Dear Parents/Carers,

As you will no doubt be aware, in an attempt to further control the spread of Covid-19, the government has decided to close schools in England. As a result, we have been directed to close St Mary’s from 3.30pm on Friday 20^th March for the foreseeable future.

We will however, be open for children whose parents are described by the government as key workers (should these parents require it):

• NHS Staff
• Nursery & Teaching Staff
• Police, Armed Forces, Prison Officers
• Transport workers
• Food production
• Essential financial services
• Public broadcasting and journalism

 and for children who the government have characterised as our most vulnerable e.g. looked after children and pupils with Educational Health Care Plans, are also welcome to attend. Timings of the school day are as normal, and we have been informed by School Transport that buses will also run as usual. If you feel that any of the above categories relate to you or your child, and you wish for them to attend, please can we ask them to bring a packed lunch as our catering services will be limited. Arrangements have been made for those children in receipt of Free School Meals. Previous isolation and quarantine guidance remains for any child showing the symptoms of Covid-19.

In order to support our pupils who will be working from home: we have created a comprehensive new section on our St Mary’s school website, http://www.st-maryshigh.hereford.sch.uk/ called ‘FOR STUDENTS’.  Within this tab, there is a drop down menu for Years 7 – 11, and within each year group, work provided for every subject that can be accessed and completed independently at home. No login details or passwords are required, simply access to the school’s website. We will endeavour to update this at interim points in the coming weeks. There are also further resources which can be found under the ‘Other Useful Links’ heading.

Please be assured that we will be working closely in accordance to government advice and guidance and will re-open St Mary’s as soon as it is safe and deemed appropriate to do so.  During closures, we will not be able to respond to individual queries via email/telephone and all essential updates and information for parents will appear on the school website and ParentMail.

Many thanks for your continued understanding and support.

Stuart Wetson
Headteacher

For further details/clarification, please visit Gov.UK website