Schools across Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge are set to close due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday that the UK will shut all schools, but they will still look after children of ‘key workers’ and also vulnerable children. Exams have also been halted.
King Alfred School Academy in Highbridge will be partially open on Thursday and head teacher Nathan Jenkins says in an open letter to parents: “It is with regret that I find myself writing to you in these strangest of times.”
“As you will be aware to date, we as an Academy have continued to operate in a normal manner in order to support all of our students and wider community. Unfortunately, following the most recent advice from the government and Public Health England in relation to self-isolation and household isolation, we have reached a point where we will be facing significant staff shortages.”
“As a result of this staff absence, we will be operating a partial closure on Thursday 19th March and Friday 20th March.”
“In order to preserve the safety of staff and students on site, the school will open for the following students only:
• Students in Year 7 who are not in household isolation
• Students in Year 11 who are not in household isolation
• Students in 6th Form who are not in household isolation
• Students whose parents are front line NHS and other emergency services staff who are not in household isolation.” The list of ‘key workers’ is listed below.
He adds: “Beyond Friday as you will no doubt have heard, the Academy will be closed for the majority of pupils until further notice.”
“Exactly which students we will be open for will be communicated in the coming days, as will the exact arrangements for this limited provision.”
“We understand that you, or your child, may be feeling anxious about the impact of absence on their learning. Information shared with you recently provided details of how to access some online learning platforms and plans for work they should complete whilst at home.”
“Please do encourage and support your child to do this. Work for your child will be available on Google Classroom and regular email updates from teachers will be shared. Students in Yrs. 7 8 & 9 should continue to work from their Knowledge Organisers.”
“For Thursday and Friday our young people who are eligible for Free School Meals, a packed lunch/grab bag will be available between 1.20 – 1.55pm for those in Years 8-10 who are not in isolation.”
“Plans are currently being explored for the provision of Free School Meals beyond this week and again we will communicate this as soon as possible.”
Who is defined as a ‘key worker’?
• clinical staff employed by the NHS
• teachers, including further education teachers and Early Years/nursery teachers
• foster carers
• police officers and community support officers
• prison officers and some Prison Service staff in prisons
• local authority (LA) or local education authority (LEA) or NHS social workers
• uniformed staff in fire and rescue services
• armed forces personnel and some civilian Ministry of Defence (MoD) personnel (ie
clinical staff, MoD police officers and uniformed staff in the Fire and Defence
Service)
