesday 3^rd June to some pupils. We will do this in phases and will be in touch to discuss this with you.

Safety is our number one priority and in making our decisions we have considered the numbers of children we can safely have in a group, the number of staff in school and the space we have available. We have also considered how we can encourage social distancing and make sure our groups of children do not mix beyond their “bubble”.

Phasing of our offer:

We have taken the decision to place a particular priority on children who are Y6 because they will need support to prepare for secondary school. Therefore we will be opening to the following groups:

Monday 1^st and Tuesday 2^nd June – open for staff induction and to ensure our extensive safety procedures are in place and ready for re-opening to children.

Wednesday 3^rd June – we will welcome children of key workers and those in the other groups who have been eligible for a place since the lockdown began.

Monday 8^th June – we continue to welcome the above groups but will also be welcoming any Year 6 pupils who have indicated they wish to join us. During this week we will be reviewing numbers and procedures and during this time will make the decision whether we are able to safely increase the offer to other year groups.

Monday 15^th June (and beyond)– we hope to increase to an additional year group, or more – this will be Year 1 in the first instance if we are able to but we will contact you further once we have a clearer picture.

Safety measures being implemented

We are in the process of finalising our comprehensive risk assessments, which we will share with you prior to opening. The key procedures we are putting in place are:

We continue to request that no child or adult showing symptoms comes into school for at least 7 days after developing symptoms
- - A persistent cough
  - A high temperature
  - A loss of taste or smell
A bubble system – 2 staff will be with no more than 10 children in a bubble. They will be in their own space and will not mix with other bubbles.
Key worker and other groups may be in mixed age bubbles. Once other year groups remain, they will be in year group bubbles.
Due to the need for space, some children will not be in their own classroom or with their own teacher. We are doing our best to make sure the adult your child is with is one they know.
We will try to encourage social distancing as much as we can. Please be aware that although we will encourage this, we cannot guarantee children will keep apart. The bubble system is in place to limit contact beyond a very small group.
Every child will have their own space to work at with their own pencils etc.
We will have strict hygiene controls: very regular handwashing, regular cleaning throughout the day, hand gel available, a ready supply of soap and tissues.
Access to corridors, entrances and exits, toilets and other shared areas will be arranged so bubbles do not mix and enhanced cleaning is in place.
Breaks and lunchtimes will be staggered so children can use the outside area without mixing with other bubbles.
The start and end of day will be staggered so there are fewer children coming into school at the same time.
We will encourage only 1 parent to bring and collect their child
There will be very few visitors on site. If parents wish to see a member of staff, they will be asked to make an appointment and strict social distancing will occur
Children coming in should only bring water bottles lunchboxes (if relevant) and a coat (if needed). Book bags are not needed.
Uniform is expected but we will understand if your child has grown out of something. We would ask that clean clothes are worn each day and shoes are cleaned.
We will keep monitoring and reviewing our systems to make sure they are as safe as possible.

We are doing everything we can to keep everyone as safe as possible. We cannot eliminate the risk of the virus but we will put procedures in place which should help to prevent an infection from being transmitted in school. This plan is subject to change in light of Government advice and safety consultations with Unions and our other partners.

If your child is due to come in the first week, we will be in contact in the week beginning 1^st June to provide more information. For other year groups, we will keep you updated on our plans as soon as we can.

Once again we thank you for your continued patience whilst we put these plans in place and we hope you understand our caution in adopting this phased approach.

Yours sincerely

Executive Principal

NorthmoorAcademy