Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 26th March 2021
Date: 26th Mar 2021 @ 11:50am
Tuesday was the anniversary of one year since the UK first went into National Lockdown and it was marked by a National Day of Reflection. We discussed this in school during our Collective Worship on Tuesday and the sense of loss and bereavement that has affected so many people’s lives. We brought this together by thinking about the Easter story and the sense of loss and bereavement that Jesus’ family and friends would have felt and how this contrasted with the renewed hope and joy that came when he rose. We talked about being kind to one another to help each other through the difficult times and shared a beautiful Charlie Mackesy quote (see below) and also a song by Graham Kendrick called A Little Bit of Love which is about all the little acts of love and kindness that we do for one another coming together to make a huge ocean of difference. We held one minutes silence at 12pm and all the children went home with a specially written prayer by the Church of England for them to colour in as well as some pictures of spring flowers, a wonderful symbol of hope and new life after a dark winter.
There can be no doubt that times have been difficult over the last year, for everyone in a variety of different ways and back then we could not have begun to imagine what lay ahead, but I would personally like to thank all the staff, governors, parents and pupils of Over St. John’s who truly are an incredible team and have helped us to get through the last year, whether from home or in school. Thank you.
LFD Tests at Home
LFD tests are now readily available for families of school age children to enable you to carry out asymptomatic testing of adults within the household at home. It is extremely important that these tests are used for asymptomatic adults only – for adults without symptoms to routinely check at home, therefore catching a positive case early before symptoms are displayed. Positive results from these tests must always be confirmed by a PCR test at a test centre. If either yourself or your child has any of the three official symptoms, then you should follow the guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection and book a PCR test for yourself or your child. We are seeing an increasing number of people using LFD tests at home for other reasons - but LFD tests are for asymptomatic adults only or for children in secondary schools where they have been issued by the school.
#WakeUpWednesday
Rec Room is another one of those games which surged in popularity during the pandemic. It’s user base trebled in 2020, as players realised that the platform’s ‘open-world’ nature and interactivity were a way of replicating social contact. In-game events reflected that, with rooms set up for happy hours, birthday parties, maths tutorials and even therapy sessions.
But what else can players do in Rec Room? Is everyone in the game who they claim to be? How frightening might it be for younger children? How can you help young people to stay safe in the various rooms? This week’s free #WakeUpWednesday guide puts on its virtual reality headset and enters the immersive world of Rec Room.
Winsford Community Grocery
Winsford Community Grocery is a not for profit organisation, staffed by volunteers with the aim of reducing food waste, based in the old job centre. Their volunteers have a wealth of food knowledge and understand the issues surrounding ‘sell by’ and ‘use by’ dates and food storage solutions.
The team supports residents of Winsford and surrounding areas by providing much-needed drop-in centres, offering essential fresh food and dietary staples, drinks, and so much more for a very reasonable £3 per bag. Residents can choose their shopping from a vast variety of fruits and veg, tinned and packaged foods, pastries, dairy products, bottled drinks and even washing detergents. The money made from the sale of their food bags goes back into buying the essentials to provide for the community at a greatly discounted rate.
If you would like to know more, contact Winsford Community Grocery via their facebook page and see below for a recent picture of a typical £3 bag of goods.
Winsford Community Grocery Facebook
Informing School of a Positive Result
If any of your children have to take a COVID test and the result comes back positive, we need to know this at school as a matter of urgency, whether it is evenings or weekends, to enable us time to organise things in school and contact the relevant people. During school hours, please call the office on 01606 592608 – do not leave an answer phone message – please continue to ring until you speak to someone. If it is the evenings or weekends, please e mail your child’s name and class to positiveresult@overstjohns.cheshire.sch.uk This is for positive results in children only. If your child needs to isolate as a direct contact of someone in your household, childcare or support bubble who has tested positive, please e mail the normal admin@overstjohns.cheshire.sch.uk address.
Confirmed Dates for the Spring Term 2021
Thursday 1st April: School closes for Easter with bubble closure times as follows:
Blakemere at 1:45pm
Linmere at 1:45pm
Oakmere at 1:50pm
Delamere at 1.55pm
Sandymere at 2pm
Hatchmere at 2.05pm
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs E Snowdon