Dear Parents and Carers,

It is so frustrating to have to update you again so soon in relation to the COVID situation at St Pauls.

Despite our very best attempts, we have now had to close our 3 Nursery School classes for 14 days due to an adult on the staff team testing positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19).

All Nursery School families have received direct communication in letter form, using the government template.

Why have we had to close all 3 Nursery School Classes?

The bubbles that we have established at St Pauls are:

  • Baby Room
  • Eys 2
  • Nursery School ( x 3 classes)
  • Childrens centre team ( x2)
  • Admin Team
  • Senior Leadership/Teaching School team

Each bubble has to have its own staff room, locker area etc. – and we have physically only been able to accommodate 5 separate spaces for this in the building.

We had attempted to limit transmission and support greater social distancing in our Nursery School this year by having 3 classrooms with less children in them, using outdoors all the time, and following strict cleaning routines.

Sadly, we could NOT separate the nursery classes into 3 confined ‘bubbles’; as we were unable to organise 3 different entry/exits, accommodate 2 more separate staff spaces, split the playground another 2 ways, or manage the staffing across the nursery school without staff occasionally having to cover for each other in the different rooms.

We have worked through every possibility with the full support of the Governing Body.

How are we responding to the Covid Case?

Our entire nursery staff team have now had to self-isolate, some children may not have been in direct contact with the member of staff who has tested positive, but our whole staff team has – so we cannot provide any nursery school experience for now and our rooms and nursery school outside area are closed off.

These areas will all be subjected to the required level of additional anti-virus deep cleaning this week, and our remaining open ‘bubbles’ are all ensuring regular hand washing and ongoing cleaning and that staff socially distance in well-ventilated spaces.

Our nursery staff team will be home working preparing a ‘celebration’ document ready to share with you at the next parent conference, attending virtual staff meetings and accessing training.

What about wraparound fees?

As you will appreciate, our fees for day-care and wrap around contribute to the running costs of the nursery and cover staff salaries. We have already lost a substantial amount of our income this year, and are fearful about what further lockdowns may do to our sustainability.

We recognise that families will not want to pay for a service that we are temporarily not able to offer, but may have to request that you pay a retainer fee.

I will be meeting with governors and the business team next week to resolve this, by then we will know more about furlough options etc. and we will email you directly.

If you have more queries or concerns about this please email eva.gossan@bristol-schools.uk.

Keeping safe:

Please can we remind you to:

  • Attend to the 2m social distancing guidelines as you arrive and exit St Pauls Nursery, and stick to one-way system.
  • Wash your hands and your children’s hands before you come to nursery, and as you collect

Thank you to everyone for sticking to our new ‘one way drop off/collection route’ for Nursery School Rooms 1 and 2, where we ask parents to exit our site along the back of the garden and out onto Little Bishop Street.

This has been working well – apart from the pick up at the end of Wednesday mornings, which is colliding with Food Club over at the Family Hub!

Therefore if you are a parent of a child in Nursery School 1 or 2, attending on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning:  Please exit the site through the usual gate as you collect on Wednesday lunchtime.

As you can see, I am an optimist; we will be open and back up and running as soon as we are through this temporary 14-day isolation.

This is the first closure we have had, as we have always had either a full or skeleton service running since the original lockdown in March, even staying open on bank holidays.

I am so proud of all that the team have achieved in such challenging circumstances, and I know they have never lost sight of children’s emotional wellbeing, cognitive development and health and safety as we have worked through each changing scenario.

Thankyou to you too, for being so understanding as we respond.

The virus is definitely more present, I think we are all starting to know someone who has had it or been affected by it.

Please stay safe and look after yourselves and your families, and don’t hesitate to contact us should you need to.

Kind Regards

Lucy Driver
Headteacher/National Leader of Education

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