School attendance is mandatory for all children. It is imperative that children attend school regularly if they are well to do so. The evidence is clear that being out of education causes significant harm to educational attainment, life chances, mental and physical health.
However, it is really important that everyone follows the stay at home guidance. If your child is displaying symptoms of COVID19, they cannot attend school. You must inform the school office immediately and follow the stay at home guidance and organise a test.
COVID-19 symptoms are:
A high temperature (Above 38C)
A new cough where you keep on coughing. This means coughing a lot for more than an hour or three or more episodes of coughing in a day.
Losing or there being a change to your sense of smell or taste
The government guidance is frequently changing regarding COVID-19, all communications and updates will be sent to parents via Class Dojo. Hindley Junior and Infant School, always take on board the government guidance when implementing control measure and procedures.
What happens if there is a positive case of COVID-19 in school?
Parents/carers will be informed of all positive cases via Class Dojo, and school will advise what to do in line with the latest government guidance.
What are you doing to make school as safe as possible?
As always, safety is paramount at school. We are continually liaising with Public Health (PHE) and the Department of Education to ensure that we are adhering to all of the latest government and PHE guidance around ensuring that school is as safe as possible for everyone.
The control measure that continue to be in place are as followed:
Ensuring good hygiene for everyone by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach, and regular hand washing and sanitising.
Maintaining appropriate cleaning regimes with enhanced cleaning of ‘high traffic’ areas such as door handles around school.
Keeping occupied spaces well ventilated.
Following public health advice on testing, self-isolation and managing confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The school risk assessment and routines/procedures are regularly being reviewed and updated in line with the latest government and Public Health guidance and recommendations. If we have a substantial increase in the number of positive cases in our school or area, the director of public health might advise that we re-introduce certain measures outlined in our ‘Outbreak Contingency Plan’.
What happens if my child is self-isolating?
They will be expected to follow the stay at home guidance, as will all members of the household.
Your child will be sent daily learning tasks via Class Dojo usually linked to the government approved Oak Academy resources (closely linked to what the children in school will be learning about). This will be sent as a private message. This will consist of daily lessons/activities for maths, reading, writing and one other subject. You are expected to upload pictures of your child’s work to their Class Dojo portfolio. Also, we are asking that your child practise their spellings and practise their four operations in maths (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing). Links to these can be found on individual class pages under 'Downloads'. This includes video tutorials of how the children are to do their four operations in maths.
As always, teachers will reply to Class Dojo messages regarding work, but please be mindful that class teachers will also be teaching in school, so will not be able to reply immediately.
Staff from school may also ring home to speak to your child to make sure that they are OK whilst they are at home.
Keeping the children as physically active as possible during any self-isolation period is really important for their physical and mental health. We would encourage the children to keep active whilst at home and do at least a ‘Daily Wake up and Shake up’ routine, like they would if they were in school.
What happens if all of my child’s class/bubble is sent home to self-isolate following a positive case?
If it is decided that a class/bubble needs to be sent home, they will be expected to follow the stay-at-home guidance.
A personalised and comprehensive, yet simple to use remote learning package will be delivered by teachers. This method of providing remote learning will build upon our home learning offer that we provided throughout lockdown last academic year, and it will consist of teachers pre-recording lessons. Teachers will be available throughout normal school hours to provide feedback etc. Please watch the demonstration video below which outlines how it will work and what our expectations are.
Children at home will be provided with a range of work daily. All work will be uploaded to class pages on Class Dojo by teachers. Children will be expected to complete the work and upload it to their individual portfolio. All children will receive personal feedback from teachers, including individual next steps and targets appropriately. All children will be provided with appropriate home learning resources e.g. books, pencils, word mats, reading books, number lines etc. Resources, in designated boxes, will be available to collect from outside school.
