Dear Parents and Carers,

You will have received from me today, a letter outlining how the school has prepared should we be directed to close by the government. 
 

We know this is a challenging time for us all and in light of the Prime Minister’s instructions this evening and in our continuous strive to support the prevention of the spread of the virus, we have decided to introduce some additional measures to reduce non essential contact where possible. 

With immediate effect there will be no staff members outside on the playground for ‘meet and greet’. Members of staff will be at the pupil entrance to greet the pupils on their way in. ALL messages, such as who is going home with who or urgent updates about your child, if they’ve had medicine etc. must be e-mailed to the school office or telephoned through on 01252 544155. 

Children should be dropped off in the playground in the usual way. Please do not accompany your child to the pupil entrance for the safety of our pupils as it gets very busy. Staff will not take messages at the pupil entrance. 

Please do not visit the school office unless it is for urgent enquires only. If it is urgent then we ask that you maintain a distance of 1.5m from the window. For all messages, please ring or e-mail these through - it will be given the same importance as if you were doing this in person. If you phone in and have to leave a message, we will get back to you. 

Staff will continue to bring children out at home time. Any messages they need to pass on to you will be done by phone or e-mail during the day or straight after school. Please maintain a safe distance when picking up and consider your proximity to each other. 

We will also be placing stricter rules on unnecessary contact in school, such as shaking hands and holding hands. You child will of course receive all the usual St Mark’s love and attention that they need. 

We will also be imposing a 14 day isolation period in place if the 7day period in line with the Prime Minister’s instructions. This will apply to all siblings of this who present with symptoms and all children who’s parent/s present with symptoms. We are simply doing all we can to protect all the staff and children at this challenging time. 

A reminder of the school e-mail for messages:

adminoffice@st-marks.hants.sch.uk

School Telephone number: 01252 544155

We thank you all for your continuous support and understanding at this time. Clearly this kind of contact does not come naturally to any of us, but we must do all we can to support and protect our school community and those who have vulnerable family members  

Kind regards,

Mrs Stocchetti