Thank you to parents and carers who have taken a very considerate  and flexible approach to your responses about potential return of children to school after May half term.

Many of you have indicated your preference to keep children at home until the new school year starts in September.

Others have indicated they would like a part-time placement but would not want to take up a space that was needed more by another child. We should have all the responses back by the end of Tuesday 19 May and will then be able to determine how many places we can offer.

Some children received 12 week shielding letters from either the NHS or their GP beause they are deemed to be extremely clinical vulnerable to COVID-19.  There has been some confusion about the date to which the 12 week shielding letters are in effect.

The confusion has arisen because some letters were accurately dated eg: day and month but others just said "April". Some others did not receive a shielding letter from the NHS but later received one from their GP. The beginning date of these letters was often unclear.

Dr Justin Varney, Director of Public Health Birmingham advised in a recent meeting of Special School headteachers and Birmingham City Council Education Department, that the 12 weeks is deemed to be until the end of June.

In order to carry out our duty of care to your children, we will not be accepting any children with shielding letters back into school before July, and that still depends on whether the shielding period is extended beyond the initial 12 weeks.