Latest news
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Letter from LA Covid 19 Update for Parents - National Lockdown Arrangements
Tue 12 Jan 2021Sheila Durr
Executive Director of Children and Young People
Our Ref JK/PAs
Your Ref
Date 12 January 2021
Please ask for Julien Kramer
Direct Line 0161 253 5477
E-mail j.kramer@bury.gov.uk
Parents /Carers of children and young people
in Bury schools
Dear Parent/Carer
COVID-19 UPDATE FOR PARENTS – NATIONAL LOCKDOWN ARRANGEMENTS
We had hoped to be welcoming all primary pupils and, under a phased approach, all secondary pupils back into Bury schools following the Christmas break. However, we are now in a very different situation with the national lockdown announcement on 4 January, the unprecedented pressure on NHS services and the urgent need for everyone to avoid contact with people from outside their household, if at all possible. The announcement means that Bury schools have moved to remote learning for most pupils, with the exception of special schools and alternative provision.
Our schools continue to review the risk assessments that they put in place at the start of the first national lockdown to ensure that risks are minimised. The key is to keep the number of contacts as low as possible in order to minimise opportunities for the virus to be transmitted. Schools will keep pupils who are attending in ‘bubbles’ as far as is possible to support this.
Every school is unique and its capacity, following its COVID-19 risk assessment, will depend on the size of rooms, number of rooms and available staffing. Places are available to all vulnerable pupils. Places are also available to children of critical workers, if they cannot be kept at home.
The Department for Education updated its guidance ‘What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges’ on 8 January 2021. The guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.
Vulnerable Pupils
Bury schools are open to all vulnerable pupils. If your child is identified as vulnerable then they should be in school unless they are shielding or self-isolating. We strongly encourage you to send your child into school. If you are unsure and have any concerns about your child returning then please discuss this with the school.
Critical Worker Children
Bury schools are also open to children in families where at least one parent is a critical worker and you are unable to keep your child at home. A critical worker is someone whose work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and EU transition response. The message is clear. If you are a critical worker and you can keep your child at home then you should do so. Please discuss your needs with your child’s school.
The government’s definitions of vulnerable pupils and critical workers can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision#vulnerable-children-and-young-people. Department for Children and Young People Julien Kramer Interim Assistant Director (Education and Inclusion)
Nursery Provision
Where possible nursery schools, and nursery provision in schools, should be open to all children. Places are available for all vulnerable children and children of critical workers. The capacity to open to other children will be based on the individual school’s risk assessment.
Special Schools and Alternative Provision
If your child attends a Bury special school or Spring Lane School, these schools will continue to be open to all pupils, unless they are shielding or self-isolating or the school does not have capacity, for example, due to staffing levels.
Millwood Primary Special School is due to re-open to pupils on 25 January 2021 following remedial works to the school building.
Remote Education
If your child is not attending school then remote learning will be in place for them. It is important that you work with your child encouraging them to engage fully with the remote learning. There is guidance for parents/ carers on keeping children safe online available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-keeping-children-safe-online/coronavirus-covid-19-support-for-parents-and-carers-to-keep-children-safe-online.
Schools have developed their approaches to remote learning since the first national lockdown however if you are experiencing any difficulties in accessing the remote learning then please contact your school.
Public Health England Advice
Please continue to follow the health advice on coronavirus. If your child shows any of the three main symptoms of COVID-19 then they should be kept off school, tested as soon as possible and the school kept informed. This is to keep all as safe as possible. The three main symptoms are: a high temperature – this means they feel hot to touch on their chest or back; if you have a thermometer and are able to take the child’s temperature this means a temperature higher than 37.8oC a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal
Rapid Testing in Secondary Schools
If you have a secondary school aged child then their school may be taking part in the rapid asymptomatic testing programme. The testing will be used to test those pupils who are attending school. Whilst the testing is voluntary we strongly encourage those who are eligible to take part to help reduce the risks of transmission in education settings.
