Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night said:

Without a huge national effort to halt the growth of this virus, there will come a moment when no health service in the world could possibly cope; because there won’t be enough ventilators, enough intensive care beds, enough doctors and nurses.

And as we have seen elsewhere, in other countries that also have fantastic health care systems, that is the moment of real danger.

To put it simply, if too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the NHS will be unable to handle it - meaning more people are likely to die, not just from Coronavirus but from other illnesses as well.

So it’s vital to slow the spread of the disease.

Because that is the way we reduce the number of people needing hospital treatment at any one time, so we can protect the NHS’s ability to cope - and save more lives.

And that’s why we have been asking people to stay at home during this pandemic.

And though huge numbers are complying - and I thank you all - the time has now come for us all to do more.

From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction - you must stay at home.

Because the critical thing we must do is stop the disease spreading between households.

That is why people will only be allowed to leave their home for the following very limited purposes:

• shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible
• one form of exercise a day - for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of your household;
• any medical need, to provide care or to help a vulnerable person; and
• travelling to and from work, but only where this is absolutely necessary and cannot be done from home.

That’s all - these are the only reasons you should leave your home.

You should not be meeting friends. If your friends ask you to meet, you should say No.

You should not be meeting family members who do not live in your home.

You should not be going shopping except for essentials like food and medicine - and you should do this as little as you can. And use food delivery services where you can.

If you don’t follow the rules the police will have the powers to enforce them, including through fines and dispersing gatherings.

To ensure compliance with the Government’s instruction to stay at home, we will immediately:

• close all shops selling non-essential goods,​ including clothing and electronic stores and other premises including libraries, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, and places of worship;
• we will stop all gatherings of more than two people in public – excluding people you live with;
• and we’ll stop all social events​, including weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies, but excluding funerals.

Parks will remain open for exercise but gatherings will be dispersed.

We recognise that staff in schools have a vital role to play in providing care for key worker children and are willing to do so. At St Mary's, we are currently still able to provide care for a limited number of key worker children; however, many of our staff are self isolating and this affects our staff:pupil ratio.It will likely come to a point where we are unable to safely open the school to anyone as we will not have the staff to do so.

We are asking parents and carers therefore to heed the Government rules and keep their children safely at home if, as is increasingly likely with more shop and factory closures, there is someone at home to care for them. While we recognise that for those working from home, this may be inconvenient but, as I am sure you will agree, their safety - and that of your families and ours - is paramount.

In order to plan staffing for next week (beginning Monday 30th March) we ask that parents/carers of those children who are already booked into provision at school confirm the days they will require us to look after their children by email to admin@stmaryspri.co.uk.

This must be submitted by 2.30pm on Wednesday 25th March. 

Please remember this applies only to children of key workers who do not have anyone at home to care for them. We may require to see confirmation from your place of work that you fall into this category.

Children need to be at school at 8.30 am (no later) as we will send home any staff surplus to need at this point. If you arrive later, we may not be able to accommodate your child as we may not have staff on site to safely do so.

Looking ahead to the Easter holidays, we have no guidance from either the Local Authority or Government at this point. When we do, we will let you know if we are able to provide care here or if provision will be available at another local school.

Activities to do with your child at home will continue to be available through the Google drive (Y1-6) and these will be added to by their class teachers over the next weeks. 

These are worrying times for everyone and we appreciate your kind words and actions over the past few days. 

Please look after yourselves and stay well.

from the St Mary's staff team.