Working Together to Keep Safe and Support Learning

UPDATED 17th July 2020

We wish all of our pupils and families a happy, healthy and safe summer break.  We look forward to welcoming all of our children back to school on Monday 7th September 2020 as outlined below.

Any changes to these plans will be updated on this page over the summer break.

Warm wishes to you all

Mrs Jewitt & all of the Whitby Heath Team

September 2020 Update – Plans for children to return to school

(please note a document containing all of the September 2020 information outlined below has been added to the foot of this page for parents and carers to download or print as they wish)

As this most unusual and unprecedented academic year draws to a close this week, we know that parents, carers and children require clarity about our school’s plans for the opening of school from September. 

Governors and I have continued to work on our plans for returning more children to school and have agreed three models for return which reflect our school’s layout, size and the safest way possible for as many children as possible to return as of September.   The three models provide a structure for our school to move forward whilst allowing flexibility so that we can respond swiftly to any local or national spikes or concerns relating to Coronavirus. As you will be aware, the Government has provided further guidance to schools about how more children can return to school safely from September.  We have reviewed our three models in line with the latest Government, scientific guidance and our risk assessments in school.  Our plans/models are written with five key principles in in mind: safety and hygiene, sustainability, quality of teaching and learning, mental health and wellbeing and support for children and families.

Our models and plans are designed to follow a traffic light system, allowing for gradual movement from red, our current position with very limited opening for a small number of year groups;

to amber where school is opened for all year groups gradually;

to green with all children on site full time.  

Given the current requirement for schools to have a ‘Plan B’ regarding response to any local or national lockdowns or closure of bubbles due to confirmed cases from September; we feel it is important to share all three models with our families so, as and when, we need to move between the traffic lighted models, families will know how these changes will be implemented, I have therefore outlined these three models here for your information.

An outline of our three agreed models:

Model 1 focuses on having bubble sizes of 15 or lower.  This model is similar to the system we have in place currently in school for Years 1, 6 and EYFS.  This model is based on having structures in place for if and when a need arises in the future to lockdown locally or respond to Public Health England and scientific/medical advice.

Model 2 reflects the current Government guidance of increasing bubble sizes whilst continuing to implement the control systems of staggered drop offs, collection, breaks and lunchtimes.  This model increases contact between bubbles and adults and children whilst maintaining distance between individuals wherever possible.

This plan works on a Week A and Week B rota for year groups where children are taught on site one week and via remote home learning the next.  In this model, children will be in bubbles of 20 (three per year group) in classrooms and 60 at breaks and lunchtimes.  Children from Year 1 – Year 6 will be sat at tables in classrooms so children are side by side and not face to face wherever possible.  

Model 3 is based on all children returning to school full time in larger bubble sizes of 30 in classrooms and up to 120 at breaks and lunchtimes.  Drop off and collection times would remain staggered but would be grouped in larger groups, increasing the number of adults on site at drop off and collection times.  This model further increases contact between bubbles and adults and children.

As we have found over the last four months, information and guidance both locally and nationally can change rapidly, for example the localised lockdown in Leicester.  None of us are able to forecast confidently with regards to what our local or national landscape will be by the time we reach September.  We do know, however, that our families require clear and consistent information to plan for September so they can make the necessary arrangements for childcare and work commitments moving forward.

Governors, staff and I share Government’s ambition about the opening of school and we all remain committed to having all of our pupils back in school full time as soon as possible.   It is therefore our intention to open fully, full time to all pupils in the new term following Government guidance. 

To allow for us to communicate our plans to all families before the end of this term whilst being able to respond to current local and national health and medical information as it is in September as well as ensuring children’s full time return is implemented in the safest and most sustainable manner, we have decided the following:

Four of the five planned INSET days for our school next year will now take place at the start of next term (please see the updated term dates document in our term dates section under the parents' tab outlining the revised term dates for next academic year).  These days will be used for staff training focused on our ‘Rainbow’ Recovery Curriculum to support children returning to school and training focused on our plans to help children get back on track with their learning as swiftly as possible through the use of additional teachers and support packages for all children to enable them to ‘catch up’.  We will also be providing staff training to further develop our remote learning provision as part of our required ‘Plan B’ planning to support Model 1 and Model 2.   All children’s first day of the new school year will therefore be Monday 7^th September.

