Letter to families

Dear families,

Looking forward to the end of this first half of the spring term 2021, we are planning to hold our parent meetings ‘virtually’ in the same way we did previously. On Monday 1^st February, we will be sending out the link for you to book. Families who have recently had (or are about to have) a meeting to discuss their child’s One Page Profile for SEND do not need to book an additional meeting.

The recent government announcements that schools will not reopen before 8^th March will certainly have caused much consternation in many households. Whilst we have emails from parents to say thank you for the online learning, and for the iPads and Chromebooks that have been provided to pupils who need them, we do understand just how hard it must be at home. 

National figures collected show that schools in England have, on average, 15% of pupils currently attending school. At Drake we have over 30% attending. At Little Pirates Child Care it is up to 90%. We are now unable to take any more children. As the lockdown continues we know that many families will feel it is too hard to home-school and would prefer a school place. We are in regular communication with Norfolk County Council who have provided us with a telephone number to call (on our website).  

This week all staff at Drake and Little Pirates have been given Lateral Flow Device (LFD) test kits. Currently there are no staff members who are unwell or displaying symptoms. LFD tests are for use twice per week if someone has no symptoms. It may be that through the testing process, cases of asymptomatic Covid-19 are identified. In this event, following a positive PCR test, the room or year group ‘bubble’ may have to close for 10 days. If this is the case, you will be notified via Parenthub, Tapestry and the School website and you should not bring your child to school. It is not possible to place children in another bubble.

I know this is hard, many of our staff have children at home they have to home school when they get home after work too.  Thank you for your continued support.

Best wishes,

Louise Rosen