Families and schools have both needed to change their plans for this term quickly, thank you to all of you. I am sure that we share the wish that all our pupils are back in school at the earliest opportunity. We need to continue to work together in order to achieve this wish therefore I urge families to follow the restrictions under this national lockdown.
Yours sincerely
Julien Kramer
Interim Assistant Director, Education and Inclusion
Children and Young People Electronic or fax service of Legal documents is not accepted 3 Knowsley Place, Duke Street, Bury, BL9 0EJ www.bury.gov.uk -
Remote Learning - Newsletter 15
Mon 11 Jan 2021Dear Parents and Carers,OUR LADY OF LOURDES RCPS NEWSLETTER
We follow in the footsteps of Jesus, to love, learn and grow.
Monday 11th January 2021 15
Remote Education
Today we start our Remote learning package. Staff have worked extremely hard to
cater for all the children who are accessing learning from home. The content and
lessons that children are accessing at home are also used in school, there is no
difference to the content that they are learning. Remote education will include a daily
Teams meeting and lessons pre-recorded for children to access at any time of the day.
We are expecting all children to engage with their learning daily. Children should upload
their work onto Tapestry or Seesaw and teachers will respond to the children during
the school day.
There have been a lot of questions about our Remote Education package from parents
but I would ask parents and carers to work with us this week and give it a chance.
Towards the end of the week, if your child is struggling with the way in which the
learning is presented or your child is struggling to be motivated, I would then ask you
to contact your class teacher with your concerns. By contacting your class teacher you
can work together and hopefully we can resolve the issue. If you feel your concerns
have not been dealt with, please contact myself or Mrs Waterworth.
Critical Worker Status
As you will have seen through the media over the week, the number of children
attending schools is significantly higher than the last lockdown. This is as a result of
the Government list of jobs that have been identified as ‘Critical workers’. The
definition of a critical worker are those parents whose work is critical to the
Coronavirus and EU transition response. At Our Lady of Lourdes we have a significantly
higher percentage of children attending school compared to the last lockdown. I am not
questioning any parent who has been offered a place in school but I would ask that, if,
there is a parent who is working from home or you have a support bubble that can look
after your child, that you use this support rather than sending your child into School.
The Government initiative of ‘Stay at Home’ is to reduce the rate of transmission of
Covid. By reducing the number of children in School, we are reducing the rate of
transmission. Thank you for your support in this matter.
COVID Guidance
For those families who are attending school, we must continue to be vigilant and we all
have a responsibility to stop the spread of coronavirus. If you or your child have any of
the three symptoms: a high temperature; a new, continuous cough; a loss or change to
your sense of smell or taste; you MUST self-isolate and book a test to see if you have
Coronavirus. Whilst you are waiting for the test and the results, your whole household
MUST self-isolate. This is to reduce the spread of COVID.
Sunday Mass
Fr Paul continues to say Mass weekly on a Sunday at 10.00am and it is live streamed.
They have now installed permanent livestream equipment. To access the new livestream
go to: www.faithstream.co.uk/olgcga
Thank you
These are unprecedented times and I can only thank everyone who has been very
understanding in these difficult times. Please do keep communicating with school if you
have any questions.
If you require work to be photocopied, we can organise this to be collected at the
school office. If you are having difficulty with accessing the online learning, please
contact the school office.
Thank you for your continued support and I hope this week’s remote learning goes
really well.
Mrs J.E. Davies, Executive Headteacher
Dates for the diary:
3rd February – 9th February – Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
Tuesday 9th February – Safer Internet Day
Thursday 11th February – Our Lady of Lourdes Feast Day
Friday 12th February – Break up for Half Term
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Accessing Online Learning through XBox and Play Station - Information shared with us
Fri 08 Jan 2021Using Xbox or PlayStation
to Access Remote Learning
An alternative method of accessing remote learning during times of lockdown.
