Arrangements to support key worker and EHCP families during school closure
As you know, the Government has directed that schools must close from the end of the school day on Friday 20th March 2020. In response to this, we have worked to ensure that parents and pupils can access learning support online and will continue to keep you updated about how this will work and to make sure, if the period of closure is extended, that these resources are developed to support the education of your child. Please continue to visit the school website, Twitter and Facebook page to keep up to date with the arrangements we are making.
We are making interim arrangements to provide vouchers for those eligible for free school meals and will be in contact separately with those families early next week.
Our team is pleased that schools will continue to be able to make provision for the children of key workers to enable our communities to function effectively and provide the support that is necessary for the most vulnerable. This includes those whose roles keep us safe and those who support others receiving care, medical treatment and hospitalisation. In these unprecedented times, we are committed to doing all we can to meet these needs and are looking at how we extend this support into the Easter break.
We still do not have a definitive list of those identified as key workers but as a starting point, working with the Local Authority, schools and trusts across the region we have identified the following groups:
- NHS staff
- Teachers and support staff
- Police and community support officers
- Frontline civilian police staff
- Prison officers and staff
- Probation officers and trainee probation officers
- LA officers and LA/ NHS social workers
- Uniformed staff in fire and rescue services
- Armed forces personnel and some civilian MOD personnel (ie clinical staff, MOD police, uniformed fire and defense) and some discharged personnel
- Highways Agency traffic staff
- LA environmental health officers/practitioners
- Care workers
- Food/supermarket drivers and other workers in this sector
Because capacity will be limited, we have been asked to provide education and care for children of families where both parents work in the employment groups above and for children where, in a single parent family, the parent is employed in one of these categories.
We have also been asked to provide for children who have an EHCP and those who we have identified as vulnerable, so are putting in place arrangements to ensure we can make this provision. We will be contacting these parents individually regarding these arrangements. In accordance with government advice to reduce social interaction, all other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school.
We will provide care and education Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 18:00, and staff will be registering pupils as normal for morning and afternoon session. Lunch will be provided. Expectations for behaviour and conduct, including the use of mobile phones will adhere to our policy guidelines.
In order to plan for this provision, including arranging lunch for these pupils, it is essential that we accurately establish the number of children who will be attending. If you will need to use this provision, please complete the proforma sent to parents by email for both parents (or indicate if you are a single parent) and return by email should you fall into the Key Worker category or your child has an EHCP. Please title your email to office@bassingbournvc.org writing ‘Key Worker/EHCP request’ in the subject heading.
In the circumstances that levels of staff available to lead this provision fall, we will look to combine provision at specified school sites. Should this become necessary, we will let you know about how this will be arranged including how travel to a different school will be supported.
We understand this is a challenging time for everyone, but we assure you of our continued commitment to supporting your children’s learning and wellbeing. If you have any immediate concerns, or become concerned at any point during the period of school closure, please email office@bassingbournvc.org or your concern is of a safeguarding nature, please email vpoulter@bassingbournvc.org
We would like to thank all our staff, volunteers and governors who have helped in recent days to keep our school open, and who will continue to do so over the coming weeks. We would also like to thank you for your continued support and understanding during this very challenging period.
Vickey Poulter, Principal, and Jonathan Culpin, Chief Executive of Anglian Learning