Hello everyone,
We are busy getting ready at school and we are all looking forward to seeing you on Monday.
We have had a few questions about the dropping off and collection arrangements for children each day. Here are the arrangements in more detail.
We appreciate that these new arrangements that may have a significant impact on many of you. We have done everything we can to ensure that your children are safe when they return to school and this has led to some difficult decisions about how to reorganise the school, especially given our limited resources. I am sure that you can appreciate that the first priority for us is to make sure that our children and staff are safe from the risk of infection. We have followed government guidance and have staggered the start and end times for different year groups, this is to reduce the number of people using the school entrances at any one time.
Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Two
One adult should bring each child to class in the morning. Please do not arrive at school early, we need to keep the gates and entrances clear. You will be allowed on site five minutes before the start of the school day, when the classroom doors will be open. Only children are allowed into the building, no parents or other adults will be allowed to enter. The children need to go straight into class and we ask that you leave the school site immediately. Please keep any younger children you have with you and do not allow them to run around.
If you have children in another year group, please leave the site and come back at their start time, please do not wait outside the school gates as this will cause congestion and a risk to the families arriving at school after you.
It is important that you arrive at school at the correct time and collect your child at the correct time. This is to support the health and well being of our school community and ensure that we are able to restrict the number of people on site at any one time. Please do not arrive early and wait at the school gate.
Year Three
Children in year three can be accompanied to class and collected from class every day.
Years Four to Six
Pupils in years four to six, must come into school and leave school unaccompanied. No adults will be allowed on site. All children should arrive at school at the correct time to avoid crowding at the school gate. They will be allowed onto the school site five minutes before their start time. Please ensure that your child does not arrive early.
All children in years four to six will be dismissed from the classroom and expected to leave the school site on their own. Many children will be walking home on their own. If you would prefer to collect your child, please arrange to meet them somewhere close to the school but away from the school gates, to avoid crowding. Please ensure that you are on time to avoid your child waiting unattended outside school. If you are not at your designated place for collection, please make sure that your child knows that they should return to school to ask for help.
In very exceptional circumstances, we may allow some children in years three to six to be dropped off with their younger sibling(s) and be kept in a safe place, socially distanced from other children. However, this is an absolute last resort option for any parents that do not have any other provision. If you have no other options, please write to the school admin@selsdonprimary.org.uk to explain your circumstances. We will confirm in writing if we are able to accommodate you.
We do not have any capacity to provide this after school. We need all children to leave the school premises at the correct time for their year group. If you have children in years three to six who have siblings in another year group, you have three options;
(a) collect the younger child(ren) at the correct time, take them away from school and come back to collect the older child(ren) from somewhere close to the school;
(b) collect the younger child(ren) at the correct time, ask the older child(ren) to walk home on their own;
(c) collect the younger child(ren) at the correct time, arrange to meet the older child(ren) somewhere safe, further away from school, on the route home.
We will not allow parents or other adults to wait in the playground or on the road outside school. We are asking parents and other adults to take responsibility for this themselves and avoid forming crowds outside and around the school premises. We ask this in order to ensure the safety of our whole school community. If we see any crowds forming, unfortunately, we will have to ask you to move away.
We are aiming to reinstate our breakfast and after school club provision straight after half term. This needs additional time and resources in order to ensure that our provision is safe.
It is important that all of our children return to school to catch up on the learning and social interactions that they have missed over the past five months. These are exceptional times, we have never had to face anything like this before. I hope that we can work together to get all of our children back to school safely and keep our community safe.
With best wishes,
Susan Papas
