Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Thank you for your support thus far as we deal with an unprecedented situation.

 

I wanted to write to you to let you know of measures that we are putting in place for the next few weeks in light of the announcement yesterday evening. We will continue to update you with as soon as possible should there be further information or a change in procedure. 

 

You will have heard by now that schools will be closed to children, expect those who are children of key workers, from this Friday, 20th March. The school will remain open to families who work in the following areas:

 

The NHS

Police service

Social care 

Delivery services 

Waltham Forest council workers

 

The school will remain open to these families to help facilitate and ensure that our communities are able to have the support they need in these difficult times. In order to ensure we have the correct provision in place, we are asking you to indicate if you require a place in school to support you to deliver front line services. We will also be contacting a number of families to confirm how support will be provided to them. 

 

If your child is in receipt of free school meals then we are hoping to be able to offer them a meal each day. We are still working on the logistics of this and will be in touch later today with further information.

 

I am sure you can appreciate how hard it has been to manage an ever changing and unprecedented situation. We have always followed advice from Public Health, the Department of Education, and from the London Borough of Waltham Forest and will continue to follow guidance and update you as the need arises. 

 

For the next 2 weeks we will ask staff to upload work for pupils onto our school website via each class page. We will update class webpages by 12:00 each Friday for the next two weeks. We will also upload work that will be set via Bug Club and My Maths. Your child will have a login to access the work set on those sites. We will also ensure that children are sent home with plenty of books to read. 

 

In the interim period we will investigate setting work via my Google Classroom, whereby work will be set for pupils on a daily basis. Teachers will be able to log in and respond to questions/ provide further information should pupils require it. We will continue to follow guidance, but envisage this approach to work setting would beginning week beginning 20^th April, which is when we would return from Easter holidays.

 

We are sending home a contact sheet and ask that you send it back into school on Friday with your email address which we will use should we need to provide you with any additional logins for work set. Should you not be able to access digital learning, please let us know and we will find other means.

 

I will continue to update you all with any news I receive; this will be through the school website and our text service. Currently, as the situation stands, this is likely to be on at least a weekly basis. 

 

I would like to also take this opportunity to thank staff who have continued to come to work and put the needs of our community first whilst making difficult decisions for themselves and their families. Serving in the public sector, and putting others first, is not always easy.  In this time of national challenge I have been very proud to lead a team of committed professionals who have, and continue, to work for the greater good of our communities. 

 

I would also like to thank you all for your ongoing support and understanding. I am sure it has been a time of great confusion and uncertainly for you all, as it has been for us, but I am sure that by working together and supporting each other, we will strengthen our partnership as a school community; always acting in the best interests of all of our children. 

 

Zakia Khatun