Head Teacher Update

14th January 2021

 

Dear Parent / Carers,

 

 

Once again we would like to thank you for your backing in what has been an extremely challenging beginning of term. Schools have rapidly moved from providing full onsite provision to providing limited provision for children of critical workers and vulnerable children and remote provision for all other pupils. Thank you for working with us to enable your children to continue learning wherever they may be and for your many messages of support.

 

On Monday 4 January, the Prime Minister announced a national lockdown in order to reduce the spread of COVID19, this has now come into effect. Full details of the lockdown restrictions including the duty to stay at home where possible can be found here:

www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home.

The current stage of the pandemic means that once again attendance at school is limited in order to support us to keep staff, families and communities as safe as possible by reducing the number of contacts we have with people in other households. Limiting attendance at school is one of the main priorities. The new restrictions mean that schools can remain open only for the children of critical workers and vulnerable children to attend in person. All other pupils and students will receive remote education and must remain at home, in line with national guidance. Schools will be in contact with you at regular intervals to give you support to access remote learning if you are finding this tricky. This is not welcome news for any of us – we all would want our schools to be the vibrant and inclusive places of learning they were until March 2020, but it is absolutely essential if we are to successfully protect the NHS and reduce the transmission of the virus.

 

Children of critical workers

Schools are remaining open to the children of workers who are critical to the COVID-19 response and EU transition response if they are unable to safely stay at home. Please think carefully before sending your children back to school. It is vital that we ensure that the number of children and young people accessing the offer of provision in a school is kept to the lowest number possible, so that we can reduce household mixing and keep our staff, families and communities safe. As a result, and in line with the school risk assessment, they may have to limit the number of children they can safely support in their bubble arrangements. Therefore, even if you are a critical worker, if your child/ren can remain at home rather than attend school then they should. Please only use the offer of provision when it is crucial for you to undertake your critical role. The list of critical workers can be found on the government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educationalprovision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educationalprovision

Many of our schools have more applications than places so will have to ask you to verify this with a letter from your employer as to why you personally are critical to the COVID19 response or EU Transition and if not will ask you to access the offer for remote learning. The government announced further changes to the critical worker criteria, it is important to stress that places are only available where the school’s risk assessment indicates that they can be safely accommodated and will be different for different schools depending on risk assessments. Clearly, the more children and young people attending an education setting the wider the risk of spreading the virus grows.

 

Vulnerable children and young people – including those with education, health and care plans or a social worker

 

If your child has an education, health and care (EHC) plan and/or an allocated social worker they may attend their school or college. If you do decide to keep your child/ren at home and you need additional support, please contact your school and they will work with the local authority to support you. The Department for Education (DfE) definition of vulnerable children and young people who can access their school or college can be found at

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educationalprovision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educationalprovision

 

Childcare Bubbles

 

Parents can form a childcare bubble with one other consistent household for the purposes of informal childcare, where the children are under 14. This is mainly to enable parents to work and must not be used to enable social contact between adults. Some households will also be able to benefit from being in a support bubble. Details of support and childcare bubbles can be found here:

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/making-a-childcare-bubble-with-another-household#what-achildcare-bubble-is

 

When to Self Isolate

A reminder please to isolate your whole family bubble immediately if somebody in that bubble has symptoms and you are waiting for the results of their test. Please call your child’s school and keep them updated. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/when-to-selfisolate-and-what-to-do/

 

 

Once again thank you for your support in these challenging times.

 

 

Donna Lee

Head Teacher

Subscribe to https://www.youtube.com/bluepeter – (it’s obviously completely free to subscribe!) and don’t forget to watch the live programme on CBBC at 5.00pm every week, or on BBC iPlayer.

Thanks so much for your time,

The Blue Peter Team!

Loan of Devices (Laptops) to Support Remote Learning

As you may be aware the government has a scheme to provide laptops to children who do not have devices/internet access at home.

At the time of writing, Government guidance states that children who are eligible for this are those in Years 3-6 where any of the following are applicable:

• There are no digital devices in your household
• The only available device is a smartphone
• There is only one device in your household which is being shared with more than one other family member
• Your child is clinically extremely vulnerable and having to shield

If your child falls into any of the above categories, the school has been allocated a limited number of devices to loan to children in order for them to continue with their learning remotely from home. These should be available shortly.

