School Closure Update
8th January 2021
Dear Parents/Carers
I wanted to write and thank you for your patience, understanding and kind messages this week as we yet again navigate our way through another lockdown. I know this is not the way any of us wanted to start the New Year but as the Government’s Education Secretary said earlier this week, “closing schools is not a decision that anyone wanted to take, however we have to support the national effort to slow the increase in coronavirus cases, prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed and save lives”. It is important to remember that “schools have not suddenly become unsafe, but limiting the number of people who attend them is essential when the COVID rates are climbing as they are now”.
At this time it is expected that all primary and secondary schools will be closed until at least 22nd February, except for children who are deemed vulnerable and those with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker – that is, “parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus and EU transition response”.
We will offer places at school for the children who are eligible, in accordance with the Government’s guidance, and where it is safely possible to do so. We intend to meet requests from critical workers for their children to attend school however, there is a maximum number of children that we can safely have in groups and classrooms in order to limit contacts and reduce transmission of the virus. Bookings will now only be available on a week by week basis to enable us to keep numbers under constant review. Parents need to be aware that at any time places may not be available due to capacity limits and also staff availability. In the event that we have to close a bubble due to a positive case, please note this may affect all children in the bubble, even if they have not been in contact with the individual. Continued provision will be dependent on staff availability.
We are now able to offer our staff access to weekly testing via Lateral Flow Tests at one of our partner CLF sites. We hope this additional safety measure will offer some reassurances to staff and to yourselves.
The Education Secretary has confirmed that there will be support available for children eligible for free school meals who are not attending school and we expect this to be a national voucher scheme similar to the last lockdown. We are still awaiting further details and will contact eligible families direct with more information.
If you feel your child(ren) may be eligible for free school meals please use the following link to apply: http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/my-services/schools-learning/local-schools/free-school-meals Please ensure you apply for all children in your family.
Schools are legally required, and want, to provide high quality remote education for all children and young people to ensure they continue to make progress whilst they are not able to be in school.
The expectations for remote learning are much higher now than they were during the first lockdown in March last year, and we are much better prepared to deliver learning online or at a distance. We know how challenging it is for parents to supervise and support children’s learning at home and want to thank you for your brilliant and ongoing efforts.
We have been really impressed with the engagement we have already seen and it is lovely to see the children’s work coming in. Our Early Years and Year One teachers have been busy making videos to guide the children’s learning over the coming weeks and these will be posted daily on Tapestry to support you at home. Please continue to send in pictures and communicate with the team using this platform.
For years two and above, we are using Microsoft Teams to hold daily check-in sessions with children. These have been really well received and attended so far and will continue to take place each morning. The aim is to guide the children in their learning for the day and to give them an opportunity to maintain a connection with both school and their peers.
In addition to this, videos and powerpoints with audio have been provided on our website to support children in their daily learning tasks. These are accompanied by morning ‘Support Rooms’ – one hour drop-in sessions for both English and Maths. These are set up as meetings in Microsoft Teams and can be found in your child’s calendar each day. A teacher and teaching partner will be available in the ‘rooms’ to answer any questions the children may have and to provide support in completing the day’s work. There is an expectation that children will engage and complete the daily work set. We will be monitoring this and contacting any families who may be experiencing issues with this. Please do get in touch using the year group emails if you need any support with your child’s learning.
I will also be recording whole school assemblies every Monday and Friday, which will be available on the following link:
https://uphill-primary-school.primarysite.media/playlist/assemblies
We, like many of you, are learning every day and looking at ways in which we can improve our provision. Our teachers are currently trying to balance remote learning, provision in school and for many of them family commitments too, so please bear with us. That being said, we would welcome any feedback from you about our current provision.
Hopefully, the aims and efforts to limit attendance in school now, will help us to get to a position where we can gradually return to all schools being fully open once again, reducing future disruption to our children’s education.
Best Wishes
Samantha Hodder
Principal
