The head of the Trust which runs many of the local schools in and around Midsomer Norton has released plans of how the schools may be re-opening.

The director of the Trust, which runs Norton Hill, along with Westfield Primary and several other schools in the area, has written to parents and carers who will get letters today (May 19) and tomorrow outlining the plans they have for reopening.

Those will include details about risk assessments and planning documents in place that cover many key aspects to ensure safety including social distancing, staggered drop off and pick-up times

and staggered break and lunch

The chief executive of the Trust, Alun Williams said: " We envisage that primary schools will be able open for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 from June 1st. It has been a real challenge to make this work, but staff (teachers and support staff) and headteachers have worked incredibly hard to achieve this for the communities they represent.

"Secondary schools will begin to work with Year 10 and 12 from the 1st June in small groups, focussed initially on those that have struggled with home-learning due to lack of IT, or because they need more personal teacher support. "

Meantime the multi-academy trust has been criticised in the Times Educational Supplement for an email Mr Williams sent about

reopening schools that focuses on its risk of legal action rather than safety.

In the message, the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership chief executive tells his heads about two pieces of news that "should give us all comfort".

Alun Williams writes that lawyers have said that the schools and trust "would not be liable for prosecution if someone contracted the virus while schools were open".

The article can be seen here:

the TES website

Mr Williams told Nub News: "The TES article was rather clumsily written and took the email to headteachers completely out of context. The i newspaper covered it in a much more balanced manner. five staff including two headteachers had expressed concern about possible litigation if Coronavirus was thought to be spread within a school between staff and children or children and children or indeed between staff.

"Even yesterday a TA asked about this and was worried about it. I checked this out with lawyers who confirmed that if staff follow risk assessments and act in a reasonable manner, they should not fear litigation and this should not be a reason to not return to work."