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Good afternoon children (the young and the older),
I hope you are keeping safe and well. It's a weird time for us all. For those who are in school, we are completing the same learning as those of you at home with loved ones! You are not missing out...promise!
We are all being careful and continuing to wash hands, keep apart as much as possible and following what we are being told to do to keep everyone safe...
BUT, we are still smiling, laughing, joking and keeping our active body and active minds going!
I am missing you all dearly, especially our weekly catch ups in assemblies. My online assembly today involves a simple poem (which someone sent me) with a clear message to youngsters and continued hope:
The Time We Spring-Cleaned the World
The world it got so busy,
There were people all around.
They left their germs behind them;
In the air and on the ground.
These germs grew bigger and stronger.
They wanted to come and stay.
They didn’t want to hurt anyone -
They just really wanted to play.
Sometimes they tried to hold your hand,
Or tickled your throat or your nose.
They could make you cough and sneeze
And make your face as red as a rose.
And so these germs took over.
They started to make people ill,
And with every cough we coughed
More and more germs would spill.
All the queens and kings had a meeting.
“It’s time to clean the world up!” they said.
And so they had to close lots of fun stuff,
Just so these germs couldn’t spread.
We couldn’t go to cinemas
Or restaurants for our tea.
There was no football or parties,
The world got as quiet as can be.
The kids stopped going to school,
The mums and dads went to work less.
Then a great, big, giant scrubbing brush
Cleaned the sky and the sea and the mess!
Parents started teaching the sums,
Siblings played with us more,
Grown ups were in charge of homework
And we read and played jigsaws galore!
The whole world was washing their hands
And building super toilet roll forts!
Outside was quiet and peaceful,
Now home was the place for all sports.
So we played in the world that was home
And our days filled up with fun and love,
And the germs they grew smaller and smaller
And the sun watched from up above.
Then one morning the asun woke up early,
It smiled and stretched its' beams wide.
The world had been fully spring cleaned,
It was time to go back outside!
We opened our doors oh so slowly
And breathed in the clean and fresh air.
We promised that forever and always
Of this beautiful world we’d take care!
Anon..
TAKE CARE, EVERYONE!
Keep inside, keep safe and keep well this weekend... you are all in my thoughts. Also, please tell your children that Mrs Bates says, “Keep using those cheeks and keep smiling.”
For now, I leave you to try and enjoy the rest of your weekend. The very best and fond wishes,
Mrs Bates
Head Teacher
Week Ending 20th March 2020
This week, the following children have received a Head Teacher’s Award:
Alfie – Orange 1 – For fantastic phonics work. Alfie concentrated really well and had a great attitude to work. Well done!
Current attendance results are as follows:
Violet 1 & Violet 2 – 100%
Blue 1 – 99.2%
Dear all,
I hope you are well and enjoying some family time today.
Following a very unusual day in school yesterday, and some thinking time today, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all immensely! Myself and the staff have received some amazing cards, letters, gifts, emails and sincere thanks and we are truly grateful.
Last week wasn’t easy for anyone and yesterday was particularly strange. We kept smiling though and the day was heart-warning in so many ways!
We enjoyed rainbow day and that generated an enormous amount of food for the food banks for our school community. Thank you so much.
As I have all week, I will continue to keep you updated and posted. There will be a letter tomorrow for those families whose children will be in school next week. In addition, we will writing to you all on Monday with further plans for continued home learning. As a mum myself, I am also preparing for this, and I know it will be ‘different’. We will do our very best to ensure children continue to be engaged with learning, education and fun!
Keep safe and well everyone ... you are all in my thoughts. Also, please tell your children that Mrs Bates says, “Keep using those cheeks and keep smiling.”
For now, I leave you to try and enjoy the rest of your weekend. The very best and fond wishes,
Michelle Bates
Head Teacher
19th March 2020
Dear Parents and Carers,
Children of Key ‘Frontline’ Workers and vulnerable children
Once again, we thank you for the support and kind messages that you have sent both to myself and the staff over the last 48 hours. The ‘community-feel’ so far has been strong and we are all working through this together and continuing to smile. It is a difficult time and we cannot thank you enough for your patience and kindness during this unprecedented time.
As instructed by the government yesterday, schools will close tomorrow for all pupils apart from the most vulnerable and children of key workers. I was hoping for further clarification tonight from the government, over the clarity of ‘key workers’ and vulnerable children, but to no avail.
