Parents/carers have told us that some of our Oaklands children are finding it very difficult to understand why they are not coming to school currently. We have therefore filmed this short clip to try and show them that school is closed. We hope it is helpful. Perhaps you can practice the Makaton signs at home together.

Click here to see the film clip

Please use this visual story to help talk to your child about the Coronavirus. It is important that they have facts to help them understand what is happening. Validate their feelings rather than try to change them. If they are anxious, tell them that this is a natural reaction.

 

https://www.flipsnack.com/KeshetChicago/coronavirus-social-story/full-view.html

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

We spoke to all parents on Friday regarding the need for children to stay at home where possible.

As you will be aware, we have to follow the Government guidance issued here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

The guidance states that:

'If workers think they fall within the critical categories above they should confirm with their employer that, based on their business continuity arrangements, their specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service.'

Please could you contact your employer to confirm that this is the case?

The Governments’ response is designed to severely reduce the spread of the virus.

‘The most recent scientific advice on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19 is clear. If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading.

That is why the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend.’

We therefore urge you to consider carefully whether your child ‘absolutely needs to attend school’.

If your employer has confirmed that both parents are key workers and you have no other option to keep your child at home, the school will be able to provide care for your child as needed.

If one parent is confirmed as a Key Worker, but the other parent is not, we believe that the best thing for your child and family is that your child is cared for at home where possible. This will limit the possibility of your child being exposed to the virus and in turn exposing the Key Worker to the virus.

Please remember that school staff are putting themselves at risk by continuing to work in school, so we are trying our utmost to limit the numbers in school to only those that cannot be cared for elsewhere.

Please also note the following:

‘The fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.

Schools are, therefore, being asked to continue to provide care for a limited number of children - children who are vulnerable and children whose parents are critical to the Covid-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.'

We thank-you all for your support to keep everyone safe at this very difficult time.

Regards

Sarah Osborne

(Headteacher)

Friday 20^th March

Dear Parents/Carers,

Coronavirus Update

 

    During the past couple of days, we have been closely monitoring our staffing situation to try and retain effective supervision for your children in school.

     The government have now released guidance for all schools that helped us to clarify the expectations they have of us as a school and our parents. The key principle to be able to keep all children safe at this:

 

‘If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be’.

 

At this very difficult time, the health of the whole nation has to come before education whilst the NHS and Government assess what further measures may be necessary to protect our public health and services. Whilst we will remain open for a very small number of children, whose parents are frontline workers, we must keep the numbers very small to ensure everybody’s safety and wellbeing. At this time, I would ask you to consider what is best for your child and your family.

 

As Headteacher, I am also very conscious of the impact this crisis is having on my staff team and their own families as well. We know that the Coronavirus will affect many families nationally and we are keen to ensure that our Oaklands family and our own loved ones stay safe. We have spoken to most parents today and have been overwhelmed by your support at this very difficult time. You will appreciate that this is a national emergency and I recognise that keeping children at home can disrupt your own lives but this is to ensure the safety of your child and family.

 

If your child has been in school today, they will have brought home a pack of learning activities; leaflets to help while you’re at home and a few resources. We will keep in touch with you by phone at least once a week.

If your child is entitled to a Free School Meal, a packed lunch will be dropped off at the school for your child each day if you wish to collect it. However, in the next few days we will be considering ways in which we can make these more easily accessible to you.

 

Obviously the situation is changing with the pandemic every day, so we will let you know what will be happening to school after Easter by Friday 17^th April. Information will be sent by text, on Weduc, posted on the website and on Twitter @OaklandsSchool_ 

We hope that you and your family all stay well.

 

Sarah Osborne

Headteacher

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.

                                 Coronavirus Update - 18/03/2020

I know that you will all be concerned regarding the current situation and therefore felt that another update would be appropriate to help you understand what is happening at Oaklands.

We do not have any members of the school community (pupils, parents and staff) who have been tested positive for Coronavirus. We have a few staffs and pupils who are responsibly self-isolating as a precaution.

At present, we feel we have a sufficient number of staff and pupils to continue in a meaningful way.  We continue to follow the government guidance and this is being reviewed daily. As previously explained, schools are currently asked to remain open. We know that retaining the routine and structure for our children, where possible, is beneficial for their well being and learning, and are making suitable adjustments to keep going with as much normality as possible!

Symptoms: As a reminder, if your child or anyone in your household has a fever or a new continuous cough, your
household must now remain in isolation for 14 days. (A fever is a temperature of over 37.8 degrees). You should not send your child to school and are asked to notify the school office.

