19th March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Re: Coronavirus update – school closure to most pupils

Following on from my last update, I’m now writing to let you know that we have now been instructed to close the school to almost all children after Friday 20th March until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs.

We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your child may fall into one of these categories. Please email admin@st-andrews.plymouth.sch.uk with your child’s name and class and your reasons. We will be in touch again as soon as we are sure who this does apply to.
 
All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday 23rd March onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by text, email, our Facebook page and our St Andrew’s school website. 

What we will continue doing while your child is at home

Your child’s learning is of course important to us, so we will continue to help your child to learn. 
Our plan for continuing education remotely is as follows:

Pupils can find work set for them on their class pages on our website or on Google Classroom (KS2). They can access Mathletics and Spelling Shed using their own individual log ins. Pupils have a reading book and will be able to complete work set in their homework books as well as online. 

We ask parents to support children in completing work and ask that you mark as you go along.
Parents and pupils will be able to contact the school and their teacher(s) via admin@st-andrews.plymouth.sch.uk 

If your child usually receives free school meals we will also be in touch with more information about how we will continue to provide this, with support from a scheme that the government has just announced.

What we will not be able to go ahead with:-
We will need to cancel or postpone:
•    School trips 
•    Breakfast and after-school clubs
•    All internal exams or tests – KS1 and KS2 SATs, Phonics screening and Multiplication screening

This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it is far from ideal, but we will continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.

If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please do not hesitate to do so via admin@st-andrews.plymouth.sch.uk 

Thank you again for your continued support, and we will be in touch with more information when we can.

Best wishes

Mrs Annmarie Allchurch
Headteacher