Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you are all well and managing to keep safe and healthy. I wanted to write you to keep you updated with the latest information that we have.

Increased attendance in school

Our attendance across the school has slowing been increasing as we accept children of families, who have had a change of circumstances in work commitments. Our total percentage of pupils, who attend school is now over 40%, which raises concerns over the following points:

1) The increase of pupils in school puts our staff and families at greater risk of catching Covid-19.

2) The increase of pupils in school will increase the possibility of a Covid case within our school. I would like to remind families that if there is a confirmed positive case in our school, it is likely that the pupils and staff in the bubble will be required to isolate at home for 10 days. I appreciate that this will be problematic for childcare, in particular for key workers who are helping the fight against Covid-19.

If there is an adult at home, working or not working, we would ask that your children remain at home with you.

Keep your children at home if they are at all unwell

We have been informed that the greatest risk to transmission of Covid-19 in schools is from children being sent into school with symptoms. The symptoms of a high temperature, loss of taste or smell and a continuous cough have been known throughout the pandemic.

Research has now shown the following symptoms have led to positive cases, linked to the new variants. • Cold symptoms – snotty nose, etc

• Sore throat

• Vomiting

Therefore, if your children are feeling unwell at all, parents should be keeping them at home as a precautionary measure.

I hope that families appreciate the position we are in as a school as we continue to try and balance supporting families whilst keeping pupil attendance low to help fight this pandemic. If you would like to talk further about any of the information above, please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Communication and safeguarding

Please remember that throughout this wider school closure, we are here if you need our help or support in any way. You can ring the school during normal school hours on 01803 328264 or email office@homelandstorbay.org. You can also email your child’s teacher using the class email address. Any safeguarding concerns can be reported using the safeguarding@homelandstorbay.org email, which Mr Treadwell and myself will monitor daily.

Support for any IT issues can be accessed by emailing: ithelp@homelandstorbay.org.

Wellbeing and remote learning

We are aware that given the nature of remote learning, the children are spending a lot of time on screens. In order to give some time away from them, we are having a wellbeing day this Friday 12th February. This will be a day away from the normal remote learning and is designed so that your child shouldn’t need to access a screen. You should already have received a grid of activities that you might choose to do during the day and we would love to hear about how you have got on through the class emails or through Teams.

I want to finish this letter by saying a huge thank you to you all for your continued support and for the fantastic effort everyone is making with the remote learning. I hope that you continue to remain safe and that you have a restful and well-deserved break over the half term holiday. We look forward to seeing you all soon.

Kind regards

Angela Urquhart

Headteacher