Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Quadring Children and Staff send their love to all

  Fri 20 Mar 2020 J Jameson
  As we close our school gates this afternoon we wish all of our families and community the best. Until we meet again please be safe and healthy. We, in our Quadring school family, send much love to all of you, especially those who can't be with us today.

  

• Letter to parents 20th March 2020

  Fri 20 Mar 2020 J Jameson

  20^th March 2020

   

   

  Dear Parents/Carers

   

  Thank you for all of the support you have given to myself and the staff over the past few weeks. This has been a very unsettling time for us all.

   

  All we can say is that we hope you all stay safe and healthy. Please take time to be together as a family and enjoy being with your loved ones.

   

  We will miss not seeing the children every day as they bring such laughter and joy to every one of us on a daily basis. However we are looking forward to keeping in touch and finding out what the children are doing. Please, please do keep sending in emails from the children and yourselves to keep us up to date and please keep checking the school website for up to date learning and communication from your teachers and teaching assistants.

   

  On a rather sadder note, we know that Mrs Bemrose will be retiring at the end of this term and we have been unable to give her the send off that she so rightly deserves. The children have been fabulous today, bringing her messages and cards and just saying thank you. Please be assured that when we return to school we will organise for Mrs Bemrose to come back to celebrate the wonderful years she has given to Quadring Primary School.

   

  We are also very aware that this is such an uncertain time for our Year 6 children as we do not know when schools will reopen. Once again, I promise you that we will make sure our Year 6 children get the recognition and send off that they also deserve if these school closures are for a prolonged period of time.

   

  We look forward to seeing you all as soon as is possible.

   

  Take care. Be safe. Sending an enormous amount of love to you all from all of us.

   

   

  All of the Quadring Staff

   

• Letter to parents regarding Key Workers and Vulnerable Children

  Fri 20 Mar 2020 J Jameson

  20^th March 2020

   

   

  Dear Parents/Carers

   

  In the early hours of this morning the Government released their advice regarding the opening of schools to those families who have parents as key workers and those children who are deemed to be Vulnerable children.

  We need your urgent response in letting us know if you are a key worker as defined by the sectors listed below. We can then identify what level of provision is required and whether we as a school can maintain this and remain open to these children. This is also dependant on ratios and numbers that will enable us to continue to safeguard everyone and contain any spread of COVID-19.  

   

  Current government guidance regarding eligibility for the school care as of Monday 23^rd March 2020 is that children with at least one parent or carer who are identified as critical workers by the government can potentially send their children to school if required. However, we must emphasise that the government guidance also states that “many parents working in these critical sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. Every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.”

   

  Government advice states:

  If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading. That is why the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend.
  It is important to underline that schools, colleges and other educational establishments remain safe places for children. But the fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.
  Schools are, therefore, being asked to continue to provide care for a limited number of children - children who are vulnerable and children whose parents are critical to the Covid-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.

   

  Vulnerable Children

  Vulnerable children are those who are supported by Social Services, those with Child in Need Plans or Child Protection plans, Looked after children, young carers, disabled children and those with Educational Health and Care Plans.

  For those who are our vulnerable children we will be contacting you directly with regards to this.

   

  Key Workers

  We are asking parents to provide us with information about your situations and why you require school based childcare. If you are a critical worker, we will be asking you to give us contact details including full name and telephone number of your supervisor/employer so we can confirm that your active role is a necessity in these challenging circumstances. We may also need to get in touch with you via telephone to gain some extra clarification.

   

  Health and social care

  This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

  
  Education and childcare

  This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

   

  Key public services

  This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.
   

  Local and national government

  This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.

  Food and other necessary goods
  This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).
  
  Public safety and national security
  This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.
  
  Transport
  This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.
  
  Utilities, communication and financial services
  This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

  If workers think they fall within the critical categories above they should confirm with their employer that, based on their business continuity arrangements, their specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service.

  If your school is closed then please contact your local authority, who will seek to redirect you to a local school in your area that your child, or children, can attend.

   

   

   

  For children coming in to school (as agreed by school) as of Monday 23^rd March 2020, the following measures/precautions must be taken:

   

  • Own clothes to be worn which are fresh on – we recommend putting clothes straight in the washing machine once returning home from school to minimise and control the spread of infection.
  • Up to date contact details for family members must be available within school and emergency contact details should your child become poorly/exhibit symptoms of contracting coronavirus.
  • We must register your child in and out of the premises by somebody who either has parental responsibility or has been nominated by yourselves, as long as you are all fit and well and not showing symptoms of coronavirus.
  • Please note, the current guidance around self-isolation regarding symptoms of coronavirus including a temperature of over 37.8°C and/or a persistent cough are still in force.
  • If you become unwell with coronavirus symptoms, you must immediately contact school and arrange for collection of your child.
  • Social distancing must be enforced whilst your child is not in school if we are to prevent/minimise the spread of infection.
  • School must be informed if you no longer fall within the critical worker list or you have been asked to self-isolate.
  • Thorough hand washing to take place at home just before leaving the home.
  • Children must be dropped off at 9:00 am and picked up at 3:15 pm unless the school has an extended schools service which has been previously agreed.

