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Kirkby Christmas Star

Sun 22 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

Kirkby Christmas Star – bringing the community together at Christmas 2020

We are working with the Kirkby Collaborative of Schools and Tower Hill and Shevington Together group to bring the Kirkby community together.

The idea is to encourage everyone in Kirkby to put up a Christmas symbol in their window with a Christmas message for the community.

It was agreed that a star should be the symbol that everyone uses, as this has diverse appeal and religious and non religious affiliations.

By putting up a star in the window the idea is that everyone is thinking of all other members of the Kirkby community at Christmas – and the star is the symbol we are using to demonstrate that togetherness and unity at this difficult Christmas time.

Your children will be making a star in school during the remainder of this month – and they will bring the star home on Tuesday 1^st December so they can all be put on the window together on the 1^st to shine a light throughout the Christmas month.

Members of the Kirkby community without school children can also create their own star. You may wish to share the message to embrace other members of the community and community groups.

Letter to parents of Y4 children

Wed 18 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

Dear Parents/Carers of Year 4 children,

We have been advised by Public Health England that there has been a confirmed case of COVID-19 within the school.

We have followed the national guidance and have identified that your child’s class bubble may have been in the proximity of the affected person. Your child may have been in close/direct contact with the confirmed case as defined by Public Health England.

Governors and I have made the decision to follow the national guidance as we must take every step to ensure the safety of the children, staff and the school community. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, the children in the Year 4 class must self-isolate for 14 days. As the affected person has not been in school since Monday 16th November, the isolation period will end on Monday 30th November and children can return on this date.

Miss Bennett will set work for the children during the isolation and she will be in touch via Seesaw to explain how the work can be accessed. If your child has difficulty in accessing the work please contact the school and we will make any necessary arrangements.

It is not recommended that you access a test unless your child begins to show symptoms, as even if the test comes back negative your child will still have to self- isolate for 14 days.

The rest of your household does not have to self-isolate and other family members can attend school as usual.

If your child needs to access a test during this time, please inform school of the results.

Please be assured that we are doing everything we can to minimise the risk to your children and I thank you for all your support in following the new arrangements.

I would be grateful if parents/carers would refrain from using social media to discuss this matter as rumour and speculation can cause unnecessary upset and panic.

Please read the attached information and if you have any questions, contact the school and I will be happy to speak to you.

Thank you again for your continued support in such challenging times.

Miss J Withey

Head teacher

Please see the link to the PHE Staying at Home Guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19- stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID 19

If your child develops symptoms of COVID-19, they should remain at home for at least 10 days from the date when symptoms appeared as advised in https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance

You should arrange for testing for your child via https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested or 111.nhs.uk or primary care

All other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill. Household members should not go to work, school or public areas and exercise should be taken within the home.

Household members staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community

If you are able to, move any vulnerable individuals (such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions) out of your home, to stay with friends or family for the duration of the home isolation period

Symptoms of COVID 19

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

· new continuous cough and/or

· high temperature and/or

· a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia) For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading

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

· 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 https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Closure of Y4 bubble

Wed 18 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

Unfortunately, it has become necessary to close the Y4 bubble due to potential exposure with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. All parents/carers should now have been notified.

Miss Bennett will be providing home learning via Seesaw for the Y4 children. Although siblings are fine to attend school (and should do so wherever possible), it may have implications for siblings of these children if parents/carers are unable to provide childcare for the Y4 children and also bring siblings to school. These children should access the 5 day home learning package from the remote learning page.

What to expect from remote learning

Wed 11 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM REMOTE LEARNING

What happens when a bubble goes home?

If your child is sent home from school to self isolate, they must not leave your home or garden for 14 days.

They should try to stay 2 metres from others in the house if possible. You should not have visitors to your house to see the child unless they are: part of your support

bubble (one other adult or one single parent family); childcare bubble (one other household) or they are from health or social care and it is necessary to see them.

The other people in the house do not have to self isolate, they can continue to go to school/work as long as the child is being looked after at home. If your child develops Covid symptoms, make sure you have them tested.

