Communication during the Covid-19 school closure
Good morning everyone!
Please note, the website will not be updated again until next week. If you have any concerns, please message your teachers on Seesaw, or call the school. Follow us on Twitter @johnstainersch1
Here is a letter from the Chair of the Governing Body for all parents. GB letter to Parents.pdf
Here is something nice for you to think about!
Children - I'm sure that some of you may have been angry or upset and could well have questions about what happened in America with George Floyd and what has been happening in both the US and the UK following his death. Your teacher will be doing some work about this with you during the week, but please talk to us if it is worrying you in any way.
For now we can't open the school to any more than the pre-arranged emergency child care we are providing for critical workers. From our risk assessment it is very unlikely we will be able to have any of the youngest pupils in before September for a number of reasons, but we have consulted separately with parents of the Year 6 children and if possible we will have them in (hopefully in two weeks time on 15th June - but only if it is safe enough. It is worth parents knowing we have had more than 40 updated versions of the Government's plan to open schools. We are constantly trying to keep up to date with these shifting sands, so what the school day will look like and who the children will be with is very far off from our planning at the moment. We also need to consider how we can continue to provide the online learning for those who don't come in, as if we are using all the Year 6 staff for bubbles, there is nobody free to do that. Please believe me when I tell you like another head described it, it is like trying to do a puzzle where all the pieces are exactly the same colour! We are aiming for 15th June for Year 6 so we will be asking 5 days before for definite numbers for those first bubbles, and be able to give you a clearer picture by then as to what the day might look like. It is likely we will do half days with the children going home at lunchtime, and coming in and leaving at different times.
I want to make something quite clear. My decision to keep the school closed for the EYFS, Year 1 and Year 6 is not, as some parents are saying, for a political agenda. It is based on careful risk assessments for both the staff and children, and of our premises. A whole team of properly trained people are involved in the very complex risk assessing, but ultimately I do make the final decision. I have continued to put what is going on, every day, on the front of this website as decisions are made. I have emailed and texted updates, so the accusations of 'not communicating with parents' by this small group of dissatisfied parents is clearly untrue, (and unhelpful).
Here is the letter for parents and carers about the survey and continued school closure here who could not receive it by email - (also my apologies one of my texts said January 1st instead of June 1st, I am certain we will be completely open to everyone long before then)! Click this link Survey and closure update Please be assured, no parent in our school will ever be fined by us for keeping their children at home safely over this time when we are not fully open. We have a responsibility to be cautious about when and how opening to the children will happen. We have many very serious questions to ask ourselves, and a multitude of things to consider before our school could be opened safely, but rest assured we are looking at how we can do this so all the problems with opening are ironed out and the risk is reduced to an acceptable level. Please do not under any circumstances bring your children to school unless we have told you we are ready for them.
Even though some changes have been made to the lockdown rules, I hope you will all still remember that hand-washing and social distancing are both extremely important especially if you are seeing anyone from another household. You can't touch them, you MUST keep two metres away. I know this is strange, and it feels weird, but the most important thing we can do is keep ourselves and those we love safe, healthy and well.
For anyone who wants to know about the staffing for next year, click here! NEW CLASSES 20/21
I hope you all enjoyed the video we sent. There was a little glitch in the one we sent out as it started in the middle, so unless you rewound it to the start, you might have missed some of the staff, so here it is again. We made it to remind you not to worry, and that 'every little thing is going to be alright'!
Can you please click on the link below to nominate our school - we might win £5000 worth of books! Its super quick to do.
To counter all this negativity, I have a lovely treat for you, an amazing story! Please listen and share it with your friends! Click this link - The Great Realisation
Parents, this is a ten minute video from the Association of Online Safety specialists, it provides a good round up of all the main online safety issues to consider. It advises parents to be more vigilant during this time of increased online activity and offers some good signposts to keep children safe online. Parents Online Safety Film. The Safeguarding Training Centre have also created an Online Safety Hub for Parents to access interactive guidance on setting up parental controls on their child’s devices, as well as guidance on apps like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram and more.
Summer Term: Teachers will be in touch with you every weekday via Seesaw with three daily lessons. To find our more about our term-time programme of lessons or to find additional resources visit our remote learning page and here is a link to a proposed timetable that might be good to help get yourselves into a routine! Learn at home timetable You can adapt it if you need to. You can also follow our school twitter account @johnstainersch1 - we are regularly retweeting lots of great activities here too - don't forget you can tag us in on anything that you find that might be of interest to teachers, parents and carers.
NEW RECEPTION PUPILS AND PARENTS 2020
Parents and carers have found out if they have been offered a Reception place at our school for September - so if this is why you are reading this - congratulations and welcome! This year we had 283 applications, 27 siblings, and we have 38 on the waiting list! Our Pupil Welfare Manager Sarah Harrison has asked if you could please complete and e-mail the admission form - CLICK HERE and then email it back to her at sharrison27.209@lgflmail.org along with a copy of your child's long birth certificate and a proof of address eg council tax bill. Here are two other important documents for you to read Privacy_Notice and Data_Protection. We look forward to welcoming you to the school in September!
We are still open every day for the children of critical workers. We need confirmation from your employer about your critical worker status and what times you need to work, and for you to complete the form at the bottom of this page. We will ask you to take the temperature of your child when they arrive, so we can note it down, and as they leave. Remember, this is emergency childcare only to be used as a last resort when there is nobody else at home or available to look after your children. They are safer at home. With less children, there is also less risk to the staff coming in to do this supervision. Once again, I would like to say a very grateful thanks all the staff who have done this supervision, especially over the Easter holiday weeks and public holidays.
Keep safe and well, and look after each other. Have a good week
Sue Harte (and Charlie)
For critical workers please read the Critical_Care_Place_Rationale. There is an application form as well if you qualify, but if you can, the safest thing for everyone is actually if you keep your child at home. Restricting movement is the best fight against this awful disease for everyone. But we ARE supporting those critical workers who need to get to work and have no alternative care, so even if it is for in a few weeks or ahead of time, please complete the application and email admin@johnstainer.lewisham.sch.uk Critical_Carer_Application Children who are confirmed and coming can wear their own clothes, no uniform necessary - this is not an education alternative, this is emergency childcare!
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