April 2021 Newsletter

 

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Children,

 

Over the last week we have all reflected on the events of the last year.  It has been a year since schools closed as a result of COVID-19.

This has given us an opportunity to remember; to stand back and to reflect on others and ourselves.  The COVID pandemic has taught us to appreciate our families, our friends and our school even more.  Many people have made huge sacrifices this year to care for others.  We particularly thank all the key workers who have continued to work despite their own worries.  We also thank you for supporting your children in the midst of such difficult and changing circumstances.

If you haven’t seen it already, Miss Brady made a special school video to reflect on our Lockdown memories and hopes for the future.  You can view this on our Twitter feed.

 

 

Attendance

Thank you for your commitment to your children’s attendance and punctuality since their return to school on Monday 8^th March.  Attendance has been outstanding at 99.2%.

 

School Dinners

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful cooks in school who make wholesome and nutritious meals for us all each day.  Mrs Martin’s menus are on the school website and our outside notice board.  When we are permitted for all children to return to the hall we will resume to our 3-week menu again. Please inform the school office of any changes to lunch preferences.

 

Old Toy Amnesty

EYFS would like to ask for help… if you happen to have any of the things listed below and no longer need or want them, we would love to have them in Reception/Nursery: baby dolls, doll prams, metals pans, child gardening tools, pallets, wooden planks, girls’ underwear and socks (for use in case of accidents, anything aged between 3-6), small cars, tractors or diggers and outdoor paint.  Please could you drop off any good quality items at the school office or to one of the EYFS staff team.  Thank you in advance for your support.

 

Lateral Flow Tests

If you have school children or college students at home, rapid Covid-19 tests are available to collect daily from 3 collection points in Middlesbrough, between 1.30-7pm.  Each pack has 7 tests and they are free. All details including locations here 👉 http://bit.ly/2Na8B5N

 

 

ParentPay

Please could all parents/carers check to ensure that all outstanding payments have been made via ParentPay.

It is a requirement that school meals are paid in advance. This may be done weekly, monthly or termly.

 

Social Media

After Easter we will be sharing a new User Agreement for parents to meet recent changes in technology and our school social media/website needs.

From time to time NPCAT ask us to share pictures with them to celebrate school events via their public social media / NPCAT YouTube channel – if anyone objects to us sharing pictures please inform the school office (names will not be used).

 

March Events

 

School Curriculum

As a result of the hard work you have been doing with your children at home we have been able to plan work in line with our Spring curriculum since the children returned to school in full on March 8th.  Naturally there is some variance in children’s key skills which teachers will be working hard to bridge.  Please continue to support your children by practicing regularly their reading books (N-Y6) and their white key skills Maths booklets (Y1-6).  Teachers have also been supporting children’s emotional and physical wellbeing since our return, planning in regular circle time and team games. Teachers will update you on your children’s progress in our rescheduled parent’s evenings (Wednesday 5^th May and Thursday 6^th May) – this information has been shared with you this week.  Please book your parental consultation via the Arbor app.  The final date for booking is Friday 23^rd April.

If at any time you ever have any concerns about your child please contact teachers through the school office and they will get back to you.

 

EYFS Lockdown Graduations

Our Nursery and Reception children were rewarded for their hard work as part of remote learning since January in a special return to school Lockdown Graduation ceremony wb 8^th March.    The staff were so proud of their engagement in remote learning and how they have bounced back into school with a spring in their step!

 

Governor Visits

We are really lucky to have such supportive Governors.  Despite the difficulties associated with Governor monitoring, we have adapted our visits to be virtual conversations this year.  In recent months:

• Mr Michael Wren has discussed pupil voice initiatives with Miss Brady and Year 6.
• Mr Paul Benfield has discussed Year 5’s remote learning experience and curriculum developments with Mr Bourner.
• Mrs Bilous, our Chair of Governors, changes books and lotto’s each week for Year 1 and meets weekly with Mr Conway and Miss Brady.

 

Further summer term visits and discussions will be facilitated following our Governing body meeting this week.

 

World Book Day

Miss Cuff organised a lovely day celebrating World Book Day on Thursday 4th March.  It was our first virtual Book day but we were so impressed with the efforts children still went to in their outfits and in their work.

We really value the importance of reading in school and are grateful for your support with our 100 read initiative and the additional reading many of you do online via the Oxford and myOn links.  Reminder videos of how to access additional online books to support with your children’s reading are available to view via the website:  https://stbernadettes.npcat.org.uk/curriculum-support-videos/

At present, we are not able to have our usual army of volunteers in school, so we have been really grateful that Mrs Hill has been providing additional reading support remotely over the last few weeks using children’s physical and online books for Y2-5.

 

NPCAT Workout

On Wednesday 17th March we took part in an ‘NPCAT Wednesday Workout Live’.  All NPCAT children simultaneously joined in a virtual Fitness Workout.  It was a great Trust wide experience.

Back by popular demand, Mrs Willett provided another whole school fitness workout on Tuesday 30^th March – thank you Mrs Willett for your commitment to our children’s health – the children and staff LOVED it!

 

Year of St. Joseph

The Year of St Joseph, announced by Pope Francis, commenced in December 2020.  The year marks a yearlong celebration, dedication and prayer centred around St Joseph: protector, father, worker and champion of families and the Church.  Pope Francis has recognised that St Joseph is truly the saint we need in these times and, as such, the Trust family gladly and whole-heartedly embraces this focus.  Activities to mark the year have begun with a whole school retreat day on Monday March 8^th and a Novena ending with a special virtual Mass to mark St Joseph’s feast day on Friday 19^th March.  St Joseph – Pray for us.

 

Red Nose Day

Red Nose activities on Friday 19th March raised £247.00.  We enjoyed a wonderful day. The children looked amazing dressed as ‘the staff’. The staff look very entertaining dressed as the children!  We have shared many photos on Twitter – we are sure you enjoyed looking through them!

 

Pizza Making

In association with our catering team, Year 3 and 4 children took part in a healthy eating pizza making practical activity on Thursday 25^th March.  The pizzas looked and tasted amazing – we hope you got to try some?!

 

Very Mini Vinnie’s

This academic year Mrs Pennick’s class are reaching out at set times throughout the year to our local community and parishioners as Mini Vinnies.  They have just completed Easter cards and have organised for their distribution.  We have already heard back from several grateful recipients.

 

H&S inspection

 

St Bernadette’s had our annual Health and Safety inspection on Wednesday 31^st March.  I am delighted to inform you that we received the highest recommendation from our external inspection team.

As part of our health and safety risk assessment we have ½ termly drills (Fire Drill and Lockdown).  On Monday 22^nd March we practiced a lockdown drill in Y1-6 – the children across school sensibly and calmly ‘hid from Mr Conway and Miss Brady’.

 

Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt

Thank you so much for the Easter Egg donations.  Carol Rodgers and Helen Gilpin mapped out an orienteering course for the children to follow in their small teams as part of their class bubbles around the school grounds on Wednesday 31^st March.  All children received an egg for taking part in the scavenger hunt.   There is a payment for donations on ParentPay, any donations from £1 would be gratefully received. Funds will be used by the P.T.A to directly benefit the children.

Remaining eggs have been sent to a local primary school as part of our CAUSE campaign.  The provisions were delivered yesterday and were gratefully received. Thank you so much for your generosity in supplying such an array of eggs and provisions.

 

P.T.A

When the school PTA group met virtually this month to arrange the Easter scavenger hunt a proposal to raise funds for school funds was to advertise local businesses through our school social media feeds.  We understand that so many families have been adversely affected by COVID and lockdown.   If anyone would like to advertise their small business through our Twitter or Facebook we would ask a voluntary donation between £5-£10.  All contributions are added to our PTA funds which are directly spent on your children.   Contact Mr Conway or Miss Brady for further details. Minutes of our meeting are available to view via our website.

 

Future events

 

Lenten Liturgies

It has been such a special week in school this week.  Holy week is such an important period in the Church’s liturgical calendar. To be in school to journey through the events of Holy week make our Easter preparations so much more meaningful.

We hope you have been able to access the class prayerful Lenten reflections which have been recorded this week.  If you have not had opportunity to view them yet please access them via your child’s Google classroom page.  Please contact school if you need any support with this.   As attendance at Mass is still restricted, these liturgies are a perfect way to remind us of how to use Lent as an opportunity for reflection and growth.

 

The Y6 Stations of The Cross is being filmed today and will be uploaded later today.