Government expectations:

All schools should provide remote learning immediately if a child is asked to self-isolate.
It should be high quality and be similar to what has been taught/is being taught in the classroom.
All schools must be ready to provide remote learning.

Schools should provide:

Log in details of a software platform like Google Classroom/Seesaw etc with instructions of how to use it.
A printed pack of work for your child if you do not have any internet access through your phone or at home, this may be provided in bulk to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Work that covers a range of subjects and equals a similar amount of learning to what would happen in school – this may be a weekly/daily set of tasks.
Frequent feedback from a teacher/TA on their work – this should be in line with the school’s marking policy so should be at least once a week.
The ability for you or your child to ask questions about the work if you are struggling.
Explanations of some of the work provided – this could either be a video/audio by someone else (BBC/National Academy/Youtube) or by the teacher themselves.
If your child has special educational needs then the work provided must be at the correct level. The work may also include activities to help achieve targets on your child’s personal provision plan or Education Health and Care plan.
Work that children can do independently so as to not put a strain on families’ time. Contact you during the period of isolation if longer than 2 weeks.
If you are struggling with resources such as pens/paper please discuss this with your school.

Parents should provide:

A routine similar to school with similar timings for breaks, bedtimes etc.
A quiet space for your child to work and perhaps to do live lessons if this is on offer. Ask school if you need help.
Not expect the child’s teacher to be contactable every day (they may be unwell or have childcare issues themselves).
Read the school’s Code of Conduct and Remote learning policy so you know what to expect from your school.

The full document can be found here.

Christmas star

Tue 10 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

The 'Tower Hill Together' group have developed a proposal for Christmas to bring the Tower Hill community together.

The idea is to encourage people to put up a Christmas poster in their window with a Christmas message for the community. It was agreed that a star should be the symbol that everyone uses, can be viewed as either religious or non-religious.

By putting up a star in the window the idea is that everyone is thinking of all other members of the Kirkby community at Christmas – and the star is the symbol we are using to demonstrate that togetherness and unity at this difficult Christmas time.

The idea is that the stars could be created in school during the remainder of this month – and that they would all go up together on 1^st December to shine a light through the Christmas month. Members of the Kirkby community without school children could also create their own star.

Intra nasal flu vaccine

Mon 09 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

Dear Parent/Carer

REMINDER

The Immunisation Team will be coming into school tomorrow - Tuesday 10th November 2020 at 9.30 am to administer the intra nasal flu vaccination.

This applies to all children from reception to year 6. The vaccination is free and is a quick and simple spray up the nose. Even if your child had it last year, it is recommended to have the flu vaccine again this year.

I appreciate a lot of you have returned your child's consent form that you wish or do not wish your child to have the nasal spray- these have been passed to the Immunisation team.

However if you have not received a consent form you can access one from our website ( https://bit.ly/35ee3Ll ) or if you contact the school office we can pass one to your child tonight If you have any questions please contact the Immunisation Team on 0151 676 5141

Thank you

Children in need 2020

Fri 06 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

Children in Need 2020 - Friday 13th November 2020.

Eastcroft Park will be taking part in Children in Need. This year’s theme is 5 to Thrive and each class will take part in activities to promote wellbeing throughout the week.

Can you dress your child in their PE kit (Years 1 to 6) or comfortable clothes like tracksuit bottoms/leggings with a T-shirt (Nursery & Reception) for the week Monday to Thursday and on the Friday your child can wear Pudsey or spotty items.

We are asking for a £1 donation Please support us in raising money for this charity.

Staff shielding

Fri 06 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

As a result of changes to government guidance on extremely vulnerable staff, there will be two members of staff that are shielding for the period of lockdown until 2nd December. The replacement teachers will be Mrs Frackleton in Y4 and Mrs Mason in Y5.

Knowsley council welcome back to school letter

Tue 03 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

Dear Parent / Carers,

I hope you have had a restful half term holiday and are all ready for a new half term of learning. I hope very much that the half term goes well for you all and I thank you for all that you are doing to support your child’s education.

