Tomorrow is our slightly ambitious #weappreciateyou 'project'. And as BBC Radio Bristol are involved let's show the world how we do things in our schools and communities! This is happening at 12:00pm at Bournville Primary School Locking Primary SchoolOldmixon Primary School Mendip Green School ForumMilton Park Primary SchoolWalliscote Primary School Windwhistle Primary SchoolFriends of Mead Vale Primary SchoolFriends of Locking School (FOLS)

 

Why? To show that we really do value each and every single person working to keep the world operational and functioning as well as trying to protect every one of us. AND To provide a sense of community, and boost morale for key workers right now.

 

Who are key workers to you? They could be: NHS, medical professionals, food distributors including shops and delivery, farmers, all school staff, teachers, fire service, police, online shopping delivery staff, utility companies and so on.

Home schoolers: Friday morning instructions.
• Children to think about who key workers are and choose one.
• Write the job title on a piece of paper decorated with a rainbow. Maybe with a thank you and #weappreciateyou
• To begin: Hold up the pieces of paper. Put the pieces of paper down under foot
• 12:00pm One minute continuous applause on video. If you can not video then photographs will be ok but hold up your paper. 
• If videoing, finish with a loud shout saying We appreciate you!
• Remember social distancing rules!
• By 1:00pm this is to be uploaded to your social media accounts. 

 

If you are able to help those (whilst remaining safe) who do not access social media that would be great. We don't want to exclude anyone because of that!

 

You must tag us on FB (ELAN - Extend Learning Academies Network) and Twitter (ExtendLAN) otherwise we may miss it and be unable to include. IT WILL BE ASSUMED that anything tagged will be ok to re-publish and that the correct permissions are in place.Hashtag for all social media posts: #weappreciateyou

 

Following this, it would be really nice in the following days to produce photographs, comments, drawings, letters (i.e. open letter to the paramedics for example) that are photographed and posted online (tagging us) under the same hashtag #weappreciateyou

Video needs to be 1:10 MAX in duration. (five seconds either side of the one minute applause. This will help all videos look consistent.

 

Thank you so much for your help. And bear with us while we put it all together. 


We wish to provide an update for parents/carers on the evolving situation with regard to Coronavirus.  Just to reassure you, as of today, there are no known positive COVID-19 cases in our school community.  If this situation arises, we will follow Government Public Health England advice on how to manage the school at the time and will advise you and your child accordingly.

 

Health advice

Yesterday, the Government updated its advice to all.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-people-with-confirmed-or-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection#at-home-try-as-best-you-can-to-separate-yourself-from-the-people-you-live-with

 

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

• new continuous cough and/or

• high temperature

 

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild infection.

 

You do not need to call NHS 111 to go into self-isolation.  If your symptoms worsen during home isolation or are no better after 7 days contact NHS 111 online.  If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111.  For a medical emergency dial 999.

 

In light of the above advice if your child develops symptoms please do not send them into school for at least 7 days from the first day of symptoms.  So that we can ensure the safety of all our children please continue to report your child’s absence in the usual way, simply advising us that they are in self isolation.

 

Please note that the Government is NOT requesting whole households to self-isolate if one member of the household has a persistent cough of a fever.  At some stage in the future this advice may change and we will let you know.

 

Potential school closure

Following yesterday’s Government update an instruction to close schools does not appear to be imminent, but could happen in the future as part of the “delay stage” of the virus management response. 

 

The school is working on plans and contingencies in relation to the Government advice. 

 

We understand parents may be concerned and we are looking at ways to continue your child’s learning during a closure period.  We do appreciate that not all our children will have access to online equipment at home and we will ensure that hard copies of any material are available. 

 

In the event of a closure including, when necessary staff shortages due to self-isolation, we will be communicating with you via the usual channels including the website, texts and social media.

 

If it arises, a closure notice may come at short notice and, if you have not already, we ask you to think about your preparations if this eventuality arises.  To help us to be able to communicate effectively with you as parent/carer, please can we remind you to update us if your contact details have changed e.g.: mobile phone, email address. You can do this via our school office.

 

For the time being, the Government has stopped all overseas school trips.  However, the Government has not stopped UK based school trips and activities such as school camp.  We will follow Government instruction in this matter and advise parents/carers if the situation changes.