 

Year 6 Summer Term

Although there will be no external SATs for Year 6, schools are still required to complete transitional information to all secondary schools.  As a result, Year 6 children will continue to complete work in line with our planned curriculum content so Miss Cuff can complete accurate assessments of all children.

We know several children are disappointed to miss out on our Year 6 residential this year, however we have already planned a few events such as swimming towards the end of May and a fitness workshop in June.  Miss Cuff, Mrs Davies and Mrs Simpson will be discussing and planning other events with the children as restrictions allow to ensure the children have a lovely last term in school with us.

 

Extended School Timetable

Mrs Smith is in the midst of organising a range class extended school clubs for the Summer term – these will be either at dinner time of after school.  Further details will be provided in the first week back following the Easter break.  After school clubs will begin wb 26^th April.

 

P.E Uniform

The children have looked so good in their PE kits –in fact ‘smart as carrots’ – thank you!

PE kit consists of: a t-shirt in your child’s house colour, plain blue shorts, trainers (for outdoor use) and plimsolls (for indoor use), a purple hoody and navy joggers.  We do not permit branded t-shirts/football tops etc so please ensure children come to school in the correct attire on their set days.

We are aware a few families are awaiting their order.  Uniform can be purchased via our website – if you need any support with purchasing kit please contact Mr Conway or Miss Brady in confidence.   https://stbernadettes.npcat.org.uk/school-uniform/

 

Please be aware all children must remove earrings for PE so please remove these small studs on PE days. 

 

 

P.E Days

Please note PE days after Easter.  Most year groups are unchanged however there have been alterations to Y3&4 as a result of external coaches leading on delivery.

 

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
·         Reception, Y5	·         Y4, Y5, Y6		·         Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4	·         Y1, Y2, Y3, Y6

 

And finally,

 

Positive COVID cases contact

A reminder that if you need to contact school over the holiday to inform us of a positive COVID case please use Mr Conway’s school email address via: [email protected]

 

Thank you

 

Once again, thank you for your support over the last year.  Let us hope and pray we are entering a more ‘normal’ time and we can progress our lives and wider relationships once more.  We hope to welcome you back into school in the Summer term but will be guided by the latest advice.  Please continue to follow the latest Government guidance and as rules change we will inform you of any updates to our risk measures.  In the meantime, our timings, routines and COVID associated rules will remain in place.

Have a safe, holy and peaceful Easter.  Enjoy the extended 2-week break.  We look forward to welcoming children back on Monday 19^th April from 8.30am.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Mr. P. Conway                       Miss S. Brady

Headteacher                         Head of school

Monday 1^st March 2021

 

Wider opening – Monday 8^th March 2021

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement last week, we once again set our sights on the full opening of schools on Monday 8^th March. Over the last two months, our staff, children and parents have once again faced the challenges presented by COVID with determination and resilience in juggling family commitments with home-schooling. For this we thank you all.

 

Thankfully, we are now in a position where we can confirm the Government has allowed schools to reopen fully from Monday 8^th March and we look forward to welcoming back all of our pupils.

In order to effectively manage the risks that remain, we wanted to remind you of the protective measures we have in place, and what you will need to do to help ensure we can be as safe as possible for everyone. We do not know how long these measures will be in place and will update as instructed by Government guidance.

Please read the following carefully so you understand the measures and expectations in place to ensure the safety of all pupils and staff.

 

Attendance

 

• From Monday 8^th March, school attendance will be mandatory again. This means that the legal duty on parents of children of compulsory school age will apply. It is vital that children return to school for their educational progress, wellbeing and wider development.
• Where shielding advice remains in place for your child, liaise directly with us so we can put in place appropriate risk assessments.
• In the unlikely event of anyone booking holidays, it is the expectation that parents will avoid a holiday in term-time as this will cause further disruption to their child’s education. Holidays in term-time must be in writing to the Headteacher using the appropriate form and providing details of the destination to be visited. If the area to be visited is at high risk of transmission of the coronavirus, for the safety of others the school must ensure that children have adhered to self-isolation before returning to school.

*Term time dates are available to view via our website.

 

 

Staggered start and end times

 

In this interim period the school drop off and collection arrangements will remain in place.

• To manage social distancing guidance we would like prompt drop off and collection times.  There are lines on our paths as a reminder to distance from each other. Parents must not congregate and should strictly distance themselves at all times.  Parents/children are encouraged to walk/cycle/scoot to school where possible and only one parent should drop off/collect their child. Parents should drop off children at main/side gate on entry. Parents should not enter school premises unless permitted by a teacher.  The office area should be avoided if possible and phone calls are encouraged.
• On collection, parents will collect from set areas around the perimeter of school. Parents should stand socially distanced from each other at all times inside allocated collection zone, and promptly and safely leave school grounds as soon as child is collected. To maximise curriculum time and minimise disruption to lessons, families with multiple sibling links should arrive at the earliest sibling time slot.  All siblings can enter school at the same time.  Parents should collect at the latest time slot. Please collect oldest children first and proceed to younger children’s exit points. Children must be collected by a designated adult and are not permitted to walk to/from school alone or go home with other families.  Without this measure, there is an increased risk of social contact outside of school.
• Please can all parents/carers wear face coverings on school grounds.

 

	Nursery	Reception	Y1/Y2	Y3/Y4	Y5/Y6
Drop off time	Morning: 8.30-8.40am Afternoon: 12.15-12.30pm	8.30-8.40am	8.40-8.50am	8.50-8.55am	8.55-9.00am
Collection time	Morning: 11.15-11.30am Afternoon: 2.30pm-3.15pm   From class/EYFS playground	2.30-2.40pm   From class/EYFS playground	2.40-2.50pm   Y1 – Zone 1 Y2 – Zone 2	2.50-3pm   Y3 – Zone 3 Y4 – Zone 4	3-3.10pm   Y5 – Zone 4 Y6 – Zone 3

 

Organisation of Children in school

 

• Children will remain with their class ‘bubbles’ throughout the school day
• There will be no whole school gatherings in the hall but we will conduct virtual meetings to celebrate the Gospel’s and individual achievements.
• Pupils will be assigned their own toilet areas and hand washing facilities.

 

Behaviour

• Our usual Code of Conduct and standards of behaviour are expected. Children will be reminded of expected behaviours and will receive regular reminders about our Code of Conduct.
• Our usual reward systems will be in place (Class points and Golden time/Rainbows etc)
• Any child putting others at risk will be sent home immediately.

 

Break times and lunch times

 

• Breaks and lunch times will continue to be staggered to enable social distancing. More than one group will be allowed to play outside but only within their designated areas.
• There will be a plethora of activities on offer led class leaders and adults on duty. No contact games will be allowed.

 

Catering arrangements

• Our school meal provision will return in full and children can choose their menu of choice for the week each Friday. If you would like to help your child choose their meal please contact the school office/your child’s class teacher.
• In this interim period and to support children with their choices, we are going to continue to be using the same menu each week. Hot foods will be served either in classrooms in takeaway boxes or in the hall on trays and distributed to the children.
• Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children are entitled to a free school meal under the universal free school meals offer. Normal charges will apply to all other year groups (£2.10).  Please inform us if your child is having a home packed lunch.
• Please click the link to view our current menu: https://stbernadettes.npcat.org.uk/lunch-menu/

 

Curriculum

• We have been given clear expectations from the Trust and Government on what we are expected to teach when pupils return in March. We will continue to provide an ambitious and broad curriculum in all subjects, in order to support the needs of our pupils and address the gaps as a result of lost learning time.
• In our initial return week, we will reset and reaffirm our expectations but because of the work you have been supporting with at home we will continue with our planned Spring curriculum. Music lessons will be resume in the hall and PE activities will be non-contact and focus on skill development (lessons will take place outside when appropriate).

 

Homework

• Google classroom will continue to be used to assign homework – see weekly homework tab. Children who have COVID related absences will be able to access live lessons/weekly essential learning – see weekly COVID tab.   Homework books will stay at home.

 

Use of Equipment

• All children will use school stationery, with the exception that they may bring in and leave their own glue sticks/ coloured pencils (no felt tips/Sharpies allowed).
• Y2-6 children will be allocated their own resources in their set places. They will keep stationery/books on their own desks and not share with others.
• EYFS/Y1 equipment and areas will be cleaned regularly.
• All materials and surfaces will be cleaned and disinfected frequently by school staff.

 

Uniform and items from home

• All children are asked to wear school uniform each day, inclusive of school tie. Comfortable shoes or trainers suitable for outdoors are permitted
• Children should bring limited items to school other than a coat, sun hat and water bottle. As the weather improves sun cream should be applied before arriving. Children should not need additional sun cream but will have to apply it themselves if necessary.
• The water fountains are out of use so please provide water bottles for your children (still WATER only- no juice allowed).

