Author: Mr Roundtree

Today’s message relates to recent government announcements…

Socially distanced in school

Since the government announced that from Saturday 04 July, the two metre rule would be relaxed a little, some parents have asked if this means we can accept more children back at school. Sadly, the answer is no.

There may be spaces for a small number of individual children in a bubble, but generally speaking, there are no more spaces. Recent messages refer to a ‘one metre plus’ rule, but the guidance talks of ‘mitigation’, which includes:

• maintain 2m where viable (we’ve organised classrooms to do this)
• maintaining hand hygiene and cough etiquette (and we can’t ensure children maintain ‘cough etiquette’ – coughing into a disposable tissue or at least into their sleeve, not hand)
• staff minimising duration of contact at less than 2m with people outside their household (in a small classroom, and with young children, this is really hard)
• wearing face coverings when distances of 2m cannot be kept in indoor environments where possible (school staff are advised not to wear masks or other coverings because they hinder effective teaching)

Because these precautions can’t really happen in school, our current circumstances are the right ones, and Leeds City Council advice (26 June 2020) backs this up: ‘Schools should continue to implement and maintain the 2m social distancing measures already in place and not plan to reduce this to 1m+.’

We know the government guidelines are complicated and appear to be forever-changing, but be assured we’re following them closely.

(If it helps to know, sometimes school leaders are confused by the messages, too: current guidance for primary planning advises heads ‘if you can keep older children…two metres away from each other, you should do so’. However, on 24 June, the daily email and a blog from the Department for Education stated something apparently quite different: ‘primary schools do not need to keep children 2 metres apart from each other –  this has been the case throughout the outbreak’.)

Summer holidays

On Friday evening, the DfE confirmed that there is no expectation that schools should open for vulnerable children and children of critical workers over the summer holiday.

They stated: ‘Teachers, support staff and school leaders deserve a break, to recharge and rest.’

They further added: ‘We can confirm that providers offering paid childcare will be able to operate over the summer holidays, in line with protective measures guidance. Additional funded activities may be available in local areas, such as the Holiday Activities and Food scheme.’

It’s great news that children entitled to free school meals can benefit from enriching activities throughout the summer. The Holiday Activities and Food programme will support up to 50,000 disadvantaged children across 17 local authority areas, including Leeds, and help them to stay healthy and active over the summer.

Ten providers, including the Leeds Community Foundation, were successful in their bid for the programme and will be supporting families in need with activities and healthy meals. Activities will include a variety of online and directly delivered physical activities such as dance, yoga, HIIT and adventure play.

September and beyond – plans

The government has not yet published its plans for schools opening in September, but its intention is clear: that all pupils will be back for all the time.

Draft plans have been leaked and published yesterday on the Huffington Post.

These plans are still very much subject to change, but a couple of things are encouraging, including the ability to adapt the curriculum so that we can make sure our pupils catch up on valuable skills in reading, writing and maths. Please be assured we’re committed to doing this in a way which means our children can continue to enjoy a broad and balanced curriculum with enriching and enjoyable experiences.

The plans also raise questions, too. For example, there is a strong emphasis on class bubbles of 30. This means we’ll have to carefully consider how we plan the school day and week, and it might mean we still need to close early for one half day each week. Hopefully, the government’s full plans will provide lots of guidance and detail.

We hope you had a good weekend. Despite the unpredictable weather, hopefully you managed some social time with family or friends while respecting social distancing. On my last few Sunday morning walks, I’ve spotted quite a few familiar faces up and about which is lovely to see.

As with previous Mondays, we kick off the week with an addition or alternative to some home learning…

Living and Learning is the name for all the teaching and learning we do around Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE). Each week in school, we’ve a Living and Learning statement. I make healthy choices… is our statement this week. One of the Sphere Federation Health Leaders writes:

This week in school, we would have been enjoying one of our themed weeks: Being happy and healthy. Right now, it’s even more important to look after our own physical and mental health. To help, we’d like to share some ideas to look at the theme of being happy and healthy at home. Start by watching this clip from BBC Bitesize and reading these top ten tips from Child Friendly Leeds for families to keep healthy and happy at home.

Can you encourage your child to make a new healthy choice every day this week? Or think about one new healthy change your child can make? Try to help them make sure the choice is a realistic, achievable one, such as avoiding being on an electronic device after a certain time to help sleep, or adding one extra daily portion of vegetables to their diet each day.

