Birkrig, Skelmersdale, Lancashire WN8 9BN. Telephone: 01695 724730.
www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk Headteacher:
Mr IJ McDonald
Dear Parents/Carers, Following the announcement from the Prime Minister on Monday evening, the staff and I have been working hard to ensure that we are ready to re-open fully, to all pupils, on March 8th. I can confirm that Bishop Martin CE Primary School will re-open, for ALL pupils, on Monday 8th March and that, as per Government guidance, ALL pupils will be expected to attend. We are in an extremely strong position to re-open school fully and safely because:
Through this Lockdown period we have had a daily attendance of around 35-40% of the school anyway of those families who qualified either as Critical Worker/Vulnerable categories. ALL staff have continued to attend work daily as well Those of you who have been supporting your child learning from home on Microsoft Teams have just been AMAZING and the communication we have been able to keep with you all has been fantastic There have been NO reported positive cases of COVID-19, from within the school, since last October (there have been periods of isolation for individuals who were traced due to contact outside of school but this highlights just what a safe environment Bishop Martin is) You will also remember that we did re-open (as the Government instructed all schools to do at the time), fully to all pupils on Monday 4th January, just prior to this Lockdown. This was achieved using a Risk Assessment that had been approved by Governors and staff
Therefore when we re-open on 8th March it will be largely under the conditions we had planned for back in January. I will write to you all again next week with more details around things like hometime collections, social distancing rules, Home/School agreements etc. My intention is that we will work under this Risk Assessment up until Easter and then hopefully start relaxing measures slowly over the course of the Summer Term as the picture across the country improves (with the hope of having school virtually back to normal by the second half of the Summer Term if the national guidance allows!). In the meantime, Online Learning will continue next week and Critical Worker/Vulnerable families should continue sending their children into school. We are here to support you all as always so if you need to ask anything don’t hesitate to contact the school office. Many thanks for your ongoing support
Mr McDonald