 

PE kits

From Monday 8^th March, we will be asking children to wear PE kits again (Rec-Y6).  PE kit consists of: a t-shirt in your child’s house colour, plain blue shorts, trainers (for outdoor use) and plimsolls (for indoor use), a purple hoody and navy joggers.  We do not permit branded t-shirts/football tops etc so please ensure children come to school in the correct attire on their set days:

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
·         Reception, Y5	·         Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6		·         Reception, Y1, Y2	·         Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y6

 

Please note that in line with wider Trust policy as a result of COVID, children will not get changed in school (except footwear if necessary), and will be asked to wear their PE kits in school all day on the days they have PE.  We will continue to allow children to wear trainers throughout the full academic year so there is no need to purchase additional shoes.  If anyone is struggling financially to purchase school or PE uniform please contact the school office via our enquiries email or speak to Mr Conway or Miss Brady in confidence. 

Please note as part of our COVID risk measures, some PE days are fortnightly. This is due to our decision to limit different adults in class, e.g Y5 is with Mr Peacock every fortnight for the full Tuesday afternoon rather than each week at present.  However, for ease of remembering please can children wear PE kits on the days as indicated above.

*Uniform orders (including PE hoodies/tops) can be placed via the school website (Parents and Students tab) https://www.motif8.co.uk/schoolwear/primary-schools/st-bernadette-s-primary.html

 

Reading books

• Children will resume taking home reading books as usual at some point during w/b 8^th Books and lottos will be changed twice weekly from w/b 15^th March, and quarantined in a class box between reading.
• You are encouraged to continue to access reading books online at home too.

 

Contact with School

• All contact with school should be via telephone and email. Please do not visit the office unless absolutely necessary.
• Please ensure that we have your most up to date contact details and that you are able to be contacted throughout the day.
• Please ensure you are signed up to our Arbor app so you receive all communication.

 

Wraparound care

• Our ‘Schools In and Out’ service will continue to run (7.45am-5.30pm).
• To manage staffing ratios, adhere to social distancing guidance and keep children separated safely, we would request you continue to inform us if you require childcare from 4pm ([email protected])
• Maths Club will remain temporarily suspended but if anyone using our wraparound provision would like to access the materials please contact the school office.
• Children will remain in consistent bubbles in School’s In/Out and separate tables will be set up with activities in the hall/ICT suite or outdoor.
• ‘Schools In’ children will access school through the main office entrance and be registered on entry. Children in ‘School’s In’ will be taken from the hall to class from 8.30am.
• Children remaining in school after 3pm will be taken to ‘School’s Out’ by their teachers. On collection, parents should ring the bell and wait for their child in the holding bay in the office or outside.
• Currently charges are applied as follows:
  • SCHOOL’S IN: 45am-8.40am £4  and   8.20am -8.40am £2
  • SCHOOL’S OUT: 3pm-5.30pm   –    £4 per hour / £2 per half hour

 

Extended clubs

• There will be no additional extended schools clubs (apart from School’s Out) on return, to help manage staggered lunch and limit numbers on site. We will continue to signpost virtual clubs for children to access via our social media feeds and will consider the resumption of extended clubs in the Summer term.

 

Precautions

We will continue to take precautions in line with DFE guidance such as:

• Enhanced cleaning, including cleaning frequently touched surfaces more often.
• Ensuring everyone at the school cleans their hands more often than usual – this will be both hand soap and hand sanitiser (please inform school if you do not want your child to use alcohol based sanitiser).
• Ensuring good respiratory hygiene, by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach.
• Regular opportunities for outdoor development and good ventilation to minimise risk of spread.
• Staff will wear PPE in communal areas where it is difficult to distance from other adults. Staff can choose whether to wear additional PPE within their classroom setting.  Staff will wear PPE for personal or intimate care.  Pupils are not permitted to wear PPE unless medically advised otherwise.
• Minimising contact and maintaining distance (staff and children) between each other and other bubbles where possible.
• Staff have access to asymptomatic testing (twice weekly).
• More staff have been vaccinated as a result of the national mass roll out

 

 COVID reporting

You must not send your child to school if they have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, or if you have someone in your household who does. The official symptoms of coronavirus are: new, continuous cough; high temperature (37.8C +) and loss of sense of taste. We will ask parents to collect anyone displaying any of the recognised COVID symptoms in school and request they book a test.  We would ask parents and carers to support us by engaging with the NHS Test and Trace process so that cases can be identified and action taken – this means if your child develops symptoms, you should arrange for them to get a test and you should inform us of the results of that test.  Children will only be permitted to return to school on confirmation of a negative test result. 

Unfortunately bubble closures may continue to occur from time to time as a result of positive case within set year group.  If a staff member or child was identified as a close contact they would need to isolate for 10 days.  We would resume our current remote learning offer if teaching staff/whole bubbles were affected. 

On weekends or holiday time please inform school of any positive COVID cases via [email protected] / [email protected]   If you do not receive a response please contact Mr Conway directly via: [email protected]

 

 

And finally,

In order to protect the well-being and safety of our staff and pupils, it is paramount that everyone follows the social distancing measures and health safety as outlined by the government. As a school, we are doing all we can to minimise risk and operate a safe learning environment, but please be prepared for changes as we assess the impact of the full school return and as guidance changes. We hope this letter provides you with the information you need to prepare for the full reopening of schools on Monday 8^th March.

Despite the formality of this letter, please be assured that we are so excited to see all of our children return.  We understand that returning to school again can be both a nervous and exciting time (for parents and children). Please contact your child’s teacher or Mr Conway/Miss Brady through the school office if you would like to discuss anything further.

 

 

With thanks for your support,

Mr P Conway (Headteacher) and Miss S Brady (Head of School)

March 2021 Newsletter

 

Dear Parents, Carers and Children,

 

We hope that you all enjoyed some downtime during February half term.  We have been delighted with your engagement in our live lessons and our Google classroom. We hope the break reinvigorated the children’s enthusiasm and we have been delighted with how they have begun this new term – thank you for your commitment and support…only one more week of home learning!

 

Over the February break, the season of Lent began.  We shared via Twitter a lovely reflection from St. Francis which really resonated in these difficult times.  Lent is an opportunity to renew and refresh ourselves as we await the celebration of the Risen Lord so for those of you who want to give things up, perhaps take inspiration of Pope Francis:

 

General updates

 

Wider opening

As you will now be aware, the Prime Minister last week announced plans for the full return of primary children from w/b 8^th March.  We cannot wait to see the all the children in person again. Full details of the full reopening of school will be issued early next week.  Please be reassured that we will be guided by Government guidelines and will put in place robust risk assessments to ensure we keep our staff and your children safe.

 

Home learning and new timetable

Please can children continue to access the morning live learning at their allocated times over the next week.  The expected daily learning will be on Google Classroom each day – if anyone requires resources in advance of this please contact your child’s class teacher.

Following feedback, we have tried to provide even more variety to our remote timetable this week. As well as the core learning (RE, Writing and Maths) and live PE lessons, French activities etc we have added weekly Reading lessons and on afternoons, Wellbeing Wednesday’s and Fun filled Friday’s so children can enjoy emotional and mental health activities, baking, painting or even watch a film! We hope this allows children (and you) a bit of ‘downtime.’

 

Online reading

A lovely way to connect with children during these stressful times, is by reading together.  As such, we hope you enjoy engaging in our new online reading content.  Reading opens the door to so many opportunities.  If you need any support accessing independent reading books please contact the school office or your child’s class teacher.

 

Social media

If you are not already a follower, please follow us via our Facebook page or for Twitter request to follow us @stbernadettesm   We only accept names on Twitter we recognise so please inform your child’s class teacher/school office if you have requested to follow us but we have not accepted you.

 

FSM Vouchers

Please note that all families in receipt of free school meals, (non-universal KS1 meals), will receive Government vouchers this week and next. They will cease from w/b 8^th March when children return to school.

 

Nursery Places

If you have a child (or have friends or family with a child) who is due to start nursery either this year or next, and haven’t yet completed an application. Please contact the school office.  Nursery places are available for 15 hours, morning or afternoon, and also 30 hours (full day sessions).

 

Local grant

You may have seen across local social media about our school receiving a £250,000 grant following recent housing developments.  We can confirm our application for building works was successful and we look forward to sharing the plans with you in due course once the grant has been received.

