15th September 2020
Amendments to arrangements for collection on a Wednesday afternoon
Dear Parents and Carers,
Firstly, thank you for the positive response about not entering the school site of St Philomena’s and St Mary’s until 5 minutes before entry time, there has been a positive change here although we do need this to be all families in the future. In light of the government announcements about people not collecting in groups of more than 6, it is important that we manage this in school as far as we can with appropriate social distancing being applied. If we are unable to achieve this, we may need to adopt other practice of having a complete one-way system with entry restricted to certain gates but we don’t really want to implement this due to consideration for your preferred entry onto the site.
We continue to take adjustments on both sites for your convenience but still need to encourage parents to allow pupils in year 5 & 6 to walk to school independently – hopefully we can then work towards the same for at least year 4 children.
Following a safeguarding meeting with Ms Noone, Headteacher of St Philomena’s High School, St Mary’s finishing time on a Wednesday will be delayed until 2.05pm and not 1.45 pm as previously communicated coming in to affect from tomorrow 16th September. This is to safeguard the students who attend St Philomena’s School as well as those attending St Mary’s. Hopefully the small adjustment will not be a problem for our families and I apologise for the short notice but it is important to respond immediately in these situations.
The schedule of not entering our sites until 5 minutes before will still be in place with gates opening at 2pm as this allows the high school students to return to class safely after their lunch. The school are committed to working with our families and to safeguard all children and thank you for your cooperation, patience and ongoing support when we need to adjust systems.
Thank you all once again for your patience and to reiterate also that the children are working really well and have adjusted to the new school year.
With Kind regards
Mrs Hulme, MA, NPQH
Executive Headteacher