Over the last week, we have followed the Government’s guidance on how to respond to the Coronavirus and have been active supporters of the strategy to combat the crisis. We are trying to slow down the spread of the virus and whenever we make decisions, we are doing so to keep the risks low and everybody safe. Currently, the numbers of children who were planning to be in schools next week, due to one key worker within a family, is meaning the projected numbers are high. Well above the safe maximum suggested by the government of 20% of the school population.
As a result of this, we have been liaising today with local schools, Head Teachers from other families of schools, schools in larger Trusts and have followed union guidance. As of this evening, there is a developed understanding that the highest priority for childcare places in schools, over the next few weeks, will be for families where both parents are key workers or where a sole parent is a key worker. However, there may be some flexibility around this to help manage individual circumstances. Therefore, I urge you to get in touch tomorrow morning by 10am to inform us of whether both adults, or a sole parent, are key workers (or if we need to discuss your circumstances). However, I plead that you only request a place if you have good grounds and need us for emergency provision.
If you work in the following sectors, you are considered a key worker and should be able to keep sending your child/children to school to enable you to continue to work.
Key Workers: (PLEASE NOTE, this list is currently not finalised by the government and may change within hours)
We expect the list of front line workers to be expanded and clarified over the next 24 hours.
As well as considering childcare provision for all key workers within a household, we have also had to think of our most vulnerable pupils. At this moment in time, we have guidance from the Local Authority that:
Vulnerable pupils are:
Again, if you feel your child is vulnerable then please let us know. We will also make calls to you if we feel that time in school is what your child is going to require over the coming weeks.
The guidance is changing all the time and there is more and more to put in place quickly. I have to submit registers tomorrow to the Local Authority of children who will be in school on Monday. We cannot just have an ‘open door’ policy under these circumstances and you must get in touch by 10am tomorrow please.
As soon as we have an idea of how many children we are expecting, we can plan to make it happen. Please let us know if you want to take up this offer of emergency provision by:
Calling the school office on 01773 712128
Emailing school on office@greasley.notts.sch.uk
Or
By popping into the school office to tell us tomorrow morning
We will send further updates as soon as we have them and also communicate again tomorrow when we have a further plan for learning and what will be required in school Monday if you are on the register for your child/children to attend.
Once again, this is an unprecedented time and we are working hard behind the scenes to prepare for the school closures. We will work together with you to ensure that the health and wellbeing of our community and the education of children remains at the forefront of our decision making.
Thank you so much for your support.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs Michelle Bates and Mr Chris Manton
(Head Teacher) (Chair of Governors)
19th March 2020
Dear Parents and Carers,
Firstly, may I take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and understanding during recent days surrounding the ongoing coronavirus crisis. It has been truly heart-warming to receive messages of support from our school community and for that, we are all very grateful.
Following on from my last update, I am now writing to let you know that we have been instructed to close the school to almost all children from closure on Friday 20th March 2020, until further notice.
As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, social care staff, frontline workers and delivery drivers), children who fall into the vulnerable category and those with Education Health Care Plans.
We are waiting for the government to publish more information on what this means, but it would help us in the meantime if you could let us know if you think your profession might fall into the key worker band. Today, we will be estimating the number of families, who are likely to require this support, based on the information you have previously supplied about parental occupations and the understanding we already have of our vulnerable children. However, please notify us by email by no later than 10am on Friday 20th March 2020 at office@greasley.notts.sch.uk if you and/or your child falls into any one of these groups.
Once we have a full understanding of the numbers involved, we can assess the requirements and finalise arrangements with the families concerned.
All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday 23rd March onwards. Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We will re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this will be by ParentMail.
We have also pre-empted the requirement to make provision for the children of key workers or those children who fall into the most vulnerable category, and have plans in place ready to facilitate this as follows:
We are currently planning what our arrangements will be for lunchtime, especially for those in receipt of free school meals, but packed lunches may be required by some.
I am sure there will be many questions about all the arrangements moving forwards, and I promise to keep you all posted as I have the answers.
Examples of what will not be able to go ahead:
What we’ll continue doing while your child is at home
Your child’s learning is of course important to us. Therefore, we will continue to help your child to learn at home as much as physically possible for us. Today, your child will come home with a learning journal book. This will include logins for all remote learning and suggestions of activities for them to complete throughout the week. General timetables are also provided as an example if you want to add some structure to your day. In addition, teachers will be posting daily onto the class story, using Class Dojo. For now, you will have activities for week one of the school closure. Moving forwards, we will continue to send you subsequent learning for future weeks, using the same structure and format.
If your child usually receives free school meals, we will also be in touch with more information about how we will continue to provide help, with support from a scheme that the government are currently finalising.