It is our intention for our school to open for all children, full time, following Model 3 as outlined below, from 7^th September 2020.  We are, however, also preparing to implement Model 2, as outlined below, should there be any local spike in cases or change to guidance ahead of September.

It is important that families are clear that Model 2 may need to be implemented at short notice, if such changes occur between now and September.  I have, therefore outlined details for both Model 3 and Model 2 below so families have all of the information they require for the start of the new school year.

MODEL 3

Children in all year groups will attend school full time from Monday 7^th September.

Drop off/collection times for Model 3

We will continue to stagger drop off and collection times to continue to limit the number of adults on site during these times.  Please find below the drop off and collection times for each year group as well as the details regarding where children are to be dropped off/collected from when they are on site from September.

We ask that those parents and carers with children in more than one year group drop off/collect at the earliest time first and then follow the pavements around school and, where appropriate, our one way system across the school playground, to drop off/collect their other child/ren.

Year Group/Classes	Drop off/collection gate/door	Drop off time	Collection time
Reception – Oak and Elm classes	EYFS gate on Clydesdale	8.30am	2.45pm
Year 1 – Beech and Ash classes	EYFS gate on Clydesdale	8.45am	3.00pm
Year 2 – Fir and Cherry classes	S4YC gate on Clydesdale	8.30am	2.45pm
Year 3 – Rowan and Poplar classes	S4YC gate on Clydesdale	8.45am	3.00pm
Year 4 – Holly and Cedar classes	Wyedale Entrance	8.30am	2.45pm
Year 5 – Sycamore and Willow classes	Wyedale Entrance	8.40am	2.55pm
Year 6 – Birch and Maple classes	Wyedale Entrance	8.50am	3.05pm

MODEL 2

Year groups will be organised into Week A and Week B groupings and children will be taught on site for full days on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and until lunchtime on Friday of the week they are on site.  Friday afternoons will be used for clean down between the Week A and Week B groupings to allow for separation across the year groups as the same classrooms will be being used for both weeks.

During the week children are not on site, remote learning will take place.  This work will be directly linked to the work completed in school and will be set by your child’s class teacher via our website.  Our approach to this will include blended learning opportunities which will, from September, provide video content and lessons and feedback from class teachers via a virtual teaching programme (Seesaw).  Children will require parental consent to be able to use this and we will be contacting you in the first week of September to seek this consent so we have this in place should we need to move to Model 2.

Please note: If and when we need to close down bubbles for any suspected cases of COVID19 and/or there are local spikes, we will use this approach to maintain remote learning wherever possible.

Week A and B overview for Model 2:

Week A	Week B
EYFS, YEAR 3, YEAR 5, YEAR 6	YEAR 1, YEAR 2, YEAR 4

 

 

 

 

Week A

Year group/Classes/Teachers	In School (Mon – Thurs all day and Friday to lunchtime)	Remote Home Learning Monday to Friday
Reception - Oak/Elm classes Mrs Golding, Miss Cross, Miss Stanley	√
Year 1 – Beech/Ash classes Mrs Buttery/Miss Monins, Miss Pugh, Mrs Gould		√
Year 2 – Cherry/Fir classes Mrs Wood, Miss Almond, Mrs MacPherson		√
Year 3 – Rowan/Poplar classes Mrs Williams, Miss Harland, Miss Bartley	√
Year 4 – Cedar/Holly classes Miss Boult, Mrs Brennan/Miss Williams, Miss Bartley		√
Year 5 – Willow/Sycamore classes Mr James, Miss Ohri, Mrs Williams	√
Year 6 – Birch/Maple classes Miss Williams, Mrs Beach, Mrs Williams	√

 

Week B

Year group/Classes/Teachers	In School (Mon – Thurs all day and Friday to lunchtime)	Remote Home Learning Monday to Friday
Reception - Oak/Elm classes Mrs Golding, Miss Cross, Miss Stanley		√
Year 1 – Beech/Ash classes Mrs Buttery/Miss Monins, Miss Pugh, Mrs Gould	√
Year 2 – Cherry/Fir classes Mrs Wood, Miss Almond, Mrs MacPherson	√
Year 3 – Rowan/Poplar classes Mrs Williams, Miss Harland, Miss Bartley		√
Year 4 – Cedar/Holly classes Miss Boult, Mrs Brennan/Miss Williams, Miss Bartley	√
Year 5 – Willow/Sycamore classes Mr James, Miss Ohri, Mrs Williams		√
Year 6 – Birch/Maple classes Miss Williams, Mrs Beach, Mrs Williams		√

Drop off/collection times for Model 2

We will continue to stagger drop off and collection times to keep bubbles apart as they arrive and leave school and to continue to limit the number of adults on site during these times.  Please find below the drop off and collection times for each class as well as the details regarding where children are to be dropped off/collected from when they are on site from September.