 

RSE

This week we shared with you a brand-new Relationship Education programme for Catholic primary schools, titled ‘Life to the Full.’ The information provided a brief overview of this programme including a link to the parent portal and consultation tool.  Once you have completed the consultation tool, please complete the parent questionnaire. We would really appreciate your input.  We will teach our RSE curriculum in the summer term this year and then throughout the academic year in 2021-2022.  If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask Miss Brady.

 

Live lessons

There are still a small number of parents who have not consented to new Live lesson form.  We have sent a reminder via your Arbor app- please open your app and complete the consent if you haven’t already.

 

 

February Events

E-safety week

On the w/b 8th February all children across the school explored a variety of age appropriate e-safety themes.   Mr Bourner led a whole school assembly and this was followed up by discussions and activities relating to our whole school theme: ‘Together for a better Internet’ focussing on online identity, and asking our children to consider whether they and their peers are truly free to be themselves online. By opening up conversations around online identity, the aim was help us work towards creating a safer and inclusive internet.  If you would like further information regarding securing your children’s technical devices please contact Mr Bourner or the school office.

 

 

St Hilda Day

On Friday 12^th February, Miss Brady organised a Hilda day to celebrate the life of St Hilda, and increasing our understanding of her good deeds.  We hope you enjoyed the day – the work shared with class teachers was fantastic!  Hilda is one of our 4 school house groups.  We will celebrate our other 3 Saints on dedicated Friday’s throughout the academic year.

 

Trust Audits

The Trust Standards team met with school leaders on 2^nd February to discuss our remote education offer – they were extremely complimentary about our provision.   On 10^th February school leaders held remote discussions relating to safeguarding.  All procedures and practices were in place.

 

Sport Updates

 

Mrs Smith was delighted so many children enjoyed the ‘Home Court app’ – this fun and interactive tool for regulating fitness in a competitive way is one of the many benefits to the digital world we now live in.

 

Mrs Smith will continue to highlight virtual workouts / clubs to you across Twitter.  Please encourage the children to access these.   We would love you to respond via our Twitter using the hashtag #NPCATSportSuperstars.  In turn NPCAT Sport would like to share some of these active photos (yours and in school tweets) via their public social media accounts.

 

Mrs Willet Fitness Workouts

Thank you to Mrs Willett for giving us all a ‘Joe Wicks’ style workout – our children and staff are loving it! Please join us on a Friday at 2pm via your child’s Google Classroom page. Everyone is welcome!

 

Future events

 

World Book Day

World Book Day falls on Thursday 4th March 2021.  Miss Cuff has provided a flyer to outline our activities to support this exciting event, both in school and from home. Miss Cuff will host a live whole school assembly at 9am and will post all activities onto Google Classroom. The link for the assembly will be in the children’s Class Pages.

 

Red Nose Day

Red Nose Day is taking place on Friday 19^th March. We will have a twist day where the staff will dress in uniforms and the children can dress like teachers (basically their own clothes).  Please make any donations directly into ParentPay, all contributions welcome (minimum of £1).

 

Parent Consultations

Because of the remote learning the majority of children have been partaking in since January we will NOT have our usual March consultations.  If any parents have any particular concerns or queries please raise them through your regular welfare calls or contact school.  We will look to reschedule parents evening for the Summer term, once the children have had time to settle again and teachers can discuss attainment and progress more accurately.

 

PTA meeting

We will be holding a virtual PTA meet next week (Thursday 4^th March, 7.30pm).  We will discuss how future fundraising could look in the coming terms – if you are free to join us your input would be most appreciated.  Please use this link to attend the meeting. https://meet.google.com/zrb-bhve-yce

 

Lenten Liturgies

This year, as we cannot invite you into school, we will share our annual reflective, prayerful Lenten liturgies via a video link. We will have class bubble reflections rather than mixed year groups.   During Holy week we will record each class bubbles Liturgy and upload them to Google Classroom for families to share together. Year Six will also share with us a live Stations of the Cross on Maundy Thursday. The link will be available again via Google Classroom.

 

Year 6 2020-21 Residential (June 2021)

Regrettably, in view of Covid19 we have had to cancel the Year 6 residential visit to Robinwood.  We will communicate with you details of refunds in respect of this trip in due course. We will look to organise some appropriate activities for the Year 6 group when it is safe to do so.

Year 6 2021-22 – Robinwood Residential (October 2021)

It is very difficult to plan ahead at present so as things stand we have not confirmed a date for a Year 6 residential (Robinwood or Northumberland).  Once restrictions ease and the vaccination roll out is more widespread we will consider overnight residentials again.

 

 

And finally,

 

We could not be more grateful for the support you have given your children during these unprecedented times.  Thank you!  Let us hope, like the Prime Minister announced this week, the good times are in sight again.

 

Stay safe and see you Monday 8^th March

 

Mr.P.Conway                               Miss S Brady

Head Teacher                              Head of School

 

Remote Education Parent Questionnaire February 2021 (Summary of 94 Responses)

 

Thank you to all of the 94 parents who completed our Remote Education questionnaire.  As a result of school closures in January we were keen to assess our remote provision and identify areas for consideration moving forward.

 

A collation of the questionnaire responses indicates you are overwhelmingly delighted with the remote offer – thank you for your kind responses.  We have NEVER had so many positive comments – thank you for taking the time to write in such great numbers.  It means so much!  We are proud of our staff work who have met the challenges of remote education to offer the best possible alternative in such difficult times.   We are also so grateful for the support you have provided despite the pressures of your work situations.

 

As always we welcome your feedback on how we can improve and we will try to implement suggested changes where possible:  We have tried to respond to all areas identified below so we hope this answers any queries you raised.

 

REMOTE EDUCATION	RATING
	Home	School		Home and school
My child is learning from	57%	3%		40%
	Agree		Disagree
I am happy with the current remote learning offer	94%		6%
I am /my child is aware of the safeguarding, behaviour and e safety expectations in relation to home learning	100%		0%
I have suitable electronic devices at home to support my child’s remote learning	92%		8%
I have suitable resources for my child to record their written work	98%		2%
Live learning sessions are useful to support my child’s understanding of activities set	96%		4%
My child/I can navigate the weekly Google classroom resources	98%		2%
I am happy with range of activities available via Google Classroom	94%		6%
I am happy with the feedback my child is receiving in relation to work handed in	95%		5%
Teachers/school staff are available to support as needed	97%		3%
School communication regarding remote education is clear (newsletters/website/videos etc)	100%		0%
	Just right	Too little		Too much
My child is receiving appropriate level of independent work across the week	90%	4%		6%

 

 

There were so many positives identified we have decided to include them ALL!  Thank you!  We have removed sensitive / personal information:

 

