Working Together to Keep Safe and Support Learning

UPDATED 30th June

Update re September 2020

I would like to begin by once again thanking our families for the support and positive feedback we have received with regards to our ongoing work with you and your children all during school’s closure due to COVID19.  It has been a challenging time for everyone but it has been fantastic to hear your updates in person and via telephone and class emails about how everyone is coping and the wonderful ways you are all getting through lockdown.

It has been wonderful to be able to welcome back some of our children in EYFS, Year 6 and Year 1 recently and to have them settled back into school.  They have all done wonderfully well and have quickly adjusted to our new systems and structures in school and we are very proud of them all.

As well as preparing school for the return of these year groups, we have been busy finalising the staffing for September and planning for the new academic year.  You will be aware that the Government has committed to providing further guidance to schools about how more children can return to school safely from September. 

Governors and I have a shared desire to ensure plans are put into place for our school that reflect our school’s layout, size and the safest way possible for as many children as possible to return as of September and we have therefore already begun work on these plans so we are in a position to review the latest Government and scientific guidance and advice as and when the national guidance becomes available.  We plan to be able to communicate out further details of these plans before the end of term.

In the meantime, I wanted to provide families with a number of updates which I trust you will find helpful:

Reports Despite the year in school being disrupted by Covid19, we feel it is important that each child receives a record of their year celebrating all they have achieved.  We will therefore be sending out a report for each child outlining some of the highlights from their year in school for you to share with your child.  These reports will be posted out to each family at the end of this week.

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.

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.

Please find below an outline of the teachers allocated to each year group from September 2020.  Your child’s report will include a letter which will indicate which teacher will be their new class teacher from September.  If we are still operating smaller bubble groupings at the start of the new academic year, your child will continue to be in their named teacher’s class but may be taught by one of the other teachers listed for that year group. 

As we are unable to hold move up sessions in school for children to see their new class teachers, the teachers from each year group’s teaching team have put together a Meet the Team video for your child to watch so you and your child/ren can put names to faces and meet the staff who will work with your child next year.  These videos will be available on our school website from 6^th July.  We hope you and your child/ren find them helpful.

I trust this information is helpful and we look forward to sharing your child’s report from school via post in due course.

EYFS/Year 1 and Year 6 opening information

Maple Class (Mrs Morton and Miss Brennan’s class), Elm Class (Mrs Golding’s class) and Beech Class (Mrs Stewart’s class) will attend on Monday and Tuesdays and Birch Class (Miss Williams’ class), Oak Class (Mrs Williams’ and Mrs Buttery’s class) and Ash class (Miss Pugh’s class) will attend on Thursdays and Fridays.

Due to the numbers of children in these year groups in our school and the physical limitations of our school building, this reopening will be on a part time basis for all three year groups.  Therefore, we have opened school for these three year groups in the following way:

Wednesdays will continue to be used to provide separation between these class groups and their associated staff on site and will included preparation and clean down of resources, equipment and all areas in school.

Please note, if there is a change to the R rating or local/national guidance before these dates, these plans may change.

As always, pupil and staff safety remain our priority in all our planning and, as a result we are ensuring that the plans for a phased return are being managed with caution and in a gradual manner based on our school building/site and pupil and staff numbers.

Reminders for parents and carers of EYFS, Year 1 and Year 6 children re arrangements:

• Staggered drop off and collection times - it is important that these timings are followed at all times.  Children will not be allowed onto site before their allocated drop off time and will not be available to collect prior to their allocated pick up time.
• We are operating a one way system for drop off and collection for school and childcare. A pedestrian one way system will be used at these times:

Year 1 and Year 6 children are to be brought on to school site via the Wyedale gate by Pre School only – one way arrows are in place on the playground to show the route from this gate to the playground to drop off/collect and across to the Clydesdale gate to leave site. Please ensure you follow the one way system, using the left hand side of the pathway from Wyedale (the right hand side is for Pre School parent ONLY).

EYFS - children are to be brought on to school site via the Clydesdale double gate by EYFS only – a one way system will be marked to show the route from this gate to the EYFS gate to drop off/collect and loop round to return to the same gate to leave site.

Key Worker and Vulnerable children - children will continue to be brought on to school site via the Clydesdale gate by the S4YC entrance only.

School staff will be at the gate to direct you – we will be easily identified as we will be wearing hi vis jackets whilst on duty at these times.

• If you are a parent/carer with children in other year groups who are to be dropped off or collected for Key Worker/Vulnerable childcare, please ensure you drop off/collect the child with the earliest drop off/collection time first and then make your way to the next gate following a one way route around the pavements outside school when walking from Childcare drop off/collection to Year 1/Year 6 or EYFS drop off points.
• All children are to be dropped off and collected by an adult – no child will be permitted to walk to and from school alone at this time.  If your child is to be collected or dropped off by a child minder or adult unknown to school, you must inform the member of staff who telephones you regarding drop off and pick up times so we can make a note of these arrangements on our records. 

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, one way systems and the need for promptness arriving and leaving school site as outlined above.

