Friday 20 March 2020
Dear Parents/Carers
Thank you for all you are doing in support of the efforts to manage the spread of coronavirus.
Please note, if children are able to stay at home safely, they should. The fewer children making the
journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can
spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society. The guidelines are clear that the closure of
schools is in place to limit the spread of the virus.

As a school, we are happy to support you in any way we can.

With regard to sending your children to school from next Monday the government have issued the
following key principles:
1. If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.
2. If a child needs specialist support, is vulnerable or has a parent who is a critical worker, then
educational provision will be available for them.
3. Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social
distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions.
4. Parents should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which
can continue to spread the virus. They should observe the same social distancing principles as
adults.

If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors listed below
(see link), and you cannot keep your child safe at home, then your children will be prioritised for
education provision. A full list of those considered to be Key Workers can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educationalprovision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

We may need to limit the places available to ensure we do not have too many children together. We
have taken this difficult decision to limit the attendance in schools, as supported by Bracknell Forest
Council and the Department for Education, to best protect our local community. We need to ensure that
we are supporting those key workers who really cannot provide childcare at this very challenging time.

For the next two weeks, until the Easter holidays would have started, we will prioritise those children
where both parents are key workers and single key worker parents.

You will be required to provide evidence from your employer to identify your role and that you are not
able to work from home. This should be provided directly to us as soon as possible to arrange for a
supervised study place. I appreciate this may take some time to collect so please do send it to
info@epschool.org when you can.

We are grateful to those who completed the form we sent by email asking for information this information
forms the basis of our planning for the coming week as we adapt our provision

These are the children we are expecting on Monday and they will be emailed information
containing details of the provision we will provide. Please do bear with us during this transition
process.

Children at home learning
This will be the vast majority of our students. I have personally seen all the children currently
attending school to explain the Government’s intentions and hopefully to allay any fears they may have.

The pastoral team has explained how arrangements will work at home and they have been given the
opportunity to take their books home. Teachers will be setting work from Monday so please discuss with
your child your expectations for them to work at home. I look forward to welcoming them back to our site
when it is deemed the right thing to do. Books for children not in school can be collected from Monday
but do give us notice as we are still operational. Free School Meal support is being organised by the
school.

Children on the Key Workers list and emailed or phoned to confirm a place in school for next
week.
The Key Worker school study support day will operate from these times 9.00am to 2.30pm to allow
children to make their way home safely when there are less people about.

For students attending the support school, our kitchen will prepare a snack at break time and a limited
meal choice each day. Students may bring in sandwiches if they prefer. Please ensure your child’s
account is topped up in the normal way. The bottom gate only will be open to students and they will be
registered at 9.00am and lists checked at this point. The Attendance office will be working as normal.

We appreciate this is a difficult time for children and parents as it is an emotional time for staff too. We
said goodbye today to many students who have demonstrated throughout their time at EP their
commitment to their learning and with whom we have built many positive relationships. My thanks to
Year 11 who were so positive in their final assembly and my thanks to parents and students who due to
self-isolating arrangements were unable to share in the event. I hope to welcome many of them back to
the 6th Form (EPCS6) for further study.

Goodbye to our Year 13 students who frankly have been a joy throughout and a true part of our EP
family. I know they will continue to be remarkable.

We also need to ensure that school staff are able to provide the service required, these are the current
plans. Further arrangements are being made for the Easter holidays and the summer term. We will
continue to keep you informed as much as possible as the situation continues to be reviewed.

Thank you to everyone in the community who is following the government advice in these
unprecedented times and for your understanding and patience.

Yours faithfully