Year Groups/Classes	Drop off/collection gate/door	Drop off time	Collection time Mon- Thurs	Collection time Fridays
Reception – Oak class	EYFS gate on Clydesdale	8.30am	2.45pm	12.00pm
Reception – Elm class	EYFS gate on Clydesdale	8.45am	3.00pm	12.10pm
Year 1 – Beech class	EYFS gate on Clydesdale	8.30am	2.45pm	12.00pm
Year 1 – Ash class	EYFS gate on Clydesdale	8.45am	3.00pm	12.10pm
Year 2 – Cherry class	S4YC gate on Clydesdale	8.30am	2.45pm	12.00pm
Year 2 – Fir class	S4YC gate on Clydesdale	8.45am	3.00pm	12.10pm
Year 3 – Poplar class	S4YC gate on Clydesdale	8.30am	2.45pm	12.00pm
Year 3 – Rowan class	S4YC gate on Clydesdale	8.45am	3.00pm	12.10pm
Year 4 – Holly class	Wyedale Entrance	8.30am	2.45pm	12.00pm
Year 4 – Cedar class	Wyedale Entrance	8.45am	3.00pm	12.10pm
Year 5 – Willow class	Wyedale Entrance	8.30am	2.45pm	12.00pm
Year 5 – Sycamore class	Wyedale Entrance	8.50am	3.05pm	12.20pm
Year 6 – Birch class	Wyedale Entrance	8.40am	2.55pm	12.10pm
Year 6 – Maple class	Wyedale Entrance	9.00am	3.15pm	12.30pm

Further Information for September – applicable to ALL models

Parents and carers will not be allowed into the school building at any point and only one adult should accompany their child for drop off and collection to reduce the number of people on site.  Staggered drop off and collection times must be adhered to and social distancing will be required by parents and carers at these times. Adults are asked to leave school premises promptly once they have dropped off/collected their child.

We ask that parents and carers who are using child minders or other relatives to collect or drop off their child/ren, support us by ensuring they update the person collecting/dropping off about the staggered drop off/pick ups and the need for promptness arriving and leaving school site.

Members of our school team will be available at the gates and on the playground to support social distancing during these times – we will be easily identified as we will be wearing hi vis jackets whilst on duty at these times.

Please be mindful of our local residents and other families dropping off and collecting from school across the new staggered timings and, wherever possible, walk to and from school.  If it is necessary to drive, park away from the gate areas and not across local residents properties and return to your cars promptly once your child has been dropped off/collected.  Please ensure you maintain social distancing at all times when coming to and from school.

We ask that parents and carers continue to support us to keep everyone as safe as possible by continuing to observe the current social distancing guidance at all times both on and off school site so that contact with people beyond your households is limited to the current social distancing guidelines.

Uniform and Resources

As we begin our new school year together, we will be reinstating our school uniform policy.  All children will be expected to attend wearing school uniform each day.  The Uniform Shop on Whitby Road now has an online shop with discounted uniform offers for school uniform. Visit www.theuniformshopwebsite.co.uk or call 0151 345 4656.

Everything your child requires for lessons will be provided in school – we therefore ask that children do not bring anything in from home at this time apart from their coat, reading bag, a packed lunch if they do not require a school lunch and a named water bottle.  On sunny days, please provide a sun hat and apply sun lotion to your child before they leave the house as staff cannot apply lotion to any child at this time and we plan to be spending more time outdoors than we usually do.

Lunches and Snacks

We will be providing sandwich packed lunch school meals from our school kitchen for those children who wish to have a school meal.  Hot meal options will not be served initially as meals will be eaten outside or in classroom bubbles rather than the dining hall and will be delivered to children at their classrooms.  All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will continue to be eligible for Universal Infant Free School Meals.