A mixture of pre-recorded lessons and live sessions will be offered to all children. All class teachers will upload pre-recorded personalised video lessons for reading/phonics, writing and maths daily, with follow up work to complete. Additionally, children will be provided with pre-recorded lessons in other subjects too (equivalent of one other subject per day) using predominantly commercially available resources such as Oak Academy. Furthermore, children will be expected to read every day, and will be encouraged to upload a video clip of them reading to their portfolio; practise their weekly spellings and learn their weekly maths number facts (i.e. specific timetables or number bonds). Children will be encouraged to take part in daily exercise too (e.g. weekly PE challenges set by teacher or links to commercially available exercise sessions such as Joe Wicks).
Theses live sessions will not be lessons were new content is taught, but will used to assess children’s learning to inform next steps in teaching. These live sessions will also be used check on the well-being of the children and continue to promote a feeling of togetherness and camaraderie and school community with the children. These daily sessions will include class quizzes based on learning, sharing class stories and novels, taking part in a group wake up and shake up exercise activities, singing songs and nursey rhymes and playing counting/maths games to name a few. During these live lessons we expect the children’s behaviour to be exemplary (as we do in school). It is essential that the children are appropriately dressed (no pyjamas or just underwear). Please watch the demonstration video below which outlines how it will work and what our expectations are.
What if my child’s teacher is off self-isolating, but the class are still in school?
Another adult will cover the class. This may be a supply teacher or higher level teaching assistant. If the ‘normal’ class teacher is fit and well, they will liaise closely with the person covering the class on a daily basis to plan the lessons to ensure that the pitch and challenge of the lessons are appropriate for all children. The ‘normal’ class teacher will also interact with the class on a daily basis via video link; this may consist of delivering some live lessons remotely if appropriate.
What happens if there is a national lockdown?
In the event of a national lockdown, only children whose parents are key workers/critical workers and ‘vulnerable’ children will be allowed into school. All other children will have to stay at home and will be educated remotely. Children at home will be provided with a range of work daily. All work will be uploaded to class pages on Class Dojo by teachers. Children will be expected to complete the work and upload it to their individual portfolio. All children will receive personal feedback from teachers, including individual next steps and targets appropriately.
All children will be provided with appropriate home learning resources e.g. books, pencils, word mats, reading books, number lines etc. Resources, in designated boxes, will be available to collect from outside school.
A mixture of pre-recorded lessons and live sessions will be offered to all children. All class teachers will upload pre-recorded personalised video lessons for reading/phonics, writing and maths daily, with follow up work to complete. Additionally, children will be provided with pre-recorded lessons in other subjects too (equivalent of one other subject per day) using predominantly commercially available resources such as Oak Academy. Furthermore, children will be expected to read every day, and will be encouraged to upload a video clip of them reading to their portfolio; practise their weekly spellings and learn their weekly maths number facts (i.e. specific timetables or number bonds). Children will be encouraged to take part in daily exercise too (e.g. weekly PE challenges set by teacher or links to commercially available exercise sessions such as Joe Wicks).
In addition to the pre-recorded lessons, all classes will be offered live sessions daily with their class mates and class teachers. Theses live sessions will not be lessons were new content is taught, but will used to assess children’s learning to inform next steps in teaching. These live sessions will also be used check on the well-being of the children and continue to promote a feeling of togetherness and camaraderie and school community with the children. These daily sessions will include class quizzes based on learning, sharing class stories and novels, taking part in a group wake up and shake up exercise activities, singing songs and nursey rhymes and playing counting/maths games to name a few. All classes will have the opportunity to access live PE lessons every week with an in school PE Specialist via Zoom.
As a school we have decided to use predominantly pre-recorded lessons to deliver new content and to teach the children for the following reasons:
Lots of our children will be sharing devices with siblings, so did not want to limit children’s opportunities to access the lessons by setting specific times for live lessons.
To give parents, especially who are working from home, more flexibility as to when their children access the lessons.
It allows the children and/or parents to watch the videos over and over again (to reinforce concepts/ideas) if needed, and to pause the video at given times if needed to.
Live sessions can often be disrupted by inconsistent internet connections at various children’s homes: leading to children missing key point of lessons.