   

  In the next few days, I will have to make some incredibly difficult decisions. I want to thank you for all the support you have given us as a school and ask that you continue to work with me in helping to identify what the best next steps are for the children in our school.

   

   

   

   

   

  Please continue to check the school website and emails for updated information.

   

  Thank you once again for your understanding, cooperation and most of all your support and patience.

   

  Kind regards

   

  JFJameson

   

  Mrs Jameson

  Headteacher

   

   

   

• Update regarding Key Workers and Vulnerable children

  Thu 19 Mar 2020 J Jameson

  19^th March 2020

  Dear Parents/Carers

  As you are aware the Government announced yesterday that schools would be closing to children from the end of the day until further notice. This still remains the case – school will be closed.

  However the Government also informed us that schools may need to remain open for children whose parents are Key Workers and those most Vulnerable children. As yet we have no confirmation as to who this applies to and how this will be organised. 

  The Local Authority have informed schools that if we do not have this information from the Department of Education (DfE) by tomorrow then they will provide guidance in defining these groups, however this may be subject to change by the DfE.

  I apologise that this cannot be clarified at this moment but I can only act on the advice and information received.  As soon as I know anything more I assure you I will inform you.

  In the meantime please can you let us know immediately if you think you are parents who are identified as Key Workers, providing your occupation, place of work and updated contact details. Please do this by emailing myself on jeanette.jameson@quadringprimary.co.uk. At this stage I am not sure if both parents need to be identified as Key Workers for this to apply. If you are a single parent family this would apply if you are a key worker.

  If we are able to, we can then organise the relevant provision that is required to support these children.

  If you are parent whose child is identified as a Vulnerable child, we will contact you directly and confidentially.

  I am hoping for clarification with regards to this so that we can make plans moving forward. These still remain uncertain times and we do not know for sure if we will be a school that remains open to these identified children.

  Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during these difficult times.

  Kind regards

   

  Mrs Jameson

  Headteacher

• School Closure from Friday 20th March

  Wed 18 Mar 2020 J Jameson

  18^th March 2020

  Dear Parents/Carers and Children

  As I am sure you are all aware the Government announced today that all schools will be closed to pupils from the end of the school day on Friday 20^th March until further notice.

   

  As a staff we are extremely saddened that this has had to happen as we care deeply about all of your children and you as families. However we do understand the necessity for this to happen at such an unprecedented and uncertain time.

   

  While we know that this may cause difficulties for many of our families, we assure you that we will do our best to maintain good communication with all of you and regular contact. We feel that this is exceedingly important for all of our children and families, and for us as staff.

   

  The expectations from the Government and the Department of Education during the period of school closure,  is that learning will continue at home via whatever method schools and families can access effectively.

   

  Please can I reassure you that we are doing everything that we can to enable learning to continue at home. By the end of this week each child will be bringing home a letter from their Class Teacher explaining the next steps for learning and expectations, as well as two weeks of planned activities for your child to complete at home.

   

  Further learning and support will continue to be provided by the Class Teachers for the duration of the period that the school is closed and support will also be available for all parents/carers via email and phone correspondence when required.

   

  Unfortunately, I will also have to cancel all after school clubs tomorrow and Friday. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

   

  One of the Government announcements today, was for schools to remain open for children of key workers and vulnerable children. However nothing was explained further, and as yet, I do not know the exact details of who this will be and how this will be planned for. I have been assured that I should know more about this tomorrow by the Local Authority and Department of Education. As soon as I am made aware of what this exactly means I will let all parents know.
   

  In the meantime, in order to be prepared, I would ask that you let myself or the school office know if you may be one of these parents/families who this may relate to, and provide your occupation and place of work so that we can be ready for such an announcement.

   

  I can only apologise that I am unable to clarify anything further as I do not know anything other than what I have told you and what has been announced by the Government.

   

   If you have any questions or concerns, please can I ask that you direct these to myself so that the teachers can focus on what they need to do to make the next two days in school run as smoothly as possible for your children.   

   

  Once again, we would like to thank you for your continued support, understanding and cooperation.

   

  Please keep you and your families as safe and healthy as possible. We look forward to the time when the children are back in school and life can return to some normality for us all.

