News

Our daily message (03 July 2020)

There’s a lot of things going on right now in terms of social distancing, summer and schools in September…

Social distancing

You’ll be aware that in most of England, some aspects of lockdown are easing from Saturday. In light of this, we’ve updated our policy in terms of social distancing. The main changes are:

Indoors or outdoors, you can meet in groups of up to two households (a support bubble counts as one household) in any location. You don’t always have to meet with the same household – you can meet with different households at different times. However, it remains the case – even inside someone’s home – that you should socially distance from anyone not in your own household.

Outdoors, you can meet in groups of up to six people from different households as long as you remain at least one metre away (ideally two metres). This means that parents and carers must ensure their child stays at a distance from other people – hugging and hand-holding, games like tig, tackling in football should all be avoided.

• Read our full policy.
• Read the government’s latest guidance.

Summer

Earlier in the week, we confirmed that schools would not be open in the summer. Since then, the government has updated its guidance on what parents and carers need to know about schools during the coronavirus outbreak and they’ve added content on summer provision. (There’s also content on school uniform and the support package to help pupils to catch up, plus updates on school meals and the Covid Summer Food Fund.)

School in September

Yesterday, the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, announced the plans for all children to return to full-time education at the start of the autumn term. Read the supporting guidance for schools, colleges and nurseries.

They have also published guidance for parents and carers on the plans for the autumn term to help reassure you about what to expect for your child.

We know many of you are disappointed that schools aren’t open over the Summer holiday. And we know the disappointment comes from your concern about the learning that your child has missed this school year.

Please be assured we’re already working hard with other school leaders in Sphere Federation and across the local authority to have plans in place for a safe and successful school year 2020-21.

Enjoy the weekend as much as you can.

Our daily message (02 July 2020)

Today’s message comes from Sal Tariq, the Director of Children and Families for Leeds City Council…

Dear Parent(s)/Carer(s)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your understanding and co-operation during what has been an extremely difficult time for our schools and your children.

I hope you join me in thanking teachers and head teachers, for their efforts in keeping schools open since lockdown for the children of key workers and vulnerable children. In many cases, this has included provision throughout the holidays. Most recently, head teachers have undertaken a significant amount of work in re-configuring their schools to make them safe to open more widely to more pupils in nursery, reception, year 1 and year 6. I am very grateful for their efforts to make this happen.

Each school in Leeds is different and each school has unique circumstances. This is why we have been very clear that all schools will be operating slightly differently from each other during the current period. The numbers of pupils schools have been able to welcome back varies from school to school and school leaders have had to consider a wide number of variables.

Some schools, for example, have smaller classrooms, whereas some have greater numbers of ‘shielding’ staff. Both of these considerations result in the school being able to accommodate fewer pupils. In a number of schools, the numbers of vulnerable children or children of key workers have risen considerably which has resulted in a lack of capacity to welcome more children back.

Many schools have now reached the position where they cannot take any more children back safely and within guidelines. As a result, some head teachers are in the difficult position of not being able to offer a child a place. I know there has been some talk of using community facilities such as church halls, leisure centres, social clubs and scout huts to provide additional space but current government guidance is clear that schools should not use these facilities at the moment.

Accommodating children in non-educational settings is not as easy to do as it may first appear. It would highlight significant safeguarding, health and safety, resourcing and staffing implications and the priority for school leaders is the safety and well-being of your children. Schools must await further guidance from the government before considering this as an option.

Many of you are aware that the Government announced plans earlier this week to relax the 2m social distancing rule and may wonder if this means that schools can take more children. The government have said that from 4th July where it is not possible to stay two metres apart, guidance will allow people to keep a social distance of ‘one metre plus’. In Leeds, our current guidance to schools regarding social distancing of 2 metres has not changed; a 1 metre plus policy would require additional measures such as face coverings to be used routinely and would expose staff and children to greater risk of infection.

I know that the current situation is frustrating to parents and carers who are keen for their child to return to school. Despite their best efforts, school leaders will inevitably not be able to accommodate all requests from parents. I am writing to ask you to be respectful of the decision made by the head teacher of your child’s school, in the knowledge that it has been made with the safety of all children and staff at its heart.

Head teachers are now busy planning for September when it is hoped that all pupils will be able to return to school full time. School leaders are eagerly awaiting government guidance as to the expectations for September and I know they will communicate their plans with you as soon as they are in a position to do so.

