Dear parent,

I trust you are well and holding fast in these difficult and worrying days. Life has continued as normally as possible over the last two days in school as we await further guidance and instruction from government and the Department of Education. We have, as yet, received no further guidance from the Department in relation to closure. Their silence on this issue is incredibly frustrating but we look to press on the best we can.

The purpose of this correspondence is to update you on our plans for education provision in the event of closure.

I think we all must accept that what we send home as a school can never replicate the school experience and all that comes with it, but you are strongly encouraged to follow the suggested timetables that will be sent out to you in due course.

You will tomorrow receive a 2-week emergency pack of resources and worksheets. These were collated last week in the event of a sudden closure and will be enough to see the children through the two weeks up until Easter should schools close at the end of this week – let me reiterate, however, that no indication has been given that this will be the case. If your child is not in school on Wednesday, please collect the work pack from the relevant box in the front entrance hall.

Looking ahead to term 3, it is envisaged that if schools are closed for part or all of the term, provision will be made via various online learning tools, including uploading of activities on to the school website and the use of Google classroom. Further information will be provided to you once this is ready to go – we want to ensure we have it right as a school before we put it out to you as parents. However, as has been mentioned, please use the work packs in the meantime to keep your children engaged in learning in the event of closure.

Please continue to reassure your children.

Again, I deeply appreciate your forbearance and patience in these uncertain times. We are plotting our way through unprecedented times and we can only do it if we all resolve to work together and be patient with each other.

Please continue to reassure your children.

The difficult task for us as adults and parents is to exude a calmness and normality to our children while being honest with them about how life will be very different for the next few weeks and months.

Thank you again for everything and for your many kind words of encouragement that have been expressed to me personally over the last couple of days.

I will, no doubt, have missed something as the situation evolves so quickly and unpredictably. In order to stay informed, please ensure you have downloaded ‘TheSchoolApp’ on to your phone/tablet and searched for Gilnahirk Primary. It has been brought to my attention that messages via the app do not always appear as notifications for some of you, so do open the app and go in to the messages section to ensure that you don’t miss the latest updates. You should also check in regularly to our Twitter feed (@GilnahirkP) for updates and keep a close eye on our website (www.gilnahirkps.org.uk).

Please also ensure you have provided school with your most up to date email as we will also look to communicate with you this way very soon.

Kind regards

D Corbett

Principal.