Updated to include plans for Years 2, 3, 4 and 5

Dear parents and carers,

Again, thank you for your continued support since March 23rd. On the 1st June, we began to open more widely to year groups chosen by the Government. The wider opening has gone very well and we have had no unforseen challenges. This means that we are now able to continue with wider opening and invite the remaining year groups. We have also seen an increased demaind for places in our Key Worker provision.

I must stress that all of the dates below are provisional and should we have any conerns about the safety of the children and staff, we would pause the opening and carefully plan our next steps.

We will begin on Monday 22nd June by opening a second room for our children of key workers and then on Thursday 25th June, we will welcome back Lichtenstein and Hokusai Class. The school will be contacting parents so that we are clear about the numbers of children who will be returning.

Best wishes and I look forward to seeing more of you next week.

Owen O’Regan

Plan for the wider opening of Lansbury Lawrence from June 1st

Dear parents and carers,

Firstly, I’d like to begin by thanking you for you support over this time. Your kind words and understanding are very much appreciated. I’d also like to pay tribute to the staff, whether providing for Key Worker children, supporting distance learning, organising food, or making calls, the staff have been working incredibly hard throughout this time.

The Government has said that schools will reopen from June 1st at the earliest and they will not make a final decision until May 28th. The Government has asked schools to begin by opening to Nursery, Reception and Years 1 and 6, before opening to the other year groups a month before the summer break, which is the 17th July. One of the measures that they have put in place to protect your children, is to teach classes of no more than 15.

If the Government gives final approval on the 28th May, we will be begin to open gradually from June 1st.

Right now, the most important thing for us is to give everyone the confidence to start returning their children to school. Because of this, we are putting  safety and welfare of the children and staff at the front and centre of what we are doing. It is impossible to open the school to all children before the summer and teach in protected groups of 15 or less. We usually run 16 classes including our 2-Year-Old provision and to return all children we would need 34 rooms, all with enough space for children to remain around 2m apart. We do not have the rooms or the staff to make this happen so we are going to teach the school in two halves. It is our priority to make sure that we are giving all of the children that the Government has named the opportunity to return to school.

Our plan is to begin to open to half of the children on the Monday and Tuesday and then close for additional cleaning on Wednesday. We will remain open for Key Worker children. The other half of the school will then come to school on the Thursday and Friday.

While we appreciate that many of you will be wanting school to return to normal as quickly as possible, many of you will also need to be convinced that school is a place where risk of infection is low. This plan will deliver that and should give you the confidence to bring your children back at the earliest opportunity.

We will also have in place hygiene and safety measures which by now will be very familiar to you: distancing of 2m; well-ventilated teaching spaces; regular hand washing; additional cleaning – especially of items and furniture that is touched or handled; and limiting the crossover of staff and children between teaching groups and between days.

Breakfast club and after school care will be for Key Worker children only, as part of our strategy for minimising the mixing of children.

The table below shows when your child’s class will be in school and the planned start date. Please note that the start dates are provisional and we can only confirm at least 48 hours before. This is in part because the Government has yet to make a final decision and in part because we need to be confident that our plan is minimising the risk to your children.

If you have any further questions, please contact the school and I look forward to seeing your children over the coming weeks.

Best wishes,

Owen O’Regan