Woodland View Primary School

Dear Parents and Carers,

Half term is over and we are happy to welcome your children back to school.

Can I take this opportunity to thank you all for your support last half term?  Our children were fantastic at following the guidelines set out and we feel very lucky as we did not have to close a bubble. We believe the best place for the children is at school.

However, in the light of the new national lockdown, we have reviewed the whole-school risk assessment.  We feel that some new measures are now necessary at the beginning and end of the day to ensure everyone is as safe as possible.  These measures have been discussed with leaders at All Saint’s Infants, and both schools will be asking parents and carers to adopt them.

The first of these concerns the wearing of face coverings.  We are asking that all adults wear face coverings on the school grounds from Monday 2nd November.  Whilst we try to limit the number of parents/carers waiting at any one point, there are invariably quite a large number of people in a small space.  The wearing of face coverings will be an extra layer of protection for everyone, and staff will do the same at drop off and pick up times.

In addition to this, there are a few other changes we will be making from Monday:

• In the morning, we will open the school gates at 30am for the first classes, this is to avoid people waiting on the school grounds. Please do not come to school before your allotted time as your child will not be allowed into the building. Children know where they are going now and entry has become a quick process. Drop all your children off at the earliest time for your sibling group. Only children who have a sibling with an earlier start time will be allowed access to school before their own classes start time. Please do not allow year 6 children who walk on their own to arrive before 8.50am, they will not be allowed into school.

• In the afternoon, we will open the school gates at 40pm for the first classes to be released. Once again, we ask that you do not come to school before your allotted time.  I have asked staff to ensure that they release children promptly so that your waiting time is minimised. Pick your children up at the latest pick up time for your pick up group. Your children will all come out to you once all your children are together in the hall. Please do not come to the hall door calling for your children, they will be sent out to you.

These measures are to ensure that the fewest number of children possible are waiting in the hall. We want to reduce the number of children who have contact with each other as much as possible so that in the event of a positive case, the fewest number of children will be asked to self-isolate.

In addition to these new measures, can I also remind you of the existing routines:

• Please ensure there is only one adult per family on school grounds.

• Please continue to follow the one-way system (in the main gate, out the back gate) and leave school grounds promptly.

• Please ensure any other children with you do not run around and stand with you at all times.

• If you need to talk to a member of staff, please continue to contact the school office, by email or by Dojo and we will call you. Conversations on the playground will not be possible during the lockdown.

• All drop-off and collections times remain unchanged.

I would like to thank you in advance for your co-operation with all of the new and existing measures. The most important thing is that we work together to reduce the spread of the virus, so that we can get back to normality as soon as possible.

I look forward to another productive half term.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do contact us – via the school office for general enquiries or through email/dojo for class teacher education specific questions.

With best wishes,

Ruby Grey and all your Woodland View Family of staff.