Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 5th March 2021
Date: 5th Mar 2021 @ 11:09am
We’ve all made it to the end of partial school closure and Remote Learning! Hooray! As I said to all the children in Collective Worship today, I am so looking forward to seeing the children on Monday morning, many of whom I have only seen once so far this year. For those in school, Monday is a time for smiling whilst we reconnect with our friends and teachers and for those of you at home, it is a time to smile whilst you go about your daily business without having to squeeze in Remote Learning too! As a school community, we have all pulled together incredibly well and shown real strength, at home and in school, to ensure the best for our children during these very difficult times. The hardest part is now behind us and we can all look forward to the better times that are ahead.
I know that I have said this a few times already during lockdown, but I really would like to express my sincerest thanks to you all for the support that you have shown to us as a school during lockdown. We have been overwhelmed by the incredibly thoughtful e mails, cards and gifts that have come into school and have served to make us even more determined to do our best – thank you.
From Monday, now that Remote learning is over, the class e mail addresses will no longer be monitored – please do not send messages to them as you will not get a reply. If you need to get in touch with a teacher, please do so via our normal channels of admin@overstjohns.cheshire.sch.uk or on 01606 592608 and leave a message and the class teacher will get back to you.
Asymptomatic testing information for parents and adults in households with children at school or college
NHS Test and Trace announced earlier this week, that all adults in households with school and college age children without symptoms can now access regular rapid coronavirus (COVID-19) testing.
Undertaking regular, rapid coronavirus (COVID-19) testing helps reduce transmission of the virus. Parents and other adults in households with children at school or college, who do not have symptoms, can access regular, rapid coronavirus (COVID-19) testing, including childcare and support bubbles.
Tests are fast, easy and completely free. There are different ways for a household, childcare or support bubble to collect their test to take at home, twice-weekly:
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If you have any queries about the tests, and you live in England, please call 119 (free from mobiles and landlines). Lines are open every day from 7am to 11pm.
These tests are for parents and adults in households with children at school or college, including childcare and support bubbles - children of primary school age (and below) without symptoms are not being asked to take a test.
Testing is voluntary, but strongly recommended to all who are eligible. Alongside the vaccine, washing hands, wearing face coverings, and maintaining social distancing, rapid testing plays a vital role in reducing transmission rates. Getting into the habit of regular testing as part of our everyday lives will help us all to play our part and do what we can to protect each other.
Informing School of a Positive Result
Now that we are all back in school, please may I remind you that 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 because of someone in your household, childcare or support bubble has tested positive, please e mail the normal admin@overstjohns.cheshire.sch.uk address.
Full Opening on Monday 8th March – repeat from last week
After considering the guidance very carefully that was issued last week, I am pleased to say that for Over St. John’s, we are able to open on Monday in the same way that we were operating before Christmas as we already had a very stringent risk assessment in place. The re-opening plan is attached below to refresh your memories of all the details, but I would like to take this opportunity to remind you all of some of the key points as it will have been two and half months since we were all in school. It would be very helpful if you could also share this information with anyone in your childcare bubble who may be dropping off and collecting your child.
A key aspect of our plan is to reduce contacts between people and therefore reduce any potential spread and as such:
- You should come alone to drop off your child – please do not come with anyone else who then waits outside the school gate.
- Please ‘drop and go’ – do not stop to chat to other parents.
- Please observe the social distancing guidelines of 1m+ - unfortunately our space does not allow us to do 2m otherwise we would be all along Delamere Street.
- Please be on time for arriving within your child’s 5 minute drop off and collection ‘window.’ Do not arrive before their time to be ready for it, just arrive within it – drop off and pick up should not be used as an opportunity to socialise with other adults. Times are detailed below in the dates section.
- Face masks, not visors, should continue to be worn unless you have spoken to myself and you are exempt. Please do not be offended if I ask you about this on return – I may just need reminding!
- Please remember to use the one way system around the premises and use the pedestrian gate to enter school and the car park gate to leave. Please keep all gateways clear for movement of people and keep the footpath clear for the public.
- Please remember not to gather on the car park, grass area or cross area – go for a little walk along Delamere Street if you a few minutes.
- Children should have a small bag for their belongings – but only if they need it. For example, if they could put snacks in their coat pockets or carry their lunch bag without putting it in a second bag, this would be very helpful. Cloakrooms continue to be out of use and everything has to be stored on the back of your child’s chair.
When school closed, a number of you came to collect your child’s stationery pack for use at home that they had been using in school. Please return your child’s stationery pack on your child’s first day – we do not have enough stationery to give out new equipment for all children.
Please forgive me for what must seem like a very long list of dos and don’ts and appear rather bossy, but I am sure that you would all agree that everything that we have put in place is for the common good and I really appreciate all your support with working within these guidelines. Since this pandemic began, we have still not had to close any bubbles within our school and whilst I absolutely appreciate that there is a whole lot of luck involved with this and I am not so narrow minded as to think that we will certainly stay this way, everything that you all do to support us goes a long way to keeping our school community safe, so thank you.
#WakeUpWednesday
The multimedia messaging app Signal has been dubbed ‘an overnight success, years in the making.’ The result of a merger between two older apps (TextSecure and RedPhone), Signal has been available since 2015, but didn’t gain notable popularity until the latter half of 2020 – since when it’s been downloaded by an additional 20 million users globally.
So why the belated, sudden surge? What does Signal offer that most of the plethora of other messaging apps can’t? Is it really as secure as people think? National Online Safety’s #WakeUpWednesday guide this week puts Signal under the spotlight.
Confirmed Dates for the Spring Term 2021
Monday 8th March: School opens for all pupils at usual bubble times
Five minute windows are:
Blakemere: 8.25am – 8.30am
Linmere: 8.25am – 8.30am
Oakmere: 8.30am – 8.35am
Delamere: 8.35am – 8.40am
Sandymere: 8.40am – 8.45am
Hatchmere: 8.45am – 8.50am
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
I look forward to seeing you all on Monday - have a fabulous weekend!
Mrs E Snowdon