Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Spaces in nursery and school
Fri 17 Jul 2020We still have places available in our lovely nursery for September. If your child is 3 years old, give us a call so we can allocate a place for them. We also take new nursery pupils in January and April if your child turns 3 before these dates. Call our office for more information.
Some other classes also have a couple of spaces each, so give us a call if you know someone who would like to start here. We have lots of exciting plans for next year so you don't want to miss out!
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Have a lovely, safe summer
Fri 17 Jul 2020Thank you to our amazing St Peter's families who have worked so well with us this year. We hope that you all have a lovely summer and we look forward to welcoming you all back on 2nd September where we have lots of exciting things planned.
To our Y6 pupils we wish them all every success as they take their next exciting step into the future. They are all extremely talented, kind and considerate young people who will go far. We will miss having them in school because they have honestly been a pleasure to teach and we have loved watching them grow into the amazing young men and women you see today.
Thank you again to all parents and carers for your patience, support and cooperation this year, particularly since March. I am incredibly proud and honoured to be Headteacher of this superb little school and we have lots to be excited about next year. I am looking forward to September already.
On behalf of staff and governors I wish you all a happy, healthy and safe summer holiday.
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Y6 Zoom call at 10:30am today
Fri 17 Jul 2020Y6 pupils...join Mr Chapman and your classmates who are in school for your Zoom call at 10:30am today. The new code for Y6 Zoom meeting is 845 2660 2211 with password: 293572 -
Y6 Zoom call tomorrow
Thu 16 Jul 2020Mr Chapman will post details on our website and Twitter tomorrow morning with the ID for the Y6 Zoom call. It'll be good fun and we have some great photos of some of you from when you were little to look through...very cute! We are aiming to start it at around 10:30am. Look out for the information in the morning so you can join in. -
Top secret missions to solve
Wed 15 Jul 2020An exciting box full of equipment has arrived at school...we can’t wait to investigate it with you in September. We’ll have top secret missions to solve. It’s going to be so much fun! Come to school in September to be part of it.
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Full reopening in September
Tue 14 Jul 2020These are our updated plans for everyone returning to school in September. They will be reviewed and updated if guidance changes.
To comply with the Government’s directive that all primary schools must reopen fully from September 2020 we have made the following changes to our school so that we can make it as safe as possible. All pupils are expected to return to school in September and any exceptions must be discussed with both school and the Local Authority so that we can get your child back into school as soon as possible. The Government have directed schools and the Local Authority to send fines to families not attending school. Please give us a call on 0191 6053407 if you have any concerns you wish to discuss with us because we want to work closely with you to avoid this.
Children return to school on 2nd September
All classes in primary schools can now form their own class bubbles and some year group bubbles. Staggered start, finish, breaktimes, lunchtimes and outdoor activities are planned so these bubbles do not mix. Early Years will form their own joint bubble so Nursery and Reception pupils can work together and share equipment. We recognise that younger children struggle to maintain social distancing but they will not need to do this if they stay only with their class bubble.
Early Years staff will be in touch to let parents and carers know how we are managing these children returning to school. All other classes must return on 2nd September.
Tables and chairs in all classrooms from Y2 – Y6 will be positioned facing the front in rows or a horseshoe shape so that no children are directly facing each other. Early Years and Y1 will focus on continuous provision so their classrooms will be set out in a more relaxed way. This is better suited to their age and educational needs. The classroom windows and internal doors will be open in all classrooms to allow ventilation.
All children need to bring a water bottle filled from home because the water fountains are turned off. Water bottles will be refilled from the taps in the classroom sinks that have been tested and approved as safe drinking water if needed during the school day.
Staggered starts and finish times
Children in each year group will attend with staggered start and finish times in the first instance but this will be reviewed in line with Government guidance. This will also help with keeping everyone socially distant on the school site and at the gate. Please can we remind parents and carers to not congregate on our school site or at the gate at any time. Any parent/carer not socially distancing may be refused further access to the school site. It is important that families socially distance so we can prevent the spread of infection. Please can we ask you to drop off and pick up at the following times only so that classes are not mixing.
Nursery with Miss McFarlane and Mrs Kendall = 8:45am drop-off and 11:45am collection from the side walkway and EY quad area. 3:15pm finish for Nursery pupils accessing 30-hours provision. Please leave via the car park so nobody passes on the narrow path.
