Our weekly message (04 December 2020) - Scholes (Elmet) Primary School, Leeds

I’m writing this week’s message after being on morning gate duty and it’s just started snowing – hopefully, my fingers will thaw out soon so I can press the right keys. If you do spot some typos, you’ll know why…

For some children and families, this time of year will be very difficult, especially for those who have experienced trauma or bereavement. Young Minds has created another Wellbeing Advent Calendar. It’s intended for use in schools, but it might help support you and your family throughout December. Each day, try a different 5 minute activity to help boost wellbeing and look after your child’s mental health. Today’s is a nice conversation starter: share something that has really cheered you up when you were feeling down.

Talking of conversation starters, this resource for parents and carers might help. Starting a conversation can be difficult, especially if you’re worried that your child is having a hard time. It doesn’t matter what topic the conversation starts with – it’s about the opportunity it gives you both to talk about feelings and to provide comfort.

Next, a message from Leeds City Council…

Sal Tariq, the Director of Children and Families, and Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Executive Member for Learning, Skills and Employment, have written a joint letter for parents and carers. (It came too late to include in last week’s message.) Read the full letter here, but these two paragraphs stand out as matching our own thoughts:

The overwhelming majority of parents have been extremely understanding of the challenges that schools have encountered and have co-operated fully with the school’s range of measures put in place to provide a covid-safe environment for the children, staff and parents.

We are grateful to parents, for example, for wearing face coverings when requested to by the school and for not sending their child to school when they, or a member of the family, have been requested to self-isolate.

Finally, today, just a quick repeat of a message we sent earlier in the week…

It’s common for children to catch colds and have coughs around this time. Normally, we’d still encourage children to come to school with a mild cough or cold, but not this year. If your child starts coughing, we really need you to keep your child at home and get a test for Covid. The results will quite likely be negative, meaning your child can quickly return to school. However, there’s always that slim chance your child might test positive. That would mean the whole class having to self-isolate for 14 days – that’s just not worth the risk. Please keep your child home if they’ve got any any hint of the three main symptoms of Covid.

Have a happy and healthy and warm weekend!