Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Thank you to all those who have collected home learning packs this week. It has been lovely to see your smiling faces again and has cheered us up to hear how well you are all doing. These packs of books can be completed over the next few weeks at home and need to be brought back to school in September so your new teachers can go back over the learning with you. We also still have some stationery and exercise books to use at home which you can collect at the same time if you wish.
If you are unable to come to school to collect these packs for health or work reasons and would like yours delivering to your home please let us know and we will try to drop them off over the next few days.
Please be aware that the only group that we can add more pupils to is the Key Worker group currently, and this is nearing capacity as we have some on the list due to start in the next two weeks. Please check with our school office for spaces and give us at least 48 hours notice if you wish your child to join this group.
All other bubbles are set and currently we cannot add any more children to these bubbles. Many are already at capacity for the size of the room now and we cannot mix bubbles otherwise we risk spreading the virus. Therefore I am sorry to have to turn some of you down for a place in school now as the final deadline dates have now passed in Reception, Y1, Y5 and Y6. We have some staff unable to be in school for health reasons so they are working from home as directed by the government. This is the right thing for them to do. However, it means that we don't have enough staff available in school to open new bubbles to any other year groups. I am sure that you understand the need to keep all children and staff in school as safe as possible and I thank you for your support in this.
We are waiting for further information from the government about new expectations in schools but this information won't arrive until next week. Until then I don't know any more information than what we all heard yesterday from the Prime Minister about rule changes in general public from 4th July. It is extremely important in school that we follow strict guidelines from the DfE so that we can keep all pupils and staff as safe as possible. We will hopefully receive information before we break up for the summer holidays on 17th July about government expectations for schools in September. I will update you all once Heads receive more information and we can adapt our plans as safety allows.
Thank you for your amazing support as always.
The DfE coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Parents and young people can contact this helpline.
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Opening hours:
8am to 6pm – Monday to Friday
10am to 4pm – Saturday and Sunday.
As part of the Wallsend Partnership of schools, Wallsend Children's Community and Wallsend Action for Youth, plans are being made for some provision for Wallsend families over the summer holidays. I will keep you updated about this when I hear more. Our school will not be open during the summer holidays because we will be busy getting everything prepared ready for all pupils returning in September. We also have some contractors carrying out work in school over this time to make our school even better for when you return. We will close from Friday 17th July and will reopen to pupils on Wednesday 2nd September 2020.
In the meantime, parents who are critical workers can find information about day-care nurseries, childminders, out of school clubs and other childcare providers that remain open and have capacity at the following link. These cover the age range from babies to 12 years old.
https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/category/496/childcare
If your child is attending school and they feel ill please keep them at home rather than sending them to school. Please also keep any brothers or sisters at home that day too. We have to ask you to do this so that we can reduce the risk of spreading any illnesses to other pupils or staff. We would appreciate it if you could telephone us on 0191 6053407 to let us know the reason why they are off school. Remember that there are no fines for non-attendance.
If your child is showing any of the following symptoms please book a test through the NHS Test and Trace Service:
If the result is positive, the infected person should self isolate for 7 days and the rest of the household should be isolated for 14 days. Please inform school when you receive the test result so that we can make any necessary arrangements in school to keep everyone safe.
If you have any questions about any of this, please get in touch. Thank you.
We work closely together with other Wallsend schools and are now collaborating to support families this summer working with Wallsend Action For Youth. Please follow this link to The Heart of Wallsend video
https://facebook.com/wallsendchildrenscommunity/videos/264287154905088/
More information about how we are working together to provide support for families during the summer holidays will be available soon. Can you spot any familiar faces?
Thank you to all parents and carers for keeping socially distanced from others and for dropping off and collecting your children from school at the right time for their group. This helps us with managing staggered start and finish times so that bubbles are not mixing with others. A quick reminder of times for each group are as follows:
Please can I remind you that bags, mobile phones and other things from home are not permitted in school. We only ask that your child brings a filled water bottle from home each day. Children are provided with a school packed lunch. If you do send in a lunch with your child, it must be in fully disposable packaging that will not return home.
Now that bubbles in Reception, Y1, Y5 and Y6 are set, we cannot take any more children into these existing groups because we need to make sure that pupils are not mixing with others. This will help to reduce any viruses from spreading. This will be reviewed following further updates from the Government.
If you are a key worker your child is welcome any time into our key worker groups. Please let us know in advance if your child is attending so that we can have age-related activities prepared and we know how many staff are needed. The key worker group is now led by Miss McFarlane and Mrs Carr every day. They have some time each morning working through their home learning packs and lots of opportunities to play, exercise and complete crafts throughout the day. This group runs from 9:00am to 3:30pm every day but you may collect earlier if you wish.
We have ordered amazing workbooks for all children in our Reception to Y5 which they can work through for the next few weeks. These match the National Curriculum and cover everything they would have learned this year if we had been able to teach as normal.
These books can be collected from our school office from Monday 22nd June between 8:30am and 3:30pm.
They need to come back to school in September with your child so their new teachers can plan activities that match them when children come back to school.
As we have reopened successfully to the year groups directed by the Government I am pleased that we are now able to offer more pupils the chance to return to school. We are now able to open to Y5 pupils too from Monday 22nd June and have a list of children who have now been given a place.
These new bubbles will be taught by either Miss Edokpayi or Miss Hancock and will have start and finish times as follows:
9:15am drop-off and 3:00pm collection Monday to Thursday. Fridays they must be collected at 12:15pm so we can deep clean during the afternoon.
The pupils cannot bring anything with them from home other than a water bottle filled with water only. Packed lunches will be provided free of charge by school.
School uniform does not have to be worn, but every child must wear clean clothes for school every day.
As always, please give us a call if you have any questions.
We appreciate you staying in contact with us and checking updates regularly.
Since 23 March, our school has remained open only to a priority group of children. Children with at least one parent or carer who is listed on the government’s critical worker list can attend school and vulnerable children. Children of critical workers, and vulnerable children who are already eligible, will continue to be offered a place, regardless of the year group they are in.
We are planning very carefully to safely welcome back more children as directed by the government. To do this, we need to take into account the health and wellbeing of our staff and the limits of our building for current social distancing guidance. Different schools are doing this in their own way because of these factors. We currently have some staff unable to attend school for health reasons so thank you for being understanding that not all pupils will be with their usual teacher or teaching assistant.
Due to government guidance, each child is placed in a bubble with two members of staff and will remain there throughout the day. This limits interactions with others. However, bubbles may change over time as other children come back to school.
If your circumstances change and you wish your child to have a school place, please contact us at least 3 days in advance to allow us to update our plans.
We will continue to support home learning as appropriate. The DFE guidance states that
“Schools and colleges continue to be best placed to make decisions about how to support and educate all their pupils during this period, based on the local context and staff capacity.
Schools should use best endeavours to support pupils attending school as well as those remaining at home.”
We have ordered some home learning packs for all pupils in Reception to Y5 which you can collect next week. These should return to school with your child in September so they can be used as part of transition activities and learning when they return.
Parents will not be fined for non-attendance of their children at this time. But if your child is not attending, and is in the identified year groups, you should talk to school staff about this and identify any barriers.