(Update 15 May 2020)  Re-opening of school from 1st June 2020

The Government has announced the possible re-opening of schools from 1st June. This is a phased plan, starting with Early Years, Reception, Year one and Year six.

Westroyd plans are based on the Government Guidance.

At Westroyd we aim to start our staggered approach with Year six pupils returning first and then introducing other identified year groups.

For further details, please see the letters pages of the website on reopening of schools.

Update Wednesday 18 March 2020

School has made the difficult decision to close our Nursery Department with effect from Monday 23 March 2020, until further notice.

This is due to the impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic. The rest of the school (Reception - Year 6) will remain open unless we are advised to close by the Government, or we are unable to staff and safeguard our pupils appropriately.

Please continue to monitor any school developments via the school website, tapestry app and via text messages and emails sent to your phone.

Any overpayment of Nursery fees will be calculated and dealt with when we are able to return to normal working conditions.

Covid 19/ Coronavirus Update 17 March 2020  

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am writing to you to share with you our planning strategy in relation to the recent Covid 19 / Coronavirus.  We keep up to date with daily guidance from the DFE and Public Health Authority and strive to share information with you in a timely manner. Unfortunately we do not receive any more information that is not already in the public domain so this makes planning in advance challenging.

We take the health of the children and the school community very seriously and we will do everything possible to ensure that we are reducing risk.  We have spent time improving hygiene in school with additional lessons and supervision on hand washing.  We have shared Government guidance of good hygiene with staff and visitors and are promoting good practice around school. Additional cleaning during the school day is in place across school and Early Years.

Our next step is to reduce public events in school and limited visits.  From this week there will be no class assemblies, parent reading sessions or public celebration assemblies. Unfortunately this will also include cancellation of the Spring Ball and the Easter Service. We appreciate that this is disappointing, however we will reschedule any missed events to the summer term. Staff are also not attending public training events or network meetings and we have limited visitors to the school setting.

Latest Government Guidance (updated Monday 16 March)

This guidance is intended for:

• people with symptoms that may be caused by coronavirus, and do not require hospital treatment, who must remain at home until they are well
• those living in households with someone who shows symptoms that may be caused by coronavirus

The main messages are:

• if you live with others and you or one of them have symptoms of coronavirus, then all household members must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill
• it is likely that people living within a household will infect each other or be infected already. Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community
• for anyone in the household who starts displaying symptoms, they need to stay at home for 7 days from when the symptoms appeared, regardless of what day they are on in the original 14-day isolation period. (See ending isolation section for more information
• if you can, move any vulnerable individuals (such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions) out of your home, to stay with friends or family for the duration of the home isolation period
• if you cannot move vulnerable people out of your home, stay away from them as much as possible
• if you have coronavirus symptoms:
  • do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital
  • you do not need to contact 111 to tell them you’re staying at home
  • testing for coronavirus is not needed if you’re staying at home
• plan ahead and ask others for help to ensure that you can successfully stay at home and consider what can be done for vulnerable people in the household
• ask your employer, friends and family to help you to get the things you need to stay at home
• wash your hands regularly for 20 seconds, each time using soap and water, or use hand sanitiser
• if you feel you cannot cope with your symptoms at home, or your condition gets worse, or your symptoms do not get better after 7 days, then use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service. If you do not have internet access, call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999

School Absence due to Covid-19 / Coronavirus

Symptoms of Covid-19 / Coronavirus are;

• a high temperature
• a new, continuous cough

Children who display any of these symptoms must stay at home. If symptoms develop through the school day, children will be sent home.

Absence reporting systems are the same as usual and we ask that you contact the school or Early Years office if your child is not attending school or nursery.  We appreciate that a number of our children have underlying health conditions and thus are more vulnerable and we will discuss plans to support isolation in these individual cases. If your family is in isolation due to someone displaying symptoms please contact the office and we can log the absence as required. Please note and adhere to latest guidance on family isolation. 

School Closure

We are currently planning for the following;

• Staff Absences
• Partial School Closure
• Whole School Closure

We currently have staff members who are self-isolating due to showing symptoms and having underlying health conditions or have family members showing symptoms. We will carry out daily risk assessments to ensure that we can open school and nursery without disruption.

We hope to manage staff absences in the first instance by internal and in some cases external cover. If we have a relatively high number of staff absences we may need to partially close some classes in school. For example, we may struggle to keep Nursery open as we may not be able to maintain the statutory adult : pupil ratios.

As always we will strive to keep our school open, however this decision may be taken out of our hands and we may be instructed to do so by National Government.

Home / School Learning

If we have to partially or fully close school and nursery, we will strive to provide online learning through our class pages on our website, online tapestry (Early Years) and seesaw (KS1 and KS2). In the case of school closure, regular reading is one of the best things to do and we hope that we will have the opportunity to provide additional books to support this. We will also be posting learning activities on our school website under the class pages.  We appreciate that not everyone is able to access on-line learning so we will also be preparing learning packs for children to take home.

We appreciate your support during this challenging time.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. 

Regards

Jo Ponton

Headteacher

We continue to follow the guidelines of the government website in respect of the Coronavirus. I would appreciate it if parents and families could keep up to date with the National guidelines in regarding travel and follow any isolation guidance given.

Guidance changes on a day to day basis, however we will keep you informed of any relevant information we receive.

As of today, Monday 16 March if you develop a persistent new cough or a fever you should self isolate for 14 days and telephone 111 for advice.

Should you have any further queries the telephone number for the DFE Helpline is: 03700002288

General advice can be found on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Guidance specific to schools is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19