Strengths

Work seems to be at the right ability for both of my children. Recapping what’s already been taught in school and just trying to expand a little – not expecting too much of parents. Setting up live learning. This is a vast improvement from the first lockdown. My child looks forward to logging on each day to her lessons and completing her work.  Through this method I now feel that the children are able to continue with their education.  In the first lockdown it was a daily chore trying to engage my child.  From a parent’s perspective having to work at home some days, my child is able to independently log on and complete her work with little support from myself, allowing me to continue to work at the same time.  It has also been lovely for the class to see each other through the live lessons, which is very important for all our children’s mental health. Daily assignments that are manageable in the home schooling environment. Easy to ask questions and always get quick response from teachers Provides much needed interaction for my child and allows him to join in prayers & assemblies. My child’s teacher has supported with their understanding to allow them to continue with his work. Much needed, as apparently, ‘I am a terrible teacher!’ Fun, age appropriate and engaging. Really pleased with the offer. All of it is excellent – the support received from the teacher to be able to use it to its full potential. It is clear school staff are working so hard to support each and every child (at home and in school). Thank you for all you are doing to keep in touch also. The work and videos are uploaded everyday at 9am. We find this better than before when it was uploaded later and we had to do the live session at 10am as it is not always easy for us to access this so we like being able to watch the recorded video lessons. It is also nice that there is the option to go on Google meet at 10.30. We don’t do this every day but try to a few times a week. The remote learning is amazing, the teachers ensure all children have a chance to answer and are listened to. The tasks are great and other options are available if resources aren’t available. Easy to operate. Teachers are fantastic as a point of contact for the children and to offer that bit of normality. The live session gives the day a focal point and prompts my child to do the work. Without it, my child would be difficult to motivate and wouldn’t ‘see the point’ of doing it just because I’ve asked her to). You are all doing a fantastic job. I really appreciate the hard work. Workload is manageable for the children to work independently. Feedback on work is appropriate and tells my child how to improve if required. Feedback is personalised to the child’s needs It’s very well organised. The use of quizzes is motivating. The Google meet helps maintain a sense of community and it’s great that they still pray together My child’s teacher is amazing, the engagement they bring to the lessons with the students is great. The effort of the recorded sessions are really good – it allows the students to work at their own speed and review sections. Lots of sessions for them to attend, including additional support on tasks. The remote education that has been offered is excellent; there is a good range of subjects on a daily basis and a mixture of practical and hands on activities. It is fantastic that not all tasks require the children to be sat at a screen for prolonged periods of time. The staff are very engaging during live lessons and the opinion of a drop in session on an afternoon are great support for the children when they have found something difficult. I can’t praise the staff enough for what they have achieved in such a short period of time to support the children both at home and in school – a massive thank you to all the staff. My child’s teacher is a great help. Very supportive. Varied lessons All work is put on in advance so easy to plan and print things out ready for the week. Google meet classes are very engaging for all the years my children are in and they enjoy attending. The school have been brilliant with communication. The daily live meets are lovely for the children to see their teachers and some of the other children in their class. My child is always engaged and the teachers are great at leading it – thank you. The work set is an appropriate mix of work that can be completed independently and with limited support. Feedback has been constructive but motivates my child to work hard each day. My child’s teacher is working very hard to support their learning at home and I am very grateful for all their hard work and effort. Thank you Teachers are going the extra mile as always to try and engage and teach the children Well planned and accessible resources. A variety of ways for students to access. Providing a calm and caring learning environment as always! The everyday online sessions with class teacher and assemblies Daily morning meet with class and my child’s teacher giving guidance on tasks set. The teacher is very good with IT. Voice notes etc. The pre-recorded lessons are fantastic. Engaging, fun lessons that fully explain what’s required of them and daily drop in sessions Communication Thank you to all the staff who are doing a wonderful job in very difficult circumstances. We really appreciate all the help and support you provide! The daily live lessons provides great structure and gets the children ready for their work. In particular, thank you to my child’s teacher who does lovely pre-recorded videos to teach the children and explain some difficult concepts. She always responds to private comments on google classroom and sets a thorough work timetable in advance so we can plan the work. We are very grateful for all the hard work the EYFS team are doing and the support you provide. The live lessons are great and the work set is variable so we can choose what is most appropriate for our child and resources at home. We can’t imagine how difficult your work is at the moment and we feel lucky our children are at such a lovely supportive school – thank you! Goggle classroom is good for younger children to navigate, easy to downloading resources and we enjoy house meeting videos. Morning live lessons are great / PE sessions / School assemblies Top class learning support and resources are provided. Students can easily access the support from staff if they need to. Both my children’s teachers have gone above and beyond. Short video’s to model answers and give clear expectations are excellent. Love the way all her resources in one place under the appropriate day – makes it very easy for parents to find and print resources and to submit work. Can’t praise St Bernadette’s staff enough for their learning support and their emotional support for families. Excellent. Different topics each day. Teachers providing examples of how to do things. Opportunity in the afternoon to drop in if any issues. Amazingly fast feedback if children send a private message to the teacher. Teachers school understanding if parents struggle to teach children how to do something, if parents don’t know how themselves. I like when teachers ring from time to time to ask how learning at home is going. House meetings/assemblies that take place so children can see the HTs. Opportunity for daily contact with teachers / school So well presented, daily updates, clearly identifies how you can ask for help. I like how children can message their teachers about their work. Amazing fast feedback. opportunity to discuss any work. Chance to see the teachers face and listen to the teacher during the lesson. Organisation of Google Classroom. Recorded sessions. Recorded stories with teachers. Variety of tasks. Feedback from teachers. Morning Live lessons are really helpful to bring structure, routine and some formality to home-schooling, so the children know they have to be ready for a certain time each day and they can be told directly by their teachers what work is expected for the day. The teachers are doing a wonderful job to still engage with children who have to be at home, to recognise how well they are working and encourage them for it. The live lessons so the children can see their teacher as well as their friends. A good mix of fun, support and teaching. My child is really pleased when they get to answer questions! Wonderful caring staff that go above and beyond for students. Both my husband and I still have to go into work to teach so knowing that my son is happy going into school and enjoying it is testament to the amazing staff. The teachers who plan and prepare the work to go online. Clear and easy to use. It’s very easy for children to understand and my young child can manage the days she needs to get on on her own Support from teachers We are extremely grateful for the support offered to our child. The live lessons drop-in sessions and videos for each lesson are an excellent mix. We realise that not all schools offer this level of support so a huge thank you to you all for the amount of hard work that is put in to delivering home learning. The teachers have shown a lot of dedication and have put in a lot of hard work to ensure that our children’s needs are being met as best as possible. A huge thank you to all. Teachers always available if there’s any problems Variety of work and support from staff Teacher’s engagement with the children, the organisation and support of everything has been amazing. Students have the freedom & control of their own studies My children are mostly in school, however when at home I can easily find out what the daily timetable is to enable us to prepare for the day ahead. The google meets are informative and also interesting for the children and the work instructions on google classroom are very easy to follow for the set tasks. System is simple and easy to access. Both children feel happy and confident accessing the work online. Under the difficult circumstances, staff are doing an excellent job at engaging the children and meeting their individual needs. Both my children feel able to contact their teacher to ask for further support when needed. The amount of work is both challenging yet manageable. Live lessons Time table of work is available in good time for the week/day ahead, communication of whole school events Variety of tasks, pre recorded demos/PE lessons My child’s teacher has provided a varied and balanced curriculum that is easy for the children to follow at home. They are always available if help is needed & gives the children clear guidance. The morning input is great for keeping the children engaged together a class. Daily prayers & just dance etc are a welcome addition to the academic studies. Easy to navigate, clear instructions, live lessons There is plenty of communication between the pupil and the school staff which helps to not lose the one big family feel the school has. The activities that have been sent out are always fun and possible to carry out at home. We are really grateful for this service. Having the live sessions are brilliant for the children and maintaining contact with us throughout the week. Interesting activities linked to school topics and relevant videos. Daily practice of key areas such as phonics, maths. It is clear staff are working exceptionally hard to provide resources and activities online. Really like the recorded verbal feedback. Makes a huge difference to child’s confidence and achievement. Amazing support from teaching staff; my child feels confident, both in and out of school, to learn and complete the work expected of them. Lessons are well structured and give my child the feeling of being in school, so allow her to concentrate as normal. The support that is given The offer is definitely better than the offer between March and July 2020. Easy contact and support You are all doing a great job in these difficult time. Thank you. The resources on there are perfect and applicable to my child. It is clear what is expected of them and the teachers always respond in a timely manner and are very positive. My child is very happy being in school and learning from home, so I thank every one of you for all the support and hard work. Very happy with the provision. Really well done so far – so thank you! Your efforts are really appreciated It works brilliantly. We have been very happy and impressed with the content/engagement/personal contact the remote provides – my child is very comfortable and able to navigate the online content. It is really nice to hear their involvement and to see friends in the live lessons. I think the service provided is excellent.

 

 

 

Please see our responses in relation to parents who identified areas for improvement:

 

Comment:  Some parents asked us to consider varying our weekly timetables to maintain enthusiasm and engagement

Response: We completely agree with you!  We have been delighted with the way children have engaged in our remote offer and the way they are responding to their core learning (Maths, English, RE, Science and Topic).  In recent weeks, you will have hopefully noticed how teachers have been adding further to this coverage and lots of children have been joining live PE lessons, partaking in French activities, engaging in well being activities, joining us for assemblies and completing Kahoot quizzes! We will continue to be mindful of this and will be adding afternoon experiences following half term such as Well being Wednesdays’ or Fun filled Friday’s to encourage wider activities such as further quizzes, baking, painting or even going for a wall (with an adult)! We hope this allows children (and you) a bit of ‘downtime’ so they are refreshed and eager to maintain their enthusiastic responses to their essential learning.

A lovely way to connect with children in these stressful time is reading together, as such we hope you enjoy engaging in our new online reading content.  Reading opens the door to so many opportunities and whilst we appreciate nothing replaces a physical book we hope this experience allows you opportunity to support your child in this essential skill.  Please let us know as you practice 100 reads (N-Y6) or 50 Maths practices (Y1-6) and we will celebrate and reward child via our House meets!

