Will all primaries def open on the 8th?

[Frazzled2207]

Possibly daft question but we had radio silence form kids school. Is it going to be law to open to all children from the 8th or might they have some leeway to do a “staggered” start. I guess in some areas councils might have an influence?

Yes.

There is no suggestion that Primaries should do anything other than open on the 8th - they do not need to do any testing, etc.

It may just be that your school needs to sort some logistics; I know the school I am a governor of has a couple of teachers still likely to be shielding at that point, so some class rejigging may be required, as well as finalising timings to avoid everyone arriving/leaving together etc.

(and I meant that would be the reason for lack of comms so far, not a late start! We will be fully open on the 8th. )

@PatriciaHolm
Yes I hope it’s that- thanks. I know there are a couple of shielding teachers and another teacher needs to take leave due to illness so imagine they have some ducks to get in a row. I’d appreciate a text though!

We had a letter from the school and it said that school is mandatory - so send them in or deregister basically. It’s a lovely school so I assume that is government mandated.

we've just had a text from the wraparound club saying they are opening from the 8th so wondering if they know something that we don't!!!

Heads are probably still reading the Dfe guidance on reopening to see if there are any changes needed to the risk assessments. I work in a primary school and spoke to our head today. We will be opening using the same year group bubble system with staggered start and finish times as before. She will be communicating this to parents this week once she has had a virtual staff meeting today.

We had a communication on Tuesday basically saying "we're working through the guidance, we'll be in contact again with reopening plans once we know more".
It's going to take them a while to go through it and come up with a workable plan (depending on staff availability due to shielding etc) so I'm not expecting to hear anything more until next week at least.

There is a huge amount of guidance to work through and many schools will still be having meetings with their LA about risk assessments etc. It's too early for school to tell you their plans.

We only heard this afternoon, we’re going back on the 8th and attendance is compulsory - government stated.

Although schools are allowed to open fully from the 8th March, some primary schools may choose to do a phased return over a few days in that week. My children's teachers have hinted that this may happen at their school although no official confirmation as yet.

Ours is opening fully on 8th keeping things from last term like staggered drop offs and playtimes etc.

It can be staggered but only for the week beginning the 8th. All children must be back week of the 15th.

Thanks all- STILL no written confirmation from the school but I called them and they told me they are planning to open on the 8th. Phew. Interested to know if any are not.