Good afternoon,

I hope this message finds you well.

As you know, both All Saints' CE Infant and All Saints' CE Junior schools are being closed to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus, as are all schools across the UK to help limit the spread of COVID 19.

During this unprecedented period of school closure the majority of our staff will be working from home, in line with the government's social distancing guidelines. We have worked hard behind the scenes to prepare, to ensure our children can still access high quality learning remotely and during this time our staffing team still be fully engaged in supporting our children’s learning via Google Classroom. This will take a lot of time, effort and careful planning, to ensure our children consistently have access to a quality education during the time they are not in school. I am hoping our staff will soon be able to live stream learning during the day (thank you to Emily 's Mum for your help this morning!)

It is important to realise we will only have a skeletal team of staff in one of our schools to be able to provide care for a limited number of children, for whom care at home is not possible. The government has set clear guidelines to outline which children should continue to be cared for in school premises during this difficult time. These include children who are vulnerable, and children whose parents are critical to the Covid-19 response and that therefore cannot be safely cared for at home.

Last night Mrs. Lee and I worked past 9 pm, personally speaking to over 120 parents who had applied for the limited places we can offer. I am sorry to report that we had received a great number of untenable requests for a place, from parents whose children are not eligible for the limited childcare resource we are able to offer. Our initial ParentMail response indicated that we were set to have over 170 children with us (nearly half of both schools) - defeating the aim of the closure.

We must all support each other in making sensible choices and whilst we have now issued places, we would ask that as responsible carers and parents, you think very carefully before taking a place for your child and ensure you use this service as a LAST RESORT, and use it during the times you are at work ONLY. Please think of others as well as your own family. It is critical that key workers, those who are critical to the COVID-19 response, are able to support our communities effectively, knowing that their children are being cared for safely and that our vulnerable children are supported.

We need to all work together to protect and keep our community safe and healthy and accept that this will mean we are placed under some inconvenience.

Please remember, if one parent can work from home then the children must be at home also. Careful planning between parents/careers to manage shifts of work, to balance the responsibility of childcare within the home should also be considered whenever possible.

We may need to phone you for further information and clarification.

We are conveying this message in the strongest terms for the safety of our school community and beyond.

It is very important we work together during these uncertain times.

If in doubt, please refer to the attached flowchart.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

Mr. O'Connell