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Covid Update January 18 2021

Letter from Mr Cooper regarding the current situation

Dear Parents and Carers,

Two weeks ago, the government announced to close schools for most children except for children of critical workers and vulnerable pupils. “Vulnerable pupils” include those with allocated social workers and educational health care plans; which means all pupils at Woodfield School. 

As a community, we want to do everything we can to support and protect the most vulnerable. We also need to limit the spread of the virus to the best of our ability. Our priority is to support the health and wellbeing of our collective community. 

Woodfield School is currently managing remote learning and wellbeing support to the majority of its pupils. The school is also offering in school provision to vulnerable children that we have identified as most in need and have identified  pupils whose parents are critical workers in our community who are also currently accessing in school provision.

The most recent list of critical workers has been extended and suggests only one parent needs to be working in a profession on the essential worker list; which is currently not viable in school, due to fluctuating staffing levels and heightened health and safety concerns over the spread of the new, highly transmissible strain of COVID 19.
Therefore, we are following the guidance, as per advice to Headteachers, to ensure we are meeting our most vulnerable pupils’ needs and support our frontline colleagues to focus on their roles at this crucial time.

Identifying Key Workers/ VULNERABLE PUPILS in our Parent/Carer Community

Criteria of places: KEY WORKER PLACES

  • Two critical worker parents from a medical, nursing and paramedic/ambulance, or education background
  • Single parent from a medical, nursing and paramedic/ambulance, or education background
  • Single parent employed in any of the professions on critical worker list

The government has encouraged working from home during the lockdown, and there is greater flexibility to work from home, even for those identified on the critical worker's list. On 8th January 2021, the government advised that all parents, including those key workers who work from home, should keep their children at home, as much as they can. Infection rates are very high in Brent, and we must all ensure safety is paramount at this time.
Confirmation from employers is required to confirm this status. 

Criteria of places: VULNERABLE PUPILS

All pupils at Woodfield School have an Education, Health and Care Plan. The government regards all pupils with an EHCP as vulnerable. However, we have some very vulnerable pupils in the school, whose needs are a priority whilst also managing fluctuating staffing levels.

All pupils and families with involvement from social care will be contacted to discuss if a place in school is required at this point in time. (Child In Need, Child Protection, Looked After Children).
All clinically vulnerable and clinically extremely vulnerable will need to shield at home and will be supported via remote learning which includes digital support and support to access Google Classroom and other activities.

All other cases will be considered individually; however, factors such as single-parent families with additional children with an EHCP, or parents with medical needs, will be a priority for ‘in school’ places as will places for students that were reported as struggling significantly during the last lockdown and/or have been reported to the ‘in-school’ Referral Team where home life is raised as a concern.

Places available to children and families will be reviewed weekly and extended as soon as it is deemed safe to do so.

If your child has a care package in place your child is likely to be safer to continue with this and would not be a priority for an in school place but will have access to all the remote support and learning available as appropriate to your child's needs.

Your child’s class teacher should have been in contact with you during the past two weeks. If you consider you meet the criteria outlined and have communicated this to the class teacher, we will have had initial information from you. If you would like us to consider your child for a priority in school place, please email the senior leadership team using the school office email:  admin@woodfield.brent.sch.uk

We will need to have this information by 12 pm on Thursday  the 21st January 2021.

Thank you for helping us to plan provision for your children.


Yours sincerely,

Nick Cooper
Headteacher