I know that these are challenging and anxious times for us all and once again I commend the work undertaken by our schools and our families to maintain teaching and learning in safe and supportive environments. I have seen lots of examples on social media of great learning happening in our schools and at home. I hope very much that we will be able to build upon this as we move into the second part of the Autumn term.

Keeping good attendance when we can is now more important than ever; schools have worked hard to complete risk assessments and put measures in place to make school settings safe and this means that across Knowsley many children and young people are attending school regularly and achieving great things.

Thank you to all the children, young people and families that have, so far, maintained good attendance. I know a small minority of you remain concerned about sending your child into school, and I would urge you to discuss this with a member of staff. I am sure they will be keen to work with you to address your concerns and make sure your child does not have any unnecessary breaks in their education.

We know that at present COVID-19 continues to spread in our community, so now, more than ever we must continue to work together to do all that we can to stop it, keep each other safe and well and reduce the demand within our hospitals.

With cases also increasing nationally, you will be aware that the Prime Minister announced a national lockdown on Saturday 31 October, which comes into force on Thursday 5 November. Whilst there are no changes for schools or colleges, several new measures have been introduced across the wider community as part of this second lockdown. These measures are designed to reduce the chance of transmission in the community.

The ‘new’ national measures mean that once again non-essential shops, leisure centres, hairdressers, pubs and restaurants will all close (supermarkets and food shops will remain open). The restrictions will be reviewed on 2 December 2020 and you can read the full guidance around the restrictions on the Government’s website.

Schools will remain open for all pupils who are able to attend. To keep school a safe place it is important that we remain alert to the signs and symptoms of COVID19 and follow the guidance from Public Health. This includes:

Staying at home if you have symptoms – a high temperature, new or persistent cough, loss of taste or smell – and book a test through www.nhs.uk/coronavirus or ring 119. Other members of your household need to stay at home until your test result comes back.
If your result is negative, you (and other people in your household) no longer need to self- isolate. If it is positive, you need to self-isolate for 10 days from when you started with symptoms or from the date that you had your test if you don’t have symptoms and others in your household need to self-isolate for 14 days from when your symptoms developed / the date of your test.
Wear a face covering when dropping off / picking up from school and other places such as shops, on public transport, in taxis and in hospital settings. (unless exempt)
Leave the school premises when you have dropped off / pick up – don’t congregate in groups on the playground.
Continue to regularly wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Maintain a 2m distance between you and others.
Limit social interactions with others. As part of the lockdown restrictions, you can’t mix with people from other households (unless they are part of your support bubble) in any indoor setting or private garden.
Remember to carry a tissue to catch coughs and sneezes. Bin the tissue and wash your hands afterwards.

Thank you once again for your continued support, I hope you all stay safe and well this half term.

Yours faithfully

Jill Albertina

Assistant Executive Director (Education & Early Help)

Knowsley Children's University update Nov 2020

Tue 03 Nov 2020 Mr Youngman

Children’s University

Dear parent(s)/carer(s),

Due to the restrictions in place at present and for the foreseeable future, we have received details of how the children’s university credits will be awarded given that currently children cannot earn credits by attendance at the school’s customary after school clubs. Please read the following information from Enrich education about how the allocation of credits is changing.

At present with the current restrictions in place children may not have access to the usual extracurricular clubs and provision to gain Children’s University credits like in previous years. As part of the Children’s University we want to make sure that children still have an opportunity to access and benefit from a wide and varied amount of enrichment activities and experiences.

We have enhanced and developed the Children’s University programme this year to provide families with different ways to collect credits that will count towards the children’s graduation next summer. Below are a couple of ways you can gain Children’s University credits:

Enrich Education - Activities/Resources - Home Learning

The Home Learning section on the Enrich Education website has a range of Children’s University accredited activities that can be completed at home. The activities are broken down into different subject (Sport, Art, Science, Geography, Maths, English & STEM). New fun and engaging activities are being created and uploaded every week.

