Welcome back

We are delighted to be able to welcome you all back to school on Monday March 8th.

Operating procedures

Thorough planning is required to make sure that we comply with Government guidelines. Before March 8th, all parents will have received email from school reminding them of our current operational procedures. This will include full details on staffing, behaviour, circulation around school, wrap-around care, clubs, play, uniform, home equipment, school resources, food & drink, hygiene arrangements, cleaning arrangements, first aid & sickness, use of PPE, attendance, parental contact, dropping off and picking up, the curriculum and pastoral support.

Safety

Face coverings: adults dropping off and picking up children and visiting the school site are required to wear face coverings unless they are exempt. Staff will also wear masks at this time and when outside their designated classroom but still inside the building. Please see our letter to parents here.
Staff testing will continue twice a week in line with Government recommendations. In the event of positive results which would affect our school provision, parents will be contacted by text and letter as is routine.

Well-being

Pupil well-being questionnaire: if you or your child have any concerns about returning to school on March 8th, please complete the new well-being questionnaire here. It will help us understand how the pandemic has affected your child and enable us to plan how best to support them when they return to school.

Feelings about coming back to school: Mrs Sage would encourage you to read this story with your children as an introduction to talking about how they might be feeling about coming back to school. 

Resources to support your return to school: Mrs Godwin has collected some useful material to support parents whose children may be feeling anxious about coming back to school. See www.saltfordschool.org.uk/wellbeing#return-to-school.

Useful information

Saltford's "welcome back to school" e-booklet which we shared in September is still relevant for the March reopening: online.pubhtml5.com/qxmbh/pgrw/ or as a PDF file here. It includes information on what to bring, new routines and hygiene expectations. 

These maps will remind you of pick up and drop off points: Reception, Years 1 & 2, Years 3 & 4, Years 5 & 6.

Public Health England booklet about preparing to go back to school: Returning to primary school; what parents need to know

Department for Education information for parents/carers: dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2021/02/22/all-students-to-return-to-school-and-college-from-8-march-and-what-you-need-to-know/

School dinners

Hot school meals are being provided as usual at £2.60 each. Please find the current menu options and ordering information on our school dinners page here.

In case of illness in children or adults

Do not send your child to school if they have any symptoms of Covid-19, OR if anyone in the house is awaiting a test.

See the NHS website here for information about Coronavirus in children, how to get a test and what to do if your child is extremely unwell.

If your child develops symptoms at school, they will be taken out of class and a parent or guardian will be contacted to discuss the next steps. The child must stay at home and follow the government's guidance for households with possible Coronavirus infection: www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance. If your child receives a positive test result for Covid-19 please complete the positive Covid-19 test reporting form here.

Thank you

We are extremely grateful to families who have kept their children at home when requested. We do not underestimate how hard you have worked to keep schooling going. We thank you for your continued support in this next exciting stage of bringing everyone back into school.

Throughout the planning process the safety of children and adults has been our overriding concern. All our planning has been done in conjunction with the other primary schools in our trust and we have followed the trust’s risk assessment process in doing so. Our risk assessment has been reviewed and approved by the trust board and is available on the WMAT website.

Any updates in the form of letters to parents will be posted here:-

• Wider re-opening of schools 8th March sent Thursday 25th February 2021
• Saltford Primary School March 2021 Operating Procedure

We are hoping for good weather on Friday 5th March. Isaac from Class RJ and his Dad are taking part in the Big Bath Sleep Out on Friday night to support Julian House. They are sleeping in the garden without a tent and will have to build a shelter to sleep in. This is to raise funds and awareness for men and women who have to sleep outside every night.

Well done Isaac for thinking about others and taking action in this way.

If anyone would like to sponsor Isaac, please use this link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/m-seymour1.

Morwenna and Elowen from Class CM have been doing an hour of zumba every day to raise money for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal for the Bristol Children's Hospital. They are approaching their target of 50 zumbas!

Well done girls for your commitment to this great cause. You can donate to their JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Marie-Blatchford?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=Marie-Blatchford&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term=5370a54f328e41b48875715a4940f84e.

Please read on for information about procedures that will apply in the event of a confirmed case or an outbreak of Covid-19 in our school community.

Please see the Remote education news item for full information about how remote education will be offered for any Saltford School children who are required to remain at home because of Covid-19.

For general guidance for parents about children's primary education, please see the gov.uk document 'What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges'. For full government information about Covid-19 please see www.gov.uk/coronavirus.

See also up-to-date information from the World Health Organisation (WHO) here.

There is a free children's book that is designed to explain all about coronavirus to children aged 5 – 9. It is available to read online, as a download or as an audio book and is illustrated by the popular Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler. See nosycrow.com/blog/released-today-free-information-book-explaining-coronavirus-children-illustrated-gruffalo-illustrator-axel-scheffler/ for more information.

Any updates in the form of letters to parents will be posted here.

• Letter to parents 10th February 2021 re contact tracing in Feb half term
• Letter to parents 5 February 2021
• Letter to parents 5 January 2021
• Letter to parents re Covid and Christmas holiday
• Revised procedures for KS1 collection point and time 18th November
• Letter to parents 16th November 2020
• Letter to parents 5th November 2020
• Letter to parents 20th October 2020
• Letter to parents 9th October 2020

Letters from Public Health England.

