A huge thank you to you all for your understanding and support for our new morning gate arrangements. We feel so much better knowing that children are only on site once they are in our care and under our supervision. I do know this has meant altering your morning routines, but with the classroom doors remaining open for a ten minute window, and the registers not been taken until 8.50am children do not need to be at school any earlier than 8.40am to be here in good time. 

We are also grateful to the Early Years Learning Alliance who, with their strict safeguarding arrangements, have welcomed this change. We are supporting them, and them us, to ensure all children on our site are secure and well cared for. Their video buzzer on the gate is useful in ensuring they are only allowing familiar adults onto the site during their open hours.

However, we have had a small number of parents over the past three days, taking advantage of this system. A family followed a preschool parent into the playground as they had missed the 8.50am cut off for drop off, and came in late through classroom doors. This is unacceptable. Children arriving late must be brought to the office by parent so that they can be signed in and and a reason provided for their lateness. This was not an isolated incident and a parent followed a preschool parent onto the site today to access class 1. Entry to school when the gates are closed must be via the office. 

Preschool staff are asking parents to come in one family at a time and to close the gate between and buzz again. This ensures only permitted adults are on site. We would ask you to support this.

Delivering these messages is never easy. However, safeguarding cannot be taken lightly and we must take an attitude of 'it could happen here'.