The scheme is a loan system. A laptop would be loaned to any eligible pupil for the duration of school closure. There will be a loan agreement to be signed and the laptop will have to be returned once school is re-opened.

If you believe that your child is eligible for a home device, please contact school office on 01913710444 or email d.lee103@durhamlearning.net

We just wanted to remind all of our families…

That we can help and support all of our families during this difficult time. We have access to food items, toiletries, female sanitary protection, clothing, coats and larger white goods if you are struggling.

We really don’t want any of our families worrying or struggling at this time. All support provided is done so in a completely confidential manner and we will do our best to support you in any way we can.

We don’t have set criteria in relation to benefits etc., you just need to discuss your needs with Mrs Lee and we can take it from there!
Please contact Mrs Lee by phoning school office to discuss further. You can also email d.lee103@durhamlearning.net

Please note that some of our funding has deadlines set by the provider, so please get in touch as soon as you can. Thank you

Well done to all of the children who have achieved this week’s headteacher’s award!

Keep up the fantastic work at home and in school 🙂

Class 1 – How to Catch a star by Oliver Jeffers

Class 2 – The Fish that could wish by John Bush

 

Class 3 – The Thieves of Ostia

 

Class 4 – The Butterfly Lion – Michael Morpurgo

Home – Oak National Academy

Daily lessons for homeschooling – BBC Bitesize

 

A website has been launched to provide interactive activities to help children better understand #COVID19 testing and how to stay safe during the pandemic.

Check it out 👇

 

Parent Information

Thursday 7^th January 2021

 

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

Information for KeyWorker/Vulnerable Children attending school during lockdown

 

 

• Pupils will be required to wear school uniform, but this should also include warm, practical layers of clothing, trainers suitable for being outside and wellies. Classroom windows will be open at all times to improve ventilation.
• The children will be directed to undertake the work that their teacher has set for them on school website via class activity page. Children who are in school will be completing the same work as those who are at home
• We will open at 8.00am and close at 3.30pm.  Please wait outside the school gates observing social distancing rules; as parents will not be allowed on site.
• One Parent or Carer from each family will wait outside the main school gate to drop off or collect their child from school.
• Infant children and those who are entitled to a free school meal will have a school meal provided by school
• All children will be provided breakfast, free of charge.
• Children can bring a packed lunch or order a school dinner – this will be paid via parentpay as normal
• Due to classroom ventilation, please make sure A coat and warm clothing will be required.
• Children will need suitable outdoor footwear including wellies for Class 3 children every day.
• Children will be expected to wear uniform. Please note that children will need WARM clothing because classroom windows will need to be open for ventilation.
• Children are expected to have washed their hands before leaving home and will wash them when they come into school. They will continue to wash them through the school day and before they are collected by Parents/Carers.
• Children are not allowed to bring any toys or other items into school.
• Children will be provided with their own equipment and water bottles.
• Children will be in their normal classroom bubbles. Each bubble/group will have a maximum of 12 children and two members of staff teaching children. Where equipment is shared, it will be cleaned with anti-bacterial cleaner after each child has used it. Rooms will be ventilated as much as possible and children will have regular access to outdoor learning and breaks.
• Attendance- please follow normal procedures and if your child is not going to attend school, please
• Social Distancing- Each bubble will have a maximum of 12 children to promote social distancing where possible. Government guidance states ‘We know that, unlike older children and adults, early years and primary age children cannot be expected to remain 2 metres apart from each other and staff all of the time’.
• We will follow the guidance by:

✓ avoiding contact with anyone with COVID -19 symptoms

✓ frequent hand cleaning and good respiratory hygiene practices

✓ regular cleaning of settings

✓ minimising contact and mixing It is still important to reduce contact between children and adults as much as possible, and we can achieve that and reduce transmission risk by ensuring children and staff where possible, only mix in a small, consistent group and that small group stays away from other people and groups.

 

 

*Please note that if a child or member of staff tests positive for COVID-19, then the bubble will all be sent home

 

 

Many Thanks

Donna Lee

Head Teacher