Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 21st January 2022
Date: 21st Jan 2022 @ 10:39am
Another busy week in school, as usual and the children have been busy with the challenges of the curriculum, swimming, music lessons and much more whilst they continue to grow in confidence in all that they do.
A short and sweet blog this week, with the usual COVID updates, #WakeUpWednesday and dates reminder.
Current COVID Guidance Summary
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
With shriek-inducing jump scares, unbearable suspense and nauseating levels of gore, the sources of distress that children might find in a horror game are self-evident. Most commercially released titles have an age certificate high enough to alert parents to the possible dangers, but download-only titles don’t require a rating and therefore often push the boundaries even further.
National Online Safety’s #WakeUpWednesday guide this week tiptoes intrepidly into the blood-soaked but perennially popular realm of the horror genre, discovering that an unsettling atmosphere and disturbing imagery can stay in young minds long after the game has been switched off – and that real-life human players are more dangerous than legions of virtual zombies or vampires.
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