School closure update
Update 5th March 2021
Information on the Full Opening of Schools in Somerville Federation
Dear Parents and Carers,
We look forward to seeing the children and yourselves from Monday 8th March as the children return to both schools and Somerville Primary School becomes fully open to all children. At the Nursery School you may have been contacted with new start dates and times for those children who are yet to return or start their education for the first time at the Nursery School.
World Book Day
It was lovely to hear about the children dressing up for World Book Day for those who were able to participate. We have been busy selecting the best dressed characters. Please take a look at the reading of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse on our Federation home page or by clicking this link. Children will be given a world book day token to take home from next week. There is also a digital token by clicking on this link below if you would prefer. https://worldbookday.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fb0047e963000a5e90da3d8a4&id=762df05516&e=a3b2fe05ce
Red Nose Day
Red Nose Day will soon be here and is taking place on Friday 19th March this year. Children are asked to wear anything red, a super hero costume or just wear their own clothes. We are keeping things simple to ensure parents don’t have to make unnecessary journeys or add additional financial pressure. We will be asking for any voluntary donations of any amount and only if you wish to contribute. Please send these into school on the day and not before. Any donations will be placed in a container in class and not be touched for at least 72 hours to ensure we keep COVID safe.
Free School Meal Vouchers
The last of the vouchers were issued to those eligible on Monday. The national voucher system is now closed and no further vouchers will be issued. It is unfortunate that a very small number of parents have allowed their voucher codes to expire but this is not without us trying our very best to contact those affected. Try to use your voucher code to get your supermarket vouchers within 30 days of being issued.
Remote devices
We will soon be in touch to ask for the return of all iPads and all Chromebooks to ensure that the children have access to these in class. Please wait until you are contacted by text before returning your device. We have over 100 devices on loan and we want to ensure that they come back gradually so that are not inundated and we can make sure each one is returned so that you are not charged for non-return.
COVID Test Kits for families
For those of you who would like to collect your kits in person, you can go to any of Wirral’s symptomatic test sites in the afternoons (no appointment needed). Site details here https://www.wirral.gov.uk/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-people-who-have-symptoms
This provision is currently under review and over the next few weeks, people should also be able to pick up test kits at other venues.
For those that cannot collect their kits in person, they can order online and receive a home delivery using the following link: Order rapid lateral flow home test kits
Important information on the full opening of schools.
- A risk assessment for the full opening of all areas has been written and shared with the local authority, unions and is available on the Federation Website for you to view in the COVID Information tab.
- The behaviour policy remains been updated to ensure the safety of all children. This revised and updated policy puts in place additional measures in light of the COVID pandemic. This is also available on the Federation Website for you to view under the statutory documents tab.
- Children will be expected to arrive at the Nursery School from 9.00-9.10 drop off, 11.50-12pm morning pick up. 12.30-12.40 afternoon drop off and 3.10-3.20 afternoon pick up. Please continue to use the one way system.
- At the Primary School please arrive between 8.45am and 9.00am, children will be able to make their own way into class from one of the three school gates in Years 1 to 6. Please try to use the gates nearest your child’s classroom especially at the end of the school day.
- Children will be expected to be collected from the Primary School from 3.10pm to 3.20pm. With Foundation 2, Year 1 and Year 2 children being collected first. This will ensure that there is minimal adult contact – 2m distancing between adults must be maintained.
- REMEMBER TO BRING AND WEAR YOUR MASK!
- We politely ask parents and carers not to gather at the school gates or on the playground when arriving or departing. If you do need to queue please remember to keep your distance.
- Where possible only one adult should accompany children to school, obviously if you have several children in your family this may not always be possible.
- Arriving late and after 9.00am at the Primary School is not be acceptable unless there are exceptional circumstances. Similarly it is not be acceptable to collect your child during the school day, or early unless there are very exceptional circumstances.
- Children will be expected to wear their school uniform.
- Children will be expected to sanitise or wash their hands for 20 seconds at regular intervals during the school day as well as before and after lunch and after visiting the toilet.
- Children may spend more time outdoors than usual and therefore they will need to bring a warm coat with them each day.
- Breaks will be given to the children throughout the day and these will be on a rota basis and in a specific zone of the outdoor area to reduce contact with other children.
