Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 14th January 2022
Date: 14th Jan 2022 @ 10:09am
We have been focussing a lot on community in our Collective Worship these past couple of weeks; thinking about our very different family communities and also looking at our school family as a community. We have talked about all the things that are valuable in our families and realised that those things that are most valuable are the things that we can’t actually buy – spending time together, laughter, making memories. We have also looked at the things that are valuable in our school community and most importantly our Christian values of friendship, thankfulness, compassion, forgiveness, community and hope and how these are all things that help us to get on well as a school community. Please ask your children about these values and how they help us all to shine our lights before others.
Literacy Counts Reading and Writing Parental Sessions
I would like to give you some advance notice of some sessions that will be running later on this term. The Winsford Education Partnership, in conjunction with a company called Literacy Counts, will be running some sessions for parents of primary age children within the town. The first session is called ‘Read With Me’ and will take place virtually via Zoom on 9th March from 7pm – 8pm and the second is called ‘Write With Me’ and will also take place via Zoom on 30th March from 7pm – 8pm. These short sessions will be a really good opportunity for you to find out ways in which you can support your child at home with their reading and writing in the virtual company of other parents across the town, all in the same position. More information and joining instructions will be shared nearer the time, but in the meantime, please make a note of these dates on your calendars.
Current COVID Guidance Summary – new guidance highlighted
People who are fully vaccinated, or children and young people aged between 5 and 18 years and 6 months, identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19, should take an LFD test every day for seven days and continue to attend their setting as normal, unless they have a positive test result or develop symptoms at any time. They should also arrange for a PCR test between day 3 – 5 of close contact with the case.
Children under 5 are not being advised to take part in daily testing of close contacts. If a child under 5 is a contact of a confirmed case, they are not required to self-isolate and should not start daily testing. If they live in the same household as someone with COVID-19 they should limit their contact with anyone who is at higher risk of severe illness if infected with COVID-19 and arrange to take a PCR test as soon as possible. They can continue to attend an education or childcare setting while waiting for the PCR result. If the test is positive, they should follow the stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed COVID-19 infection.
There is now no longer any requirement to go for a PCR test following on from a positive LFD test result for someone with no symptoms. You should begin isolation straight away from the positive LFD result and count this as Day 0.
With the day of a positive test LFD with no symptoms, or the first day of you having symptoms being day 0 (whichever comes first), from Monday 17th January, individuals may now take LFD tests on day 5 and day 6 of their self-isolation period, 24 hours apart. Those who receive a negative test result each day may end their self-isolation immediately. If the result of either of their tests is positive, they should continue to self-isolate until they get negative results from two LFD tests on consecutive days or until they have completed 10 full days of self-isolation, whichever is earliest.
Anyone who is unable to take LFD tests or anyone who continues to have a temperature will need to complete the full 10 day period of self-isolation.
#WakeUpWednesday
Unlike some AIs, Replika can’t answer trivia questions. It can’t order a takeaway. It can’t control your domestic appliances. What it can do is chat – about anything from your favourite book to how your day was. The software learns to imitate its user, aiming to produce more rewarding interaction. The more a person talks to their Replika, the more it sounds – and thinks – like them. Straight away, there’s an obvious potential issue. An advanced chatbot, constantly reflecting someone’s own thoughts back at them, could create a personal echo chamber where even extreme or distasteful opinions become normalised. National Online Safety’s #WakeUpWednesday guide this week discovers that’s not the only possible threat posed by the AI companion app, Replika.
School Dinners
School dinners cost £2.34 per day, £11.70 per week. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive free meals as part of the government’s Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) scheme. Dinner money must be paid in advance via School Spider.
If you are in receipt of benefits and think that you may be entitled to free school meals, please click here for more information and support and how to apply. It is very important to apply for free school meals whatever year your child is in, even if you receive the UIFSM in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, as the school receives a sum of extra money to further help support your child and their education.
Absence During Term Time
Please may I remind you that schools are not allowed to authorise pupil holidays in term time. Any child going on holiday in term time will receive an unauthorised absence. Our registers are regularly checked by the Education Welfare Service and parents may be issued with a fine from the Local Authority for unauthorised absence, which is currently £60 per child, per parent and this rises to £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days.
Confirmed Dates for the Spring Term 2022 – new dates highlighted
Tuesday 15th February: Pupil Consultation Evening 4pm – 6pm
Thursday 17th February: Pupil Consultation Evening 3.15pm – 5.15pm
Friday 18th February: School closes at the usual time for half term
Tuesday 1st March: School re-opens at the usual time
Wednesday 9th March: Read With Me Zoom session 7pm – 8pm
Wednesday 30th March: Write With Me Zoom session 7pm – 8pm
Friday 1st April: Easter Service at 9.15am
Friday 1st April: School closes at 2pm
Have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Mrs E Snowdon