Capel St Mary CEVC Primary School
Re Opening on the 20th April
We have received a telephone call asking if the school will reopen as usual after the Easter holiday. The school will only be open from the 20th April for the parents of children who are in vulnerable groups and for Key workers.
We will only fully reopen when the current situation changes and we will inform you of this date.
Yours sincerely,
Sean Cornish
Headteacher
The Easter Holidays
Dear Parents and Carers,
As you are aware the school is remaining open for the children of Key Workers and vulnerable children only at the moment. The Easter holiday is approaching and I wanted to brief parents about our intentions.
The school will be closed from Good Friday - Friday 10th April and will open again on Monday 20th April. So the last day that we will be open for children is Thursday 9th April. As you can see this means that we are intending to be open over the first week of the Easter Holiday, however this will only be the case if that is required by parents of Key Workers only.
Please would you email the school at admin@capel-st-mary.suffolk.sch.uk if you require a place from Friday 3rd April - Thursday 9th April by midday on Thursday 2nd April. If we do not hear from you before this point the school will be closed.
The Local Authority is also putting together plans to assist Key Workers and Vulnerable children. It may be the case that by the time we get to the Easter break these arrangements will already be in place. We will of course follow any instructions that we are given from both local and national government.
I have asked my teaching staff to begin to update the work that is on the unit pages of the website after the 20th April, so please do not expect more work to be added until then. Staff are currently working on writing reports which will be with you later in the summer term. These will be in a slightly different format to reflect the reduced curriculum offer.
Unfortunately, the Ofsted report following the inspection cannot be published while the school is closed. I am waiting to hear from Ofsted if they regard the school as open at the moment in a reduced capacity. You can rest assured that as soon as we are able to we will publish the report and get it to all parents.
Yours sincerely,
Sean Cornish
Headteacher
Monday 23rd March 2020
Can I thank parents for their community spirit in only sending in those children who need to be with us. Today there are 28 children in school. We understand that there may be more as the week progresses can I please ask that if you need to bring your child in you let us know before hand so we only need to have in the staff that are required.
We have been asked by some parents about organising play dates. This is not a good idea. Please remember that social distancing applies to children as well as parents and as far as possible children should remain at home.
If there is anything that we can do to support you please do not hesitate to get into contact preferably by email.
Sean Cornish
Headteacher
Monday 23rd March - Limited School Opening
As you will know the school is open for Key Workers and children who fall into vulnerable groups only from Monday 23rd March, 2020. The letter below gives the lift of Key Workers.
Can I please remind parents of the Government advice. We should all be socially distancing ourselves. If you send your child to school when you do not need to you are not following this advice. I have a duty of care to all of the children and all of my staff who are placing themselves at risk to look after the children. I know it goes without saying but please do not abuse this situation. The school is already going to be short staffed as there are many members of staff who have underlying medical conditions and so are not allowed to come in.
I know I can rely upon parents to follow the Government advice and be reasonable in this difficult situation.
Sean Cornish
Headteacher - Saturday 21st March 2020
Advice from the Government Tuesday 17th March 2020
New guidance for households with symptoms
Yesterday, the Government introduced new guidance on whole household isolation in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak:
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The symptoms are:
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The full stay at home guidance for households with these symptoms can be found here:
The Prime Minister’s statement from Monday 16 March can be found here:
Head teacher Meeting Tuesday 17th March 2020
To ensure that there is a continuity of approach between the East Bergholt Cluster of Primary Schools the Heads have met to decide upon a joint course of action. The letter below sets these out.
Can I ask that parents or children do not access the School Closure activities on the individual unit pages until such time as the school is closed.
Sean Cornish
Headteacher
Advice Received on Friday 13th March, 2020
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Government announces move from Contain to Delay phase
Yesterday, the Government announced that we are moving from the Contain phase of the coronavirus action plan and into the Delay phase, in response to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
To support the delay of the spread of the virus, the Department for Health and Social Care has asked anyone who shows certain symptoms to stay at home for 7 days, regardless of whether they have travelled to affected areas. This means people should stay at home and avoid all but essential contact with others for 7 days from the point of displaying mild symptoms, to slow the spread of infection. The symptoms are:
Current advice remains in place: no education or children’s social care setting should close in response to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England. The Chief Medical Officer has advised that the impact of closing schools on both children’s education and on the workforce will be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. Decisions on future advice to schools will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group. |
Advice Received Wednesday 11th March
Below is the advice from the DfE regarding education settings.
Advice from Public Health England continues to be for education and children’s social care settings to remain open, unless advised otherwise. We are continually reviewing how best to support all educational settings and the impact of any measures will be considered carefully before being implemented.
Sean Cornish
Headteacher
Further Advice 10th March 2020
We have now been given further advice regarding Covid 19 please see below for this information:
Sean Cornish
Headteacher
Covid 19 Virus
Many parents have quiet rightly expressed concerns regarding the Coronavirus outbreak. As an educational setting we are required to follow the instructions that are given to us from national government, Public Health England and the local authority.
At the present moment in time I am receiving daily updates from the County Council which I am passing on to all members of staff. All children have been spoken to regarding basic hygiene arrangements to ensure that if the virus does come into the area we are as well prepared as we can be.
Below you will find a poster and two links to a website which will give you more information.
I would like to remind parents that the school will not close unless we are instructed to do so by Public Health England.
Tuesday 3rd March
Sean Cornish
Headteacher