Woodland View Primary School

30^th May 2020

Dear parents and carers,

It is with deepest regret that we are having to postpone the return of Reception children (and other years also) until further notice. No timelines are available as yet. We will continue to provide our service for children of key workers from 8.45am to 3pm. As per previous communications, key workers’ rotas must be returned to school by Thursday at 4pm.

Late yesterday afternoon we received correspondence from Nottinghamshire Local Authority stating that Trade Unions “remain seriously concerned about the readiness of any and all schools to open more widely next week.” In their view, “No school could open safely to more children at this point in time.” They have also stated that they “will communicate with each school opening next week with a view to escalating concerns to the Health and Safety Executive and to the press.”

As a school, we also had direct correspondence from trade unions yesterday afternoon at 3.43pm stating “The DFE has only asked schools to consider the re-opening of schools. The 1^st June is not a hard and fast date and should not be treated as such.”

Up to this point, every member of our staff and all School Governors have been wholeheartedly in support of our plans to open on Monday to Reception children. We feel very confident that we have followed all government guidance and can provide as safe as possible school environment for our children. We have also received very positive feedback from many parents too.

The extremely late intervention by Trade Unions, alongside the fact that our local authority disappointingly have left this decision entirely in the hands of headteachers, leaves me no alternative other than to postpone our wider opening of the school.

As a staff, we are dedicated to this community so this has been one of the hardest decisions we have had to make. I hope that all parents, and most importantly, all children will feel assured that we have and will continue to do all we can to get our wonderful school back up and running as soon as possible.

Online work and the bus will still operate during this time.

We will let you know as soon as we have any further developments. Once again, we are sorry for any negative impact that this outcome may have on our families. We have great sympathy with everyone involved.

Yours sincerely

Ruby Grey                         Janice Addison                       Natalie Fiddimore

Head Teacher                  Chair of governors                 Deputy Head