Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Primary School

Clarification from Public Health and LA regarding places in school during lockdown

Author: c.sergeant@oliprimaryschool.co.uk

Clarification from Public Health and LA regarding places in school during lockdown

This week we have had an  increased number of calls from families requesting  places for key worker children. As always  we are doing our best to support our families but  we are running very close to full capacity whilst maintaining all health and safety Covid-19 guidelines. . It is important that we keep the numbers attending school as low as possible so that we can maintain  the safety of the staff and children in school at the moment.

I have attached below a link to a letter to parents from the local authority and public health . In the letter Steve Reddy  and Matt Ashton remind families that  children and young people, should stay at home unless absolutely necessary.  Children should only be sent into school if there is no way they can safely stay at home and learn remotely.

If there is an adult working at home or able to take leave from their non-critical job, they are asking parents to please think twice before sending your child to school.
This will allow those who really need to be in school to have access to a place. We don’t want to be in a position where we are unable to support safely the number of children wanting to
attend.

The safety of our school community is foremost in our minds and would ask that families consider all options for childcare before approaching school for places during lockdown.

The staff and I understand how hard it is for families working at home and we are doing all we can to offer support with home learning. We still have a number of  IT devices available to support home learning and if you feel that this would support you and your child please contact school. We also have free WIFI Sim cards available if  you need help with internet access.

29.01.2021 letter for parents SR and MA

Home learning update

Dear parents, thank you so much for all your hard work during this latest lockdown, we appreciate all the home learning you are doing with all your children at home.

As you are aware the expectations for home learning have changed so in light of this next week, the work set will look slightly different.

We are placing weekly plans onto our website with some supplementary sheets (like English or maths specific work) . These plans will have direct links to the website we want you to access which have some excellent teaching materials, some of which the children are used to as we use them in school.

This work is new learning so it is vital that the children are accessing this , most work is designed to be recorded into the children’s ‘Home Learning ‘book. (If you need a new book or pens, pencils etc please just let us know) and some is still through our old favourite, Purple Mash.

Please continue to also access books via Rising Stars and practice times tables on Times tables Rock Stars.

To help you in preparation for the week ahead, the weekly timetable will be available each Friday for the following week (There is no expectation for you to complete the work over the weekend)

We thank you once again in anticipation of all your hard work with your children and please don’t forget to photograph your child’s work and send it to us via the year group emails or return them to school .

We will be ringing around parents again next week so please don’t hesitate to let us know if there are any barriers you are facing or any great learning or ‘Eureka ‘ moments .

From all of the staff at OLI

City definition of critical workers and vulnerable children.

 The city definition of critical worker and vulnerable children will be in line with national guidance. I have included the link below and I have copied the relevant sections for parents in this message. For critical workers it is one parent who needs to be currently working in this role.
 
We are currently contacting families who are known to us to be part of the groups below. However ,if you feel that your circumstances have changed, you meet the criteria below and you would like your child to attend school please contact Mrs Brown or Mrs Finnigan as soon as possible  on 0151 260 8957 at school or email admin@oliprimaryschool.co.uk. 
 
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 include those who:

  • are assessed as being in need under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, including children and young people who have a child in need plan, a child protection plan or who are a looked-after child
  • have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
  • have been identified as otherwise vulnerable by educational providers or local authorities (including children’s social care services), and who could therefore benefit from continued full-time attendance, this might include:
    • children and young people on the edge of receiving support from children’s social care services or in the process of being referred to children’s services
    • adopted children or children on a special guardianship order
    • those at risk of becoming NEET (‘not in employment, education or training’)
    • those living in temporary accommodation
    • those who are young carers
    • those who may have difficulty engaging with remote education at home (for example due to a lack of devices or quiet space to study)
    • care leavers
    • others at the provider and local authority’s discretion including pupils and students who need to attend to receive support or manage risks to their mental health

Critical workers

Parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and EU transition response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined in the following sections.

