Corona Virus School Closure Update

The Government has announced that schools across England will close at the end of the day on 20th March 2020, but that children of ‘key workers’ and certain other vulnerable children are able to continue to attend in order to support the most vulnerable and reduce pressure on the NHS and public services.

Identifying Key Workers

It is important it is that ONLY children of key workers remain in school.  We must also remember that many of our staff have children who will need their parent(s) at home, reducing further our capacity to have large numbers of students in school.

In order for us to identify the students that are able to stay in school for child care for key workers please send an email to Mrs Greenslade (agreenslade@thetauntonacademy.com) stating your child’s name, parents name and the role of the key worker i.e. nurse, police etc.  We will then contact all those people who have sent an email with details of the provision available.  If you are uncertain if you meet this criteria, please check Government websites, BBC news website or contact the school office. 

Supporting our most vulnerable families

We will continue to provide a school meal service for those who are in receipt of Free School meals as long as we are able, dependent on the health and family health of those staff in our catering team. If you wish your child to sign up for this service, please email Mr O’Rourke (forourke@tetauntonacademy.com) with your child’s name. We are unable to provide meals for those who do not register with us, as we wish to avoid unnecessary waste at this time of potential shortage. Meals will be served from 1200 until 1230 only and children will need to enter the site via the side gate in front of the old SCIL building.

Families in our school who are supported by external agencies or with whom we have worked very closely due to a variety of vulnerabilities will be contacted by school staff or our PFSA on a regular basis throughout the period of closure and may be offered visits if it is appropriate.

Safeguarding

If you have a safeguarding concern during this period of closure please contact Somerset Safeguarding Team on 0300 123 2224. This number is only for urgent safeguarding concerns. Our school safeguarding team will be available during office hours to support you if you have any questions not of an urgent safeguarding nature. You can contact them through email at safeguarding@thetauntonacademy.com 

Our contact with you

While we remain closed, we will continue to contact you through our social media platforms, our website and via email. Information regarding learning will be communicated mainly through Class charts, as per previous detailed information we have sent. Staff will also be available to students via their academy email addresses during office hours to support their learning.

Finally, we wish you and your families the very best during this most difficult of times.   

Kind regards

The Taunton Academy