Throughout this school year will have the opportunity to earn over 100 credits if they undertake these activities. Children’s University hours will be credited once the session/work has been completed and evidence provided to school’s children’s university coordinator along with the activity’s individual ‘Activity Stamp Code’. The code is usually a colour followed by 4 numbers i.e. purple5017 The code can be found at the bottom of the activity session sheets.To access these activities please visit:

http://www.enricheducationuk.com/home-learning/

In addition to the Enrich Education activities, National Children’s University Trust has an online learning activities page. There are lots of validated activities for children to engage with and gain credits for.

To access these activities please visit:

https://www.childrensuniversity.co.uk/get-involved/activities-to-do-at-home-and-online/

Enrich Education - Online Mini Master Classes

To provide further learning opportunities Enrich Education will be hosting a number of free, informal, fun, and engaging online Mini Master Classes that children can participate in. The Mini Master Classes will be hosted Live on our Youtube channel and will take place on Saturday or Sunday mornings. Working with teachers with specialisms in a range of different subjects from Art, Crafts, Drama, Maths, English and History. Children will have the opportunity to participate in the sessions in the comfort of their own home. All of the resources for the sessions will be posted on the Enrich Education Home Learning section on the website in the Master Classes tab.

A full timetable of events will be released on the events page on the Enrich Education website here:

http://www.enricheducationuk.com/events/

The first master class will be held on Saturday 7^th November at 10:30 this session will have an art focus.

Enrich Education – Learning Destinations

Many children are still accessing enrichment activities away from the school, in their local communities. For the organisation’s activities to count towards a participants Children’s University credits they must have undertaken a short validation process.

We have taken the decision to relax the validation process and allow children to gain hours from organisations that have not yet undertaken the validation process yet. This will enable children to gain a maximum of 30 hours from any non-validated activities/organisations. For example, if a child attends a drama group and a football group that are not validated, they will be eligible to receive up to 30 hours attending these organisations.

If possible, these hours should be recorded in a Children’s University passport to learning, this is the official process of logging hours for external hours. However, there are some school that are not currently utilising the passport to learning and we will work with these schools to ensure their pupils are still benefiting from attending external activities. Providing some evidence and maybe even a piece of work (report, scrapbook, medals, photographs) will be acceptable as evidence of attendance.

There are already lots of validated Learning Destinations, both locally and nationally, that children are accessing to pursue their interests and hobbies. These organisations are a great way for children to participate in enrichment activities and gain CU credits through the Children’s University Passport to Learning. To find validated activities/organisations in your area please visit the ‘Find an Activity’ section of the Children’s University website:

https://www.childrensuniversity.co.uk/activity-search/

Enrich Education – More Able Online Sessions

Enrich Education will be offering a number More Able (formerly ‘Gifted and Talented’) online workshops in English & Maths in the spring term. The sessions will take place on a Saturday morning and last for between 1 & 2 hours.

The sessions will be of a dynamic and challenging nature, aimed at enhancing the skills that some young people have already displayed signs of possessing in Maths or English. Schools will be able to select a number of year 6 pupils to benefit from these sessions and full registration details will be provided via school closer to the time.

Enrich Education - Tailored School Offer and Credits

Enrich Education will be working with each school individually and assessing where children are engaging in enrichment activities within the school timetable. Some curriculum activities will count towards Children’s University hours, for this year. This could come in the form of enrichment lessons that can be temporarily classed as CU modules i.e. music, arts, crafts, drama, sports, computers etc. The school will use their best judgment to choose the areas of the curriculum that will count towards the child’s Children’s University credits for this year.

If you have any questions about the Children’s University programme for the coming year please contact Enrich Education.

info@enricheducationuk.com

www.enricheducationuk.com

If you require any further information about how this will look specifically for us at Eastcroft Park, or have any other questions/queries about Children’s University then please email me at reception@eastcroftpark.co.uk.

Mr Youngman

Children’s University & after-school clubs coordinator

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