Most recent update from St Bridget's C of E Primary School
1-10-2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
Curriculum
Over the last few weeks the children have settled into school well and we are seeing lots of good learning throughout the school. They are a credit to all of you and we are proud of their positive attitudes. The teachers are making the appropriate adjustments in both their teaching and the curriculum to ensure understanding and progress. Inevitably, there are always gaps in learning, especially after the lockdown, but our curriculum is a spiral one, which is designed to revisit key concepts each term and in subsequent years. To support your understanding of the curriculum the teachers have prepared information which is now on the website. We have included audio into the files which means some of them will not download instantly. Where possible, we have also saved shortened versions of the information saved as PDF’s which do not include audio.
Curriculum Evening
Thank You
We are now all becoming accustomed to the new routines in and out of school. A good example of this would be the improvements to the beginning and end of the school day. This seems to be running more smoothly and providing us all with a safer passage in and out of school. Thank you to all the parents who are wearing face coverings.
Assemblies
Over the last few weeks I have been holding an online assembly for the whole school. It is a strange experience broadcasting from my office rather than from the school hall, but it seems to be working from the feedback and conversation I have had with children. This term we are focussing on the theme of Hope, which is one of our school values. In the first assembly we thought about some of the positive activities that children had experienced in lock down. It was lovely to hear about the extra walking, cycling, growing and imaginative things that children had done. The last few months have been challenging, but have also given us an opportunity to explore new ideas or engage with activities that we now have time for.
Coronavirus update - Catering
As you will be aware, infection rates are increasing both nationally and locally. We are also in the cold/flu season as well and sometimes these symptoms can be similar or feel similar to COVID 19. There are and have been no staff cases. We have had instances where staff have needed to stay at home while testing has been carried out for close contacts or for themselves. The current slow return of results is inevitably frustrating and while we try to minimise this with additional staffing our catering team has been affected this week. For the last few days we had to change the service and offer only a sandwich/wrap option. Children have been given a choice of four fillings in the morning and these are distributed at lunch time. We are expecting our service to return to normal shortly, but where staffing shortages occur we may need to change our service for short periods of time. Please be assured we are doing our very best to maintain a normal service.
Self-isolating
When appropriate we may need to send home children or class bubbles to self-isolate for fourteen days. We have not yet had to do this. These are decisions that we do not enjoy taking, but please be assured that we are liaising with the appropriate public bodies and will act accordingly. I realise that this can cause some frustration amongst parents and carers. As a public institution, we have delegated powers to determine who is a 'contact' and we must adhere to national guidance. Sometimes difficult decisions have to be taken and I appreciate your understanding on this matter.
Letter for Parents from Public Health England about COVID-19 symptoms
Public Health England have produced a letter for schools to distribute to parents which explains when a person requires a coronavirus test and what the symptoms of coronavirus are. The Department have asked if we could share and circulate this letter amongst parents. The intention of the letter is to help prevent children being taken out of school unnecessarily and answer some of the questions parents may have around testing. You can view the letter here.
Leave of Absence During Term Time
Please be aware that the law around compulsory school attendance is now back in force since the start of the Autumn Term. This includes the regulations around leave of absence during term time. There continues to be no entitlement for parents to take their child out of school during term-time, unless this is completely unavoidable. Children have already lost so much teaching and learning time due to the coronavirus, and the priority now is for us to work together in the best interests of all children’s education.
All schools within Wirral work closely with the Council on school attendance matters. The Council is fully committed to making sure that all children attend school and make the best possible progress. Unauthorised holidays taken during term time can result in Penalty Notices being issued by the Council. As a school, this is something that we would wish to avoid and ask that any holidays be planned for school holiday periods.
Colder weather
The weather is now becoming colder and the classrooms do have more windows open than usual to help with air flow. Please ensure that your child has a school jumper/cardigan to wear to school as well as a warm coat.
Let’s all help to keep each other safe,
Neil Le Feuvre