I anticipate that restrictions, for example staggered start and finish times, class bubbles and increased cleaning and hygiene routines, will remain in place from September to ensure the safety of staff and pupils

I thank you for your continuing patience during these difficult times. I hope you and your families stay safe and well.

Yours sincerely

Sal Tariq OBE

Director, Children and Families

If you like, you can download the letter, too.

Our daily message (01 July 2020)

Our daily message (30 June 2020)

Today’s message relates to recent government announcements…

Socially distanced in school

Since the government announced that from Saturday 04 July, the two metre rule would be relaxed a little, some parents have asked if this means we can accept more children back at school. Sadly, the answer is no.

There may be spaces for a small number of individual children in a bubble, but generally speaking, there are no more spaces. Recent messages refer to a ‘one metre plus’ rule, but the guidance talks of ‘mitigation’, which includes:

• maintain 2m where viable (we’ve organised classrooms to do this)
• maintaining hand hygiene and cough etiquette (and we can’t ensure children maintain ‘cough etiquette’ – coughing into a disposable tissue or at least into their sleeve, not hand)
• staff minimising duration of contact at less than 2m with people outside their household (in a small classroom, and with young children, this is really hard)
• wearing face coverings when distances of 2m cannot be kept in indoor environments where possible (school staff are advised not to wear masks or other coverings because they hinder effective teaching)

Because these precautions can’t really happen in school, our current circumstances are the right ones, and Leeds City Council advice (26 June 2020) backs this up: ‘Schools should continue to implement and maintain the 2m social distancing measures already in place and not plan to reduce this to 1m+.’

We know the government guidelines are complicated and appear to be forever-changing, but be assured we’re following them closely.

(If it helps to know, sometimes school leaders are confused by the messages, too: current guidance for primary planning advises heads ‘if you can keep older children…two metres away from each other, you should do so’. However, on 24 June, the daily email and a blog from the Department for Education stated something apparently quite different: ‘primary schools do not need to keep children 2 metres apart from each other –  this has been the case throughout the outbreak’.)

Summer holidays

On Friday evening, the DfE confirmed that there is no expectation that schools should open for vulnerable children and children of critical workers over the summer holiday.

They stated: ‘Teachers, support staff and school leaders deserve a break, to recharge and rest.’

They further added: ‘We can confirm that providers offering paid childcare will be able to operate over the summer holidays, in line with protective measures guidance. Additional funded activities may be available in local areas, such as the Holiday Activities and Food scheme.’

It’s great news that children entitled to free school meals can benefit from enriching activities throughout the summer. The Holiday Activities and Food programme will support up to 50,000 disadvantaged children across 17 local authority areas, including Leeds, and help them to stay healthy and active over the summer.

Ten providers, including the Leeds Community Foundation, were successful in their bid for the programme and will be supporting families in need with activities and healthy meals. Activities will include a variety of online and directly delivered physical activities such as dance, yoga, HIIT and adventure play.

September and beyond – plans

The government has not yet published its plans for schools opening in September, but its intention is clear: that all pupils will be back for all the time.

Draft plans have been leaked and published yesterday on the Huffington Post.

These plans are still very much subject to change, but a couple of things are encouraging, including the ability to adapt the curriculum so that we can make sure our pupils catch up on valuable skills in reading, writing and maths. Please be assured we’re committed to doing this in a way which means our children can continue to enjoy a broad and balanced curriculum with enriching and enjoyable experiences.

The plans also raise questions, too. For example, there is a strong emphasis on class bubbles of 30. This means we’ll have to carefully consider how we plan the school day and week, and it might mean we still need to close early for one half day each week. Hopefully, the government’s full plans will provide lots of guidance and detail.

Our daily message (29 June 2020)

We hope you had a good weekend. Despite the unpredictable weather, hopefully you managed some social time with family or friends while respecting social distancing. On my last few Sunday morning walks, I’ve spotted quite a few familiar faces up and about which is lovely to see.

