Building Faith, Developing Potential, Promoting the love of God

Dear Parents,

St Richard’s RC Primary School will be open only to Vulnerable Children and Children of Key Workers from Monday 11th January 2021 until further notice. This follows the Prime minister’s announcement about a new national lockdown commencing on Wednesday 6^th January 2021, including the closure of all schools to most pupils until at least February half-term.

Key Information for children attending from Monday 11th January 2021

Remote learning provided by school will commence from Monday 11^th January 2021 and pupils in Early Years and Key Stage One will be expected to undertake 3 hours of home learning per day, Monday to Friday throughout lockdown. Pupils in Key Stage 2 are expected to undertake 4 hours of daily study, Monday to Friday. Please visit the offline and online home learning pages of this website for more information.

During this new national lockdown, every child who can be safely cared for at home should be. There is no requirement even for parents who are key workers to send their child to school if they do not need to. From Monday 11^th January 2021 and until further notice, St Richard’s will be offering reduced educational provision and will remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend. St Richard’s has to strictly prioritise access to this reduced provision which will be in place from 8.30am until 3.30pm from Monday to Friday, term time only.

If you are a key worker and require a place in school for your child(ren), please send an email entitled ‘Application for key worker child’s school place’ to  admin@st-richards.manchester.sch.uk by 12 noon on Thursday in order to be considered for a place starting the following Monday:

• Your full name:
• Your contact telephone number:
• Name(s) of child(ren) you are applying for places for:
• Their year group(s):
• How you qualify as a key worker (see criteria below)
• Your job title/role:
• The name of your organisation and place of work:
• Your line manager’s name:
• Your line manager’s work telephone number:

By submitting this application, you must:

• Consent to the information above being checked, including contacting your employer/line manager.
• Understand that your application will not be processed unless all nine pieces of information above have been submitted.
• Understand that the school has to prioritise and limit access to its reduced provision and that your application may not be successful.
• Understand that you will be notified of the school’s decision as soon as possible but that your child must not attend school until this decision has been communicated to you.

Criteria for identifying Keyworker Children

Children are classed as ‘keyworker children’ if their parent or carer works in one of the following fields/ professions, which is critical to the country’s response to Covid-19:

• Health and social care
• Education and childcare
• Public services – including the justice system, religious and ordained workers, charities delivering frontline services, public service broadcasters
• Local and national government
• Food and other necessary goods
• Public safety and national security – including police, Ministry of Defence, armed forces, fire and rescue, National Crime Agency, border security, prison and probation staff
• Transport
• Utilities, communication and financial services – including banks, building societies, oil, gas, electricity, water, sewerage, ICT and data infrastructure necessary for the Covid-19 response, nuclear and chemical workers, 999 and 111 critical services, postal service, waste disposal

Vulnerable Children

For parents of vulnerable pupils, a member of St Richard’s school staff will contact you by telephone on or before Friday 8^th January 2021 to confirm the offer of a place in school from Monday 11^th January onwards. At St Richard’s, the criteria for Vulnerable Pupils is:

• Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan).
• Children with a named social worker (ie. those children who fall under the ‘Child in Need’ category, those who have a Child Protection Plan, or those who are Looked After children).
• Other children who have been identified as vulnerable by us as an education provider, or by Local Authority Children’s Services, and who would therefore benefit from continued full-time attendance. These children may include children on the edge of receiving support from Children’s Social Care, adopted children, or children on a Special Guardianship order or those who are young carers.

We fully understand that this is an unsettling time for families. There are challenges ahead for us all but the vaccine offers a light at the end of the tunnel. Please be patient with the school as we endeavour to do our best for all our families. Please take extra care during this new period of national lockdown.

With many thanks for your continuing support,

Mr J Murray

Headteacher