As you know, this morning the government have communicated the list of key workers. Please CLICK HERE to view the Government list. These include children of identified key workers in:
• Health and Social Care
• Education and Childcare settings
• Key public services
• Local and national government
• Food and other necessary goods
• Public safety and national security
• Transport
• Utilities, communication and financial services
From Monday 23rd March, the Government has instructed that, schools should remain open to provide care for children of key workers and vulnerable children.
Today, we issued a ParentmailPMX survey inviting you to identify whether or not you were: a key worker, require your child to attend school and on which days e.g. morning, afternoon or all day.
If you have not been able to access and complete the survey please feel free to contact the school via: e-mail: enquiries@barrowby.lincs.sch.uk or telephone: 01476 566 121 where Mrs Holmes and Mrs Midgley are on hand to respond to your queries. When contacting the school, you will need to be able to identify:
You will also be required to demonstrate proof that your role has been identified as a key worker role e.g. employment ID or a letter from your employer, which should be made available on the first day your child is attending school.
It is important to emphasise that the most recent scientific advice on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19 is clear. If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading e.g. if one parent is able to work from home then there is no reason for their child to come to school. It is important to emphasise that we are able to support those families who need the school-based care provision.
If in the likelihood we are unable to accommodate all requests from parents for school-based care e.g. staffing levels too low due to self-isolation, we will apply the following criteria and give greater priority for those:
I must emphasise, that this is a very different type of provision than schools usually provide; for these pupils, it will be about care, not education. Therefore, the Government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend.
Whilst we remain open, to provide care for a limited number of children, we are very keen to keep our school a happy and safe place for those pupils who will be in attendance. Therefore, school times will be as normal and children will be expected to come prepared for school e.g. wear school uniform and bring their PE Kit.
The Governors and I have taken further steps to try to support those key workers, as well as their children and those identified vulnerable children who will be attending school.
For the duration of the forced closure:
We will look to extend the After-School Club Provision to 5.30pm to support the children of key workers and those identified vulnerable pupils, as soon as is practicable. We will keep you updated.
Please note, we will be unable to provide this service for any parents not in the specific groups as identified by the Government. In addition, if we do not hear from you, we will assume you may not require this service and will plan accordingly.
We appreciate that these are unprecedented times, with many families feeling anxious or worried about the pending school closures. We will continue to be in touch throughout this time of uncertainty. For those of you who are in self-isolation or children will not be attending school next week-we will be thinking of you all. Keep up to date with school developments via our school website:
As we told the children today, stay safe and we will see you all soon. Thank you once again for your support and understanding.
Any changes to this advice will be communicated to parents via ParentmailPMX and our school website.