 

Comment:  A few parents felt pressured to complete all work

Response: Although we encourage children to complete all daily activities we understand the strain you are all under at present.  Please focus on Maths (daily activities and Maths skills booklets/timetables) and English (writing, handwriting, spelling and reading).  As outlined above, children love the wider curriculum coverage but it may not be possible to complete all activities every day.  Depending on age and stage, children can access tasks with varying independence.  Particularly the younger children, we appreciate the time commitment to complete activities. So please don’t be too harsh on yourselves and keep doing what you can!

Where children struggle to access curriculum content or conversely require additional work please contact teachers on an individual basis or inform them via your welfare calls.  Teachers are already setting specific work on an individual basis via Google Classroom where necessary for a limited number of pupils or offering short drop in sessions on an afternoon to support anyone struggling for any reason. 

 

Comment:  A few parents requested further live learning opportunities / recording.

Response: As a school we do not believe it is right for our children to learn from a screen for the full day.  We believe this could have a detrimental impact on children’s emotional and physical well being.  Not all children respond well to live lessons and as reflected on our survey, a few find them ‘overwhelming’ or ‘confusing’.  Therefore we try to offer a blended approach which includes live learning offers with material children can access independently eg worksheets and pre recorded inputs which can be stopped and replayed.  All classes offer at least two live experiences and we try to offer a flexible approach that is considerate of number of devices children have at home – hence a staggered approach to our live lessons – but also, where necessary, teachers can add additional live lessons as needed for their class/groups of children. 

In terms of recording live lessons, as things stand we will not be sharing these via Google classroom as lessons can vary in length and re-watching recorded live lessons may not be the best vehicle to support your children in accessing their learning.  Teachers always try to add detail to their tasks so it is clear what is expected for each task. Children are also encouraged to drop back to afternoon live lessons to clarify learning from that day or indeed another day’s learning where they have struggled or missed content.  As always though, please just inform teachers if you are struggling to understand/support your child and they will soon rectify any concerns/issues.

 

Comment:  A few parents asked about resources being available in advance of the day.  

Response: Teachers often schedule work to be available following live lessons as we find many children often try to complete work in advance of the day if we upload it all in bulk.  As a result, once children have received their input, their completed work is of a higher standard.  It is also easier for teachers to track and respond to completed work.  Where this presents an issue please contact the school office/your child’s class teacher and we will print or assign work via the Google classroom in advance of the day so you have work available in advance.

 

Comment:  A few parents found resources an issue  (physical and technical)

Response: A small proportion of parents commented that access to suitable devices was an issue – we have requested parents inform school if you need any further devices via our regular communication.  We have a small number of ipads in school which we can loan so if this applies to you please contact the school office for further information. We appreciate that at times technology at home or in school will provide a barrier to our remote offer.  We have improved our school Wi-Fi to lessen occasional issues relating to poor connectivity but unfortunately technology will let us down from time to time.

Again we understand children are completing so many tasks at home and may require additional exercise books. Please contact school if you require anything (books/pencils/pens/rulers etc) –  we would appreciate you collecting books via the school office.

 

Comment:  One parent relayed concerns connected to progress

Response: We completely understand your concern and agree it is a worrying time.  Children have received an unavoidable disruptive education offer since March 2020.  On return to school in September, children initially focussed heavily on key skills (English and Maths) as well as emotional and physical well being as outlined in our ‘Recovery model’.  We were delighted with how the children returned and began our wider curriculum offer from November. The vast majority of children caught up academically and as a result we have continued to teach our planned Spring content during school closures.  From home, the majority of children have been handing in their work, meeting our expected standards. Although we understand some of this will inevitably be supported, we will establish some baselining of children on return to ensure we accurately assess their gaps to ensure essential learning is not missed.  Where gaps have been identified, teaching content will be planned on an individual, small group or whole class basis.  Please try not to worry, we are so proud of your resistant children and will ensure we continue support them and help them progress in every way in the coming weeks, months and years ahead.

 

Comment:  One parent commented on Twitter content

Response: We have deliberately limited Twitter content since lockdown and are mindful of trying to balance celebrating home and school learning.   Our social media platforms are a really successful way informing (school and national news), motivating children and connecting with our local community in shared experiences.  We are proud of all our children in home and our key worker/vulnerable children in school and as such will try to use Twitter to help you stay connected.

 

 

Many thanks for your feedback.  We hope these responses answer your queries.  We have contacted some parents individually already where names were attached but if anyone wants to discuss anything further please do not hesitate to make contact so we can discuss it privately.  We hope to see a full return of all children from March but in the meantime please maintain your excellent engagement – it is making such a difference. THANK YOU!

 

 

Kind regards

Mr P Conway                            Miss S Brady

Head Teacher                           Head of School

 

February newsletter 2021

 

Dear parents, parishioners and friends of St Bernadette’s,

 

What a strange month…. I am sure like us, you hoped we would not return to school closures following our enforced period of absence in March 2020. We cannot thank you enough for the way you once again are supporting your children in their home learning.  Although the approach to home learning has moved on drastically since our last prolonged closure (live lessons/Google classroom), we really appreciate the levels of support that are required of you as a parent – thank you! 

 

Staff are really trying their hardest to make it the best possible provision in such difficult circumstances.  We have been delighted with the children’s engagement in live learning and most importantly in their response to the tasks on offer via Google Classroom.

 

Timetable

Please continue to engage in our timetable for remote learning.  We have tried to stagger times for the consideration of families with multiple siblings requiring devices but once again if you need to loan an additional device please contact school asap. 

Please can children access the morning live learning at their allocated times.  Teachers will place weekly, the expected daily learning on Google Classroom but each day will explain learning in their morning sessions.  Children can stay on line, or leave and work independently following the teacher input.  The afternoon session is a drop in session for children who need further support/clarification from their teachers.  One afternoon a week, teachers will also inform children of a remote PE session they can join.

Prayer life is so important, particularly in these difficult times.  Each Wednesday afternoon we would like all children to log into our weekly Collective worship as outlined below.  Links are available via your children’s Class page:

• Reception and Nursery: 1.30pm
• Year 1-3: 2pm
• Year 4-6 2.30pm

 

On Friday’s, our weekly House meeting will be pre-recorded and added to Class pages for children to watch at a time of their choosing on the afternoon.

Class	Morning Live lesson 1 (all children) Explanation of daily activities	Afternoon drop in (M, Tu, Th, Fr) Support session as directed by teacher or for children/parents requiring additional support
Nursery	10.30am	1.30pm Nursery online Collective worship
Reception	10am	1.30pm
Year 1	9.30am	1pm
Year 2	9.30am	1pm
Year 3	9.30am	1.30pm
Year 4	9am	1.30pm
Year 5	9am	2pm
Year 6	9am	2pm

 

Please note, teachers may occasionally adjust timings if unavoidable disruptions such as staffing pressures/bubble closures etc occur or add additional live learning experiences but this will be communicated with you/children directly.

 

 

Welfare calls

School staff enjoy hearing how you are and if we can support in any way.  They will contact  you regularly to offer educational support but most importantly to see that you are all safe and well.

 

 

Basic skills

Reading: (Rec-Y6) As a school, we appreciate the importance of reading and how vital your role is in supporting us with this.  Reading regularly, opens doors to children’s imaginations and helps them maintain their progress across the whole curriculum.

To support you with home reading during these enforced closures, Miss Cuff has purchased additional e-books in line with our reading schemes (Oxford Reading Tree and Accelerated reading).  This will allow you to practise reading at home – please sign records as normal and inform your teachers every 100 reads.  We will celebrate this in house meetings.

Miss Cuff will send out official communication to outline how to access e books (EYFS-Y3 Oxford reading tree and Y4-6 Accelerated read books) in the coming week.

Rockstars: (Y1-6) Children have in their reading records, log on details to a times-table resource ‘Rockstars’. Knowledge of times tables is the bedrock to mathematical development.  You should also have your child’s white skills booklet –please record in the back of the white records, your practice of key skills and inform your teachers every 50 practices.  Again, we will celebrate this in house meeting.

Mr.Bourner has created a learning video to explain the rationale behind our Reception to Y6 ‘100 read’ scheme and our Y1-6 ‘Times tables’ booklets.  If you have not already seen it please visit our school website and please continue to support our initiatives– it makes a massive difference! https://stbernadettes.npcat.org.uk/curriculum-support-videos/

 

 

E safety 

School safeguarding leads have been made aware by Middlesbrough Council of dangers relating to an app called OMEGLE – ‘a chat app’.   Apps like these present risks to young people accessing inappropriate content, explicit imagery and exploitation.