We ask that if your child is in Key Stage 2 (Year 3, 4, 5 or 6) and requires a school meal and is not eligible for Free School Meals, that payment is made in advance on a weekly basis by cheque (made payable to school) or exact cash only on the first day of each week as we will not be offering payment on a daily basis.  School Meals will continue to be charged at £2.30 a day, the cost of a week’s school meals for one child will therefore be £11.50.

We will not be providing a snack during the school day via our school kitchen but would ask that parents and carers do provide several healthy snacks for your child e.g. fruit, breadsticks, a cereal bar as we will be having increased break times across the school day as we are mindful that many children will find the structure of the school day and timetabled lunch breaks difficult to readjust to and may need further energy boosts across the school day.

Attendance

In line with the Government’s guidance, school attendance will be mandatory again from the beginning of autumn term.  This means that the usual rules on school attendance will apply.   All children will be expected in school every day.

We will follow up any absences in the usual manner from September and we ask that you contact our school office by email or telephone if your child is absent for any reason or wish to discuss your child’s attendance with school staff.

Getting Back on Track – ‘Catch Up’

As we prepare for all children to return to school in September, we are mindful that we must focus on children’s mental health and wellbeing as well as their academic ‘catch up.’  We have therefore, written a Recovery ‘Rainbow’ Curriculum for our school which will support children to settle back into school routines and for us to assess and support them during the first few weeks back in school to allow for bespoke ‘catch up’ sessions to be planned which will be tailored to address gaps in learning as well as support any worries or concerns individual children may have.  We will be using additional teachers and support staff to work alongside class teachers to support this approach.

Summer Holiday Care

In line with the Government guidance, there will be no key worker childcare provided in school after 17^th July.  We have continued to liaise closely with S4YC and can confirm that they will be providing a Summer Holiday Club over the summer based at our school.  This Holiday Care will be chargeable and further details and bookings can be made directly with S4YC.

S4YC will also be providing four weeks of Holiday Club childcare for children eligible for means tested Free School Meals (please note this is not for children who access Universal Infant Free School Meals).  Eligible families have been contacted about this provision separately.

I trust this information is helpful and we look forward to welcoming back all of our children in September and to have them settled back into school as quickly as possible.  We shall continue to review our risk assessments and planning as we welcome children back in September and regularly update families regarding any moves from Model 3 to either of the other two models outlined here at the earliest possible opportunity. We will, of course, keep parents and carers updated with any changes to these plans via the school website.

Staffing for September  

A number of our team will be retiring at the end of term.  Mrs Jones who has worked in our School Office for 20 years and will be missed as part of the Office Team when she leaves this term.  Mrs Elliot has worked as a Teaching Assistant at our school for 21 years and will also be greatly missed when she ends her time at our school.  Mrs Morton and Mrs Cottis are also retiring after a number of years working in school.  We will be very sad to see these valued members of the team leave our school but we know they are very much looking forward to their retirements and we wish them long, happy and healthy retirements with their families and friends.

We will also be saying farewell to some other members of the team at the end of this term.  Mrs Stewart will be leaving school to take up a new post closer to home.  I would like to thank her for her work at our school and wish her every success and happiness in her future.

Mr Conroy will also be moving onto pastures new as he as been offered a new post closer to home.  He will be greatly missed at our school and we thank him for all of his energy and enthusiasm during his time at Whitby Heath.  We hope his move is a happy and positive one.

Mrs King will be stepping down from her role supporting teaching and learning in classes to spend more time with her family however she will continue in her role as Mid-Day Assistant supervisor.

We will be welcoming several new teachers to our teaching team in September.  Mrs Emma Williams will be joining our school as Deputy Head Teacher, she will also be supporting teaching and learning in Year 5&6.  Mrs Williams has been getting to know the teaching team through virtual meetings whilst school has been closed and she has been working closely with myself, Mrs Jones and the rest of the Senior Leadership Team to prepare for the new academic year.

Mrs Beach will also be joining our Year 6 team and Miss Cross will be joining our EYFS team.  All three teachers are excited to be joining the Whitby Heath team and we are looking forward to them joining us at the start of next term.

We will also be joined by some familiar faces for next year, several members of staff who have taught classes as cover staff, for PPA and/or supported booster work in school this year will be joining the team as additional teachers to help support our post COVID19 plans to help children returning to school catch up with their learning throughout the coming year.  These members of staff are assigned to year groups to provide additional staffing to allow for catch up work and support wherever possible.  Miss Bartley, Mrs Gould, Miss Stanley and Mrs Macpherson have all worked within our school this year and we are delighted that they are joining the team for this important role next year.

