Green Top School

Dear parents and carers,

I hope you are all keeping well and staying safe.

As we continue to work our way through this unique and often challenging time, thank you once again for all your support. We really do appreciate your understanding as we, day by day, work through what is best for our children.

Their well being, continued safety and good health is always our priority and will continue to be so – always. Any extension of our current provision will be reviewed and monitored on a daily basis as we move forward with caution.

With that in mind from Monday 15th June nationally the position will be that wider opening of schools goes ahead for Reception/ nursery, Year 1 and Year 6, Year 10 and year 12, where it is deemed safe.

Across the XP Trust and therefore at Green Top we are following the advice of our Doncaster Local Authority who have been working alongside Public Health England (PHE). The decision to extend our provision on Monday – is based on a belief that ‘on balance’ this is the right decision – where risk assessments are in place and a safe environment has been created at each school, for those Year Groups mentioned above.

The latest available data from the Local Authority, Department for Education and PHE has been analysed and cross referenced as part of the decision process. This included looking at Track and Trace, rate of infections and the number of current cases in Doncaster.

The Director of Public Health in Doncaster Dr Rupert Suckling has stated in a letter to all Headteachers:

“‘In summary, although we are not out of the woods, the risk of COVID-19 in Doncaster has reduced enough for us to manage it in a way that will allow us to start re-opening schools to the identified cohorts of Reception, Year 1, Year 6, Year 10 and Year 12 in a measured and cautious way.’

As with all of these finely balanced and critical decisions this situation will be continuously under review.

Therefore, following this and the statement published by Doncaster Council today, Green Top will continue with its plans for the wider extension on Monday 15th June.

In order to do this safely we will extend our provision further from Monday 15th June to those children in F1 (Nursery), F2 (Reception), Year 1 and Year 6 who have received an email outlining the provision we are initially able to offer.

At this time, due to capacity, we are unable to extend this offer to full time provision for the additional students requiring provision, however we will continue to look for ways to allow this to happen for those parents who are requesting additional provision but are not classed as key workers. Sadly, this is not something we can guarantee at the moment due to the social distancing requirements and safety measures we have in place.

All students who are remaining at home will continue to be offered the online provision of google classroom and a daily hangout. As we plan for transition to new year groups we will share with you the plans and processes to ensure this is smooth and appropriate for each student.

Unfortunately, I am unable to give any further information about other year groups at this time as we continue to plan alongside the trust on a daily basis taking into account advice from the Department For Education, Local Authority and other professionals associated with Covid 19.

Last, but not least – we want to reassure you once again that we are here to listen to any concerns or questions you may have. If you are worried or need any clarification of any aspect of this, or any other update please just get in touch.

Stay safe and take care

Mrs Claira Salter