Update about Lancashire County Council's review 05/06/20

Date: 5th Jun 2020 @ 10:00am

On Wednesday 3rd June Lancashire County Council issued the following statement:

Schools guidance on reopening for more pupils

Last week Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, our Director of Public Health, advised schools and other early years settings that it was not yet safe in Lancashire to reopen to more children from Monday 1 June.

Dr Karunanithi will review his advice on Monday 8 June, and if it changes, schools will be encouraged to take the decision to reopen to more pupils from 15 June.  If the advice does not change, the guidance will be reviewed again on 15 June.

As you know, the decision to welcome back more pupils to Lancashire's schools lies with head teachers, in consultation with their board of governors, taking into account their individual circumstances. We will work closely with you to provide advice and support. As has been the case throughout this emergency, all schools are encouraged to admit vulnerable pupils and those of key workers as long as their risk assessments suggest it is safe to do so.

Dr Karunanithi's advice was based on the concern that two of the government's five tests were not being met in the county. Having reviewed the statistics which showed there had been an increase in confirmed positive cases of coronavirus at a time when the NHS Track and Trace system had launched, but was not fully operational, his professional opinion was that it was not yet safe for schools to open to more children.

We are working closely with our local partners and the NHS and Public Health England to build a responsive and effective track and trace system for the benefit of not just our children, but all Lancashire people.

Our schools have been doing a brilliant job throughout this crisis to remain open to the children of key workers and vulnerable children. They have also been in regular contact with parents and pupils. Of course, we want to see children back in school as soon as possible. By keeping this advice under regular review, we can make sure this happens safely.

Below I have attached Lancashire County Council's Frequently Asked Questions published in response to their 27/05/20 statement.

What next for our school?

• On Monday 8th June we will set up a second brief parent survey to get an up-to-date picture of how many parents are willing for their child to return to school. This survey will only be open for 24 hours. We appreciate your support in completing this
• We will inform parents of Dr Karunanithi's advice when this has been published on Monday
• We already know given current available staff and the government's phased return guidance that we can only manage 4 groups or bubbles (approximately 40 children)
• We will continue to prioritise key worker children. Until we know the demand for key worker children, we are unable to commit to other groups
• Teachers will continue to provide all children with home learning, promote interaction and give feedback to children through the Pupil Area
• We will continue to keep parents up-to-date with future changes through the School Spider app and emails

 

 

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