We welcome Mrs Veitch to our school from September as our new School Business Manager.  Mrs Veitch will join Mrs Baker and Mrs Hadley in the School Main Office and we are delighted that she will be joining our team.

I trust that this overview of our plans for September is helpful and we very much look forward to welcoming all of our children back to school in September.  In the meantime, I would like to wish all of our families a safe, healthy and happy summer and thank you all for your continued support.

Warmest wishes to you all

RJewitt

Headteacher

Edsential Summer Holiday Activities - Summer 2020

Edsential are offering free summer holiday activities across Cheshire West for families.  Please see the attached flier at the end of this page for further details.

Passion for Learning Resources – Summer 2020

During lockdown Passion for Learning has been supplying families throughout west Cheshire with a wide range of books, games and activities to enable them to support their primary aged children’s learning. This has included bags of resources themed around children’s ages and interests. Passion for Learning now have staff and funding to try to meet the needs of up to 2,500 children by enabling families to contact them directly with specific resource requests. 

A resource request form on their facebook page invites families to select from a list of possible resources that include art and craft materials, games, sports equipment and books. Bespoke resource bags are then distributed to families. This offer is open to families in West Cheshire and is open for one request only. 

• Whether you want support and advice for adapting to family life in lockdown, or you’re worried about a child, the NSPCC are there to help.
• Whether you’re juggling childcare with working from home, or your children are feeling anxious about the coronavirus, the NSPCC have got tips and advice for you.
  Visit the NSPCC coronavirus hub for information and advice to support you and your children.
• Home isn’t a safe place for every child. With schools closed and children spending more time at home, you might have spotted something that’s worrying you. If you’re worried, talk to the NSPCC. The helpline is free, and you don’t have to say who you are. The helpline is open 7 days a week.

If you’re worried about a child, please call their helpline on 0808 800 5000 or you can email help@nspcc.org.uk

Barnardo’s ‘See Hear Respond’ service

See Hear Respond is a service provided across England by Barnardo’s and other national and local community-based organisations in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.  The programme has been created to help children and young people in England who are experiencing harm and increased adversity during this period by providing support to those who are not being seen by social care or other key agencies.

Working with its partners, Barnardo’s aims to reduce the likelihood of harm and ensure other support and protective networks are in place using:

online digital support, including advice and information, online counselling and a telephone helpline face to face interventions, such as support for groups at risk outside the home and one to one support reintegration into education, including assessments and the delivery of support pathways back to education

See Hear Respond accept referrals from any source either through the Freephone number 0800 151 7015 and via their online referral hub.

Keeping our school community safe

The health and safety of our school community is paramount and we insist that if your child is complaining of any of the symptoms of Covid-19, that you do not bring them into school and get them tested immediately.  If your child displays symptoms whilst at school, they will be isolated and you will be required to collect them immediately and have them tested.  Only when your child provides a negative test will they be allowed back into school.  If they test positive, then you must follow the isolation rules set out by the Government.  Additionally, if there is a positive test by any child or adult in your child’s bubble, the whole group will be required to isolate for 14 days.

In some circumstances, the school may decide, with the support of the Local Authority, to isolate a bubble earlier than the national guidance would indicate prior to the outcome of a test result being known, as Test and Trace is still so early in its implementation.

We ask that parents and carers continue to support us to keep everyone as safe as possible by continuing to observe the current social distancing guidance at all times both on and off school site so that contact with people beyond your households is limited to the current social distancing guidelines.

NSPCC Virtual School Assembly

The NSPCC has produced a virtual school assembly aimed at children aged 7-11 years old and run in partnership with the Department for Education (DfE), with an introduction from Ant and Dec and David Walliams. The assembly focusses on anxiety, including the worries that children are facing during the coronavirus crisis, why they may feel anxious or worried and ways they can be supported. You can watch the assembly at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm0kccbZpYY&feature=youtu.be

NHS Track and Trace Scams

We have been informed by Cheshire West and Chester that there has been an increase in scam calls in relation to NHS Track and Trace where people are being asked to pay for a home testing kit etc. 

NHS track and Trace Service will never ask you to pay for a test, ask for bank details, passwords or pin numbers. Never share personal details if you are not sure who you are talking to.