   

  Kind regards

  Mrs J Jameson

  Mrs Jameson, the Quadring Staff Team and School Governors.

• Coronavirus update of changes to school procedures

  Mon 16 Mar 2020 J Jameson

  Dear Parents/Carers

  We hope you are all well and keeping safe and healthy.

  With all of the media coverage surrounding Coronavirus, it is exceedingly difficult to keep up to date with what seems to be so many conflicting pieces of information and advice about the best steps to prevent the risk of exposure and spreading of the virus. As a school, we are keeping up to date with and continuing to follow the advice given by Public Health England and the Department of Education in relation to general health and more specifically for schools.

  In these uncertain times with regards to what seems to be the inevitable spread of Coronavirus we feel that as a school, as well as following the Government advice, we also have to take the necessary precautions to prevent and delay any spread of the virus to safeguard all of our children, families and staff, to the best of our ability. Our main aim as a school is health and safety of all and trying to ensure that we can keep our school open.

  Therefore as a means or prevention and delay we have put into place, from today, the following measures, which are in line with our Critical Incident Plan for Preventing and Managing Sickness including outbreaks (to be found on the school website) at Stage 3:

  • All planned school events for the rest of this term are to be postponed and will be timetabled to take place at a later date in the school year.
    Events to be postponed are Robins Class Assembly, Special Lady Reading event, Parents Evening, SEND Reviews.
  • We are reducing/stopping all non-essential visitors into school with the exception of any visits that are a necessity. Any necessary visitors into school will be asked to follow our health and safety procedures to reduce any risks to children and staff.
  • We are cancelling any non-essential meetings or training for staff that have been planned to take place in other settings or take staff out of the school setting.
  • We are following rigid health and safety precautions in terms of regular washing of hands, on entry into school, at relevant times of the day, and before going home.
  • Staff are cleaning the main areas of the school buildings, including handles, light switches, general surfaces, toilet areas and frequently touched areas throughout the school.
  • We are monitoring attendance and the symptoms for any absences and providing advice as per Public Health England guidance.
  • We have purchased thermometers in school in order that we can take temperatures to act quickly with regards to next steps for both children and staff.  

  It is our ultimate aim to keep our school open for as long as possible and following these preventative measures will help us to do this.

  We apologise wholeheartedly for any disruption this may cause but we hope that you understand that all decisions we make are in the best interests of all children, families and staff and are a means to try and safeguard all.

  The same information continues to apply in the event of school closure being enforced by the Department of Education and we would inform you as parents/carers as soon as we are made aware of this.

  We want to reassure you that we are ready for such an occurrence, and we as a school will  provide adequate learning resources so learning can continue at home. Should this be the scenario, you will receive a class letter of detailed information as to the expectations and relevant resources that can be used at home to support learning. Communication with school will remain open throughout any school closure, through the enquiries email or my school email or other systems that we deem to be effective and user friendly and accessible for all. We do not expect parents to provide any learning activities or be expected to purchase any additional resources. All we ask is that in the event of a school closure, that you support your child to the best of your ability, in completing the work set by the Class Teachers.

  Once again, we would like to ask all families to support the prevention of Coronavirus by following Public Health England Guidelines on hygiene, in particular the washing of hands using soap and water for at least 20 seconds before leaving the home, and when returning home at the end of the school day, as well as following general health and hygiene procedures.

  We would like to thank you for your continued support and understanding. I will continue to keep you updated as and when I have any information.

   

   

  Please keep checking the school website. All of the relevant links for updated information can also be found on the school website.

  Yours sincerely

   

  Mrs J Jameson

  Headteacher

   

   

   

   

   

   

• Coronavirus Update

  Tue 03 Mar 2020 J Jameson

  We are continuing to keep you updated on the government’s response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

   

  Department for Education Coronavirus helpline

  Today, we have launched a new helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:

  Phone: 0800 046 8687
  Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
  Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)

   

  No school should close in response to a suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19 case unless directed to do so by Public Health England.

  The importance of hygiene

   

  Personal hygiene is the most important way we can tackle COVID-19. Please help us in sharing simple and effective hand hygiene messages.

  Public Health England has a dedicated webpage with a range of posters and digital materials at:

  https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101-coronavirus-/resources

  Sign up is quick, free and means you will be alerted as more resources are made available.

• World Book Day 2020

  Sun 01 Mar 2020 J Jameson

  World Book Day

  Don't forget we will be celebrating World Book Day 2020 on Thursday 5th March.  

  The children can dress up as a book character.  

  If you are able please donate a book for our school library. All books must be in good condition and be appropriate for children ages 4-11.

   

  Thank you once again for your support. 

  We look forward to seeing all the fabulous book characters on Thursday!