31 December 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

Yesterday, the government provided information on how schools are to reopen after the Christmas holidays.  In this letter, I will outline our plans for reopening that fulfils that guidance and that will be in place from Monday 4 January 2021 at Fisher More.

We will open on Monday 4 January 2021 for the children of critical workers and some other identified groups of children only. If you are a critical worker, I ask you to contact the school via the following email address: adviseus@fishermore.lancs.sch.uk  by midday tomorrow to identify your critical worker role so we can add your child’s name to our list .  This will enable us to form a group bubble of these children following previous guidance.  Please do not send your child into school on Monday if you have not contacted the school as stated or been contacted by Mr Walmsley or Mr Swarbrick.  School will start for this group of children at 10am not the usual start time of 9am.  This is to enable us to put everything necessary into place for the children.  All other year groups are to remain at home next week (4 - 8 January 2021).  Year 11 pupils will receive remote learning from staff for that week; all other year groups will have work set by their class teacher in order to support them in their learning.

From Monday 11 January 2021, Year 11 pupils will return to school and follow their normal timetable along with the children of critical workers and other identified groups.  All other year groups will remain at home. These children will receive remote learning from their class teachers that week.

As it stands, all children will return to school from Monday 18 January 2021.

You may have also heard that testing of children and staff for COVID-19 will take place.  School has received guidance on how this must be done.  During next week, we will be making plans on how we will carry this out at Fisher More and we will send out more information about this early next week.

If you child is in receipt of free school meals and is attending school, lunch will be provided as normal; if not in school, vouchers will be provided as previously.  If you have any concerns or questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Fitzpatrick on the school phone number next week.

As I mentioned earlier in the letter, please advise us if you are a critical worker via our 'advise  us' email by MIDDAY TOMORROW so we can be ready to receive your child back into school on Monday.

As you are probably aware, everything is changing very quickly and often dramatically in a very short time period of time.  As a school, we are having to respond to these changes as best we can.  We will make sure we keep you as fully informed as possible and welcome the support you are giving us as we try to put everything into place that is being asked of us.

I wish you a very happy new year and hope that the New Year brings us eventually to a return to some sense of normality.

Yours faithfully

Ms C Hayes

Headteacher

Further to today’s communication with regards to part-time education for pupils, school will be closed to ALL pupils and staff tomorrow (Wednesday 9 December) for a deep clean.  We will also close a day early at 3pm on 17 December to allow a further deep clean in preparation for the return to school in January.  For the remainder of this term, pupils will attend school on a part-time rota as follows:

Wednesday 9 December               CLOSED TO ALL STAFF AND PUPILS

Thursday 10 December                 Years 11 and 9 only in school

Friday 11 December                       Years 11 and 10 only in school

Monday 14 December                   Years 8 and 7 only in school

Tuesday 15 December                   Years 11 and 10 only in school

Wednesday 16 December            Years 11 and 9 only in school

Thursday 17 December                 Years 11 and 8 only in school

Friday 18 December                       CLOSED TO ALL STAFF AND PUPILS

Any concerns or queries, please contact Mr Swarbrick direct: swarbrick.d@fishermore.lancs.sch.uk

Please be aware, this rota is subject to change but any amendments will be communicated in good time to parents/carers.”

Need a helping hand during the Coronavirus pandemic? Pendle Community Support Hub are here to help you if you don’t have a support network and you are facing challenges because of the pandemic.

During the month of November pupils and staff have been uploading prayers for the deceased onto a noticeboard called Padlet.

If you wish to read the prayers and / or upload your own prayers for those who have passed click on the link below or scan the QR code.

https://padlet.com/cheethama/7elda43vh8wjh00v