Weekly Bulletin:Wednesday 13th January 2021
Dear Parents/Carers
Following our update on Monday regarding the change in government guidance on in-school attendance, we still have large numbers of children attending school, with further requests for school places from Monday.
To help us to identify the need for in-school attendance, we are now requesting additional information from all parents who are key workers and wish their child to attend school.
As a reminder, government guidance now states that ‘Children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school if required, but parents and carers should keep their children at home if they can.’ Further clarification on this issue was also provided by the Health Secretary Matt Hancock: “schools are there for key workers' children where key workers need to have the children in school in order to be able to get to work. For instance, if you're a key worker and your partner doesn't work then you shouldn't be sending your children to school.”
Therefore, it is clear that families who have a parent at home who is not working during the school day (due to being furloughed, not working during school hours, or being unemployed) should keep their children at home. Guidance is less clear where one parent is a key worker and another parent is also working at home, but in this instance, we would ask you to consider keeping your children at home if you possibly can.
While Covid infection rates, deaths and numbers in hospital remain so high, please remember that the purpose of limiting in-school attendance is to stop the spread of Covid by reducing social contact.
We will be getting in touch with families of key workers tomorrow to discuss your requirements for a school place from Monday 18th January. Although we know that many of you are juggling home and school commitments under very challenging circumstances, we do need to request additional information to help us understand this better. If you are a key worker and already have or are requesting an in-school place under the key worker scheme, please fill in the form at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TunburyKeyWorker . This form closes at 8.00am tomorrow morning.
For vulnerable children, there is no need to fill in the form and these children should still attend school full-time.
We do apologise for the short notice in asking you to complete this information. If you would prefer to call the school to talk about your family situation, then either myself, Mrs Smith or Mr Taylor would be happy to discuss this with you today or tomorrow.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Best wishes
Ruth Austin
Headteacher