Reception with Mrs Phillips and Mrs Young = 8:55am drop-off and 3:15pm collection from the side walkway and EY quad area. Please leave via the car park so nobody passes on the narrow path.
Y1 with Miss Smith and Mrs Carr = 9:05am drop-off and 3:25pm collection from the green gate at the side walkway in front of school. Please leave via the car park so nobody passes on the narrow path.
Y2 with Mrs Elliott and Miss Ainsley = 9:15am drop-off and 3:35pm collection from the KS1 support room. Please leave via the car park so nobody passes on the narrow path.
Y3 with Mr Piper and Mrs Roberts = 8:45am drop-off and 3:15pm collection from the KS2 yard directly into the Y3 classroom. Please leave via the exit gate onto North Terrace.
Y4 with Miss Hancock and Mrs Jasper = 8:55am drop-off and 3:25pm collection from the KS2 yard. Please leave via the exit gate onto North Terrace.
Y5 with Miss Edokpayi and Mrs McMeekin = 9:05am drop-off and 3:35pm collection from the KS2 yard. Please leave via the exit gate onto North Terrace.
Y6 with Mr Chapman and Mrs McGinley = 9:15am drop-off and 3:45pm collection from the KS2 yard directly into the Y6 classroom. Please leave via the exit gate onto North Terrace.
For families with more than one child in school and those who are critical workers who need to get to work, TAs will be available in the classrooms from 8:45am to supervise any children who arrive earlier than their class time. However, children will not be able to be collected earlier than their allocated class finishing time because they must have their full teaching and learning time in school. This is a directive from the Government.
Any vulnerable parents can contact the Head Teacher to discretely arrange a different drop-off and pick-up time so your child can attend safely.
Travelling to and from school
All pupils must be brought to school and collected by only one adult each day to reduce the number of people on site and to reduce mixing with pupils in other class bubbles. If pupils in Y5 or Y6 want to travel to and from school without adult supervision, please email us at office@wallsendstpeters.org.uk so that we have your consent to do this. They must be reminded to stay socially distanced from others.
If you use public transport to get to school (e.g. bus or Metro) then face coverings should be worn by people over the age of 11. If you could avoid travelling on public transport during ‘peak times’ this would be beneficial if possible. Hands must be washed after touching or removing face coverings. We suggest that walking or cycling to school would be healthier and safer if you live close enough to school. Alternatively, advice is to travel to school in your own family car if you have one.
Breakfast club and after-school clubs
Breakfast club staff will make toast every morning and will deliver it to all classrooms on paper plates for easy disposal. Toast and a piece of fruit will be at every child’s desk for them to eat as they come into school at their start time because we cannot yet have our usual breakfast club. The reason for this is that breakfast club would mean mixing class bubbles together which is not yet safe. This will be reviewed at October half term.
There will be no after-school clubs on our school premises because we cannot yet mix class bubbles together safely. This will also be reviewed at October half term. We apologise if this causes any difficulties for working parents but we must do everything we can to keep all pupils and staff as safe as possible.
Lunch
Hot lunches will be cooked in our kitchen, placed into special disposable boxes with disposable cutlery and delivered to the classrooms by our lunchtime supervisors for those who are entitled to FSM and those who pay for school lunches. Lunches can be paid via Joinos for pupils in KS2 who do not qualify for free school meals. Please ask at our office for more details of this. If children bring a packed lunch from home it must be in fully disposable packaging and cannot return home. We cannot yet mix pupils together to have lunch in the school hall and we would not have time to deep clean it after every class, so classrooms will be used for eating in the first instance. All classes will also spend time outside during their lunch break too.
First aid and illness
All trained staff will administer first-aid as normal, and forms must continue to be completed for all medication that you would like us to give in school. Parents/carers may enter the initial reception area of school only to complete medical forms if medication is to be issued in school, and must remain behind the glass screens.
If your child has symptoms of Covid-19 they should not come to school and you should arrange for them to have a test as soon as possible. The symptoms currently are a new, continuous cough, loss of taste or smell or a high temperature. Please let us know the reason why your child is absent from school during the morning or at your earliest opportunity.
