A letter to parents from Richmond Council's leader and education lead has been written as children go back to school.

Cllr Penny Frost (chair of the Education and Children's Services Committee) and leader Cllr Gareth Roberts penned the letter.

In it they address any fears that parents and guardians may have about getting their children back to school safely.

They discuss what is being done in Richmond to keep people safe from Covid-19 and stress that the classroom is the safest place for children to be. Read the letter below.

Dear Parent,

As we come to the end of what has indeed been a very unusual summer, we do hope that you have managed to have a restful break. We are aware that for many local families, the past five months have been difficult and worrying.

As we now look forward to the start of term, there is an expectation that all children and young people go back to school. Attendance will no longer be optional. We think this is the right approach. Coronavirus has not gone away. We all need to be vigilant – making sure that we do all that we can to keep ourselves and each other safe. But to ensure that our children do not suffer educationally or socially, school is now the best place for them to be.

Over the summer our schools have been working hard on their plans to welcome back all school-aged children and young people from September. As you will see in this handy brochure, the national guidance is being followed to the letter.

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We are very grateful for the very hard work that heads and their staff teams have put into their preparations to ensure a very safe start to the new school year, and we fully support all that our school community have been doing. And, together with our colleagues at Achieving for Children, we have been impressed with their determination, commitment and passion in making all our schools as safe as they can possibly be.

We would like to reiterate that whilst these are still unprecedented times, we are confident in our schools' ability to keep your children safe. We know that you might still be worried. However, schools and our colleagues from Public Health, are monitoring the local Covid-19 situation every day and have robust measures in place should any issues arise.

The current levels of confirmed cases in our borough continue to remain very low, our testing levels are high, showing you are being vigilant, and the NHS Test and Trace service are contacting well above average numbers of contacts if cases are confirmed.

Obviously, things can change quickly. So, it is important that we all remain on our guard. Which is why you have a part to play as well.

You can support your school by following the national guidance, making you're your children understand what they need to do when in school and keeping up to date with the latest local news around Covid-19 by signing up to the council e-newsletter.

We want to thank all our schools, children and their families for all that they have done since March. We are not out of the woods yet. But if we continue to work together, we will come through this – stronger than ever.

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