Xbox
1. Plug a keyboard in to the Xbox USB slot
2. Go in to my games and apps
3. Find Microsoft Edge and select
4. Type in: Office365 and log in as you would in school
5. You can then access your work and use key packages including:
• Teams
• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Your emails
6. To move around you use the Xbox controller or plug in a mouse
PlayStation
1. Identify the PlayStation internet browser icon (it is WWW with dots around it)
2. Press the PlayStation logo on the controller
3. Go to the library and find options for games and applications
4. Go in to applications and you will find the internet browser
5. Type Office365 into the browser and log in as you would in school
6. You can then access your work and use key packages including:
• Teams
• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Your emails
Author Credit: William in Birchgrove Comprehensive School in Swansea (@birthgrovecomp), created this guide for using a games console to access applications and resources needed for remote learning. -
Information for Children of critical workers or vulnerable children attending school on January 7th
Wed 06 Jan 20216th January 2021
Dear Parents and Carers,
Letter for parents and carers of children who are critical workers or vulnerable children who are attending school on January 7th 2021
Thank you for your patience and understanding over the last few days in organising places for your children. As previously stated, the Education provision offered to children this time looks very different to the previous lockdown. Below are some points that will hopefully answer any of your questions in preparation for your child returning to school on Thursday 7th January 2021.
There will be a one way system on the playground when dropping your child off and picking them up. Staff will be available on the playground to show you where to go
Only one adult should collect their children to reduce the number of people on the playground
All persons over the age of 12 should wear a mask/face covering on the school grounds unless they are exempt. Please wear your lanyard to show your exemption or notify a member of staff
Staggered start and finish times have been altered for January 2021:
Children in Year 1, year 2, year 5 and 6 – 8.30am – 3.00pm
Children in Reception, Year 3 and 4 – 8.45am – 3.15pm
As in autumn term, if you have more than one child, their start time will be the earliest start time for any child and your pick up time will be the latest pick up time for your children
The schools catering service will be operational in school for those children on School Dinners. A new menu has been issued to schools. This will be shared with parents once it has been confirmed
Children will be expected to wear their full school uniform. On PE days, children will come to school in their PE kits. PE lessons will be outside (unless there is extreme weather) therefore children should wear the appropriate clothing
Children will still be accessing Forest School and on these days, they should come to school in the appropriate outdoor clothing and have a change of clothing for the end of the day (teachers will notify parents of these days through Seesaw or Tapestry)
We will be following the usual timetable in school to ensure the structure of the day remains the same for children. Each class will be taught by their class teacher for part of the day and support staff will support them for the remaining part of the day whilst the class teachers work remotely for those children at home
The school office will be open as usual. Please pass your enquiries through the office
Staff will be wearing masks around school when they are not with their bubble
Bubbles will now be class bubbles and will not be mixing with other classes within school
Regular handwashing will continue to be part of the children’s routine
Additional cleaning will still be in place throughout the school day
Forward facing desks, ventilation in classrooms and children using their own equipment will continue to be in place
Once again, I thank you for your patience and understanding this week. If you have any questions about the reopening of school, please contact the school office. Thank you for your continued support.
Kind regards,
Mrs JE Davies
Executive Headteacher -
Information for Remote Learning
Wed 06 Jan 20216th January 2021
Dear Parents and Carers,
Letter for parents and carers of children who are Remote Learning
Thank you for your overwhelming patience and understanding this week as we organize the remote learning for your children.
Once again, many of our families will be expected to work full time from home as well as carry out Remote learning with their children. I know this will be a very worrying time for all parents and carers but we are working hard to ensure the education provided remotely is engaging, interactive and allows children to work independently. I would like to reiterate, the education your child is receiving remotely, is the same as the children who will be in school.
Our full remote learning will start on Monday 11th January. All teachers will be in touch with parents this week to give full details of the timetable and what their child’s learning will look like. For Thursday 7th January and Friday 8th January, work will be set based on the Caritas in Action topic the whole school are working on. This work will be sent to you tomorrow morning. Parents can upload pictures of the children’s work through Tapestry (Reception class) and Seesaw (Year 1 – 6). There will be limited communication between staff and children working remotely this week as they prepare for future remote learning from Monday.
