Thank you for your support this morning

Once again I am thanking you our parents, grandparents and carers who are dropping off and picking up our children.  Not only have you very quickly got to grips with the new times and routes, but you have also responded greatly to my request about face masks for adults.

This is an issue that has come about mainly due to my ongoing daily evaluation of the school run.

I felt that with so many of us moving around the school site on the driveway and pathways at key times of the day, the wearing of a face mask will help minimise risk further.

This is as well as the social distancing we ask you to follow and hope that it supports all of us to stay safe.  With a wide variety of personal circumstances for our families, this is a step we can all take to protect each other.

Current guidance discusses the use of face masks to prevent the spread of germs to people around us.  It is not a barrier to effectively stop germs getting to the wearer.  Instead, it is the wearer who is helping keep others safe.

For example, I am regularly at the main gate and speaking to lots of you.  By wearing the mask I want to keep you safe.  By asking you to wear a mask, we are asking you to support those around you.

I had positive feedback on this at the gate this morning, thank you and I hope we can continue to work together to keep us as safe as possible.

Please remember that current guidance does not require children of primary school and nursery age to wear a mask.  This is still the case for us at Plantation and our guidance on face masks in school can be found by clicking here.

I am so happy to see how well the children have quickly settled back into school and showed just how resilient they are.  We will of course continue to monitor their social and emotional needs closely as the weeks unfold.  Needless to say, even though you can’t see the whole of my face, I am smiling under there!

Thanks again, Mr Hanley