If your child becomes ill during the school day you will be contacted and your child must be collected immediately. This will remain our right to do this so we can keep pupils and staff as safe as possible. Any pupil or staff member who shows any Covid-19 symptoms will be sent home and told to have the test and self-isolate. While waiting for results, the rest of the group will not be isolated, but we will make sure in school that the class bubble is supervised and maintained.
Where the child or staff member tests negative, they can return to school (if they feel well and no longer have symptoms similar to COVID-19) and no further action is required. If they test positive, they must isolate for 7 days following the result. Public Health and Track and Trace will inform school of the actions they need to take and we will keep parents and carers of children in that class bubble informed.
Paper towels will remain available at all sinks and people encouraged to use these to dry their hands rather than the drier. The hand driers will continue to be turned off.
During sunny weather please apply sunscreen to your child at home before coming to school because we will be using the outdoors at various times throughout the day.
Hand-washing
We will continue with our strict hand-washing routines to keep everyone as safe as possible. As pupils enter school they will go straight to the nearest sink to their classroom to wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds. During their time in school they will be taken every hour to wash their hands with soap and water and every time they cough or sneeze. When snacks and lunches are eaten, hand-washing will take place before and after this happens and once they have finished playing with any shared equipment they will wash their hands too. All children will wash their hands with soap and water before they leave school at the end of the day, before they go outside for break and when they return inside. Hand sanitizers and tissues are available at all entrances, the main hall and in all classrooms for use by all pupils and staff to use. We will continue to encourage pupils to use a tissue or elbow to cough or sneeze and use bins for tissue waste (‘catch it, bin it, kill it’).
Contact with school and the main school office
Parents/carers still cannot come beyond the school entrance, so please can we encourage you to communicate only via telephone 0191 6053407 , email office@wallsendstpeters.org.uk and post at our school address until further notice. If you wish to speak with the class teacher or Head Teacher, please make an appointment where this can take place via telephone after school.
Office staff will not take in any bags, drinks or packed lunches to pass to children, so we can avoid any cross-contamination. Please do not ask them to do this, thank you.
Children will not be able to bring mobile phones to school at all as they cannot continue to be stored in a shared box during the day and cannot be kept in the child’s school bag or coat pocket for safeguarding reasons.
Uniform and PE kit
Pupils are encouraged to wear uniform as soon as possible in September, but flexibility will be given to allow you the opportunity to buy it. Uniform will be compulsory from October half term. Pre-owned uniform left in school will be freshly laundered over the holidays and will be available to buy from school at low prices in September. Please get in touch with us if you would like any more information about this.
On the days that the class has PE, pupils will come to school in their PE kit that day so that we can reduce contact with helping children to get dressed/undressed. Children will not be able to ‘borrow’ PE kit from school either. For this reason, we will allow black or red jackets/hoodies and black jogging bottoms to be worn on cold days for travelling to school and PE outdoors, but only if they are plain and do not have any logo other than our school logo. Trainers may also be worn rather than plimsolls because they are more sturdy for travelling to and from school. We will post the PE days on our school website so that you know which days to wear PE kit.
Please note that long hair should be tied up so that children are not tempted to touch their face. No jewellery can be worn to school, including earrings. These must be removed before your child arrives at school otherwise you will be contacted and must to come to school to remove the jewellery and take it home. This is to keep all children and staff safe.
Current guidance about wearing face coverings in primary schools still states that they are not worn by children under the age of 12. If children wear them to travel to school they must be placed in a plastic bag and hands washed thoroughly when they arrive. We are constantly reviewing all government guidance and will let you know if this changes.
Reading books and stationery
From September reading books will be sent home every Monday to be read during the week. These must be returned by Friday and placed in the box outside of the classroom so that they can remain untouched over the weekend.
Please do not send pencil cases into school with your child. We will provide a pencil case full of stationery for your child to use in school so they are not sharing pencils etc.
Outdoor and sports equipment
Outdoor play equipment will be timetabled for use by one class for the whole of the day then cleaned at the end of the day for the next class to use the next day. Sports equipment will be thoroughly cleaned after use or left for 72 hours untouched. All classes will have a small amount of play equipment for only their class to use at breaks and lunchtimes.