Here are some links to support you with this learning at home which may be as well as or instead of some of your child’s home learning for this week:

• Healthy eating – Change4Life, British Nutrition Foundation Healthy Eating week, Food a fact of life
• Physical health – Government guidelines recommend at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day, get active with National School Sports Week resources, imovement, ThisisPE, GoNoodle
• Mental health (including reducing screen time) – Tips for reducing screen time, Anna Freud centre, MindMate, Childline calm zone, listen to meditations, try yoga, look at our suggested mindfulness techniques
• Sleep – Good-Night Guide For Children, Top tips to help children sleep well
• Teeth – Keeping our teeth healthy
• Hygiene –  e-bug KS1, e-bug KS2, hand washing

Talking of handwashing and being healthy…

Is everyone in your household still washing their hands carefully? After weeks of lockdown, perhaps not. This experiment might prompt you to get back into the habit: invisible flourescent paint (think of this as coronavirus or any other bug) was applied to the hand of one person (imagine the person has just coughed into their hand)… watch how it spreads.

(Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip…)

Our final message this week comes from Mrs Weekes, our Head of School…

School has been open more widely (for children other than those of key workers and those who might be deemed vulnerable) for four weeks now and we’re really pleased that we’ve been able to offer more places.

Whilst the children who are coming to school are happy and relieved to be back into some kind of routine, school by no means feels complete. We miss our home learners enormously. Staff are working really hard to keep in touch by email, phone calls or even a wave through the fence. You’ve not been forgotten!

It’s great that our Year 6 children have been able to come back, even on a part-time basis, before they move on to Year 7.

The four bubbles have worked well and the staff and children have been brilliant at keeping their social distance as much as possible but it’s really important that this is being followed at home, too. As Mr Roundtree has said in Wednesday’s message, it’s really hard when children feel that they can’t tell us what they’ve been doing at home; it’s really uncomfortable for them and the member of staff. The social distancing guidelines are there to keep us all safe – please make sure you’re following them for everyone’s sake.

Also, when picking up or dropping off your child, please make sure that you are sticking to the correct times so that we can ensure there are not too many people in the school grounds.

The staff that are working in school are doing a grand job; these are the members of staff working with your children:

• Reception: Mrs Burke, Mrs Burgess and Mrs Stewart
• Year 1/Year 2: Mr Parker, Miss Needham and Mrs Potter
• Year 3/Year 4: Mrs Taylor, Mrs Freeman, Mrs Bharath
• Year 5/Year 6: Miss Wilson and Mr Wain
• Office and overall management: Mr Owen and Mrs Russell

If a member of staff is unable to be in school and there is any change of staff within the bubble, parents will be informed.

The guidance is now being changed and there has been more easing of the lockdown restrictions but please bear in mind the virus hasn’t gone away and that any news about schools is not given to us first; we hear it when you do.

Do get in touch if you’re struggling in any way.

Thanks for your support in these difficult times. Have a great weekend – in your bubbles – and stay safe.

Today’s message is especially for the many parents whose child remains at home…

How’re things with you? For many of us, it’s getting tough. We know that from some of the conversations we’re having with you. And we know that from how we’re feeling, too. If you’re finding things tough right now, it might help to know you’re not alone.

Even with some aspects of lockdown easing, there are still things that aren’t back to normal – and we know one of the most important things that’s not easing up is your child being at home, away from their friends and away from their teacher.

Way back in March, just before schools closed, some of you speculated at the school gate about this going on for the rest of the school year. Despite this, I reckon at first many of us chose to not think about this lasting so long – we just got on with things. The first few weeks might have felt it was a bit of a novelty, even, and we had the resilience and positivity to get through it.

This was always going to be a marathon, not a sprint. We’re definitely approaching the finishing line – we just can’t see it yet. And just like a real marathon (not that I’ve ever run one!), the last stages are tough.

Things are challenging because you can see some people back at school – it’s hard not to feel a sense of envy or even resentment. And things are challenging when you hear about other aspects of lockdown easing – what a weird situation that we can take children to a zoo, but not to school.

The government has announced that all pupils in all year groups in England will go back to school full-time in September. Even if that doesn’t happen (and I’m thinking worst-case scenario here), I’m confident all children will be back at school on a rota system, For us, that would mean we can plan for teaching in school and then follow-up home learning which is then is checked by the teacher… That’s got to be better than than the current situation – and remember, that’s a worst-case scenario.

In the meantime, if your child is still at home, remember the majority of children across England are in the same situation, and children are resilient – they can bounce back, and they will. We’ll all reach the end of this marathon we’re running, tired and emotional maybe, but we will reach it.