Welcome To
Regents Park Community Primary School
Believe in Yourself - Anything is Possible!
Dear Parents/ Carers,
We hope you have all had a wonderful summer holiday and that you are all healthy, safe and well. We are looking forward to welcoming back all the children to Regents Park next Monday 6th September at 8.40am.
Obviously there are some changes to tell you about below now that the Government have lifted many of the COVID restrictions that were in place last year. We hope that life in school can return to normal as much as possible, although there will still be some things that we keep in place, at least temporarily in order to keep children, families and staff safe. There are other changes we are putting in place that we feel help with the running of the school and we hope you will support us during this period.
COVID restrictions
Many of the Government’s general COVID restrictions were lifted at the end of July with further restrictions ending during August. For schools, one of the most significant changes is that children no longer need to stay separated from each other in class bubbles.
This means that from the start of this term:
Having said that, we know there is still some concern about what impact returning to school may have on COVID cases so there are still some precautions that we will be taking until at least the end of September:
Another significant change is to do with requirements for self-isolation. Previously, all those who came into contact with someone who had COVID symptoms were expected to self-isolate. This meant that we had many children and staff that had to self-isolate last year. The Government have now changed this to reduce the numbers of children being sent home so it doesn’t interrupt their learning.
Individuals are not required to self-isolate if they live in the same household as someone with COVID-19, or are a close contact with someone with COVID-19, if any of the following apply:
There is still a recommendation that anyone who has had contact with someone who has COVID-19 should get a PCR test however.
This means that if a parent or another family member has tested positive for COVID-19, everyone in the family should get a PCR test but the children can still come to school.
It is very unlikely that we will be advised to send children home because of possible contact with others who have COVID-19 or that we would have to partially close school unless there is a significant breakout of cases and we are advised to do so by Public Health England.
However, anyone who has COVID-19 symptoms would still be expected to self-isolate and take a PCR test to confirm. If it is positive they would need to self-isolate for 10 days. If it is negative they can return to school.
Arrangements for collecting children at the end of the day
One of the changes we made when children returned last year was to organise for different collection points for children at the end of the school day. This was to help reduce contact between pupils and between adults and staff.
We feel this arrangement helped to reduce crowding around entrances and exits and made it much more manageable to ensure children were collected safely so, although we are moving away from a staggered finish back to one collection time of 3.00pm, we want to keep this organisation in place.
So, continuing from Monday 6th September, all children will be released at the end of the day from a designated exit.
We will confirm with you by text on Monday where your child/ children will be collected from.
Uniform
Just a reminder for parents that we expect children to start the new year wearing correct school uniform. Last year children were sometimes allowed to come to school in PE kit or in clothes to wear in the Forest School; however, some children took to wearing clothes which were not school uniform on days that they weren’t supposed to.
It is an expectation that children wear correct Regents Park school uniform and have at least a jumper/ cardigan/ sweatshirt with the school badge on to wear when on trips or off-site.
Please make sure that you have correct school uniform for your child at the start of the new term with your child’s name written or sewn into it:
Children should bring PE kit to school in a bag which can be left in the classroom. They will change into their PE kit in school. PE kit should also have your child’s name written or sewn into it.
Correct PE kit is:
Uniform such as sweatshirts, cardigans and shirts with the school badge on can be ordered and bought from the school office. Alternatively, parents can buy a sew-on school badge to attach to sweatshirts, cardigans or polo shirts bought elsewhere. Please contact the school office for more information.