Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Monday 1st March
Dear Parents/Carers,
I am writing to follow up my brief correspondence from Wednesday last week, and to give you a broad outline
of our plans for the reopening of school.
As you know, all children are now expected back in primary schools from Monday 8th March.
Following a successful return in September 2020, where it was lovely have all of our children in the classrooms, and they clearly enjoyed being back in routine, we were able to review our safety measures & procedures and have been able to use this to put together our plans for 8th March.
I would ask that you read this letter carefully, and also read our Risk Assessment on our school website, to reassure yourself about your child returning to school. We will continue to do everything humanly possibly to keep all of our children safe. Many of our staff team have now been vaccinated, which helps to prevent infection and forward transmission of the virus. Rapidtesting is now a part of our staff team’s safety measures twice a week. This means that staff are using Lateral Flow Device tests (asymptomatic testing) to help identify anyone who may be infectious but do not have Coronavirus symptoms. On top of this, the numbers of cases of Coronavirus nationally have dropped significantly, with this weekend having the lowest daily figures for some months. Nevertheless, we continue to be vigilant in all we do and ask that you support us in this.
Preparation at home: Firstly, we ask that you prepare your child to come back to school, whether this is by using a visual timetable, talking to them about when they return and reminding them of their teachers’ names, or for some children, reminding them about social distancing and what they can do to help keep themselves and other safe.
Following National Guidance: Children must not be sent in to school if;
• they have one or more Coronavirus symptoms
• a member of your household (including someone in a support bubble) has Coronavirus symptoms
• they have had a positive Coronavirus test
Please note that the guidance states:
For any of the above, your child must isolate at home and not attend school for at least 10 days after:
• the start of their symptoms
• the test date if they have had a positive test
The isolation period includes the day the symptoms started and the next ten full days. Your child could return on day 11 provided they are well.
We will not routinely be taking the temperature of pupils in school as Public Health England have advised schools that this is an unreliable method for identifying Coronavirus. However, if they do feel hot or seem unwell, please keep them at home.
Transport: We are liaising with transport this week to ensure that children will continue to travel in their pathway bubbles. If your child travels to school on transport and wears a disposable face mask, please remember to send an additional mask for the homeward journey. If they wear a reusable face mask, they will be given a sealable bag to put it in during the day.
We have been liaising with transport about the start and finish times for children again. These will be
Willow/Cherry (Frogs, Stoats, Hedgehogs, Robins, Squirrels, Deer, Hares, Dormice, Rabbits)- Arrival 8.45am Leaving school 2.25pm
Chestnut (Owls, Beavers, Badgers)- Arrival 9am Leaving school 2.40pm
If you bring your child by car, please can I ask you to stay in your car. It is important that we keep our whole school community safe and do everything possible to prevent transmission of Coronavirus. We also ask that you do not come on to the school site at other times during the day unless you have a specific appointment with a member of staff.
For any child who spits, or uses saliva as a sensory stimulant, we will encourage them to wash hands more frequently.
I want to reassure you that our cleaning schedule is thorough in all areas of the school and staff use points throughout the day to clean surfaces and equipment.
Our children will remain in their class groups with minimal mixing during the day (limited to some shared outdoor spaces only). This helps us to minimise contacts and reduce the risk of transmission of Coronavirus.
Ventilation & Uniform: Children will be expected to wear school uniform again when they return on 8th March.
All children should be wearing clean clothes each day to minimise any spread of infection. If you have difficulties washing uniform overnight and then do not have a clean set, please do not worry. We would rather your child come in clean clothing, and will understand if, on occasion, this is not school uniform. Priority is that the clothing is clean. We also appreciate that some children will have grown since before Christmas when they may have last worn uniform. If they have grown out of uniform and you have not been able to replace them due to lockdown, again, we understand and please just send them in clean home clothes.
One of the key safety measures required of all schools is to ensure that there is effective ventilation in classrooms. For this reason, when it is cold weather, please ensure that your child comes to school with extra layers ie a fleece or extra jumper.
I hope this letter helps to provide clarification about the ways in which we plan to bring all children back on 8th March. If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to call the school office this week and ask to speak to a member of the senior leadership team.
We look forward to seeing your child again next week,
Regards
Sarah Osborne (Headteacher)
Dear Parents/Carers,
As you may be aware, the Prime Minister announced on Monday this week that all children should return to school on Monday 8th March.
For many parents this will provide some relief, to get back to normality, however, we recognise that for many it may also cause some anxiety.
Myself and the leadership team have begun to review the Department for Education's guidance in full and in the next few days should then be in a position to confirm the full details of our arrangements. The safety of our children and staff team will obviously be our foremost priority but rest assured that we will also be prioritising the experiences and wellbeing of our children to make sure that their return to school is as smooth and as enjoyable as it can be.
Our remote learning provision will continue beyond 8th March for those students prevented from returning in person for Covid related reasons.
I will be back in touch as soon as we have had a chance to bring our plans together and look forward to seeing many more of our Oaklands children on site again soon.
Regards
Sarah Osborne (Headteacher)
Half Term Break
Dear Parents/Carers,
We are now at the end of this half term and what another strange half term it has been. For those children who have been attending school during this lockdown, there have been many changes but they have all coped extremely well.
Schools have been asked to continue their role with Contact Tracing for the first weekend of the Half term break. We do need to know if your child becomes symptomatic and has a positive Coronavirus test. Therefore, please can I ask you to contact us by calling 07742 800987 or emailing the school office office@oaklands.leicester.sch.uk if your child has any of the Coronavirus symptoms or has a positive Covid-19 test during the first weekend of half term. Symptoms are:
If anyone in your household has any of these symptoms, you must all isolate and that person must get a Covid 19 test.
We know that many parents/carers have done a wonderful job to support children’s learning at home, whether this is by watching the Oaklands You Tube videos, learning valuable life skills or following remote learning plans for developing specific academic skills. We would very much like to share any of your Top Tips to support children with learning at home. If you have done anything that has worked particularly well, an activity, using specific strategies or resources or anything else that has helped your child cope during the time away from school, we would love to hear about it to share with other parents. None of us have all the answers, and at Oaklands we are always learning, so by sharing these Top Tips, it could just help another family to support their child when they need a new idea or approach. Please send Top Tips to office@oaklands.leicester.sch.uk ‘My Top Tip is….’
Next week is half term. If you require any support from our family support worker, Dhrupti Champaneri, she continues to provide advice to parents and can be contacted on 07842601349 (Wed/Thurs). If you have any Safeguarding concerns, you can speak to one of our Designated Safeguarding Leads on 07742 800987 or call the Duty and Advice Service on 0116 4541004.
Other useful numbers for half term:
Samaritans 116 123- Free from any phone
Crisis Team 0808 800 3302
(24hr mental health & wellbeing support line)
On Monday 22nd February, the Prime Minister is due to make an announcement on the ‘road map’ for the easing of restrictions and the return of children to schools. As yet, we as school leaders have no indication of what this may look like and therefore will be contacting all parents after that, in the first week after half term, to give information about what the Government’s plans mean for our school. We all look forward to when we can welcome the entirety of our Oaklands children back into school. However, as we have said throughout the pandemic, our priority has always been the safety of our school community so we will continue to work together as we respond to any further guidance from the Government.
We wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year and hope that you have a restful half term.
Stay safe,
Regards
Sarah Osborne (Headteacher)