Following this week’s announcement by the government, which we are sure you will have seen, we thought that you would appreciate an update about the potential expansion of provision at Harlow Green.
The Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson MP, announced that primary schools in England would not be able to open for all children before the end of this summer term. He also stated that he hoped schools would be able to expand their offer beyond the groups currently accessing provision, explaining he would work with school leaders to produce guidance to that end.
What does this mean?
Harlow Green remains open to children in the priority groups and increased that provision – from Monday 8th June – to children in Nursery, Reception and Year 6 whose parents/carers had requested a place.
We are moving towards opening for a smaller group of Year 1 children from Monday, as planned.
This week and next will allow us to evaluate how our measures are working in relation to safety for all.
We had plans to expand this provision to children outside of the priority groups for those in Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 5 whose parents/carers had requested a place. Monday 22nd June was the aspirational date for that potential expansion, dependent upon capacity and on the ‘R’ rate of transmission.
The government’s announcement may also impact upon our ability to expand provision in the way we had planned dependent on the content of the guidance they offer.
We know this situation is as frustrating for you as it is for us. It is really important that we get further guidance from the government as soon as possible so that can identify whether we need to amend our plans which we will then be able to communicate to you all.
We are hopeful that we will be able to expand provision to limited numbers of children within each year group for those parents/carers that have requested a place from Monday 22nd June, but I have to be really clear that this is dependent upon our capacity, the current ‘R’ rate of transmission and updated guidance from the government.
The school website remains the best way to keep up-to-date with information. As always, please feel free to contact the school if you have any concerns either by phone or the school e-mail address [email protected]
