Dear Parents / Carers,
Further to my message on Thursday, I wanted to give you an update on our plans as I am sure you have seen the increasing media interest in the return of schools from Monday onwards.
I have met again with the Education Impact Academy Trust Leadership Group and the Chair of the Trust Board this evening and based on our discussions, I have decided that on student and staff safety grounds, we will be closing the whole site to all pupils next week, with this decision now including Bluesky and Primary aged students, which it didn’t on Thursday. School will be closed for all students on Monday 4th January, but from 5th January to 8th January 2021, the only students in School or College will be students of all ages who have key worker parents and a small number of other students we feel need to be in School and College for other reasons. We will be in touch with these parents by the end of school on Monday to discuss arrangements for Tuesday’s arrival in school. We will then aim to open again for all students on Monday 11th January and will confirm this in the middle of next week. Your child’s class team will be in touch on Monday to explain more about what home schooling will look like for the week.
This decision is in light of the closure of London Primary schools and the rising concerns / legal challenge that the Government strategy is not based on sound medical data, which has been raised by Teaching Unions over the last 48 hours. All staff will be available in school to be contacted by you if required from Monday and they will be delivering home learning for your child from the school site.
I really don’t take this decision lightly, but based on the lack of clarity of information nationally at the moment, it is the safest thing to do for all involved. Please can you continue to complete the form initially sent out on Thursday with any Key worker requests for places next week and also if you would like to raise any further questions / issues. I will send a response out early next week to answer any questions raised on this form.
Kind regards,
Simon Harris
Executive Headteacher