CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
This information was posted on Friday, 27-03-20, 3pm
To all our parents, carers and staff, we would like to wish you a peaceful weekend. It’s been a really challenging week as our schools have had to put plans in place incredibly rapidly and as our families have had to get used to children at home, establishing a new routine and ways of handling the new restrictions on our movement. Once again, thank you so much for your patience and support as we all try to adjust to the new situation.
Children of Key Workers/Vulnerable children: We remain grateful that so many parents and carers have made real efforts to find alternatives to school for their children’s care. That has enabled us to reduce to a minimum the number of staff who are travelling outside their home and also to cope with the reducing numbers of staff available to work in our schools.
Free School Meals: We are really pleased with the success of the voucher system we have implemented this week. The vast majority of families have managed to access the voucher and many have now successfully used them in supermarkets. Schools will be trying to contact parents who have not accessed the vouchers to try to support families in receiving this vital financial support in these difficult times. If you click on the Free School Meals link on the school website, you will see that we have raised the amount for next week to £16.10 (this is because we can currently only issue vouchers in multiples of £2.30) and will ensure future vouchers are to the value of £15 once the software allows us to do so. If you have any queries, please continue to email FSM@yhclt.net and we will do our best to answer as quickly as possible.
We would like to remind you that if your circumstances have changed with the challenges of the current situation and you believe your child may now be eligible for Free School Meals, please apply as this is a significant boost to family income at this very difficult time. Please check the link on the school website or directly on:
http://www.hull.gov.uk/education-and-schools/schools/free-school-meals
Hull City Council will prioritise new applications so you should hear very quickly if your child is eligible. This will mean we then add you to our list and you will receive vouchers to help you provide for your family in these trying times. We will do all we can to help you with this.
Online learning/home learning packages: Thank you for your support in keeping your children engaged in their learning. We never underestimate how much work this is, so are grateful for all you are doing. We will continue to develop our learning packages and are constantly looking for ways we can support our families and our children.
Social Distancing: We would like to remind parents and carers how important the ‘stay at home’ message is. It is hard for everyone, but it is so important that we all do all we can to reduce any contact beyond our household to the absolute minimum. Please remember, it is now completely clear that families must stay at home other than in a very limited set of circumstances and that children cannot socialise with one another. Please do all you can to support the NHS and slow the spread of the virus.
In these unsettling and difficult days, although it is challenging, we know our families, children and staff are doing their very best to stay positive and resilient. Please look after yourselves and stay safe. Thank you for all you are doing.