Headteacher's Update 4th March 2021

Birkrig, Skelmersdale, Lancashire WN8 9BN. Telephone: 01695 724730.

www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk Headteacher:

Mr IJ McDonald

04/03/21

Dear Parents/Carers, I am writing to you all with details of the safe, full re-opening of school next Monday.

I apologise for the length of the letter in advance but please take the time to read it carefully and if there are any questions don’t hesitate to contact me through the office.

The first point I would make is that although school is opening fully to all children again on Monday, all other current National Lockdown restrictions remain in place (including the wearing of face masks, social distancing etc). So we are basically re-opening under the same safety measures we had in place in January.

Expectations/Home School Agreement With this letter I have attached the Home/School Agreement that reflects the part we all have to play in ensuring school is as safe as possible. By sending your child to Bishop Martin you are showing that you agree with the expectations within the agreement.

Children are expected to attend wearing full, appropriate school uniform. A link to the section on the school website is here that outlines appropriate uniform. If earrings are worn they MUST be only studs for safety reasons. https://www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk/parents/uniform Start/Home time arrangements Breakfast Club will be open as normal from 8am on Monday for all pupils. The school gates will open at 8:40am and pupils will go straight to their class/bubbles with registers being taken at 8:55am.

Key Stage 2 pupils should enter through the top gate opposite Birleywood Health Centre and Key Stage 1/EYFS pupils enter via the main gates.

For hometime collection, this is the area that we are changing the most for parents and it is to help you all feel safe in managing social distancing when collecting your children.

All parents will get an additional email tomorrow with details of the specific collection time and which gate your child will be getting dismissed from. For now these are the general arrangements:

2:50pm: Children with NO siblings in the school:  Years 3 and 4 (Giraffes and Koalas): Key Stage 2 Gate  Years 1 and 2 (Rabbits, Hedgehogs and Owls): Main Gate 3:00pm: Children with NO siblings in the school:  Years 5 and 6 (Tigers and Lions): Key Stage 2 Gate  Nursery and Reception (Bumblebees, Ladybirds and Butterflies): Main Gate 3:10pm: Family Groups/sibling groups (brothers and sisters):  Family groups ONLY in Key Stage 2: Key Stage 2 Gate  Family Groups with siblings in EYFS/KS1/KS2: Main Gate PLEASE STICK TO THESE TIMES AND DO NOT COME ANY EARLIER TO AVOID CONGESTION/CROWDING AND TO HELP US ENSURE THAT HOME TIMES CAN BE MANAGED IN A SAFE, SOCIALLY DISTANCED MANNER Children being dismissed at the 2:50pm and 3:00pm are not missing out on learning and being given extra time within the school day to make sure this is the case.

Lunches Pupils will be eating their lunches in classrooms up until Easter. This is to ensure absolutely no risk of mixing between class bubbles over lunchtime. I am hopeful that children will be back in the dinner hall after Easter to eat their lunches.

I would strongly encourage as many children as possible to take up the option of a school dinner to reduce what is being brought into school and being taken home.

Bringing Equipment Back to School The stationary and work packs that were sent home over this lockdown period should be brought back into school on Monday so that pupils can continue using that equipment in their lessons.

We will be informing parents who have a DfE/School loaned laptop, about how and when these should be returned to school over the course of next week.

Lateral Flow Tests (LFD’s) School staff have been administering Lateral Flow Tests to themselves, twice per week, since January and reporting the results to NHS Track and Trace. There have been NO positive results to date within school underlining again, the safe environment we have established here at Bishop Martin for staff and pupils.

We have been told that Primary School pupils do NOT need to be asked, by school, to take twice weekly Lateral Flow Tests. However the Government have made it clear that households CAN order these testing kits themselves if you wish. These are NOT available through school and can only be ordered by yourselves through the link below if you wish: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-ofschool-pupils-and-staff Pupil Microsoft Teams Accounts These accounts will ALL be blocked on Friday afternoon as ALL pupils should be attending school again from next Monday and therefore will not be needed.

If any class Bubbles are required to isolate due to a positive test result in school then we will unblock those class accounts so that the pupils can access Online Learning again through Microsoft Teams during the 10 day isolation.

After Easter and Moving Through the Summer…

These measures are in place to get us all safely through the first three weeks of school up to the Easter Holidays. It is important to remember that although school is returning for all pupils, we are still pretty much in a full National Lockdown and all have a responsibility to keep to the current restrictions.

I am extremely hopeful that after Easter we can begin re-introducing some of the more ‘normal’ aspects of school life (dinners in the school hall, pupils being allowed bikes and scooters to come to school on, after school sports clubs etc) as the national picture continues to improve and national restrictions ease.

I would then hope that by May half-term and through the summer term (and with the Government date of June 21st set for the full relaxing of all measures including social distancing) we can move more and more back to how school should look and feel normally.

This past year has been unlike any other year for pupils, parents and staff here and across the country. We have managed to stick together through all of this as a school community and I am so proud of what we have been able to achieve in supporting you and your children.

If we keep working together through these next few weeks and months I am hopeful that we can get back to how a school should look and feel normally.

Many thanks for your ongoing support

Mr McDonald, Headteacher