Dear Parents/Carers 27th August 2020
We are very much looking forward to welcoming all pupils back to school from Monday 7th September. The aim of the attached is to reassure you that we have been working hard to make sure that everyone can look forward to coming back safely. With news coverage throughout the summer highlighting schools re-opening, we thought it would be helpful to include information, which you may already have questions about. If there is anything else, which is not covered in the attached, please get in touch with us and we will share any updates with other families. Your input is crucial and as always, it is important that we are working together so that our pupils and students’ school experiences from September are as ‘normal’ and positive as they can be.
Schools have been inundated with guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) over the last few months. The latest advice has stated that each school must adopt a system of controls based on prevention and response to infection. Some of these are considered in the information below.
We will be fully open from the start of term and be focussed on supporting the pupils in resuming a ‘normal’ school life with the addition of some new routines. We are confident that we can do this but we will need to constantly review all our day-to-day procedures to do so effectively. It is also important to note that the situation with Covid-19 is continually evolving, so all plans in this document are subject to amendment if Government guidance changes.
There is still an emphasis on establishing and managing group ‘Bubbles’ but due to the needs of many of our pupils and also to optimise support for them, our Bubbles will be your son/daughter’s phase. On each phase staff will try to minimise contact between class groups however, it will not be possible for classes to remain exclusive due to some key members of staff working across a particular phase. Working in a phase bubble will mean that in the unlikely event of a positive case of Covid-19 and it becomes necessary to operate a temporarily lockdown, this will only affect one phase.
There will be some key staff, such as the school nurse, for whom it will be necessary to work across the three sites, but they will be asked to pay close attention to all hygiene routines and be using PPE to minimise risk.
For your information, East Sussex have launched the campaign, ‘Back to school- We are Ready’ with the aim of providing advice for parents can be found here:
https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/educationandlearning/schools/backtoschool/
It is aimed at all families and not necessarily those whose son/daughter attends a special school.
In addition, Amaze, the parent support group for families of children with SEND have published some guidance and it can be accessed here:
https://amazesussex.org.uk/back-to-school-in-september-advice-from-sendiass/
You may find the video below something you can share with your son/daughter in preparation for the return to school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRXTDsuHsT0&feature=youtu.be
We are looking forward to pupils moving phases and new children starting at primary and we have no doubt everyone is ready for the new school year.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact any member of the leadership team at your son/daughter’s phase who will be happy to discuss anything with you.
Thank you for your on-going support
Regards
Angie Wellman
Headteacher