Please do contact us if you are struggling with any aspect of remote learning. We do expect examples of your child’s learning uploaded onto Tapestry or Seesaw daily. We understand that this will be completed at different times in the day due to your own working commitments and the number of children in your family all trying to work at the same time. Teaching staff will be communicating through Tapestry and Seesaw during school day hours only. We will work closely in partnership with you over the next few weeks to ensure your child’s learning continues to grow. Thank you once again for your continued support,
Kind regards,
Mrs JE Davies
Executive Headteacher -
Critical Workers Registration Form
Wed 06 Jan 2021You should only send your child to school if you have to because your work is critical to the COVID-19 response or EU Transition response.
NAME OF CHILD
NAME OF PARENT/CARER 1
CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER
CHILD’S NAME
CRITICAL WORKER STATUS
JOB TITLE
PLACE OF WORK
CONTACT FOR EMPLOYER TO VERIFY CRITICAL ROLE
NAME
CONTACT NUMBER
NAME OF PARENT/CARER 2
CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER
CRITICAL WORKER STATUS
JOB TITLE
PLACE OF WORK
CONTACT FOR EMPLOYER TO VERIFY CRITICAL ROLE
NAME
CONTACT NUMBER
Please return this form to olol@bury.gov.uk by 1pm TODAY
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Critical Workers
Wed 06 Jan 20216 January 2021
Dear Parents and Carers,
Critical Workers
Happy New Year! I hope that all of our school community had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Our celebrations were cut short by the announcement on Monday night by the Government for a National lockdown. This is needed because of the rapid rate of COVID cases and the concerns the new variant brings. With the national lockdown comes lots of anxiety for everyone in the school community. Staff have been working tirelessly since the announcement to prepare for the reopening of school on Thursday 7th January and for the start of the Remote Learning package for those children who are at home. School will continue to support all of our families with remote learning.
This lockdown is different in terms of the Education offer we have for children working at home and at school. The education the children will be receiving at home will be the same offer children have at school. There will be daily remote sessions for our children who are working from home with their class teacher. We want our children’s learning to continue to progress as it has done in the autumn term. We will work closely with parents and carers to ensure the children at home continue to be engaged and motivated. More details of remote learning will be sent to parents and carers later today.
Yesterday a text was sent out asking parents who were critical workers to inform usif they required a place in school. We have been inundated with requests from parents. If we were to accept all the requests as well as the vulnerable children we have asked to come into school, we would have more than 50% of the school population attending school. This goes against the National Lockdown of ‘Stay at Home’. We have to open school to ensure our frontline critical worker parents can work but we also need to keep those in school safe. For this reason, I am asking parents to reconsider their request for a school place. I am asking parents to complete the attached form if you feel you are a critical worker and return it to the school office by email at olol@bury.gov.uk. We will look at all the applications and confirm places this afternoon. We already have a list of our vulnerable children and we have offered places directly to those parents, they do not need to complete the form.
I would ask for your complete honesty when applying for a Critical Worker place. If you are working from home or have another adult in the household who is not a Critical Worker, I would expect your child to access remote learning from home. The Government has also introduced ‘Support Bubbles’ and ‘Childcare Bubbles’ since the first lockdown which again are options you may be able to use. Lockdown is to strictly limit interactions with others and so we would only expect to have a small number of children in school.
If your child is offered a place, the expectation is that they would attend full time. The children will be in full school uniform, the school catering service will continue to operate. Ollies Before and After School Club will not be open.
Please consider this information carefully and return any forms by 1pm TODAY. We will get back to you this afternoon with confirmation of a school place.
Thank you for your continuing support.
Kind regards,
Mrs JE Davies
Executive Headteacher
Updated Government guidance for your reference:
You will note the term ‘Critical Workers’ has replaced the term ‘Key Workers’ and the criteria has been tightened to limit the number of places to parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and EU transition response.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE REGISTRATION FORM HAS BEEN EMAILED TO YOU THIS MORNING
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