Good afternoon everyone, on another extremely hot day!!

I hope you are all well? I am getting a lot of emails from parents with concerns and questions about re-opening the school to more children. I understand and share all your fears. There has been a massive amount of coverage in the media this weekend.  I have spoken to our Governing Body very frequently in the past few days and they share concerns. Media coverage and the latest advice from the Governments own 'Science Advisory Group' shows a very mixed view on the safety of re-opening the school for more children.  In the North West the number of people with C-19 remains high compared with in the South. 

At St. Margaret's we will use a very cautious approach. It will not be the same as other schools in the Prestwich area nor in Bury overall. The decisions made are based on what I/the Governors feel is safe for our children, staff and community as a whole. Please be patient and support the decisions made. I know that I cannot please everyone.

WB June 1st -The school will re-open for staff training tomorrow. Staff will work on an extremely detailed Risk Assessment and implement what comes out of this. Key worker children will be in school from June 2nd. Parents please note that at the time of writing this our PPE supplies are running very low. There is little sanitiser left, although we have plenty of soap for hand washing. We do have gloves for First Aid, but the aprons have not arrived yet.

WB June 8th -The aim is to open to Year 6 children on June 8th. Year 6 parents, please can you email school and let us know if you intend to send your child in to school. Thank you to those who have already responded. If you do not respond, then I will have to assume that your response is 'No'. Please do not just arrive with your child on the 8th. They will not have been planned for and I need to be clear with you - they will not be admitted on that day. The cut off point to tell us if you want a place is 12 noon tomorrow. This has already been explained in you in previous emails.

Key worker children -As well as the Year 6 returning, school is having an increasing number of KW and vulnerable children in school, as a result of parents needing to return to work. This increased demand will need planning and possible overspill in to another room.

WB June 22nd - the intention is to re-open the school to the youngest children. My feeling is that bringing in the youngest children in, is reckless. They cannot reliably self isolate and therefore, to re-admit them is unsafe for them and for staff. I predict that I will have my wrist firmly slapped for being honest with you.The environment they will return to will be alien to them. However, from June 22nd, following the Government Guidelines, this is our aim. By then the school will have had time to assess the impact of re-opening for Year 6 children.

I predict that the numbers of children needing a place will be small. That is your choice as a parent and  will be respected by school. Staff have  decisions to make about their own children as well.

Other year groups will be considered once Year 6, Reception and Year 1 have been re-admitted. 

Any child attending school will need to wear their own clothes. These clothes need to be washed at the end of each day. This will be the same for staff. Children should not bring anything from home. The equipment they use in school will be provided by school and cleaned at the end of each day. It is yet unclear whether this will be enough time to clean the school well enough, so school day times will be under constant review.

School will be closed each Friday for a deep clean. On this, day staff will also need to plan work for their own year groups,especially  if they are already teaching in school.

Currently, there is a quarter of school staff that will be unable to attend from 1st June and at least until 31st June, because of their own underlying health conditions or the health conditions of someone in their household.

The fact of it is, that there is so much that needs arranging: Pods, PPE (The PPE equipment has NOT YET ARRIVED, even though Mrs. Barnes ordered it some time ago. Every school in the country is ordering the same thing at the same time); lunches; toilet arrangements;outdoor play,the curriculum!!

Need I go on. Sorry for the lengthy email. However, you need to be aware what 'the new normal' looks like for now. There is a deep desire to meet with your children, and you as soon as possible. We will do it safely and well. In the meantime if you need to contact school please do so using the school email  stmargarets@bury.gov.uk 

Mrs. Perry

Hi everyone

I hope that you have enjoyed the sun today. I have been out in the garden a little and tied up the honeysuckle that the wind blew down last week. I have asked Mrs. Barnes to send a letter to Year 6 parents about re-opening school for more children. 

School will be opening to staff on Monday to plan for the future. Our Governors are very very divided on opening school to more children on safety grounds. 

Following Year 6 returning, if that is what happens, then I will contact each year group parents regarding future plans. 

Enjoy your weekend

Mrs. Perry

I hope that you are all enjoying the gorgeous weather?? Don't forget your sun cream. Charlotte had hers on yesterday and still got a little burned. !!

I have been working with the LA and Head Teacher colleagues until about ten minutes ago on opening schools to more children. When I was listening to my friends I was surprised at our different circumstances but proud of the determination to bring children back as soon as possible, safely and well. 

Some schools are in areas of high infection still. Two schools have had gas leaks. At St. Margaret's I predict that up to a quarter of staff may not be able to return yet because of underlying health conditions., or the health conditions of people in their household. Every single member of staff has expressed that they WANT to be in school and that they/I,  miss your children very very much.

I am going to listen to the PM announcement later and then, depending on what he says, send a letter out to parents of Y6 children initially, tomorrow. Other year groups will follow. I am working with the Governors and staff on which year groups this will be. I know that you will continue to support the decisions school makes. You have been utterly amazing. Thank you so much.

Mrs. Perry

Hello to all Parents and Carers

I hope that you are enjoying the day?? If you read the Bury Times today you will see an article that I was asked to provide by one of their journalists. The issue of safety in schools is clearly at the forefront of the mind of the Press, which I think is good.

I am trying to turn my head to the matter of opening St. Margaret's to more children. This will begin with the children of Key Workers from June 1st. As parents return to work, I realise that more places will be needed for your children. Therefore, please can you contact school by email to stmargarets@bury.gov.uk  if you need a place for your child(ren). I know that some of you have already done this. Please would you mind confirming the days you need so that we can plan ahead.

School is also planning to re-open for more children, starting with Year 6. There are certain safety measures that must be in place before this is safe enough and the fact is that they are not in place yet. School will keep in touch on a daily basis as it has been doing so that you know what is happening. Please be re-assured that school will open as soon as possible for more children, but it must be done safely and well

Mrs. Perry

Good afternoon everyone

I had a visit today from the BBC Education Correspondent and her camera team.

I was happy with what I said and I put forward the BAPH perspective as well as I could. The piece will be on tonight's news at 6pm. I just hope that what goes out reflects what I wanted to get across.

Mrs Perry

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you have had a lovely day. I have watered the spider plants I potted for all your classes and they are really coming on. I re-potted some of the sunflowers over the weekend, but I broke the roots of one and unfortunately it has wilted so I will need to be more careful next time :(

We have had tears in our house today. My daughter Charlotte has finally been told that she cannot return to China where she has been teaching Y1 in the British School in Beijing. The problem is that all her belongings are still there. 

So at 4am this morning she was in contact with her class teaching assistant who has been so kindly packing her things ready for shipment home. In China, you can just buy a scooter and ride off on it. She has two that she uses to get to school. (Beware all other road users!!) When I was listening to her conversation, she was telling Yidan how to get the scooters up the stairs. (What?)

Anyway, it seems to be all finished.... hence the tears.

I hope you all have a lovely evening.

Keep safe and well

I hope we will all be back together safe and sound as soon as we can

Mrs. Perry