Temporary Closure of Year 1

By C Tallon21st September 2020

Dear Parents and Carers of Year 1

Update re: Temporary Year Closure

Thank you for your support and understanding today. Can I apologise for the short notice of my text message. Restassured, I contacted you at the very earliest opportunity after I had assessed the information and spoken to the Government’s Department for Education. First of all let me state that there has been NO positive test.

At Woodcroft we always put your child’s safety first. I was notified earlier this morning that 3 teachers from Year 1 were all displaying possible symptoms of COVID19. Following this information I immediately advised those staff to self-isolate and arranged for them to obtain a test. I also contacted both the Government’s Department for Education COVID19 Advice Line and Public Health England.

The advice given whether to close was not clear cut. I was told that schools do not have to notify parents unless there is a confirmed case. However, the final decision rests with the headteacher. At Woodcroft we always put safety first and try to keep parents best informed. While the risk of COVID19 transmission still remains very low, I hope you will agree that this action was both sensible and appropriate. 

We are organised into strict year group bubbles at Woodcroft. Groups of children and staff DO NOT mix. This gives us the capacity to cover classes with dedicated year group staff if one or two are absent – but not three! Please be aware that no other year group is affected.

What will happen next for Year 1:

  1. I shall take further advice from Barnet Local Authority and Public Health England
  2. We remain open in a restricted capacity in Year 1 for the children of key workers
  3. Year 1 teachers are now preparing plans to support a short period of home learning. We will contact parents and carers later today with more information.
  4. Year 1 will remain closed until further notice. 

We did ask that Year 1 parents should not call the school this morning. This was to avoid the line becoming blocked. However, we would ask you to please notify the school if your child is displaying any COVID19 symptoms. This will help with our ongoing risk assessment.

Thank you for your support of our precautions. We do understand the difficulties that this decision creates both for childcare and learning. Let us hope that the tests come back quickly and are negative.

I shall update you in due course.

Yours sincerely

Craig Tallon

Headteacher