All children in school took part in a design competition to mark the start of the Euros. The children were given the task of designing a football strip. The Sports Leaders then got together to select a winner from each class. All designs were amazing and the judges had a tricky job choosing just 4 winners. Well done to everyone but a special congratulations to our winners.

Class 1 – Luke

Class 2 – Lily

Class 3 – Charlie

Class 4 – Eve

Amazing work from Scarlett during our WOW cooking day – it tasted delicious 🙂

 

A massive well done to Mya in class 2. She impressed Mr B with her fantastic buddy training work!

A huge well done to Sam in Class 3, for lovely joined up handwriting and a good attitude to learning.

A massive well done to Kayden for your perseverance in all your writing this week. I loved that you continued to work hard on the laptop after hurting your hand. Keep up the hard work.

Article 33 – Protection From Harmful Drugs

DOWNLOAD

 

Head Teacher Update

14^th June 2021,

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

 

The delay of the June 21st lifting restrictions is disappointing as we would have liked parents/carers to be able to attend some of the lovely events we have at school at this time of year such as sports day and end of term picnic. England will remain at Step 3 for a further four weeks and will be put off until July 19^th. Current protective measures must be kept in place until there is a further announcement on Step 4 of the roadmap. These measures will help reduce transmission of the virus.

Although restrictions have not been fully lifted we are still working hard to ensure that your children have lots of great learning and memorable experiences this summer and things remain as normal as possible.

 

Here is an update on what we are doing:

 

 

Tue 22nd June- Sports Day

Sports day will be now pupils only, we will hold it class groups as children continue to work in bubbles and then total all team points from each bubble to announce the winning team. We will add photographs onto our school website and of course all children will participate in sports day and we will make it really special for the children.

 

 

Wed 30th June- Class Swap/Transition Day

This is an important day to prepare our children for their new year groups/class teacher and class room in September. We will be unable to mix class bubbles but their new teachers will come into their bubbles and prepare children for September. Current Year 1 who will be Year 2 in September will be able to spend the day in their new classroom with their new class teacher Miss Grimes.

 

 

 

Thur 8^th July- Class 1 Performance of Jack and the Beanstalk

For parents/carers of Class 1 only. Weather permitting, we will try and hold this performance outdoors permitting one parent/carer per child. Further details will follow.

 

 

Fri 9^th July- Class 4’s performance of WOW! What a Year!

for parents/carers of Class 4 only. Weather permitting, we will try and hold this performance outdoors permitting one parent/carer per child. Further details will follow.

 

 

Fri 9^th July- Times Table Rockstar Day-further details will follow

 

Fri 9^th July- End of Year Reports sent out to Parents/Carers

 

Mon 12^th July- Parents Open Evening 2-5pm

Unfortunately, we will not be able to allow parents/carers to come into school due to restrictions being delayed but we will send some showcase examples of your child’s work home for you to see and celebrate.

 

Thur 15^th July- Y6 Leavers assembly.

for parents/carers of Year 6 only. Weather permitting, we will try and hold this performance outdoors permitting one parent/carer per child. Further details will follow.

 

Thur 15^th July Y6 Prom

This will still be able to take place as planned for children only. Weather permitting before prom starts one parent/carer can come with child to take photographs of Year 6 bubble on school field. Further details will follow.

 

 

Fri 16^th July- Outdoor Picnic with Parents/Carers and Celebration of Mrs Shaw’s Retirement.

Outdoor picnic will still take place keeping class bubbles separate but unfortunately we will not be able to invite parents/carers. We will upload photographs of special celebration on our school website.

 

Fri 16^th July –End of Summer Term

 

Thur 2nd Sep– Children return to school- I will update parents/carers with start times etc as soon as I have further guidelines from Government.

 

COVID-19 Information

Please remember that if your child develops any of the three key symptoms of COVID-19, you must keep them off school and book them a PCR test and you need to inform the school that they are absent due to suspected COVID-19. Whilst a lot of the time these tests end up being negative, every potential case of COVID-19 has implications for school – if we are aware that pupils are going for tests, we can begin planning for a potential bubble closure sooner. If we only find out once they have received a positive result, this understandably causes extra strain and stress which could be eased if we were aware of the possibility. In addition to this, we are required to report to the DfE on a daily basis whether we have pupils off for reasons relating to COVID-19, so it is imperative that we know if that is why your child is off so our information can be as accurate as possible.

