Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 4th February 2022
Date: 4th Feb 2022 @ 11:13am
We have had another lovely week in school, as usual. It is so lovely to see the children working hard and getting on so well with each other. We have been focussing on community in our Collective Worship this half term and today have been thinking about how friendships strengthen and help to grow a community by looking at the story of Naomi and Ruth from the Bible. The children are all very clear about what they can do for each other in our school community to strengthen it through friendships and it is always lovely to see that in action, especially when I was on playground duty this morning.
We have also been strengthening our links with the local community and in particular Fowles Funeral Service. They are creating a colourful path of painted rocks up to their Garden of Reflection and have asked the children to help with this and kindly supplied the rocks. If you would like to get involved and paint some rocks for yourself then visit Fowles Funeral Service's Blog Post for more information. and visit them in person to collect your rocks.
Nest week is Children’s Mental Health week and we will be paying particular attention to this on Friday when we will down tools and focus on this year’s theme of Growing Together. Growing Together is about growing emotionally and finding ways to help each other grow. Challenges and setbacks can help us to grow and adapt and trying new things can help us to move beyond our comfort zone into a new realm of possibility and potential. However, emotional growth is often a gradual process that happens over time, and sometimes we might feel a bit ‘stuck’. If you would like to explore this a bit more at home with your own children, please do take a look at this website: https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/
Regular COVID Testing and Signs and Symptoms
I would like to encourage all families to undertake twice weekly LFD testing at home. There are a number of ‘bugs’ going around which can also be signs and symptoms of COVID such as headaches, tiredness, sore throats and being sick. If your child is unwell, please carry out an LFD with them. They can return to school once they feel well enough if they have had a bug and a negative result.
Junior Bake Off
If you have any budding bakers in the family or know of anyone who might be interested, applications have recently opened for the 8th series of Junior Bake Off; a Channel 4 programme that celebrates the culinary talent and ambition of the younger generation in Britain. Love Productions, who make the programme, are asking schools to help them spread the word regarding this exciting opportunity. They are looking for young budding bakers between 9-12 years old, filming would take place from July 2022, but the applications close on Sunday 13th March 2022.
Interested bakers can apply online at - www.applyforjuniorbakeoff.co.uk
#WakeUpWednesday
Between chatting and gaming online, scrolling through social media, and streaming music and video, young people are almost constantly connected to the digital world in their free time. Now more so than ever: recent research identified that 77% of youngsters were spending more time online on games and apps than they did before the pandemic.
One immediately obvious issue with that is – as outlined in Ofcom’s Media Use and Attitudes Report 2021 – almost half (45%) of parents have concerns about their child being bullied on the internet. In support of next week’s Safer Internet Day, National Online Safety’s two #WakeUpWednesday guides suggest ways that we can all contribute to more respectful, positive relationships with each other online.
Current COVID Guidance Summary – Reminder
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.
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
Friday 11th February: Children’s Mental Health Day in school
Tuesday 15th February: Pupil Consultation Evening 4pm – 6pm (not Sandymere)
Thursday 17th February: Pupil Consultation Evening 3.15pm – 5.15pm (not Sandymere)
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