St Thomas More Catholic Primary School
Inspiration, Celebration and Education
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Public Health England have produced a letter for schools which explains when a person requires a Coronavirus test and what the symptoms of Coronavirus are. The DfE have asked us to share this letter with you. A copy is being sent home to every family today and a copy is on the COVID-19 section of our website.
The intention of the letter is to help prevent children being taken out of school unnecessarily and answer some of the questions parents may have around testing.
Dear Parents / Carers,
SOCIAL DISTANCING
As you will be aware from Government announcements this week, there is deep concern over the rising number of Coronavirus cases, particularly amongst younger adults. The Prime Minister has announced the ‘Rule of 6’ where there should be no gatherings, indoors or outside, of more than 6 people.
Within the school building we are still permitted to have larger groupings and I would like to reassure you that we have measures in place to mitigate the Covid 19 risk. Rates of infection within schools still remains very low.
However, pick up and drop off are the most congested points of the school day where the ability to socially distance is most difficult. It is essential that, to keep us all safe, we all respect the need to socially distance, so we are making some changes to our pick-up arrangements from MONDAY 14th SEPTEMBER. Your child’s class timings may have changed so please take a note of the new timings below:
|
Year Group |
Timings |
Drop-off / Pick-up Point |
|
Reception - Mrs Jones |
9:00 am – 3.00 pm |
Reception garden gate |
|
Year 1 - Mrs Smith |
8.45 am – 3.05 pm |
Key Stage 1 door |
|
Year 2 - Mrs Cook |
8:55 am – 3.15 pm |
Year 2 outside classroom door |
|
Year 3 - Mr Holmes |
8:50 am – 3.10 pm |
Hall door |
|
Year 4 Esther - Miss Copson |
8.55 am – 3.15 pm |
Year 4 outside classroom door |
|
Year 4 Ezra - Mr Ryder |
8:50 am – 3.10 pm |
Year 4 outside classroom door |
|
Year 5 - Miss Wilson |
8.55 am – 3.15 pm |
Year 5 outside classroom door |
|
Year 6 - Mrs Hibell |
8.45 am – 3.05 pm |
Year 6 outside classroom door |
In order to keep the risk to children, parents and staff to a minimum at these peak times we are introducing the following measures:
Asking everybody to keep their distance and stay apart goes against the grain with all of us and we are all looking forward to the time when we can put these measures behind us and live our lives normally. But for now, please can I ask that you help us to keep everybody safe and adhere to social distancing rules.
I thank you for your on-going support and understanding.
Kind regards,
Mrs N Tippen
Head Teacher
We have had two issues already this year regarding children accessing inappropriate online content outside of school. We want to work with you to protect your children from the dangerous side of the online world and have worked with other schools to put together a "What Parents Need to Know" guide to current social media platforms and their age restrictions, including TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.
Please read this really important guide under "Parents" - "Online Safety".
Thank you
|
The COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund for food and essential supplies is there to support vulnerable children, young people, working age adults, older people and their families during the challenging and unprecedented times of the Coronavirus outbreak. Individuals or Families can self refer or be referred by any professional working with them.
The Fund is overseen by a panel who manage the fund and can access financial assistance for vulnerable children, young people, working age adults, older people and families. The panel provide a consistent and effective response to escalating need and ensure that people get the support they need. The panel assess a person or families need against the eligibility criteria and cross reference other funding that may be available to vulnerable children, young people, working age adults, older people and families.
The Covid-19 Emergency Assistance Fund has received over 90 referrals since its launch at the end of July 2020. Individuals and families have received support including food, utility payments and essential household items.
You can apply using the Application Form found at this address: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/2097744/emergency-assistance-grant-form.pdf
The form can be edited online and you can email completed forms to: childrensfund@gloucestershire.gov.uk with the subject line ‘COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund’ |
1st September 2020
Dear Parents,
Welcome to a new school year. We are really looking forward to having all our children back on Thursday 3rd September and being a ‘whole’ school again.
We have continued to implement many changes to make school as Covid secure as possible. Please look at the school website under ‘Key Information’ then ‘Covid-19 Crisis’ to find the latest documentation. The updated Road Map to Return and Risk Assessment gives very detailed information for returning to school in September, so please read these documents very carefully.
You will see that there are individual timings for each year group and it is extremely important that you only bring your child to school and pick them up at the correct time. This is to ensure that we have a controlled flow of people through the school and limit the number of people on site at any one time. All children will continue to enter their classrooms through the outside doors and these will not be open before the allocated time.
|
Year Group |
Timings |
Drop-off / Pick-up Point |
|
Reception Mrs Jones |
9:00 am – 3.00 pm |
Reception garden gate |
|
Year 1 Mrs Smith |
8:55 am – 3.15 pm |
Year 1 garden gate |
|
Year 2 Mrs Cook |
8:50 am – 3.10 pm |
Year 2 outside classroom door |
|
Year 3 Mr Holmes |
8.45 am – 3.05 pm |
Key Stage 1 outside main door |
|
Year 4 Esther Miss Copson |
8.55 am – 3.15 pm |
Year 4 outside classroom door |
|
Year 4 Ezra Mr Ryder |
8.55 am – 3.15 pm |
Year 4 outside classroom door |
|
Year 5 Miss Wilson |
8:50 am – 3.10 pm |
Year 5 outside classroom door |
|
Year 6 Mrs Hibell |
8.45 am – 3.05 pm |
Year 6 outside classroom door |
Obviously, due to the crisis all the children will be at different stages of learning but please be assured that we are fully prepared to assess each child individually to identify any gaps in their learning. Next week 7th – 11th September will be Assessment Week in school when this important testing will be done, so please ensure that your child is in school every day to enable this to happen.
We do not know what the next school year will bring, but by now we all know to expect the unexpected!
Best wishes for a safe and productive year ahead.
Mrs Tippen
Head Teacher