Dear Parents/Carers,
Re: Coronavirus update – school closure to most pupils
Following on from last night’s news, I’m now writing to let you know that we have now been instructed to close the school to almost all children after this Friday 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.
You can email us at school: admin@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk or call us on 01253 762833
We’ll 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 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 announcement on our school website and text message to all families.
What we’ll continue doing while your child is at home
Your child’s learning is of course important to us, so we’ll continue to help your child to learn.
We will be sending home packs of work initially to give some curriculum work for English and Maths to begin with. We aim for your child to undertake approximately 2 hours of school work per day.
For the continuing weeks we then plan to continue education support remotely by:
Writing a weekly ‘Class Blog’ to be found on the school website which will contain further weekly assignments/projects for children in your class to complete.
We will give both worksheets and links to educational websites for games, lessons etc
Parents can then contact class teachers if needed through a secure designated email address (Example…….Classname@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk - this will be confirmed and put out through text or class blog )
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 won’t be able to go ahead with
School trips
School Events - Lenten Masses, Easter Assemblies, KS1 Lent Liturgy (Church)
Internal exams or tests
Also - First Communion Programme will have to be postponed
This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience with 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’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.
If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via our school admin email: admin@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk or on the school phone number 01253 762833.
And remember: if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please use NHS 111 online.
Thank you again for your continued support, and we will be in touch with more information when we can.