Regular welfare checks will be carried out accordingly. Children who are not accessing/completing the home learning tasks as expected will be contacted from the school, and offered support.
Children who struggle to access the home learning will be supported by school. School will provide laptops and help with internet connection in line with government guidance. Also, all children who are entitled to benefits related free school meals will be provided for in line with government guidance.
All teachers will be available via the Class Dojo messenger service during normal school hours to support parents further (be mindful that teachers will also be in school teaching the key worker and vulnerable children within their own bubbles, so may not be able to reply immediately to messages).
What if my child’s teacher is off self-isolating, but the class are still in school?
Another adult will cover the class. This may be a supply teacher or higher level teaching assistant. If the ‘normal’ class teacher is fit and well, they will liaise closely with the person covering the class on a daily basis to plan the lessons to ensure that the pitch and challenge of the lessons are appropriate for all children. The ‘normal’ class teacher will also interact with the class on a daily basis via video link; this may consist of delivering some live lessons remotely if appropriate.
What happens if there is a national lockdown?
In the event of a national lockdown, only children whose parents are key workers/critical workers and ‘vulnerable’ children will be allowed into school. All other children will have to stay at home and will be educated remotely. Children at home will be provided with a range of work daily. All work will be uploaded to class pages on Class Dojo by teachers. Children will be expected to complete the work and upload it to their individual portfolio. All children will receive personal feedback from teachers, including individual next steps and targets appropriately.
All children will be provided with appropriate home learning resources e.g. books, pencils, word mats, reading books, number lines etc. Resources, in designated boxes, will be available to collect from outside school.
A mixture of pre-recorded lessons and live sessions will be offered to all children. All class teachers will upload pre-recorded personalised video lessons for reading/phonics, writing and maths daily, with follow up work to complete. Additionally, children will be provided with pre-recorded lessons in other subjects too (equivalent of one other subject per day) using predominantly commercially available resources such as Oak Academy. Furthermore, children will be expected to read every day, and will be encouraged to upload a video clip of them reading to their portfolio; practise their weekly spellings and learn their weekly maths number facts (i.e. specific timetables or number bonds). Children will be encouraged to take part in daily exercise too (e.g. weekly PE challenges set by teacher or links to commercially available exercise sessions such as Joe Wicks).
In addition to the pre-recorded lessons, all classes will be offered live sessions daily with their class mates and class teachers. Theses live sessions will not be lessons were new content is taught, but will used to assess children’s learning to inform next steps in teaching. These live sessions will also be used check on the well-being of the children and continue to promote a feeling of togetherness and camaraderie and school community with the children. These daily sessions will include class quizzes based on learning, sharing class stories and novels, taking part in a group wake up and shake up exercise activities, singing songs and nursey rhymes and playing counting/maths games to name a few. All classes will have the opportunity to access live PE lessons every week with an in school PE Specialist via Zoom.
As a school we have decided to use predominantly pre-recorded lessons to deliver new content and to teach the children for the following reasons:
Lots of our children will be sharing devices with siblings, so did not want to limit children’s opportunities to access the lessons by setting specific times for live lessons.
To give parents, especially who are working from home, more flexibility as to when their children access the lessons.
It allows the children and/or parents to watch the videos over and over again (to reinforce concepts/ideas) if needed, and to pause the video at given times if needed to.
Live sessions can often be disrupted by inconsistent internet connections at various children’s homes: leading to children missing key point of lessons.
Regular welfare checks will be carried out accordingly. Children who are not accessing/completing the home learning tasks as expected will be contacted from the school, and offered support.
Children who struggle to access the home learning will be supported by school. School will provide laptops and help with internet connection in line with government guidance. Also, all children who are entitled to benefits related free school meals will be provided for in line with government guidance.
All teachers will be available via the Class Dojo messenger service during normal school hours to support parents further (be mindful that teachers will also be in school teaching the key worker and vulnerable children within their own bubbles, so may not be able to reply immediately to messages).
USEFUL LINKS
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