- The Government suggests that social distancing will not be possible within an early years setting or primary school and we would offer no guarantee that we would be able to keep your children socially distant, despite our best endeavours.
- If parents or carers need to speak to a member of school staff this will not be possible at the classroom door to minimise contact. Please instead telephone the school office to make arrangements for the member of staff to telephone you at a mutually convenient time.
- If you need to speak to one of the school offices, please telephone or email the Nursery School at schooloffice@somervillenursery.wirral.sch.uk or the Primary School at schooloffice@somerville.wirral.sch.uk for an appointment and then only 1 adult at a time will be allowed entry to the front entrance with a prior appointment.
- If your child develops any Coronavirus symptoms you MUST NOT SEND YOUR CHILD to School. You must inform the school immediately and the child must be tested with a PCR test. Please make sure that you speak to a member of office staff alternatively you can report a positive case on the home page of the Federation website.
- If your child tests positive please inform the school and keep them off school for 10 days from the date of the test or the onset of symptoms. PLEASE REMEMBER TO LET US KNOW. Your child may have infected other adults and children in school.
- If the child lives with someone who tests positive they should not attend school for 10 days.
- Anyone suspected of having symptoms in school will be isolated from the rest of the bubble until a parent collects the child.
- If your child has one of the wider symptoms you may be asked by a staff member to have your child tested as a precaution. Please do not be concerned by this message but this is an expectation of Wirral Public Health England. This is advice only but we want to ensure everyone is kept safe. We have had several cases at Somerville Primary School where children have not shown any of the known symptoms or have had a slight cough or just one of the wider symptoms but then the child has tested positive. Meanwhile the child may have been sent into school and potentially infected other children and then the whole class has had to isolate. This has had a huge impact on not only the children but on the working lives of our parents. Please be vigilant. If you are unsure and you think your child is unwell, please get tested, this will protect everyone not only from the virus but also our families’ livelihoods.
- The wider symptoms include: Diarrhoea A persistent headache Fever and chills
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Fatigue Muscle or body aches
- Sore throat Congestion or runny nose Nausea or vomiting
- If there is a positive case in school, all children and staff in the bubble who are considered to be close contacts will also be sent home and will be asked to isolate for 10 days –the 10 days may vary depending upon when your child came into contact with the positive case.
- We are unable to disclose who the positive case is for confidential reasons - so please don’t ask!
- Families must continue to observe the current lockdown guidance out of school. Any families who are found not to be following the guidance and putting our Somerville families at risk will be contacted by the school executive team and if required, reported to the Police. Please do your bit to protect our Somerville Community and all of our families.
- Remote learning will continue for any children sent home and asked to isolate. If your child has previously had a device and returned it to school, we will promptly get these delivered or ask you to collect these from the next school day at the latest. Remote learning will be available for all of those children from the next school day.
- If your child is in school they should not be completing the remote learning at home as well as this will go unmarked and creates additional work for staff.
- If your child isolates and is eligible for benefits related free school meals we will contact you by text or phone to check if you will be able to collect a food hamper from school as soon as we have these ordered and made them up.
Thank you to the staff for their efforts during this lockdown period. For the time supporting those children in school for Critical worker and vulnerable children provision as well as planning and delivering the remote learning for the children working from home. Whilst also juggling their own family needs and support bubbles.
Please can I take this opportunity to thank all of you who have supported your child(ren) learning from home. Your efforts will not go unrewarded and your child has most definitely benefited. A special thanks to those parents and carers who have themselves been working from home whilst trying to support their child, this must have been extremely difficult and an additional challenge. I am very mindful of those children in families as well who have had to share devices, share WiFi connections and those families who have High School children, trying to connect on the same broadband and a single device whilst your Nursery or Primary School child has had to wait to do their work later in the day. We have been very conscious of this throughout this lockdown and hope that how we have delivered remote learning has met the needs of the large majority of our children rather than just a few that could connect at that time. The results of the survey you completed have been very positive and recognises the remote learning provision we put in place, so thank you for your feedback. From the survey it is also evident that we need to be ready next week to support your child emotionally and with their mental wellbeing. A large number of you talked about the emotional needs of your child and how it was difficult to support this in the current lockdown and during their time away from school. Rest assured this will be a priority for our staff. We will do out very best for you and for your child!
Looking forward to seeing you all next week! Let’s keep going everyone!
Mr M J Forber
Executive Headteacher