Corona Virus letter for CLF Parents And Carers

18 March 2020

Dear parents and carers,

As we see significant changes to daily life in Britain and the reality of school closure takes hold, I wanted to write to you on behalf of the Cabot Learning Federation (CLF), the multiacademy trust of which your child’s school is a part.

It is an unusual step for us to communicate directly with families as a trust, usually communication comes directly from your child’s school. We generally think this is better because the school leaders are the people you know and trust, who know your children and lead their school day-to-day.

In these unprecedented times, we wanted you to know that your school is part of a family.

We work very closely as a team to ensure that all CLF schools are providing the best possible school experience for all of the pupils. This is In line with our shared core purpose, which you can see via this link:

https://clf.uk/ceo-welcome/our-vision/

These are challenging times for schools and in the CLF we have been working together to make sure that no school is isolated or alone in pursuing our two aims at this time, which are:

• Keeping people safe and supporting each other
• Ensuring that all pupils are supported to learn over time

Keeping people safe and supporting each other

As you may be aware, some of our secondary schools have had to close to some pupils already this week. This is due to staff following the government’s guidelines for selfisolation. We have been committed to supporting the government’s position to keep schools open and have prioritised opening in our secondary academies to three key groups of pupils:

• Pupils due to take exams in the summer.
• Year 7 pupils to reduce the need for child care in families.
• Pupils whose parents are key workers, without whose work our public services may be unable to function. We have a working definition of what we understand to be ‘key workers’; please see below for our most up-to-date list.

This approach will continue on Thursday and Friday of this week.

You may have heard the announcement from the Government this afternoon that schools will close to pupils until further notice from the end of school on Friday 20th March. In the coming weeks, schools will take on a different role in support of the national effort to manage Corona Virus, and this means that we will continue to offer full time provision for the children of key workers. The Government has indicated that it will provide its definition of ‘key worker’ roles tomorrow.

Ensuring that all pupils are supported to learn over time

Together with the leaders and teachers in your child’s school, we are working to ensure that we provide excellent online learning for children both in the short and the long term. We already have a shared curriculum across the trust. We work together as a group of schools and teachers, making adjustments and improvements every term to ensure it supports your child’s progression.

As we enter a period of school closure, there are expert teachers across our trust who are leading in the preparation of online materials that your child will be able to access at the right time, supported by their usual teachers who will be in regular contact. We wanted to reassure you that your child’s school is not facing this situation alone, and that as a broader community we stand together to make sure that our HEART values remain a reality, whatever the circumstance.

What can you do?

There will be many ways that we can work together in our communities in the coming weeks. The two key priorities, in line with ours, are as follows:

• If your child has, or develops, a cough or a temperature, you must ensure that they
  do not attend school. This is also the case for the children of key workers. This is
  essential. As we work to keep our schools serving our communities, we do need the
  support and co-operation of families to ensure that children are not exposed to
  those with symptoms.
• Support your child to continue learning. There will be information available via your
  child’s school on the best way you can support.
  o it would help your child if you are able to create routine and structure to the
  day
  o if possible, find a quiet place for them to complete work for school.
  o If you are experiencing difficulties accessing the work, let your school know.

Thank you in advance. I would also like to thank all of those parents who have sent positive messages of support to their schools during this extraordinary time – our staff are passionate about doing their best for your children and we do appreciate the feedback.

I wish you and your families good health over the coming period and hope that we can return to school as we know it as soon as possible.

You can always find the latest updates via our website: www.clf.uk, Twitter: @cabotfederation, and Facebook: @CabotFederation.

Yours faithfully
Steve Taylor
Chief Executive Officer

Our current definition of a Key Worker (as of 18 March, pending clarity from the government tomorrow) is:

• clinical staff employed by the NHS;
• teachers, including further education teachers and Early Years/nursery teachers;
• police officers and community support officers in specified forces;
• frontline police staff (civilians) may also be eligible in some areas;
• prison officers and some Prison Service staff in prisons in specified areas;
• probation officers;
• local authority (LA) or NHS social workers;
• uniformed staff, in fire and rescue services;
• armed forces personnel;
• Highway Agency traffic officer staff;
• LA environmental health officers/practitioners;
• Care workers;
• Food / supermarket delivery drivers and other workers