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.
Dear Parent or Carer,
Numbers of pupils with Covid symptoms is going up across our county’s schools. Thank you for your effort and support in tackling COVID-19 infections during what has been another challenging academic year. We are writing to you now, because we need your ongoing support as we head in to the final weeks of the school term.
Thankfully, the number of Gloucestershire residents becoming seriously ill from Covid is now much lower, but as we start to mix more, the number of infections is rising sharply, particularly in our county’s schools. Schools continue to do all they can to keep Covid out of the classroom. The health and wellbeing, education and safety of pupils are always their top priority. This sometimes means that they have to make difficult decisions.
All schools receive regular updates from the Department of Education (DfE) which include guidance and advice on how to run events safely. Many end of term events are planned over the coming weeks and schools have reviewed their risk assessments to include these activities, such as sports days and leavers’ events. It is important to remember that the risk assessment process will vary from school to school and will be dependent on a number of factors such as whether a school is currently experiencing an outbreak, case rates in their community, on-site facilities, the size and layout of the school site and whether they have sufficient staff to safely manage events involving large numbers of spectators/audiences. This may mean that some schools will have to make the difficult decision to postpone or cancel events, or exclude spectators, to make sure the events can run in the safest possible way. Whilst we understand that it is disappointing and frustrating when an event has to be cancelled or is not open to parents and carers, we urge you to support your school in the decisions that they make.
Schools do a fantastic job, under challenging circumstances, to ensure that they remain open until the end of term so that your children can attend and continue their learning. For the latest guidance on what you can do to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, please see attached document.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Scott & Chris Spencer Executive Director & Director of Children’s Services of Adult Social Care and Public Health
Dear Parents,
Advice to all parents - Single Confirmed Case in Year 4
I has been confirmed this morning that there has been a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 within the school in Year 4.
We are continuing to monitor the situation and are working closely with Public Health England. This letter is to inform you of the current situation and provide advice on how to support your child. Please be reassured that for most people, Coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.
The children who have been in direct prolonged contact with the confirmed case have been informed and will be self-isolating at home for 10 days.
The school remains open and, providing your child remains well, they can continue to attend school as normal. We will keep this under review pending any further cases.
What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID-19
If your child develops symptoms of COVID-19, you should organise for your child to be tested immediately via the www.nhs.uk/get-tested or by calling 119. Your household should isolate until you receive the test results giving the all clear.
Symptoms of COVID-19
The most common symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19) are the recent onset of:
How to stop COVID-19 spreading
There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19.
Do:
Yours sincerely,
Mrs N Tippen
Head Teacher
Dear Parents,
Advice to all parents - Single Confirmed Case in Year 6
I has been confirmed this morning that there has been a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 within the school in Year 6.
We are continuing to monitor the situation and are working closely with Public Health England. This letter is to inform you of the current situation and provide advice on how to support your child. Please be reassured that for most people, Coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.
The children who have been in direct prolonged contact with the confirmed case have been informed and will be self-isolating at home for 10 days.
The school remains open and, providing your child remains well, they can continue to attend school as normal. We will keep this under review pending any further cases.
What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID-19
If your child develops symptoms of COVID-19, you should organise for your child to be tested immediately via the www.nhs.uk/get-tested or by calling 119. Your household should isolate until you receive the test results giving the all clear.
Symptoms of COVID-19
The most common symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19) are the recent onset of:
How to stop COVID-19 spreading
There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19.
Do:
Yours sincerely,
Mrs N Tippen
Head Teacher
Dear Parent/Guardian,
We hope you are well and that your child/ren is enjoying the summer term and the warm weather!
Ahead of the summer holidays, we wanted to let you know about the brilliant new Holiday Activities and Food programme which is operating in your local area. We are helping to launch a new film to promote the programme so parents know that their children can get involved in a local holiday club when the school term ends this July.
We know that the holidays can be a really difficult time for families who are struggling to make ends meet or who are juggling work and childcare. The holidays should be a time for every child to enjoy themselves rather than worrying about having enough to eat or how they can spend their free time.
That’s why we’re really excited about the summer holiday programmes that are being funded by the Government and will take place across the whole of England. This was recommended by the National Food Strategy when it was published last year. A petition supporting the recommendation was signed by over 1 million people.
Places on the holiday schemes are available for free to children who receive free school meals, but children and young people of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to attend. Each local programme will provide delicious, healthy meals, allow kids to get active, help them learn new things, make friends and have fun. And that is what the holidays are all about!
You can find out more by watching this new film that we’ve made: https://youtu.be/KDgm8KpXAXE
The holiday programmes are open to children of any age and are free for children eligible for free school meals. They will:
You can find out exactly what’s available in your local area either by visiting your council’s website or by searching online for HAF (that stands for Holiday Activity and Food).
We hope you and your family have a great summer with the Holiday Activities and Food programme!
Yours sincerely,
Marcus Rashford MBE
Henry Dimbleby MBE (Founder of Leon, Independent Lead of the National Food Strategy)
Just a reminder that we have a staff training day on Monday 7th June. We look forward to seeing you all back on Tuesday 8th June.