What to expect in class in September
For the first few weeks in September each class will focus heavily on nurture activities, managing and settling pupils back into school routines and behaviour. We will start curriculum learning when we feel that the children are ready. Reading will be done as often as possible in different ways in school and we ask that pupils read regularly at home too. This will prepare them for wider curriculum learning quickly.
Cleaning
Surfaces that children are touching, such as toys, books, desks, chairs, doors, sinks and toilets will be cleaned more regularly than normal. Each night a deep clean will take place of all frequently touched areas and equipment in school.
As always, if you have any questions about any of this information, please give us a call on 0191 6053407 or email office@wallsendstpeters.org.uk where we will help you as much as possible.
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Y6 news
Mon 13 Jul 2020As we are now in the last week of primary school for our amazing Y6 pupils I want to say how much we will miss you. You have been a clever, funny and talented group of young people who have great futures ahead of you.
It is a shame that we couldn't have our usual celebrations for Y6 due to the pandemic but you will go down in history as the year group who ended your time at primary school during a lockdown. This has never happened before so you are history-makers!
If you left things at school and would like to come to collect them please call on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday between 1pm and 3pm to collect any belongings. We also have a gift for you from all the staff which you can also collect during these times (you can pick up your report too).
Mr Chapman will be setting up a Zoom call with you all on Friday morning where you can all meet one last time (virtually) so look out for the details coming from him this week. Those attending school will also be in the Zoom call so it will be a special time for you all.
Take care and keep in touch...we'd love to hear how well you are all doing.
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Preparing plans for September
Wed 08 Jul 2020As you all know, the Government sent us plans for school reopening fully to all pupils in September. As a leadership team we are meeting regularly to create plans and robust risk assessments to keep all pupils and staff as safe as possible. These plans will hopefully be ready to share with you on this website next week.
The DfE and Public Health England expect us to still have 'bubbles' in place, but these can now be the size of a full class because the risk of infection nationally is now considered to be extremely low. From September, each class will form a 'bubble' who will stay together and have separate start and finish times. To help with this, each class will have a designated teacher and a teaching assistant who will work with children only from their designated class.
We are in the process of employing a teacher for the autumn term who will teach classes during the staff PPA time. All teachers are entitled to this time out of class to plan, prepare and assess but we felt it important to have a consistent member of staff who will teach these set times each week. This will provide stability for the children, plus the new teacher will be a specialist so the pupils will have enhanced teaching in those subjects. I will introduce you to them as soon as this is confirmed.
Staggered start and finish times are a requirement in Government guidance so we have arranged for these to be in place from Wednesday 2nd September when the pupils return. These are available in our latest newsletter which has gone online today and will also be included in our detailed plans that will be published next week.
I will hopefully be in a position to share the detailed plans with you early next week and look forward to having all pupils back in school in September. We have missed them so much!
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Online leavers service for Y6
Tue 07 Jul 2020Usually at this time of the year our Y6 pupils enjoy a leavers service at Newcastle Cathedral where they celebrate everything they have achieved and look ahead to the future. It is a great opportunity to meet with pupils from other C of E schools and the Diocese felt that it would be a shame for our pupils to miss out completely on this special service due to the pandemic. They have created a service online for our Y6 pupils to enjoy.
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Uniform
Tue 07 Jul 2020We are very aware that some of your children have grown considerably since they were last in school therefore their uniform might not fit when they return in September.
In agreement with the Governors, we can be flexible about children wearing school uniform until you have had opportunities to buy new uniform if you need to. They should wear this as soon as possible because this helps children to settle back into the school routines easier. If their old uniform still fits then this is fine to wear.
All pupils must wear full school uniform again from October half term although September would be better if you are able to. Details of our uniform can be found on our website or in our prospectus and can be bought through Emblematic.
Pre-owned uniform that we have in school will be freshly laundered over the holidays and will be available to buy at low prices in September.
The days that your child has PE they must come to school wearing their PE kit. This will reduce the need for staff to be close to younger children to help them with tricky buttons etc. The timetable for this will be sent out in the detailed plans next week so that you know which days PE kit should be worn. Pupils can wear plain black or plain red jackets or hoodies for travelling to school on these days but only if they do not have any logos other than our school logo.
As always, please telephone or email to speak with me if you have any questions about this.
Thank you.