As children are now accessing more online material, please regularly remind children around keeping safe online and discuss and monitor positive ways of communicating with others.  School are happy to discuss placing restrictions on home devices – if you would like to discuss this further please contact school.  Please raise any concerns regarding inappropriate online activity, or communication immediately to myself or your child’s class teacher.

The following websites are recommended by GOV.UK-please have a look:

• Thinkyouknow (advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online)
• Internet matters (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
• Parent info (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
• LGfL (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
• Net-aware (support for parents and carers from the NSPCC)

 

 

School’s Out

Numbers in our School’s Out provision, are obviously very low at present and where staffing pressures allow we will continue to remain open to key workers.  To ensure we can plan adequately for staffing, please inform the school office if you are going to be collecting from School’s Out after 4pm. 

 

 

Virtual Clubs/P. E

With current lockdown restrictions in place, many of our usual outlets for physical health are unavailable at present.

Teachers are inviting children to weekly P.E lessons via the afternoon link on their Google Classroom.

In addition, NPCAT will be publishing a ‘Weekly Workout’ designed for all children, young people and adults to take part in. Mrs. Smith will be highlighting these and other virtual clubs to you across Twitter.  Please encourage the children to access these.   We would love you to respond via our Twitter using the hashtag #NPCATSportSuperstars.  In turn NPCAT Sport would like to share some of these active photos (yours and in school tweets) via their public social media accounts (no individual names will be used).  If you do not want your child’s sport photo to be shared via NPCAT media outlets please inform the school office or email [email protected]  by Monday 1^st February.

 

 

Timetable – commencing Monday 24th January

 

Monday – Motivation and Weekly Workout

Tuesday – Tuesday Tips for Keeping Fit

Wednesday – 60 Second Challenge

Thursday – Teaser Trailer

Friday – NPCAT Sport Superstars Showcase

 

 

Parent portal

We have launched a new Parent Portal called ‘Arbor’, which will ultimately replace our current systems: eschools and ParentPay. Please download the app if you haven’t already. 96% of parents have already done this.  Your log in details have been emailed to you. Please contact the office if you need any support.

If you haven’t done so already, please complete your consent via the app for children’s participation in live lessons this weekend. 

 

School website

Please visit the COVID section of the school website to access support videos, COVID information, emergency contact details and our remote policies.  https://stbernadettes.npcat.org.uk/  – COVID 19 tab.

 

ParentPay

As we approach the end of this half term, please can we ask that all items on ParentPay are paid in full. There are some payments outstanding for Christmas crafts, school meals and schools In/Out.

 

FSM

As we face our 3^rd lockdown, if you are struggling financially in any way, we would strongly urge you to complete a FSM form (Free School Meals).  If you would like to discuss this further or have any questions please contact school and speak to Mr Conway/Miss Brady directly.  By accessing this support, the WE CAN HELP YOU NOW through food vouchers/hampers!

For those children eligible for ‘free school meals’, a voucher system has been introduced this week wc 25.01.21. Vouchers will be provided for children eligible for free school meals during school closures (term only).  If this applies to you and you require further clarification or have not received your voucher please do not hesitate to make contact.

 

Hope and a Future

In the first day of term Miss Brady led a whole school liturgy in line with our Trust theme: ‘A hope and a future.’   Work has been celebrated via our school fence.  Future liturgies and related actions will continue to link with this theme.

 

Future events

Robinwood (June 2021)

Unfortunately, it is likely that we will cancel the Year 6 residential this June.  We are awaiting clarification from Robinwood on this process and will update Year 6 parents accordingly.

 

School closures

This week, the Prime Minister announced that it will not be possible to resume face-to-face learning immediately after the February half-term and instead hopes it will be safe to commence the re-opening of schools at the earliest from Monday 8 March. Education settings, as well as parents and carers will be given at least two weeks’ notice to prepare for a return to face-to-face education.  We will of course keep you updated on future announcements, but as we have communicated previously, we find out in ‘real time’ too and have no advance details other than what you also hear/read.

In line with Government guidance, we will continue to be open to Nursery children and from Reception to Year 6. We are only open to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers. Unfortunately, we have had a few bubble closures this month so it is vital we continue to limit in school numbers where we can to contain the spread of coronavirus; so please, if you can, keep children at home at this time.    If you do need to go to work to support the country’s fight to tackle coronavirus, contact the school office or our email school ([email protected]) by 3pm each THURSDAY to request a place in our school for the following week (N-Y6).  Please inform school if your child is having a packed lunch a school dinner (hot/cold options available daily).  Also ensure school are aware if you require a School’s Out place beyond 4pm.

 

Staffing news

A reminder that Mrs Whitfield will be returning to teach in EYFS w/c 22^nd February following her maternity leave.  Mrs Whitfield has had several ‘keeping in touch’ days.  She will return for 3 days a week and work alongside Mrs Andrews and Miss Lumley.

 

And finally,

Wednesday Word

Please find below the link for this Sunday’s Gospel reading and explanation activities:

https://www.paperturn-view.com/uk/wednesday-word/teacher?pid=MTA101634&v=16.7

February half term

Please be aware that school will close as usual over February half-term and will not be open to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers during that week.  The children will not receive any additional work that week either.

THANK YOU!

Once again – thank you for all that you are doing to support your children.  We would like to reiterate our thanks to the school staff and to you all for your unwavering support during this very difficult time. The positive messages give school staff a huge lift!  Thanks for the 32 people who have already responded to our survey.  If you haven’t yet completed our remote education survey, your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

Remember although school is closed to many at present – we remain open to you all if you need us! Please contact Mr Conway or Miss Brady via the school office if you need anything at all.  We continue to face significant difficulties together, and we will continue to rise to the challenge.

 

 

God Bless,

Mr P Conway                                Miss S Brady

 

Remote education update

 

Thank you for your support of the children’s home learning in recent weeks.  We appreciate how difficult it is for you at home to support the children as you balance family and work commitments.  We are sure you will agree that the move to Google Classroom is a huge development on the previous Learning Platform offer in our March lockdown.  We have been delighted with the children’s engagement in live lessons and the way they are handing in work relating to the daily resources on offer via Google Classroom.

 

There are various offers across the country in schools towards remote learning, from all day live learning on the computer to simply placing resources on a platform for children to access.  The offers often depend on context, technology, staffing and age.   Currently we are trying to combine live learning, recordings and Google Classroom resources with supporting in school key workers.  The curriculum offer for home and school learners is the same but as you can imagine it is not easy for teachers to teach both sets of children at the same time.

 

We know you will appreciate the efforts the staff are going to in equally supporting both home and school learners.  Thank you for taking the time to forward your many positive comments to school leaders and via the teachers themselves.

 

We would be very grateful if you could complete our short survey to feedback on our current offer.  The link has been send via your parentmail accounts.

 

 

CURRENT TIMETABLE

 

Please can all children access the morning learning at their allocated times.  Teachers will place weekly, the expected daily learning on Google Classroom but each day will explain learning in their morning sessions.  Children can stay on line or leave and work independently following the teacher input.  The afternoon session is a drop in session for children/parents who need further support/clarification from their teachers.  One afternoon a week, teachers will also inform children of a remote PE session they can join.

 

Each Wednesday afternoon we would like all children to log into our weekly Collective worship as outlined below.  Links are available via your children’s Class page:

• Reception and Nursery: 1.30pm
• Year 1-3: 2pm
• Year 4-6 2.30pm

 

On Friday’s, our weekly House meeting will be pre-recorded and added to Class pages for children to watch at a time of their choosing on the afternoon.

 

 

 

Class	Morning Live lesson 1 (all children) Explanation of daily activities	Afternoon drop in (M, Tu, Th, Fr) Support session as directed by teacher or for children/parents requiring additional support
Nursery	10.30am	1.30pm Nursery online Collective worship
Reception	10am	1.30pm
Year 1	9.30am	1pm
Year 2	9.30am	1pm
Year 3	9.30am	1.30pm
Year 4	9am	1.30pm
Year 5	9am	2pm
Year 6	9am	2pm

 

 

Please note, teachers may occasionally adjust timings if unavoidable disruptions such as staffing pressures/bubble closures etc occur or add additional live learning experiences but this will be communicated with you/children directly.

 

We hope you agree the current offer balances the essential teaching support your children need and opportunities for them to work independently in their books.  We are conscious of the negative impact too much screen time has on children so it is essential the learning offer is mixed up with other types of learning eg exercise, baking, reading, drawing etc

 

 

As things stand we do not know how long schools will remain closed for the wider community.   It is essential we walk hand in hand at this time and do all we can to minimise the disruption of school closures on learning and routines.   As such we may tweak our timetables and ways of presenting learning to maintain interest and engagement.