This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it is far from ideal. However, we will continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.
If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please do not hesitate to do so via the school landline or office@greasley.notts.sch.uk. Also, remember: if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please refer to the NHS guidelines.
We are all experiencing uncertain and difficult times; as a community, we aim to support each other as best we can. Above everything, we are totally committed to supporting our children and families throughout this process. Thank you to those parents who have sent in messages of support and encouragement to our staff - this is greatly appreciated. We continue to wish you and your family well. The children have been particularly brilliant and we have been smiling together daily!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff also for their hard work and dedication over the last few days as we have prepared for this closure. Without this, we would not be able to function and remain open for those who need us most.
All that remains is for me to wish you and yours a healthy and safe time away from school, and to assure you that we will look forward to seeing everyone back in school well in the coming future. Please keep safe, feel free to keep in touch and honestly I send my sincerest love and best wishes to everyone in the school community.
Keep smiling, children!
Best wishes,
Mrs Bates
Head Teacher
18th March 2020
Dear Parents and Carers,
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
Following the Prime Ministers briefing this evening, we are hoping to seek further clarification regarding the implications for our school tomorrow. We will keep you fully updated once we have received further guidance. Thank you all for your continued support during this unprecedented time.
We understand that many of you will have questions about the weeks ahead. Please be assured that we are passing all the information we have along to you as we receive it. As I am sure you can imagine, every member of the school staff will be working very hard to ensure that the next two days are as smooth as possible. I am also exceptionally proud of the staff as they prepare work for your child/ren and school closures.
We would like to achieve something positive on Friday itself as our last normal day of operations for some time. To that end, we will be allowing children to come to school in colourful-rainbow and cheerful clothing in exchange for an item of tinned or packet food, which can be distributed to those who need it most within our school community. We know that everyone is anxious about the current climate, but we would like to try and do something as a school community to help people who need it most.
The VERY best of wishes at this difficult time. Every day, I have been talking to the children about smiling...it is so important at the moment. I will be in touch as soon as possible with further updates and plans.
Thanks again for your support to myself and the staff.
Warmest regards,
Mrs Bates
18th March 2020
Dear Parents and Carers,
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
Over the last two days, we have been asked many questions about when to keep children off school and what to do in certain scenarios. We keep coming back to the most recent advice. The latest guidance can be found on the NHS and government websites. I hope that the following helps you become more aware of the latest guidelines with regard to what to do if someone develops symptoms of coronavirus.
Symptoms
The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are a new, continuous cough (this means you have started coughing repeatedly) OR a high temperature (you feel hot to touch on your chest or back and at 37.8 degrees or above). For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild infection.
What to do if someone develops symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19)
If your child becomes unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature they should be kept at home and follow the staying at home guidance on the NHS website. If they need clinical advice you should go online to NHS 111 (or call 111 if you don’t have internet access). In an emergency, call 999 if they are seriously ill or injured or their life is at risk. Do not visit the GP, pharmacy, urgent care centre or a hospital.
You will need to inform the school of their absence and state that your child is self-isolating.
As per the government guidelines, as you live with others, if you or one of them have symptoms of coronavirus, then all household members must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14 day period starts from the day when the first person becomes ill.
For anyone in the household who starts displaying symptoms, they need to stay at home for 7 days from when the symptoms appeared, regardless of what day they are on in the original 14 day isolation period.
For further information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance and please refer to the ‘ending self-isolation and household isolation’ section.
As and when staff self-isolate due to vulnerabilities, or self-isolation within their family (following government guidelines), we will let individual classes know. Rest assured, we currently have no suspected or confirmed cases amongst staff.
I hope that this letter adds support and guidance for you when trying to decide whether to self-isolate your family. Genuinely, take care of you and yours!
Yours sincerely,
Mrs Bates
Head Teacher
17th March 2020
Dear Parents and Carers,
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
Given the ongoing challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, I am writing to provide an update of how Greasley Beauvale Primary School is responding to this situation for the whole school community.
As I am sure you are all aware, there was an updated government press release last night. We are now entering another stage of delay, which requires action. At the time of writing, there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) within our school community. However, we continue to monitor the situation very closely and we are fully aware now of the need for whole families to self-isolate if they experience any of the symptoms (high temperature and/or new continuous cough).
What is the current risk level?
The risk to the public has been raised to high. Therefore, can I please urge families to follow the guidance and notify us immediately if you or your child/ren are ill with the symptoms. Consequently, this will lead to the 14 day self-isolation period enforced by the government.
