St. Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School

Wednesday 3/5/20

 Dear Parents / Carers & Children,

 RE: Booking a place in school from Monday 8th June  

 Since my letter of last week (still available on the website), we have received important information that has led us to adapt our phased re-opening plan.

 On Monday evening we received a letter from the LA, written by the Director of Public Health at Wigan Council, which states:

‘Members of SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies) and Independent SAGE and the Association of Directors of Public Health have all over recent days advised caution and concern about the too rapid easing of lockdown and the increased risk of a second pandemic wave. For these reasons, I am strongly advising all schools and childcare settings to delay wider reopening until at least June 15^th in order to allow for a full 14 day cycle of the Test and Trace systems and for us to assess the impact on community transmission through our new local surveillance system and better intelligence from the national system.’

A copy of the complete letter is available on the school website.

 The Independent SAGE Report states:

 ‘Delaying a school reopening by two weeks (to 15th June) approximately halves the risk that a child will be infected’

 Therefore, myself and the governors have taken the decision to push back our re-opening schedule for a week. The following year groups will now be invited back in as follows:

 YR (Reception) – from Monday 15^th June

Y1 – from Monday 22^nd June

Y6 – from Monday 29^th June

 We do understand the impact this will have for some families who had planned to send their children back to schools the weeks earlier. However, as we have stated throughout the pandemic and closure, the health and safety of our children, families and staff are our number one priority. We have to make the best decisions we can based upon the information and evidence we have available at any given point.  

 Thank you for using the booking system last week. This has given us a good indication of the numbers of children we need to cater for over the next four weeks. If you are a YR who has originally booked in from June 8^th onwards, a Y1 parent who has booked on from June 15^th onwards, or a Y6 who has booked in from the 22^nd, then we will presume from the booking system that you will still require a place, but for the following weeks respectively. If this is not the case, please contact school to let us know.

 An opportunity to book for the weeks beginning Monday 29^th June until the end of term will be made available in due course.

 As I’m sure you can imagine, the logistical planning for reopening, especially given the (quite rightly) stringent health and safety expectations, is quite a task. I really do thank you for you for your patience and support during these difficult times.

 My previous letter, which is still available on the website, includes a lot of additional information around what school will be putting in place. We have also uploaded a ‘Keeping Safe Expectations’ document that outlines how we all expected to conduct ourselves if we are returning to school.

Unfortunately, at this stage, I couldn’t speculate as to the chances of children from Y2, Y3, Y4 or Y5 being able to return this academic year. I would point out though, that from Monday 29^th June there are only three school weeks left in the term.

 Once again, best wishes for your health and well-being from all at St Cuthbert’s.

Your sincerely,

 Mr J Rushton

Headteacher