 

We appreciate that this period is an anxious time.  Please can we ask all members of the community to remain patient with school staff as we deal with the developing situation.  We will advise you of any changes as soon as we are able to.

 

Please continue to ensure your child attends school as usual and follow the advice and current guidelines.

 

Finally, a reminder that the Government has an enquiries helpline for parents/carers, young people and school staff on 0800 046 8687, open from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can email: DfE.coronavirus@education.gov.uk

 

Thank you for your continued support during these exceptional times.

6 March 2020

 

Coronavirus update for parents, carers and staff

 

The health, safety and well-being of our children and staff are our top priorities. With the recently elevated discussion regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the news, we want to take a moment to reinforce preventive safety measures and reference our process and communications.

Current guidance from the Department for Education states that no school should close in response to a suspected (or confirmed) COVID-19 case unless advised to do by Public Health England.

 

North Somerset Council, Public Health England, the Regional Schools Commissioner and all of our Extend Learning Academies Network schools are closely monitoring the situation and making the necessary preparations in case the COVID-19 becomes more prevalent in our community. For now, there have been no indications of a coronavirus outbreak, but we are aware that could change as time goes on.        

 

We all play a role in reducing the likelihood of a coronavirus outbreak in our school community. We encourage everyone to practice good habits, including:

• Wash your hands regularly, especially after using the restroom and before preparing or consuming food. Wash for 20 seconds, using soap and hot water. Be sure to also wash your fingertips.
• Avoid coughing or sneezing into your hands or in the air. Always try to cough or sneeze into a tissue, and then throw the tissue away. If you don’t have a tissue, cough/sneeze into your arm.
• As much as you can, avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose. Reduce physical hand contact with others (high fives, first bumps, etc.).
• We ask you to maintain sensible monitoring of your child and please keep them home from school if they are displaying symptoms and have been to a country or area with a high risk of coronavirus or have been in close contact with someone with coronavirus. Allow them some time to feel better so that they do not risk infecting others. Children need to be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to class after any illness. Keeping children home when they are unwell is critical to prevention.  

 

We will continue to communicate with you in the days and weeks to come. It is possible that we may need to cancel some classes if it appears the coronavirus has affected our community in a significant way. However we are preparing for this and will update as necessary.

 

Please be assured we are taking any steps we can to protect everyone’s health and wellbeing. Please ensure your emergency contact details are up to date with the school office in case they need to contact you. We are working to ensure all schools have adequate hand soap and/or sanitiser in line with NHS and Public Health England guidelines.

 

The Department for Education (DfE) has set up a coronavirus helpline: 0800 046 8687. It should be able to answer any questions you might have.

Parents can use the helpline too. NHS 111 can help if you have an urgent medical problem and you’re not sure what to do.

To get help from NHS 111, you can:

• go to 111.nhs.uk (for people aged 5 and over only)
• call 111  NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you have difficulties communicating or hearing, you can:

• call 18001 111 on a textphone
• use the NHS 111 British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter service if you’re deaf and want to use the phone service

 

Thank you

Dear Parents and Carers,

Given the concerns around Covid-19 (Coronavirus) it is important that, as a trust, we have a connected approach across all our schools. To ensure this we are currently taking the following steps:
 The trust are taking note of and following all guidance issued regarding Coronavirus and the emerging picture through the Department for Education (DfE) and other
informed sources.
 The trust leads will meet every two days to review the situation and will send an update to headteachers and chairs of governors, even if there is no change to guidance.
 All statements and guidance will be issued by the trust on our website www.extendlearning.org and schools via their normal communication route (newsletter/app/website etc)

The importance of hygiene
 Personal hygiene is the most important way we can tackle COVID-19.

 

Please help us in sharing simple and effective hand hygiene messages.
High profile advertising of hygiene within your school promotes:
o regular hand washing with soap and hot water
o using tissues and disposing of them appropriately
o using hand sanitiser – adults will model to pupils, teachers will review with
pupils.
Schools will ensure (where possible) that they have sufficient supplies of :
o hand sanitiser
o tissues
o hand soap
o paper towels.
If you are worried about symptoms or need specific advice please call NHS 111. Do not go directly to your GP or other healthcare environment.

An update will be sent to you again should any of the advice provided by the Government change but should you have any issues, questions or concerns please email
office@extendlearning.org