The government are also advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) to be
particularly stringent in following social distancing measures. This includes a diagnosis of Asthma. Social distancing means taking steps to reduce social interaction including avoiding large gatherings of family or friends. The specific advice does not currently state that this should include self-isolation for this group. However, if you are concerned, please do not hesitate to call us. The government advice can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people

 

Communication: As there is some uncertainty about how long schools will remain open, I would ask that you check your text messages, the school website, Weduc or Twitter regularly. These are the means of communication we would use to contact you if the school is asked to close by the Government, or in the eventuality of staff shortages. We would also notify Radio Leicester, who post information about school closures on their facebook page.

 

Website: https://www.oaklands.leicester.sch.uk/

Twitter: @OaklandsSchool_

 

I am aware of the pace of change and we are constantly weighing the pros and cons of any decisions. I will keep you
updated as the situation develops. We thank you all for your support in these very strange and uncertain times.
 

                                  Coronavirus - 14 Days

In view of the Government press conference held yesterday, I am writing to you with updated guidance.

 

Symptoms: As you will be aware, the Coronavirus symptoms are:
 A new continuous cough and/or
 A fever

You should keep your child at home if they have either of these symptoms, however mild. You are now asked to keep your child at home for 14 days. 

 

If children come into school with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature we will ring you and we will ask you to take them home. If they come on to the school site with either of the symptoms,  we will take them to the medical room immediately. We will also ask that you make arrangements to collect them as soon as possible. We ask that you are vigilant and do not send them in if they have the symptoms so that other children and staff are not put at risk.

Self-isolating: If anyone in your household is self-isolating due to having either of the above symptoms, the entire family is now also advised to self-isolate for 14 days. Please call the school office to let us know if your family is self-isolating. You are advised not to leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill. It is likely that people living within a household will infect each other or be infected already. Staying at home for 14 days will
greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the
community.

 

Trips: As an additional precaution, responding to the Prime Minister’s advice, we will be cancelling all non-essential travel. Unfortunately, this means that any trips off-site will be postponed, and we will not continue swimming until it is safe to do so. If you have already paid for a trip, the office will reimburse the money to you in the next few days.

Visitors: We have also made the decision that we must postpone or cancel all visitors into school. This includes EHCP meetings with parents, coffee mornings and LAS meetings. We will also need to postpone Parents’ Evening and our Autism Awareness event, which was both due to take place in the week before Easter.

 

We are trying to keep our routines and structure as normal as possible for our children in school to prevent them from becoming anxious. If you have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to phone me. Further advice about the coronavirus can be found at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus.

 

Please can I ask you to support us, by adhering to the advice given so we can all work together to keep our children and staff safe.

 

 

 

Department for Education Coronavirus helpline

Today, DfE has launched a new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline:

Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

 

Advice sent to parents/carers:

 

As you will be aware, the Government is closely monitoring the spread of the Coronavirus.
The risk to individuals remains low. However, the advice to parents returning from half term holidays and who may
have been skiing in Northern Italy is the following;
If you have returned from these specific areas since 19th February, you should call NHS111 and stay indoors and
avoid contact with other people even if you do not have symptoms:

• Iran
• Specific lockdown areas in Northern Italy as designated by the Government of Italy (see map attached)
• Special care zones in South Korea as designated by the Government of the Republic of South Korea
• Hubei province (returned in the past 14 days)

If you have returned from these areas since 19th February and develop symptoms, however mild, you should stay
indoors at home and avoid contact with other people immediately and call NHS111. You do not need to follow this
advice if you have no symptoms.

• Northern Italy (defined by a line above, and not including, Pisa, Florence and Rimini),
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• Laos
• Myanmar

If you have any concerns about where you have travelled to over half term, please do let me know. The risk to
individuals remains low, but the government are providing updates to ensure that everyone is aware of latest advice.
For further information, please visit the DfE website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-information-for-the-public or go to https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Dear Parent/Carer,

 

The parent workshop will focus on Children's Health and Development.  We have invited Shelley Winterton who is a School Nurse Practitioner who will answer questions and talk about local services.

 

Oaklands' staff will talk to parents about the government's compulsory Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) policy which will affect all schools from September 2020. We would like to hear your views about this and find out what you would like your children to know and understand on this topic.

 

Refreshments will be available from 9.50 a.m.

 

Date: Thursday 27^th February 2020

Time: 10.00 am – 12.00 noon

Venue: Meeting Room, Oaklands School

Organiser: Oaklands School (Mrs Gangat will not be available on the day)

 

If we do not have sufficient numbers of parents attending, we will cancel the session.

Please, confirm your attendance on the letter in your child's book bag and return to school by Wednesday 26^th February.

 

Yours faithfully,

Sarah Osborne