Children WILL NOT be released from childcare or EYFS, Year 1 or Year 6 without an adult coming to the collection point.

• 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.
• 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.
• All children are asked to wear clean clothes each day (uniform will not be expected).  Please ensure your child comes to school dressed and prepared for being outdoors including suitable footwear, as we will be increasing our use of learning outdoors wherever possible.

• Everything your child requires for childcare and lessons will be provided in school – we therefore ask that children do not bring anything in from home at this time – this includes bags, toys, etc.  The only items we would suggest your child does bring into school is a named water bottle that they will keep with them in their bubble in their bubble zone in school on the days they are on school site and this will need to be taken home each day to be cleaned. 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 will be spending more time outdoors than we usually do.
• Our school kitchen will provide packed school lunches and there will be a choice of ham, cheese or tuna sandwiches for these lunches.  No hot meals will be provided at this time.  If you prefer to send your child into school with a lunch from home, please ensure this is sent in in a disposable bag – no lunch boxes/bags are to be brought into school.

Please note children in Year 6 who require a school meal will need to pay for this IN ADVANCE on their first day of attendance – we will NOT be offering payment to be daily.  We therefore ask that if your child is in Year 6 and is not eligible for Free School Meals, and you wish to order a school meal for them, that payment for each day your child will be in school up to the end of this term is sent in, in an envelope on the first day your child returns to school.

Each Year 6 child will be able to attend school for 6 days from next week to the end of term, the cost for 6 school meals is £13.80.  Payment should be made by cheque (made payable to school) or exact cash only, please.

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

• There will be no breakfast or after school club provision provided by S4YC on site apart from for key workers to ensure children from different ‘bubbles’ do not mix on the same day. We ask that this is only used by key workers when absolutely unavoidable to limit the risk of your child’s ‘bubble’ being ‘burst’ when they come into school.

To help families prepare their children for return to school, I have attached a helpful set of tips at the foot of this page which outlines some guidance for parents and carers for discussing the return with their child/ren. 

As you prepare your child/ren to return to school, it may also be helpful to share with your child/ren the images from school celebrating positivity and how we are 'Stronger Together - Even When We Are Apart'  in our photograph gallery (above) and our short video at the foot of this page which outlines some of the changes we have in place to welcome children back to school.

The NHS has also provided mental health advice for parents for children returning to school.  This can be found here:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2020/06/top-nhs-doctor-issues-advice-for-children-going-back-to-school/

Information about our curriculum both in school and our home learning for this half term can be found below this message.

We have added COVID19 appendices to several of our school policies in relation to any wider reopening - these documents can be found in the policies tab on this website.

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.

Other year groups

As you will be aware, the Government’s ambition for all year groups to return to school before the summer break has been revised.  We will continue to review our capacity within school as we welcome year groups back but at this stage it is unlikely that we will be able to welcome any further year groups back before the end of summer term.

The Government have provided two documents to support parents and carers at this time.  These can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june

Our plans will continue to be constantly reviewed with regards to the local R rating and local and national guidance. Our best endeavours will continue to keep children, staff and families as safe as possible as we move forward. 

I will continue to provide you with further updates as we move forward and I would like to once again thank you for your continued support and understanding in these challenging times.

Warmest wishes to you all

RJewitt

Headteacher

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.

Teaching and Learning & Curriculum - Starting back to school for any of our children will feel strange and we are conscious that the children will need to be supported in this. As you will recognise from the summary above, children’s experiences in school will not be as they are used to and we will be carefully considering the children’s mental health and wellbeing as and when they return and will provide them any additional support so they are best prepared to adjust and be ready to learn wherever we can.  We will gradually build up the timetabled learning across the day as the children are ready, providing regular outdoor learning and wellbeing initially to support.

Home Learning - Many thanks to the parents that responded to our recent survey on this, we were delighted to receive so many positive comments and responses and your ideas for how home learning could be made even better have been used as part of our ongoing reviews of this.

We are mindful that the children in Years 2-6 will remain at home and those in EYFS, Y1 and Y6 will be attending school for two days each week as part of our plans for wider reopening.  We will therefore continue to set home learning work for children learning at home.

In response to your feedback in the survey, we will be making some adjustments to home learning from after half term so we can continue to work with you to support creating a positive learning environment at home.

Home learning tasks will be updated on a weekly basis.   This will include:

A suggested Weekly Timetable

Daily tabs to click on to for the relevant day’s tasks, resources and learning instructions for that day.

Answers tab

Class Gallery

Monday morning and Friday end of day message from teachers

We are sure you will appreciate that moving forward our staff are also  preparing and teaching in school.  As a result, maintaining daily messages will no longer be possible. As fantastic as our staff are, it will be difficult for them to be in two places at one time! Our priority will be cleaning and teaching ‘bubbles’ in our school each day and cleaning throughout school each Wednesday to ensure all staff and children are kept safe.

Staff will update gallery pages on a weekly basis..  Staff will keep checking the class emails so do please keep the pictures coming. We really do love to see what all the children are getting up to.