 

COVID-19 Symptoms & Testing

It is also important to remember that if you, or your child, develop symptoms of COVID-19, it is not enough to have a lateral flow test, which many of you will be taking on a regular basis. Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms must isolate and book a PCR test whether or not you have had a negative lateral flow test.

 

School Holidays and Term Dates 2020 – 2021

 

I am sure that many of you will have had holidays cancelled or postponed and will be considering when these can be re-booked for next year. We are seeing a growing number of children on holiday during term time. It is really important to remember that holidays during term times can only be authorised in very exceptional circumstances. Very few holidays are ever authorised and this is likely to be even lower next year. It is going to be essential for ALL children to be in school as much as possible due to the extended closure of schools during the latter half of this year. Please also bear in mind that if you do decide to take a holiday during term time which has not been authorised, if your child is out of school for more than 7 consecutive days you can be fined – £60 per parent for each child.

 

Holiday	Closing Date	Date re-open for Teaching Purposes
Summer Holiday	Friday 17th July 2020	Wednesday 2nd September 2020
October Half Term	Friday 23rd October 2020	Monday 2nd November 2020
Christmas Holiday	Friday 18th December 2020	Tuesday 5th January 2021
February Half Term	Friday 12th February 2021	Monday 22nd February 2021
Easter Holiday	Friday 26th March 2021	Tuesday 13th April 2021
May Day	Friday 30th April 2021	Tuesday 4th May 2021
Summer Half Term	Friday 28th May 2021	Monday 7th June 2021
Summer Holiday	Friday 16th July 2021	Thursday 2nd September 2021

 

 

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

 

Many Thanks

 

Donna Lee

Head Teacher

 

Amazing work Evie for trying super hard in all of your school work 🙂

 

Well done to Ben in class 2, super phonics word. We were all impressed!

 

Well done to Jake in Class 3, for an excellent attitude to learning!

Well done to Millie in Class 4 who has persevered with her Computing Skills this week in every lesson.

World Refugee Day DOWNLOAD

7^th June 2021

 

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

 

In line with government advice during the COVID pandemic, school swimming lessons were suspended early in 2020, although some leisure swimming pool facilities have since reopened under certain restrictions.

 

Durham County Council are keen to restart swimming lessons as early and as safely possible. With this in mind they are working to restart the county school swimming programme from Monday 14^th June 2021.

 

Whilst they are able to restart the delivery of school swimming lessons, there will be a number of differences which we have had to implement in line with advice from national bodies (such as Swim England, ‘Returning to the Pool’ – 2020). There will be some differences to entrance and exit routes, changing room allocation and capacity, transport logistics, hygiene and cleaning regimes.

 

To ensure they are able to deliver a Covid-19 secure school swimming programme to schools they are also having to operate an alternating two-week timetable for the foreseeable future.

 

Schools have been allocated new lesson times to ensure capacity to deliver lessons to all schools throughout the county. These will enable schools to provide lessons and assessment to year 6 pupils only over the Summer term 2021. This will be reviewed for the start of the new academic year 2021/22

 

Nettlesworth Primary has been allotted School Swimming Time as follows:

 

Week 1	Week 2
14th – 18th June	21st – 25th June
28th June – 2nd July	5th – 9th July
12th – 16th July (No Swimming Thursday 15th July)

 

They will continue to review guidance and respond to changes in guidance as it occurs. As updated information emerges, this will be provided to schools.

 

Covid-19 School Swimming Timetable: (Freemans Quay Leisure Centre)

School	Week 1 or 2	Day of lesson	Time of lesson
Nettlesworth Primary School	Week 2	Thursday 24th June Thursday 8th July	9.15 – 9.55

 

Further supportive information:

 

• Schools should only bring pupils from one bubble- No mixing of bubbles
• Pupils that are not swimming should stay at school.
• Showers and vanity areas are closed.

