Dear Parents / Carers,

As you are aware there is now guidance requesting schools to open up and offer some activities to their most vulnerable pupils and also do this for those who have key workers as their main carer.

For many schools this will be possible from Monday however for special schools there are many challenges to overcome to ensure that any child who will be in our care is safe and has the correct level of staffing. We also have to plan with the LA how pupils will get to a daily session, how they will be fed as well as how we will ensure a hygienic environment.

We will not be offering any on site provision next week.

As a result of this and following detailed discussions, including the Director of Education, we will be developing our plans over the next few days and only then if we have sufficient staff will we be able to make provision available. The offer may also be in a different school as we are aiming to co-ordinate this across a number of similar schools and may not be on every day of the week.

Depending on the health of staff then it may also be necessary to cancel sessions at short notice if we cannot safely staff them.

At this point it is unlikely that we will be able to have pupils if they have underlying health conditions that put them within the higher risk category.

I realise this is a difficult message to hear if you are a key worker and desperately want to continue your own vital work, however we hope you understand that we need to keep the health and safety of the whole of the school community at the centre of our planning. We are committed to making provision as soon as we can safely do so.

We have created an additional email account, which will only be checked once daily during this closure for parents to use should they have a question that cannot be answered by the class team who are in regular touch about daily activities. This is – head@kingsweston.bristol.sch.uk

With Best Wishes

Jo Hill