As with previous Mondays, we kick off the week with an addition or alternative to some home learning…

Living and Learning is the name for all the teaching and learning we do around Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE). Each week in school, we’ve a Living and Learning statement. I make healthy choices… is our statement this week. One of the Sphere Federation Health Leaders writes:

This week in school, we would have been enjoying one of our themed weeks: Being happy and healthy. Right now, it’s even more important to look after our own physical and mental health. To help, we’d like to share some ideas to look at the theme of being happy and healthy at home. Start by watching this clip from BBC Bitesize and reading these top ten tips from Child Friendly Leeds for families to keep healthy and happy at home.

Can you encourage your child to make a new healthy choice every day this week? Or think about one new healthy change your child can make? Try to help them make sure the choice is a realistic, achievable one, such as avoiding being on an electronic device after a certain time to help sleep, or adding one extra daily portion of vegetables to their diet each day.

Here are some links to support you with this learning at home which may be as well as or instead of some of your child’s home learning for this week:

• Healthy eating – Change4Life, British Nutrition Foundation Healthy Eating week, Food a fact of life
• Physical health – Government guidelines recommend at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day, get active with National School Sports Week resources, imovement, ThisisPE, GoNoodle
• Mental health (including reducing screen time) – Tips for reducing screen time, Anna Freud centre, MindMate, Childline calm zone, listen to meditations, try yoga, look at our suggested mindfulness techniques
• Sleep – Good-Night Guide For Children, Top tips to help children sleep well
• Teeth – Keeping our teeth healthy
• Hygiene –  e-bug KS1, e-bug KS2, hand washing

Talking of handwashing and being healthy…

Is everyone in your household still washing their hands carefully? After weeks of lockdown, perhaps not. This experiment might prompt you to get back into the habit: invisible flourescent paint (think of this as coronavirus or any other bug) was applied to the hand of one person (imagine the person has just coughed into their hand)… watch how it spreads.

(Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip…)

A new youth group coming to Scholes...

 I am the leader of The Tribe Youth Group and we are looking at setting up our fourth group in Scholes. We are planning to open in September.

We were announced as Youth Group of the Year for Leeds in the recent Child Friendly Leeds Awards. Activities we offer include creative, lifeskills, the I am Me project (which is about health and fitness) including physical and mental health. We also offer outings and community service projects.

Please contact 07756-585864 for more information.

Jean, The Tribe Youth Group

Our daily message (26 June 2020)

Our final message this week comes from Miss Hague, our Head of School…

At Scholes (Elmet) Primary, our bubbles are almost full. We grew/blew (?) another bubble last week for some additional key workers but we don’t have the staff or space to grow any more bubbles. Whilst the children who are coming to school are happy and relieved to be back into some kind of routine, school by no means feels complete. We miss our home learners enormously. Staff are working really hard to keep in touch by email, phone calls or even a wave through the fence. You’ve not been forgotten!

We can’t wait for things to get back to normal – whatever that might be!

The staff that are working in school are doing a great job; these are the members of staff working with your children:

• F2: Mrs Beesley, Mrs Myers, Mrs Kirby and Miss Hulme (job sharing during the week)
• F2/Y1: Mrs Latham and Miss Fallon
• Y1: Miss Parling and Mrs Goodwin
• Y2: Miss Lowry/Mrs Lake and Mrs Rennison
• Y3: Mr Gathercole and Mrs Ravenscroft
• Y4: Mrs Wadsworth and Miss Joicey
• Y5/6: Mr Catherall and Mr Freeman
• Y5/6: Mrs Hogarth and Mr Gledhill
• Y5/6: Mr Lindsay and Miss Greaves

If a member of staff is unable to be in school and there is any change of staff within the bubble, parents will be informed.

A few things to help us out…

The bubbles have worked well and the staff and children have been brilliant at keeping their social distance as much as possible but it’s really important that this is being followed at home, too. As Mr Roundtree has said in Wednesday’s message, it’s really hard when children feel that they can’t tell us what they’ve been doing at home; it’s really uncomfortable for them and the member of staff. The social distancing guidelines are there to keep us all safe – please make sure you’re following them for everyone’s sake.

Also, when picking up or dropping off your child, please make sure that you are sticking to the correct times so that we can ensure there are not too many people in the school grounds.

Moving forward…

The guidance is now being changed and there has been more easing of the lockdown restrictions but please bear in mind, the virus hasn’t gone away and that any news about schools is not given to us first; we hear it when you do.

Thanks for your support in these difficult times. Have a great weekend – in your bubbles – and stay safe.