• Letter to parents 21st October 2020 from PHE
• Covid-19 A quick guide for parents from PHE

Lockdown updates

School sports wear: the Harvem shop in Keynsham is required to close its shop as a retail premises during lockdown. However, there is now a click and collect function on the online ordering system. 

You can pay online and choose the click and collect option at checkout. You can collect goods at the shop door on production of the receipt. See harvemschoolwear.co.uk.

If your child develops symptoms at school

1. They will be taken out of class and a parent or guardian will be contacted to discuss the next steps
2. The school will follow the guidelines from the DfE as set out in this action list.
3. The child must stay at home and follow the government's guidance for households with possible Coronavirus infection: www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance
4. They must arrange to have a test. See also www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/ 
5. If your child receives a positive test result for Covid-19 please complete the positive Covid-19 test reporting form here.

If a pupil or member of staff at Saltford School tests positive

1. They will already be out of school, self isolating and have been tested
2. The school will inform the Department for Education (DfE) and Public Health England (PHE) who will advise the school on a course of action based on latest public health advice.
3. The advice service will rapidly assess who has been in close contact (within two metres for over 15 minutes) with the confirmed case during their infectious period.
4. Children who have been in close contact with the positive case, will be required to self-isolate according to the government's guidance. School will text and send an email letter to parents of all affected children giving relevant dates of close contact and isolation period.
5. Parents of children who are not required to self-isolate will also receive a letter to let them know that there is a positive case in school and the class/year group affected. The case will not be named because health information is confidential.

If my child is sent home to self-isolate because they were in contact with someone with a positive test

1. Your child will be provided with remote learning. See the Remote education news item for full details.
2. Parents do not have to self-isolate unless the child who was sent home develops symptoms.
3. Any other children in the family who are in other classes or year groups at Saltford School will not have to self-isolate as they will not have had close contact with the positive case.
4. If a confirmed case has had contact with others outside their class, those individuals would be contacted and required to self-isolate.

If there is an outbreak of Covid-19 at Saltford School 

Saltford School has planned for a potential outbreak of Covid-19 at school and would work with PHE and the Wellsway Multi Academy Trust to implement that plan. Plans include communications and remote learning provision.

If my child usually has a free school meal

1. School plans to support children who would normally receive a benefit-related free school meal. Individual families will be contacted by the school where this is applicable.
2. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 who receive a 'universal free school meal' will unfortunately not be eligible for extra support.

If my child is self-isolating and it is difficult for me to get other children to school

1. Parents, carers and guardians are responsible for ensuring regular attendance and that includes making sure that their children can still get to school. This case is treated the same as a sibling being ill under normal circumstances.
2. Please check the government guidance relating to household bubbles.  This might enable a parent living on their own with children aged under 18 to ask an adult from their ‘bubble’ to take their children to and from school.
3. Families with children aged 13 and under are able to form a childcare bubble with another household which allows for an informal childcare arrangement that might be helpful.
4. If you are having difficulties, please contact the school to discuss your circumstances.
5. Work will be provided only for the child who is self-isolating. See the Remote education news item for full information. Siblings are still required to attend school as normal to access their education.

If there is a local lockdown

All parents will be contacted by school with details of how local lockdown measures will affect our school. These measures will be taken following guidance from PHE or the Dept. of Health and Socal Care.

Thank you

We would like thank families for their understanding and continuing support as we all work through these changes. Throughout the planning process the safety of children and adults has been our overriding concern. For further information please see the operating procedures document here.

All our planning has been done in conjunction with the other primary schools in our trust and we have followed the Wellsway Multi Academy's Trust’s risk assessment process in doing so. Our risk assessment has been reviewed and approved by the trust board and is available on the WMAT website.

During periods of self-isolation – whether waiting for test results or monitoring symptoms – or national lockdown, it is important that children have support to continue their education while they are at home, as long as they are well enough to do so. 

For full details of our remote education offer please see the following:

• Visual overview of the whole remote learning provision PDF document
• Our commitment for remote and blended learning PDF document
• Detailed remote learning plan for 2020 – 21 PDF document
• Q&A document here for more detailed information about what parents and carers can expect from remote education if government restrictions require entire cohorts (or bubbles) to remain at home.

Please follow the links below to find three daily lessons to support your child's learning at home. Children can then share what they do via Tapestry or Seesaw. The login details remain the same as before. Please contact us if there are any issues with this.

Microsoft Teams

Please see communications sent to parents/carers with regard to our use of Microsoft Teams for live meet ups.  Instruction document can be found here. 

Oak National Academy

Schedules by year group from the Oak National Academy

These are free online lessons across a variety of UK school curriculum subjects. Please choose the appropriate year group and then select the day of the week.

BBC TV and Bitesize online

The BBC has added curriculum-based television programming to its online offering to support families during the latest lockdown. Programming for primary aged children will be on CBBC between 9am and 12pm every weekday. The Bitesize daily lessons will also be shown on the Red Button service on TV.

Please see the following links for how to access the online BBC content: