Dear Parents and Carers

Update re School Reopening

Happy New Year to you all.

As you will no doubt be aware, the situation around the reopening of schools has been changing rapidly.

At lunchtime today, we received advice from Southampton City Council, a link to this update is below:

https://twitter.com/christophammond?lang=en

In light of this, we have made the very difficult decision that we can only safely open for children of critical workers and vulnerable children this week.  The reason we have decided to open the school in this way for all of this week is because it is likely that we will need to mix existing class bubbles due to staffing numbers.  This will then provide a 48 hour break if we are able to return to full opening of school on Monday 11^th January.  This will be reassessed during the week and further updates will be shared as they become available. 

Start times will remain the same as they were before Christmas i.e. 8.40am - Years 5& 6, 8.50am - Years R, 3 & 4 and 9am Years 1 & 2.  Finish times will also remain the same, 3pm for Years R, 5 & 6 and 3.15pm for all other year groups. 

For children of critical workers attending this week, Breakfast club and After School club will run as normal.  Breakfast club and After school club will not be open to children other than those of critical workers.  All other children who would normally attend will not be charged for their places this week.

To help us plan provision this week, if you feel your child qualifies for onsite provision under critical worker status, please complete the form below to register your child:

https://forms.gle/wTHzUWJaerEjFv3u5

If you require a place for your child, please complete and submit the above form by 6pm this evening. 

Please note that we are expecting unprecedented numbers of children requiring places under the critical worker provision and therefore if it is at all possible for your child to remain at home and work remotely we would appreciate you letting us know to reduce the pressure on resources in school and ensure that we continue to provide the safest environment possible for staff and pupils.

Remote learning will fully commence from Tuesday 5^th January and details of this will be shared tomorrow.  In the meantime, Years R – 2 home learning will be available on year group pages on the school website tomorrow and Years 3 – 6 will be provided via Google Classroom.

Symptoms of COVID 19

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

• new continuous cough and/or
• high temperature and/or
• a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/  If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

Please remember that if anyone in your household is displaying symptoms or tests positive for COVID-19 then the whole household must isolate in line with current guidance from Public Health England.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19. 

• wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
• use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
• wash your hands as soon as you get home
• cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
• put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

We are sorry that this information comes so late in the weekend but as we hope you can appreciate, this continues to be a rapidly evolving situation and we are keen to ensure we are always acting on the very latest advice from the Government and Southampton City Council.

If you have any questions regarding this, please don’t hesitate to contact the parents email address – parents@foundrylaneprimary.co.uk

With kind regards

Foundry Lane Primary School