Our daily message (25 June 2020)

Today’s message is especially for the many parents whose child remains at home…

How’re things with you? For many of us, it’s getting tough. We know that from some of the conversations we’re having with you. And we know that from how we’re feeling, too. If you’re finding things tough right now, it might help to know you’re not alone.

Even with some aspects of lockdown easing, there are still things that aren’t back to normal – and we know one of the most important things that’s not easing up is your child being at home, away from their friends and away from their teacher.

Way back in March, just before schools closed, some of you speculated at the school gate about this going on for the rest of the school year. Despite this, I reckon at first many of us chose to not think about this lasting so long – we just got on with things. The first few weeks might have felt it was a bit of a novelty, even, and we had the resilience and positivity to get through it.

This was always going to be a marathon, not a sprint. We’re definitely approaching the finishing line – we just can’t see it yet. And just like a real marathon (not that I’ve ever run one!), the last stages are tough.

Things are challenging because you can see some people back at school – it’s hard not to feel a sense of envy or even resentment. And things are challenging when you hear about other aspects of lockdown easing – what a weird situation that we can take children to a zoo, but not to school.

The government has announced that all pupils in all year groups in England will go back to school full-time in September. Even if that doesn’t happen (and I’m thinking worst-case scenario here), I’m confident all children will be back at school on a rota system, For us, that would mean we can plan for teaching in school and then follow-up home learning which is then is checked by the teacher… That’s got to be better than than the current situation – and remember, that’s a worst-case scenario.

In the meantime, if your child is still at home, remember the majority of children across England are in the same situation, and children are resilient – they can bounce back, and they will. We’ll all reach the end of this marathon we’re running, tired and emotional maybe, but we will reach it.

Our daily message (24 June 2020)

Tomorrow’s message is for those parents whose child(ren) are still at home. Today’s message is especially to the parents and carers who have a child back at school – it’s a simple one:

Please respect social distancing.

For most people, this means just three things:

• only meet outside
• only meet up in a group of six people maximum
• stay two metres apart

Yes, we know the rules will soon ease up a bit, but that’s not until Saturday 04 July.

Right now, it’s still those three things we all need to follow.

Our daily message (23 June 2020)

In our message today, we’ve a response to some government announcements made last week, and a reminder about the annual reports we recently emailed to parents.

Annual reports

By now, you should all have received a copy of your child’s annual report.

Because of the coronavirus outbreak, teachers wrote the report based on the learning up to Friday 20 March, the date that schools closed. All the information, including the attainment bands and progress, refer to the period from September to March.

We want you to know as much as you want about your child’s learning. If you want to discuss the report, please do contact your child’s class teacher or the Head of School.

Free school meals over the summer holiday

You’ll be aware of the success of Marcus Rashford in persuading the government to provide free school meals over the summer – the government had previously said the scheme would end at the end of the term.

In last Tuesday’s post (16.06.20), we encouraged caution when hearing about government plans. This is a case in point, because at the moment the information about this is that this is for a voucher scheme only. This is different to how we’ve provided free school meals over Easter, when we worked with our regular caterers who provided food hampers. It’s worth knowing so you can perhaps start to find out more about the vouchers and how they work.

If you’ve had a recent change in circumstances – a loss of job or a reduction in earnings, for example – your child might now be entitled to free school meals. Find out if you’re now entitled.

Summer catch-up programme

We ended last Tuesday’s post with reference to the summer catch-up scheme that the Prime Minister has pledged. Some of you have been asking us about this, but – as we said last week – caution is needed. In this case, it seems that the catch-up scheme is no longer part of the government’s strategy. This apparent shift might be due to the government working more closely with school leaders; in an email to members (19.06.20), the NAHT‘s general secretary wrote:

Importantly, previous headlines suggesting a ‘summer of catch-up classes’ appear to have been replaced with a more sensible, long-term plan… Our conversations with the government have not always been easy over the last few months, but I am pleased to be able to tell you that I sensed a real desire to engage with us over this particular issue and to listen to many of our concerns… My initial reaction is that, compared to where we were a week ago, this is a positive step forward for pupils and the profession.

We’re including this here so you’re aware that school won’t be open to operate any sort of summer programme of activity or learning.

As always, thanks very much for your support. Whether emailed, or mentioned to staff in passing, your supportive comments have really helped us.