Dear Parents,

This will be a long but important message, so please ensure that you read it very carefully. We have records of who has read ParentMails, so we can assist if there are any problems with delivery.

We break up on Tuesday afternoon, after what has been the most unusual and challenging academic year we have ever experienced. I want to thank our entire staff for their hard work and continued support of the children during this strange period of shutdown and partial re-opening. I am blessed with the team we have here and also our governors, who give up their time to support the school. May I thank you too for your cooperation and understanding during this time, particularly those families whose children we have been unable to accommodate since 1 June. You have all supported your children so well and we have seen great progress despite their absence from school. We were delighted to learn this week that our Year 2 children won their category in Chelmsford School Sport Partnership's Quad Kids competition. Many thanks to you all for supporting us remotely with this event and emailing your scores to Mrs Scott-Simons. There are plans for other remote activities next term.

Over the past months we have continued to cope with the many demands of the current situation and we have done our best within the constraints placed upon us by this awful virus. We pride ourselves on being a friendly and welcoming school and we will be absolutely delighted to see all children return in September. However, there are many measures to be followed to ensure our environment is as safe as possible for children, staff and the wider community. Many of these go against our ethos of a warm and open welcome and some arrangements may present a challenge to parents, but as a small school with very limited space, we have had to make difficult decisions in order to follow government and local authority guidance.  We can only hope that such stringent procedures will be short term, but of course this is dependent on what happens with the virus in the weeks and months ahead and we will continue to review our risk assessment on a weekly basis.

As you are aware, full attendance will be expected from September and in following government guidance on re-opening, we hope to minimise the already low risk to our school community. We have sent you a letter from the Director of Education and Director of Public Health for Essex which we hope will allay any concerns you have about returning to school. Our proposal for the autumn term is outlined below and on the new COVID-19 pages on our website. Please read the following information carefully, there is a lot to take in, but it should answer the majority of your questions. The government is expected to launch a "return to school with confidence" campaign over the summer and it is recommended that all parents read their guidance "What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges in the autumn term."

I know how difficult some of these new arrangements will be and I stress that decisions have been made following an extensive risk assessment. I expect we will discover that some measures work better than others and we will adjust as needed. We are so looking forward to seeing the children again and we will welcome your feedback on our return.

Warm regards

Helen Castell, Headteacher
Ralph Bray, Chair of Governors