Dear Parents/Carers,
As I am sure you will be aware, the Government recently announced a catch up plan to address the disruption to children’s education during the Covid-19 pandemic:
www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time
It has been widely reported that this will provide schools with up to £90 for each pupil to fund catch up activities and additional money to deliver one to one tuition for disadvantaged pupils. The Government has not yet published the guidance for schools on delivering this plan, or the amount of money which each school receive. Parents/carers should not expect that £90 will be allocated to their child, or that they will definitely receive one to one tuition using this funding or through the National Tutoring Programme, which was also included in last week’s announcement. The additional funding is to be spent across the next school year (September 2020 to July 2021) and we will develop our plans to use it when the Government guidance has been published.
It has also been widely reported Schools could use catch up funding to run Summer Schools. In the absence of detailed information this would be very difficult to manage and there is little evidence of pupils catching up as a result of Summer Schools. In York, schools will only run Summer Holiday activities which are already established and run every year. At our school this means that these type of activities will not take place. We will pass on information to you about other activities, not provided by schools, available in the city during the holiday period.
The Government announced on 24th June that there would be a significant relaxation of lockdown arrangements from 4th July, including a reduction in social distancing from 2m in some circumstances. The new guidance makes it clear that the Government’s plan is for all students to return to school in September and that further guidance will be published on this:
It has, however, already made clear statements about the expectations on schools for the rest of this term – “There is no expectation on primary schools to welcome back additional children where they do not have capacity to do so”. As parents/carers are aware, unfortunately we do not have the capacity to welcome additional children beyond what is currently offered.
I am aware that some schools, who are not part of City of York Council, are operating on a rota basis. However, this is not something we can offer, as the Government stated the following – “Schools should not plan on the basis of a rota system, either daily or weekly, as they do not provide the consistency of education and care required for the youngest children, who also require more support with remote education. This guide sets out other options for schools if they are unable to cater for all of the vulnerable children, children of critical workers, nursery children (where applicable – any pre-existing, standard rotas may remain unchanged), reception pupils, year 1s and year 6s with their available staff or in their available space.
It is still important to reduce contact between people as much as possible, so children, young people and staff where possible, should only mix in a small, consistent group and that small group should stay away from other people and groups”.
The Government has now published guidance to schools for full opening next term. I will be working to develop a plan for running the school in September which is safe for pupils, staff and families. It is my intention to give parents/carers an overview of key timings within the school day, from the 8th September 2020, in next week’s update…
End of academic year reports will be sent out via email, next week. In the report we will give you an account of your child’s attainment, progress, effort and attendance up to Friday 20th March 2020 (the date when school closed to the majority of pupils). In line with DfE guidance, we will not comment on attendance after this point.
As a result of the impact of Covid-19, aspects of the curriculum will not have been delivered in the same depth as previously planned. It goes without saying that the staff team have worked exceptionally hard to ensure high quality home learning. However, this does not replicate or fully compensate for missed school based lessons.
Confirmation of your child’s class allocation for next academic year, will also be included in the aforementioned email.
I would like to invite our Year 6 children to wear their leavers’ hoodies to school on Friday 17th July. Could parents/carers please ensure these are washed prior to the children wearing them in school – thank you. I would also like to remind the parents/carers of Year 6 children, that today (Friday 3rd July), is the last day to send me their child’s leavers’ recording – referred to in previous correspondence – head@elvingtonprimary.org.uk
Yours sincerely,
Mr. Andrew Buttery