UPDATED 29/05/2020 – Plans for our academies from June 1st 2020

Summit Learning Trust Academies –  plans from week commencing June 1^st  

The Summit Learning Trust places the welfare of pupils,  staff and our communities at the forefront of our work at all times. This is why we took our original decision not to open from June 1^st for all the groups identified by the government, but to do this in a safer, more gradual and phased manner from the 3^rd June.

Following this decision, more information has been published by the government, the SAGE group and the independent SAGE group. The government has advised that secondary and 6^th form students in Year 10 and 12 should not now return until the week commencing the 15^th June.

We have completed forensic risk assessments in every academy, based on and informed by government guidelines, to establish that we can offer provision to selected groups of pupils in as safe a manner as possible. These plans have been scrutinised and checked by our Audit and Risk Committee, and our Board of Trustees. We continue to review published information to inform our risk planning and have now decided to push back opening for Year 6 pupils to Monday 15^th June. It appears that the risks to pupils, staff, parents and our communities will significantly reduce with this two week delay. In addition, this gives additional time for the ‘Track, Trace and Isolate’ system to get established, which will help us to see how our communities are being affected by COVID-19 and support a more informed decision on opening to more pupils.

We also appreciate that some parents did not wish their children to attend school at this time, and we fully respect this. We hope that by delaying the start date to 15^th June for Year 6, many more of you will be reassured and feel able to send your children into school. There will be no penalty for parents choosing to keep their children at home at this time.

We are clear that we will continue to be informed by all scientific and medical advice, and by government guidelines. Flexibility and swift responsiveness are crucial to our approach. This is why we have phased our return offer over three weeks, ensuring that we can make any adjustments to our risk assessments and our practice as we open slowly and steadily.

We will have no hesitation in making further changes to these plans should anything emerge that changes our assessment of risk for our pupils and staff.

From 1 June:

We plan that all academies will continue to be open for vulnerable children and children of key workers, as they are at present.