The government have made clear that there is no immediate plan to close schools nationally. However, this position could change within days. We will continue to closely monitor this and update you as the situation changes.
The government will also be updating its advice in relation to what you should do if you feel you have coronavirus symptoms. You can keep up to date with this information on the NHS website.
We are also putting in place a number of additional measures to help limit the impact of our activities on the spread of coronavirus.
Cancellation of all trips
We have taken the decision today to postpone or cancel all trips until after the Easter holidays (at least). This is based on the fact that the government have advised to limit social contact and not to go ahead with non-essential contact and travel. Any trips after this remain under review, which is in the interests of the welfare of our children. We are very aware that the year 4 children are currently on their residential trip to Castleton (until tomorrow) and this was approved by the Department of Education on Sunday afternoon due to the outdoor location, events planned and risk assessments in place. All other trips planned (i.e. Magna for year 5) have associated risks due to the high volume of visitors, close proximity of other people within venues and the high exposure, for example, to touching artefacts, equipment and experiments. Again, this follows guidance from the government about avoiding confined spaces and mass gatherings and increasing social distancing.
Cancellation of school events
From today, we are restricting the movement between school communities, where we may be working closely with external providers, children and/or professionals. This includes events planned within our school until after the Easter holidays (at the earliest). These include: parents evenings, book fairs, workshops or guest speakers, and book and buttie mornings. Where possible, we will reschedule these for a later date or find alternative ways of communicating.
Please note: in order to ensure we continue to deliver on our duty of care to our children, it may be necessary to continue to hold some face-to-face meetings and we will review each situation on a case-by-case basis.
Cancellation of normal routine in the school timetable
From today, we will limit the amount of contact that children have within the school building and there will be no assemblies. This will also enable more time for handwashing and/or extra time outside in the fresh air. We will keep routine on a ‘needs must’ basis i.e. lunchtime in the hall. The list also covers the cancellation of: Rainbow Rewards, swimming, reading volunteers, food technology and cups in classrooms. With regards to water, please ensure your child has their own water bottle and these will be sent home daily for washing. In terms of lunchtime, we will also extend this by 10 minutes to ensure that more time is given to washing hands.
Cancellation of afterschool clubs
From today, there will be NO afterschool clubs until further notice.
Reminder – have we got your up to date contact details?
We should have two points of parent/guardian contact information for your child – this should include an email address and phone number (preferably a mobile number). If this requires updating, please let us know. Please email us at office@greasley.notts.sch.uk or provide us with a hardcopy written letter.
If you are worried about any symptoms, please call NHS 111. Please let us know if you or any member of your immediate family have a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 at the earliest opportunity.
Please let us know if you feel that your child is vulnerable for the virus and if there are further measures that we need to consider.
As you will appreciate, this is an unprecedented time and we are working hard behind the scenes to prepare for school closures (if they are to happen) and working remotely if needed. We will work together with you to ensure that the health and wellbeing of our community and the education of children remain at the forefront of our decision making.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs Michelle Bates and Mr Chris Manton
(Head Teacher) (Chair of Governors)
Week Ending 13th March 2020
This week, the following children have received a Head Teacher’s Award:
Skyla – Orange 2 – For consistently producing high-quality pieces of homework that have taken a lot of time, effort and hard work.
Nurture, Develop and Grow - Fabulous news this week to find out that Jessica (year 6) played with the Ilkeston brass band last weekend in the regional area contest. It was pleasing to hear that she came 12th out of 22 bands! Apparently, there was lots of positive feedback, especially about the cornet players. Another proud parent moment and one for us in school too! Well done, Jessica.
Current attendance results are as follows:
Orange 1 – 100%
Green 2 – 98.9%
Blue 1 – 98.9%
An exciting week in school this week as we commenced our annual science week. Throughout the week, there were many exciting scientific opportunities. Mrs Clarke (as science lead) led the week and this is what she had to say about the experiences:
What a fabulous week of STEM based projects. Science alongside Technology, Engineering and Maths. Each year group took on a different challenge with links to STEM and the wider world:
Reception: plastic pollution and reusing waste plastic as flower pots
Year 1: How buildings are made and homeless shelter making
Year 2: Food and packaging technology and sandwiches for the homeless
Year 3: Geolgogy and volcanoes and model making
Year 4: Animal classification and their welfare with bird feeders
Year 5: Our solar system and rocket making
Year 6: Refugees and temporary camp modelling
As part of the week, we welcomed many visitors and made links with the wider community. Including:
Sarah - Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum
Hall Park STEM Leaders and science teachers
Carol and Gary - Wildgoose Construction
Sarah - The Dog's Trust
Matt - Squid Artchitects
Tracy and Andrew - Tracy's Kitchen for the homeless
Grace - Everyone's Health project
Thank you to them all: parent volunteers and staff team across school, including the office and kitchen staff, for making our week of learning so engaging and relevant for our children.
