Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Confirmation of School Closure

You will be aware that the Prime Minister and Education Secretary announced yesterday that tomorrow will be the last full ‘normal’ day of school. Schools will close indefinitely from Friday 20th March 2020 for MOST children. Schools are to remain open for children whose parents are identified as ‘key workers’. The government will make an announcement later today to identify precisely which groups of workers this will be. However, we do know that the following groups have been identified:

• NHS workers

• Police

• Teachers

• Critical national infrastructure roles such as delivery drivers

While we wait to hear the exact identification of roles, we would like to take a proactive approach and begin to identify those pupils whose parents are classed as ‘key workers’ and are likely to need to continue attending school. If you believe you fall into one of these groups please contact Mrs Anderson, in the school office on 0191 251 8080 asap, and at the latest by Friday lunchtime, to let us know which of your children will continue attending school, so we can be prepared for next week. 

I am working with our vulnerable families and social workers to identify those children who would need to continue accessing school.

Access to school is also available for those who currently have an EHCP and there is an expectation that parents of those children would wish them to continue accessing school.  If your child has an EHCP please contact us to confirm that they will continue to attend school.

With the deepest regret, only those children that fall into the categories identified by the government will be able to attend school.

We will continue to update parents via email and will ensure our website remains a helpful tool to support online learning. Our office email will remain active for any queries.

We are working with the local authority to support children eligible for free school meals, and we will inform you how this will be organised by Friday.

We await further government guidance on the proposal to suspend public examinations for this academic year.

This is understandably going to cause many anxieties for families, and we hope that we will be able to continue to support you wherever possible. We will continue to keep you informed with any new information as we receive it, in what are incredibly difficult and uncertain times.