 

We understand you will all be anxious about the impact school closures will have on your children but try not to worry – do what you can to support your children but we do not want home learning to be additional stress.  Just do what you can – focus on the essentials of reading, writing, spelling, handwriting and maths skills – this will make a massive difference!  We are looking into purchasing e-books and will be providing information to support reading online in the coming weeks

 

A reminder if you are having difficulties logging onto Google Classroom/live lessons or need to loan an additional device to access live lessons please contact school and we will endeavour to solve this.

 

For further information, please refer to our website for details outlining a more detailed explanation of our remote offer.  https://stbernadettes.npcat.org.uk/remote-education/

 

 

Kind regards and thank you for all you are doing

 

Mr Conway and Miss Brady

Tuesday 12th January 2021

 

Critical Key Worker Support in School

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

As stated in Government guidance, during this period of national lockdown, schools and colleges should only allow vulnerable children and the children of critical workers to attend school.

 

The government has stated that schools have not suddenly become unsafe but limiting the number of children and students who attend them is essential to curb the escalating cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) throughout the country and prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed.

 

Parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and EU transition response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined in the following sections. Children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school or college if required, but parents and carers should keep their children at home if they can.

 

As has always been the case throughout the fight against COVID, the safety of our pupils and staff is our first priority and we feel that we have always done, and continue to do, everything possible to prevent the spread and reduce transmission between homes and families. The number of pupils currently attending school is concerning and we would ask you to be responsible and, if it is at all possible, to try and find an alternative that would be safer for yourself and your child.

 

Please also consider the following in line with government advice:

• Can you work from home?
• Can you find alternative times to work outside of the school day?
• Do you have other family members who are not in a vulnerable category and can care for your child which will support social distancing for children?
• Do you need childcare everyday? Only use the provision when you really need to.

 

Our risk assessments and procedures continue to be followed robustly and please be aware that our usual track and trace procedures that operate in the school will be in place. This  means that there is a potential that should a child or staff member test positive – self isolation advice would  need to be given to all positive contacts. This may mean some bubble closures.

 

Please can you email [email protected]  to inform us that your child will be in school as soon as you are aware of the dates you require by Thursday of each week. Unfortunately due to the large number of pupils in school at the moment we may not be not be able to accommodate any late requests made after a Thursday.

 

Kind regards,

 

Mr Conway and Miss Brady

Monday 11^th January 2021

 

 

Dear Parent/Carer,

 

We have been advised that there has been a confirmed case of COVID-19 within the Year 4 bubble.

 

Leaders have swiftly followed the advice given by Public Health England (PHE) and will continue to follow the strict protocols in place in order to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

 

Only children and staff within the Year 4 bubble who were in school on Thursday 7^th or Friday 8^th January are required to self isolate. Other household members do not need to self-isolate unless someone subsequently develops symptoms.   If your child is in Year 4 and was a close contact you will receive an additional PHE letter. Affected children and staff members (close contacts) need to isolate until Tuesday 19^th January – they can return to school on this day if they are key workers or classed as vulnerable.  We will review our staffing and will facilitate a key worker bubble for children in Year 4 who were not affected by this closure.  A separate communication will be sent to relevant Year 4 parents regarding this.

 

If your child is not in Year 4 or was not in the Year 4 bubble on Thursday/Friday last week there is no need for your child to self isolate.  Your children can continue to attend school (key workers/vulnerable) / access home learning as normal.

 

Bubbles have been set up across school to plan for events like this so that only limited groups are affected.  Please do not be alarmed. There is no evidence of transmission of the virus within school, however this case reinforces the need for all of us to remain vigilant and adhere to PHE guidance in all aspects of our lives.  Stringent risk assessments in line with all Government guidance are in place across the school and in our local area.  We must keep following all these protocols to keep everyone safe.

 

How to stop COVID-19 spreading

 

There are things we can all do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:

• wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
• use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
• wash your hands as soon as you get home
• cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
• put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

 

Further information

 Further information is available at nhs.uk/coronavirus

 

If you have any further questions please contact Mr Conway at school.

 

Yours sincerely,

Paul Conway

Headteacher

St Bernadette’s Primary School

Dear parents,

 

During these very challenging times we will update you with the latest education and Government headlines and school/Trust messages.

 

Thank you for your support over the last few days – we have been heartened by your responses.  Thank you and your children for your resilience, fortitude and solidarity in a rapidly changing situation.  We realise that the events taking place are unsettling for all of us.

 

School closure

The government has resisted closing schools until now, but in the face of the rapidly rising numbers of cases across the country and intense pressure on the NHS, they now need to use every lever to reduce all contacts of COVID-19 and reduce transmission as much as is possible.

The latest guidance published late last night clearly states that during the period of national lockdown, schools and colleges should only allow vulnerable children and the children of critical workers to attend. Children with at least one parent or carer who is listed as a critical worker are eligible for a school place.

In order to reduce transmission of the virus and maintain a safe environment for all pupils and staff, NPCAT schools will remain open for all vulnerable children and the children of critical workers from nursery upwards.  Nursery provision will be offered to key workers in line with your usual 15 or 30 hour arrangements.

 

Key worker children

The Prime Minister has confirmed that schools and other settings will remain closed for the foreseeable future – except for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers.  We understand the importance of our school being open for critical workers and their families.  It is hoped that schools will reopen in full following the February half term.   In the meantime, if you need to go to work to support the country’s fight to tackle coronavirus, please contact school via our emails or phone school by 3pm each THURSDAY to request a place in school the following week.  Please inform us also if your child requires Schools In/Out or a school lunch.

Please can all parents requiring critical worker or vulnerable child provision over the coming weeks complete the following Google form link https://forms.gle/cXZWfmyPDY5vznmc7

 

School day arrangements

As stated yesterday, we can confirm that children in school will continue to be taught by their current staff.  At present, we will keep our current consistent bubbles and we will update relevant families on a daily/weekly basis should this need to change. Autumn term arrangements and staggered entry and exit times and entry points will be the same.  Although PE will still be timetabled times may be altered so it is best that all in school children come into school in uniform/trainers.  Currently, Schools In and Out will be available for key workers but this may change depending on future staffing pressures. you prefer, your child can bring a packed lunch.  In this interim period, we will not change books in school so please source your own reading resources from home.

 

FSM

We have a limited kitchen team however both hot and cold meals are available for in school children.  For FSM pupils, meals will be available on request to collect from school at 12 noon each day.

 

Home learning

This unprecedented time has led us to whole school ‘distance or home learning’.  Thank you in advance so much for your dedicated support in helping your children – it makes a massive difference.   Should any of you be having any issues at all, please contact your child’s teacher.  Please mix up formal learning on Google Classroom with other activities such as: baking, exercise or learning new skills.   Teachers can provide exercise books as necessary.

 

LIVE LEARNING TIMETABLE

For children working from home, we have set up a live learning daily schedule.  Please can all children access the morning learning at their allocated times.  Teachers will place weekly the expected daily learning on Google Classroom but each day will explain learning in their morning session.  Children can stay on line or leave and work independently following the teacher input.  The afternoon session is an optional drop in session for children/parents who need further support/clarification from their teachers.

Links to each session have been sent to your child’s email address.  We are hoping by staggering the timings of the lessons all children will have enough devices at home to access live lessons.  However, if you are having difficulties logging on or need to loan an additional device please contact school and we will endeavour to solve this.  Home learning and school learning will be mirrored as much as possible and there will not be additional homework at present.  Please note that we have updated the Y3/4 timing meets from the original email.

 

Class	Morning Live lesson	Afternoon drop in
Nursery	10am	–
Reception	10am	1.30pm
Year 1	9.30am	1pm
Year 2	9.30am	1pm
Year 3	9.30am	1.30pm
Year 4	9am	1.30pm
Year 5	9am	2pm
Year 6	9am	2pm

 

And finally,

 

Please continue to keep abreast with official school communication and support via email/Twitter/Facebook/School Website/Learning Platform.

As a proud member of the St Bernadette’s community, we know that we will come through this!   Despite the overwhelming challenges we are facing, we will adapt and cope as best we can.  We will emerge from this even stronger.

 

God Bless,

Mr P Conway and Miss S Brady

St Bernadette, Patron of our School, Pray for Us and Help Us

Blessed Nicholas Postgate, Pray for Us