The news that schools won’t open until Monday 08 March is a disappointing and frustrating one…
Here’s an extract from the email from the Department for Education, sent daily to school leaders:
Today, the Prime Minister has announced that it will not be possible to resume face-to-face learning immediately after the February half-term and instead hopes it will be safe to commence the re-opening of schools and colleges from Monday 8 March. This is in response to the national public health data and pressure on NHS capacity.
If the Government achieves its target of vaccinating everyone in the four most vulnerable groups with their first dose by 15 February then those groups will have developed immunity from the virus around three weeks later, that is by 8 March. It is for this reason that we hope it will therefore be safe to commence the reopening of schools from Monday 8 March.
Education settings, as well as students, parents and carers will be given at least two weeks notice to prepare for a return to face-to-face education.
Over the last week or so, it became increasingly clear that this delay would likely be the case, but that doesn’t take away from the concerns we all share. Do contact your child’s teacher, or the Head of School, with any particular questions, comments or concerns. Teachers’ emails are in our Home Learning Guide.
Talking of which, we’ve updated the guide. There are a few small changes to who’s leading the home learning sessions, but the main change is on page 9, which is our temporary policy on emails between school and home. The new point is that teachers will respond when you email them, but for safeguarding reasons they won’t respond to children – your child should stay in touch with their teacher through the daily afternoon Zooms and when staff phone home.
Finally, a challenge for Year 5 and 6 children, so many of whom are experts on grammar and punctuation. In the Department for Education extract, above, there’s a little error – a tricky one to spot, and a common error, too. Can your child spot the error and explain it? If so, let me know (via an email from Mum or Dad, not the child, of course!).