• Outdoor shoes must be removed before entering onto the poolside
• Teachers will teach from the poolside only – there is no ‘in water’ teaching
• Swimming teachers will be unable to support with the application of swimming hats or application of teaching aids.
• Education Swimming Teachers that are external to a school bubble should adhere to government guidance on social distancing
• Where it is not possible to stay 2m apart, everyone should keep a distance of 1m plus precautions.
• School teachers and teaching assistants that are internal to the bubble can replicate the same procedures through swimming lessons as they do in the classroom.
• Swimming pools have been adapted to use amended entry and exit system throughout the swimming pool, please follow these upon entering the building
• Swimming Teachers and leisure centre staff will be on hand to support the moving around of classes during lessons.
• Each swimming pool facility has accessible sanitisation in place
• School staff will be required to wear face coverings whilst attending all swimming pool facilities across County Durham

 

 

 

• School staff will support the lesson delivery with the following:

• Group management on poolside to help maintain social distancing
• Manage pupil behaviour
• Support from within the pool if required
• Assist with putting on and removing teaching aids
• Assist with putting on swim hats and goggles
• Allocated changing areas will be provided for lessons
• Toilets can be used but managed as one in/one out.

 

Freemans Quay Leisure Centre:

 

Entry to the building

• The school will wait outside until a member of staff/swimming teacher will welcome them into the building.
• All pupils and teachers will be asked to sanitize their hands on entering the building.  Teachers and any other adults attending will need to wear face masks at all times.
• The swim teacher will lead the group, following the directional arrows, to a seated area where the children and teachers will take off their outdoor footwear.  Shoes etc will be left in the boxes provided.

 

Walk through to the changing rooms

• The swimming teacher will show the children to the designated changing area.  They will enter via the blue door which leads onto the small pool.

 

Use and allocation of changing rooms

• Schools will use the two group changing rooms; one for male and one for female
• There are no lockers available within these group changing rooms, however, the rooms will be locked when the children go to their lesson

 

Entry onto the poolside

• The swimming teacher will lead the class to the poolside for their lesson in the small pool

 

Exit from the poolside and exit from the changing village

• The swimming teacher will lead the class back to the group changing rooms in the changing village and, once dressed, lead them back out.
• Footwear will be replaced.  This need to be done as quickly as possible to avoid congestion.

 

 

Exit from the building

• Children and teachers will then exit through the main door following the directional arrows.

 

 

 

For the two allocated lessons: Thursday 24^th June 2021 and Thursday 8^th July 2021, children will need a swimming costume/swimming trunks, a towel and a swimming hat.

No jewellery, tattoos or nail varnish are allowed on in the pool and girls will need to have their hair tied back.

Children are allowed to bring swimming goggles but floatation aids and everything else are provided by the centre.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

 

Kind Regards

 

Donna Lee

Head Teacher

 

School Organisation

 

Thursday 10^th June 2021

 

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

We are currently looking to the school organisation for the next academic year. The number of parents choosing to send their children to our school is continually rising and we are currently at full capacity. In the Autumn Term, we had a storage room converted into a classroom in preparation for the growing numbers of children and delighted to inform you that we are now going to have 5 classrooms. We have recently recruited a new class teacher for this classroom and would like to welcome Miss Amelia Grimes to our teaching staff.

 

We are hoping that this will be the classes for the new academic year starting in September.

Next year we will be operating as follows:

Class 1   – EYFS children taught by Mrs Laura Morton (Grant) supported by Mrs Lisa Hill and Mrs Hindmarch

Class 2 – Year 1 taught by Mrs Aspinall supported by Mrs Hindmarch

Class 3 – Year 2 taught by Miss Grimes and supported by Mrs Moore

Class 4–  Year 3 and Year 4 children taught by Miss Milburn

Class 5-  Year 5 and Year 6 children taught by Mr Graham

 

Mrs Gallacher will be timetabled to support all classes. Miss Liddle will be timetabled to support class 3 and 4.

Please note the year groups referred to here are for the next academic year from September not the current ones for this year.

Class Swap/Transition Day will take place Wednesday 30^th June 2021 for the children to meet their new class teachers and experience their new classrooms. Miss Grimes will be working alongside Mrs Aspinall before the Summer holidays so that she can get to know the children, parents and carers before September.

If you have any queries about this please feel free to get in touch.

Yours Sincerely

Donna Lee

Head Teacher

UNCRC Article 31 – All children have a right to relax and play and join in with a wide range of activities. 

Class 3 really enjoyed their first football session with the coaches. Everyone worked super hard but we had lots of refreshment breaks to cool down from the sun!

In June, we are celebrating the work of our school artist of the month Connie from Class 2! She has created a beautiful Monet inspired painting. Well done Connie!

We’re also looking at the work of Banksy. Banksy has painted on walls all over the country. He is the most controversial street artist in the World.