18^th May 2020

Dear Parent / Guardian

Firstly, I want to thank you for your contribution to the national response to the Coronavirus pandemic.  For the majority of you, being at home with your child(ren) and supporting their continued learning, alongside your own work and wellbeing, is a significant challenge in what are both unprecedented and worrying times. However, we do know that this action has helped to reduce the spread of the virus and is helping to save lives.

I am sure that many of you will have watched the Prime Minister’s address to the nation last Sunday and read subsequent details either online or in the media about the plans to begin to re-open schools more widely.

You will have heard the Prime Minister indicating that the government believes that as well as schools being open to the children of critical workers and for vulnerable pupils, it may be in a position to implement a phased re-opening of schools from 1^st June at the earliest, starting with pupils in nurseries, reception, year one and year six. This will be in addition to accommodating children of critical workers and vulnerable pupils.

This is part of the government’s conditional plan which it says will remain under regular review, and which is yet to be finalised: it will only happen if the level of new infections continues to decrease and the government’s other conditions are met.

We are working with other local schools to ensure we have a joint up approach to a gradual and phased re-opening. Our plans will be guided by a thorough health and safety risk assessment taking in to account our physical capacity on the school site and staffing levels.  

We know that you will understand that the safety of everyone in the school community is paramount. We all want to get more pupils back into school as soon as it is safe to do so.  However, in order to re-open in a phased and gradual way, our first priority to consider will be the health and well-being of all pupils and families and the staff.   

I will write to parents over the next week to outline our local offer, which will be based on the health and safety risk assessment that we are working on.

The guidance made it clear that it is not compulsory for parents to send their children to school at this time and there will be no penalties if you choose to keep your child(ren) at home.

We will continue to provide a home learning offer to all pupils not accessing support on site and will also keep in regular touch with the families of all pupils, whether or not they are attending school.

Further information for parents and carers can be found in the attached government guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june

If you are the parent of a child with an Education, Health and Care Plan we will also be writing to you in the next week, to update you on the temporary changes made by the government to the SEND legislation and what this means for your child. 

I want to assure you that we are working closely with the Local Authority and our Cluster of Harlesden schools in order to offer a consistent and safe response to the proposed plans.

Finally, I would like to reassure you that the health and safety of children and staff remains everyone’s first priority during this period.  

If you have any questions regarding this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me at admin@jkeble.brent.sch.uk

Thank you for your continued co-operation at this time.

Best wishes

Catherine Allard

Headteacher