Let's hang onto our hats its going to be a turbulent few weeks. Its been a wretched few months hasn't it? But we’ve all done amazingly well; I hope that we’ve all taken some coffee and contemplation time to reflect, and congratulate ourselves for what we’ve achieved, rather than berate ourselves for what we feel we haven't achieved. Lockdown is hard - there's no doubt about that, but it's been done, and it was essential.
As we return to school on Monday, it's hard to define what we're returning to! Back to normal? Back to as we were? Or is it just, in the words of Soul to Soul back to life, back to reality. Whatever it is I cannot wait to have a full school again. Full of enthusiastic, lovely, humorous, keen, flexible kids - kids who love life. And you know what - it's the same for the staff!
We will continue with the flexible starts and finishes, (check out teh latest memo for class times etc) we will still be taking the temperature of the kids as they enter school (the guidance actually says there’s no point in doing this…. But there’s equally no harm in doing so.) Similarly the guidance says the kids should wear full school uniform from September as there is no need for clean clothes every day; again, im going to personalise the guidance, and ask for clean clothes every day—even if this involves deviating from the uniform. So, we will be fine…. We’ll be great in fact. And it will be blinking lovely to see all the kids again…. We have missed them so much, and that’s a promise.
So let's get back to school with an open heart, love and with patience. Alas, we will still need to close bubbles. And that will probably be more frequent. Staff are tested twice weekly, and we will be closing bubbles should staff test positive on the rapid testing kits. Should staff test positive on lateral flow, we will close the bubble. Should staff then test positive on the more reliable test, the PCR test, after two confirmatory negative results we will re open the bubble. If staff have 1 confirmatory positive test we will inform of confirmation of the bubble closure.