It was brilliant to see all of the learning and experiences showcased so confidently by the children in our science fair on Friday afternoon.
One parent got in touch with Mrs Clarke at the end of the week and said:
“I just wanted to say what an a amazing idea and job done this afternoon with the children making sandwiches to send out to the homeless. My child was super proud telling us all about it this afternoon. I actually brought tears to my eyes. We always tell our boys to be kind and try to help others in a time of need. He’s taken so much away from today’s activities. Thank you.”
Thank you so much to Mrs Clarke for organising the week and providing the children with rich experiences and authentic outcomes. Thanks also to the teachers for putting their skills, knowledge and experiences into practice and proving exciting opportunities for the children. The children had a great week and there was lots happening across school.
Sports Relief was great today and it was nice to see the children looking and being active. We enjoyed the day and donations to the charity were brilliant. We raised £225.30 and the discussions about charities were very useful and encouraging. A true example of ‘Active Body and Active Mind’. Thank you so much for your support.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Warm regards,
Michelle Bates
Head Teacher
12 March 2020
Dear parent/carer,
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
At the time of writing, there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) within our school or within the local area. However, we want to assure you that we are monitoring the situation closely.
What is the current risk level?
The UK Chief Medical Officers state the risk to the public remains moderate. However, the risk to individuals is low.
A government ‘Cobra’ meeting is taking place and at the present time there is no further information regarding school closures for us. I have spoken to the Department of Education (DfE) today and there is no immediate plan to close schools nationally. However, this position may change should the government move to the ‘Delay’ phase. The aim of which would be to delay the peak of the outbreak until the warmer months, which can reduce significantly the risk of overlapping with seasonal flu and other challenges that the colder months bring.
What does this mean for our school?
At present, our school will continue to operate as normal. However, we are preparing for a range of possible scenarios.
We are keen to remind all our pupils, staff, and visitors of the importance of good hygiene – in particular, regular hand washing. We have also distributed additional supplies of hand sanitisers around the school. Please support us by encouraging your child, and family members, to follow this advice at all times.
The NHS’s dedicated webpage provides a wealth of information, including what the symptoms of coronavirus are, how the virus is spread and what you can do to avoid catching or spreading germs.
See: www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19
What happens if a parent/carer, child, member of staff or visitor tests positive for coronavirus?
If there is a confirmed case of coronavirus amongst our school, we will immediately update our live risk assessment and follow advice from the Public Health England local Health Protection Team. A decision on whether it is necessary to close will be based on this assessment and the decision communicated to all parents and carers immediately.
What will happen if the school closes?
In the event of a partial or whole-school closure, we will communicate to you again with any specific arrangements as a result. We are likely to use our school website, ParentMail and Dojo to distribute learning resources and work that pupils can do from home, where possible.
In preparation for a closure we are:
We should have two points of parent/carer contact information for you child – this should include an email address and phone number (preferably a mobile number). If this requires updating please let us know. Please email us at office@greasley.notts.sch.uk or provide us with a hardcopy written letter.
If you do not have internet access at home, please inform us, and we will endeavour to provide hardcopy resources where feasible.
Trips and residentials
Within our school, we have a number of trips planned. At the present time, there is no plan to cancel these trips but we are constantly reviewing this and will remain in contact with parents/carers should situations change.
If you and/or your family are planning a trip abroad, please ensure you are aware of the current advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before you depart. See: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.
For returning travellers who have visited areas affected by coronavirus, please see the government’s advice: www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public#returning-travellers.
Please note that these webpages are regularly updated and so it is important you check the information frequently.
Higher Risk Children
For children who may be at higher risk, should there be an outbreak at the school, we will be contacting parents individually to keep them updated more frequently. If you believe your child may be at higher risk in the event of an outbreak but we may not be aware of that, please contact the school to register for individual updates.
Parents Evenings
Parents evenings and school events will continue as planned until guidance from the DfE, NHS or government indicates otherwise.
Thank you for your continued support in this matter.
Helpline
The Department for Education have launched a helpline to answer questions about COVID-19 related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline as follows:
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
Opening hours – 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
If you are worried about any symptoms, please call NHS 111. Please let us know if you or any member of your immediate family have a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 at the earliest opportunity.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Michelle Bates
Head Teacher