Childcare Provision at Cherry Oak School

Friday 20th March 2020

To Parents/Carers

Once again I would like to thank you all for all your support and understanding during this difficult time for us all. The situation has been made more difficult by schools not receiving all the clear guidance that they need and we have had to work with the information we are given whilst continually risk assessing what is right for our pupils, families and staff.

From next week, schools will not continue to run as educational establishments. 

The government has advised that parents and carers keep their children at home however they have also asked us to provide care for the most vulnerable. As you are aware, all the children that attend Cherry Oak School have an EHCP and so are considered ‘vulnerable’.

We are currently in the fortunate position at Cherry Oak that we will be able to offer some form of childcare to our pupils for the next 10 school days up to and including Friday 3rd April. In the current circumstances we have decided to cancel our staff training day so we can be open as childcare providers. Our childcare provision will operate in normal school hours from 8.50 am to 3.10 pm. We will run this provision whilst it is safe to do so. We will update you if further guidance or our risk assessments result in us having to alter or withdraw this provision. 

Due to the current low staffing levels that we have, we are not able to offer full time childcare places to all of our children. We have spoken to the majority of our families and many of you have already informed us that you feel you will be the ones to look after them. We are providing all parents with education resources so that we can continue delivering, as far as we can, the education part of their EHCP. For our most vulnerable children who have complex social and health care needs we are offering them a full time childcare place. We are also offering full time childcare places to children who have a parent who has been classed as a ‘key worker’. If your child falls into one of these categories then we have personally contacted you today. If you have not been contacted you can presume that it is our understanding that your child does not fall into this category. If you feel this is an error on our part please contact us immediately to discuss this.

For the rest of our pupils who do not fall into this category we are able to offer a part time place at our childcare provision on a rota. Due to limited staffing, it is essential that children only come into school on their allocated day. We will not be able to accept children unless it is their allocated day. Pupils are invited in on the following days:

This plan has allowed us to offer all children 3 days over the next 2 weeks at normal school hours. Please see the breakdown of the rota to ensure you are clear on which days your child can come.

At this point in time, transport is still offering a service. We have notified transport of our arrangements so transport will be in place on the days your child is being offered a childcare place if they usually access transport. Please be patient with transport as it is likely that the routes and timings will run differently. On the morning of a day your child can access a childcare place please be ready for the bus. We are currently unable to give you any details on timing. 

The guidance for self-isolating will take priority over children coming to school to access their childcare place. If you have already informed us you are self-isolating you must continue with this until you have reached the required days. Any child who presents with symptoms of COVID-19 must self-isolate for 7 days and if anyone in the household presents with symptoms of COVID-19 then the whole family must self-isolate for 14 days. Any child who presents with symptoms of COVID-19 in school must be collected by parents immediately. 

We will continue to ask all non-essential visitors to stay away from school and there will be no planned meetings with parents taking place. I previously informed you that although parents evening would not be taking place that teachers would phone parents. Due to the current staffing levels, teachers will not be able to phone parents. If you have an urgent concern regarding your child’s progress that you wish to discuss with the school please make an arrangement with the school office to speak to a member of staff. 

We are still waiting on guidance of the arrangements that will be put in place for children that are entitled to a free school meal and will not be accessing a full time childcare place. In the meantime, if your child is entitled to a free school meal and is not accessing a full time childcare place then please phone school directly if you would like to make arrangements to collect this.

Please continue to monitor the school website for updates and ensure you are using the website to access the education resources we have provided. 

Finally, I feel it is incredibly important to thank all of the amazing staff at Cherry Oak who are continuing to come to work in these challenging times. It is a true reflection of their dedication to our pupils and families. 

Warm Regards

Amy Findlay

Head of School