Friday 6th March 2020

Dear Parent/Carer,

I am writing to you as an important member of our Beacon community with the update we promised.

At this point I know Christmas was different for most of us and many plans were altered and changed after we entered into Tier 4 on the 19th December. Despite all the changes, I hope you managed to enjoy yourselves and had a good Christmas within your households and bubbles. I heard from a number of families who are coming through their isolation and recovering from the virus; amongst all the worrying daily communication we are receiving from the media it is good to hear the positive stories of people in our community coming through this.

We are all still processing a great deal of new information regarding the spread of the new strain of COVID-19, some of that information relates to schools and what will be happening next week. Currently we know we will be expected to run a testing system that has to be set up and fully functional through school based resources. Despite the governments positive reassurances, the details of how this will work within our environment, including resourcing and the significant training implications are not fully forthcoming. We all face another huge task ahead of us that will take us out of our comfort zone. I know we will all work together and make this happen, but to give us a chance of making it functional in a reasonably short timeframe we will be taking the governments recommendation of an additional INSET day on the 4th January and therefore school will not be open to any pupils on this day.

This will also allow us to clarify expectations upon staff, pupils and families regarding accessing and physically supporting our community to undertake the testing required.

Once the details, expectations and actual functions of how this will work for us are established we will contact you so we have a clarity and openness on how we will move forward.

The whole of the school will be open on Tuesday 5th January to all pupils. We will be maintaining the staggered start times of 8.55am for Taxi and organised transport drop-offs and 9.15am for parental/carer drop off and independent travellers (pupils walking or cycling to school). We will also maintain the staggered finishing times, 3.00pm for Taxi and organised transport pick-ups and 3.15pm for parental/carer pick-ups. Please keep to the social distancing guidance of two metres away from anyone not in your direct household or support bubble during these times.

Many thanks for your ongoing support, we couldn’t maintain our positivity and momentum without you.

Ady Young

Headteacher