We're Back!!!!!!!
Happy September - We're looking forward to seeing you!
We know you've been getting yourselves ready and here are a few bits of additional information for you.
First of all - Don't worry! There will be lots of people feeling anxious and getting used to new things. We will look after you!
Messages from your familiy teams. Click on the appropriate picture below.
| Years 1&2 | Years 3&4 | Years 5&6 |
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To keep you safe...
We are keeping contacts to a minimum. Children will be operating in class bubbles and keeping away from others as far as possible. Please aim to keep contacts outside of school down to a minimum as well.
Breaks and lunch will all take place as a bubble. Wrap around childcare will be in restricted groups and reflect the age group bubbles.
We are cleaning everything! Hands will be washed regularly, surfaces are being wiped and rooms are getting additional cleaning. We are also 'disinfectant fogging' each week. Although surfaces are being cleaned more regularly we advise everyone to avoid touching things where possible - please talk to your children about this!
Anything that isn't essential shouldn't be touched! This means please don't send anything to school that isn't needed. This includes any work completed at home over previous months. Reading books are ok as are lunch boxes/bags. PE kit may not be needed at first but can be kept safely in class.
Every child needs a water bottle that will go home each day. Please make sure this has your child's name on and it doesn't leak!
No sickness allowed! Anyone displaying symptoms of coronavirus (continuous cough, temperature, loss of smell/taste) needs to isolate the whole household for 14 days. A test needs to be organised and if this comes back negative the household can be released. The child can return to school once temperature has returned to normal (negative test result). If the test comes back positive then the child needs to isolate for 10 days and the household must complete 14 days from when the symptoms appeared. The guidance around household isolation applies to everyone in the household - if someone in your home has symptoms then children must be kept at home until a negative result is recorded or the 14 days has been completed. Read the NHS information about Coronavirus symptoms here.
What happens with any confirmed cases in school?
If a child or adult has a confirmed case of Covid-19 we will follow the public health and 'test and trace' guidance. This may result in a whole bubble being sent home to isolate for 14 days but this will be confirmed at the time. It may be that only a small number are told to isolate. It is more likely that a younger age group class will need to isolate as social distancing is more of a challenge. If staff members are ill (even without a positive test result) then the whole class may need to be sent home as we might not be able to move additional staff to cover their absence. This would be a last resort.
At this challenging time we advise all parents to have a Plan B and Plan C in place to cover the different possibilities. How would you cover a scenario of your child being sent home to isolate? What will you do in the case of someone in your household develoiping symptoms - and what if you had a confirmed case in your family? How would you manage to cover a class closure at short notice?
Face masks - there has been plenty of media coverage around face masks and government guidance keeps changing. We have no problem with children wearing face coverings if you want them to. This applies to adults as well. We are expecting that most staff will not have face coverings but some will. If face coverings are being brought to school then there needs to be a sealable bag for the mask to be kept in when not being worn. Please make sure everything is labelled - any unmarked coverings will be disposed of for safety.
Supporting Learning
Your children have missed a fair bit of school. We haven't seen some of you since March! We know there will be a wide range of experiences and differing levels of learning that have taken place since lockdown. We are preparing to evaluate exactly where everyone is and then arrange catch up support as quickly as possible. This will be discussed with you at the teacher meetings being held in the next few weeks.
Teacher meetings on Thurs 10th, Friday 11th, Thurs 17th and Fri 18th September. These are for children in Year 1 to Year 6. The school is closed to everyone except Nexus on these days. You will meet the previous teacher alongside the new teacher. These will take place in the hall and accessed direct from the front of the school. It is unlikely we can co-ordinate siblings in different classes but will do the best we can for you. The appointments will be made online and we will shortly be sending out these details to you.
Teacher planning and preparation time.
Each week your child's teacher has time away from the classroom to prepare learning and assess progress. In normal times we arrange this by having additional teachers and staff take the class. In current circumstances this has two problems - one is the mixing of additional staff in the bubble and second is the loss of qualified teachers able to deliver catch up sessions. To try and provide the very best for your children we are trying to do this differently as well. We have organised the week's timings so that we can provide class teachers with their planning time on Friday afternoons. This means that the two teachers from each group can work together to ensure consistency across the classes. To achieve this we would like you to collect your children at lunchtime on Fridays (exact times will be shared soon with 12:30 to 1:15 likely). Children in KS1 will be able to have their school meal (as will children for free school meals in KS2) before going home. We appreciate some people won't be able to manage this and so we will provide free child care until 3pm in every family. If not enough parents are able to collect early then we will revert back to normal finish times for everyone but this would lessen the opportunities for catch up and booster groups for all. The first Friday we would have an 'early finish' would be 25th September. We will assume that you will be ok to collect early unless you contact the school to request a Friday afternoon childcare space. This is only a temporary measure - it will be reviewed in October and if successful will continue to Christmas. January will hopefully see a return to normal times of operation for all and the early Friday finish will not be taking place - come what may!
Visiting school.
The car park is out of bounds to all parents excluding those who are part of the Nexus family and anyone with a disability blue badge. We have had a barrier installed and access and exit can only be gained using a security card. Anyone who is allowed access to the car park will need to pay a deposit of £10 for a card (returned when the card is given back to us).