Coronavirus Update

You will no doubt have heard on the news last night that the Government has asked for schools to close, except for provision being made for all of those children of Key Workers or children who have an EHCP. As all of our children have an EHCP this indicates that Oaklands should remain open. However, with many staff self-isolating already, or with their own child care difficulties, this may prove difficult.

We are working on plans currently to prepare for next week; to determine our staffing levels to try and remain open for our children. We will keep you updated as we gather more information from both the Government and our own staff team.

As we make plans for the next few weeks, and possibly a long term change in what we are doing, please could I ask you to complete the attached information form, particularly identifying your current employment for us, and return it to us tomorrow.

As some children are already off school, and we predict that further families may self-isolate in the next few weeks, we have started to put together Learning from Home packs.

Learning from Home packs: We understand that some children may remain at home for a significant length of time, which may include the Easter holidays. We will therefore provide each child with a learning pack which should come home with them tomorrow. Please do try to keep some routine with your child if they miss school, to ensure that they can continue some meaningful learning and to reduce any anxiety they may be feeling about the change to their normal routine. We hope these will be useful for you and you will enjoy the activities that you could do with your child whilst you are at home. I am very conscious myself of how much time children these days like to spend on their ipads/tablets, and I would encourage you to offer them a variety of activities to do together to stimulate them during this time. We have initially provided three weeks’ worth of activities, but should the time extend beyond the Easter holidays, we will endeavour to provide you with more.

Communication: Please use our website, Weduc or Twitter to keep up to date with any information or changes.  We will update these regularly during the next few months. The Learning from Home sheets will also be posted  on there.

Website: https://www.oaklands.leicester.sch.uk/
Twitter: @OaklandsSchool_

will inform you by text, website, Weduc and Twitter, and will also use these to inform you when the school is going to reopen.

Support for Families: We appreciate that this may be a difficult time for many families. There are some helpful numbers below in case you may need any support:

Oaklands Family Support worker

(Dhrupti Champaneri): 07842601349

Oaklands Safeguarding phone number: 07742 800987

Duty and Advice Service- 0116 454 1004 (For Social Care or the Early Help response team depending on what option you pick)

Citizen advice- 0300 330 1025

Salvation Army - 0116 262 1834 (food bank)

Uava (united against violence and abuse) - 0808 80 200 28 Free text support 07715 994 962

Disabled children service - 0116 454 4710

Samaritans - Free from any phone - 116 123 (listening service)

Turning point - 0330 3036000

Sexual Health Clinic - 0300 124 0102

Crisis Team - 0808 800 3302

Please do try to reassure your child. These are very unusual circumstances but we need to try and reduce anxiety that this may cause for our children, particularly as it may last some considerable time. I will write to you again tomorrow with further information.