Health and social care

This includes, but is not limited to, doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes:

  • childcare
  • support and teaching staff
  • social workers
  • specialist education professionals who must remain active during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response to deliver this approach

Key public services

This includes:

  • those essential to the running of the justice system
  • religious staff
  • charities and workers delivering key frontline services
  • those responsible for the management of the deceased
  • journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of:

  • the coronavirus (COVID-19) response, and the delivery of and response to EU transition
  • essential public services, such as the payment of benefits and the certification or checking of goods for import and export (including animal products, animals, plants and food), including in government agencies and arms length bodies

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food:

  • production
  • processing
  • distribution
  • sale and delivery
  • as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines)

Public safety and national security

This includes:

  • police and support staff
  • Ministry of Defence civilians
  • contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and EU transition)
  • fire and rescue service employees (including support staff)
  • National Crime Agency staff
  • those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas

Transport and border

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response and EU transition, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass and those constructing or supporting the operation of critical transport and border infrastructure through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes:

  • staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure)
  • the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage)
  • information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response
  • key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services)
  • postal services and delivery
  • payments providers
  • waste disposal sectors

Online learning update January 2021

School work has been set for all children to access remotely from tomorrow . This is available on our school website under the home learning portal tab. Staff will also be setting work on purple mash for their class. Don’t forget all children have their own learning passport with their personal log ins to all of the online learning platforms that are used in school. 

Teachers will be in touch tomorrow to support you and your child .
If you have any issues regarding online learning or if your child requires a windows tablet to access online learning please contact school or email your class teacher on their year group email (see the home learning portal). Paper work packs are also available on request if your child prefers to learn this way.

Thankyou for your patience and understanding and we will continue to support all of our families so that the children’s learning can continue during these unprecedented times.

I have included the schools contingency plan below if you require more information on the schools plans for continued learning during full or partial lockdowns. 

Contingency Plan 2020

School reopening update – 4th January 2021

I am sorry to inform our families that due to staffing issues we are unable to open the school fully tomorrow.

School will only be open for key worker/vulnerable families this week.

The local authority are providing schools with clarification of the current definition of key worker and vulnerable categories and I will share this with parents as soon as I have it.

Until that time any child who attended the OLI hub is able to attend school this week.

If you have joined our school since September and you feel that you are a key worker/vulnerable family please contact school in the morning on 0151 260 8957 or email admin@oliprimaryschool.co.uk for clarification.

I apologise for the lateness of this message and appreciate it will inconvenience many of our families. I have written to you as soon as I have had a full picture but I am sure you can appreciate from the media that this has been a rapidly changing situation today.

School breakfast club will open as normal at 8am for key worker/vulnerable children.

If you require a place in Everton Kids Club please contact Laura on 07788262828.

If you are entitled to free school meals and require a school provided packed lunch please contact school before 10am.  You will receive more information on how to collect this lunch from school.

 Mrs Catherine Sergeant

A new translation feature on our website

Do you know that there is a translate option on our website?

This will allow you to translate all information, documents and letters home into your home language .

Why not try it out ? 

 

Governor Elections

We currently have two Parent Governor vacancies on our governing body . If you would like to nominate yourself for one of the positions please read the information below and then complete the nomination form. This should be returned to school by Friday 13th November 2020 at 12 noon. 

Letter to parents

Nomination Form

Timetable 2020

Home reading during Covid 19

We need our families to return all reading folders and books to school by Thursday 15th October 2020?  Books and folders will then be quarantined safely before the October half term?

We would appreciate your support with this as we are very short of home reading books at the moment as the books were sent home with children as we went into lockdown.

Our aim is to send every child home with home reading books for the half term holiday.

Click here for more information on home reading during Covid 19 

 

 

Essential use of face coverings – A message from public health

Dear parents,

Levels of COVID-19 in Liverpool are high and increasing every day – we all need to take urgent action. 

It is now essential that parents and carers in Liverpool wear face coverings when collecting and dropping off their children at school.   All school staff will also model best practice by wearing a face covering/visor if supervising during collection or drop off.

We hope that families will support this action at your child’s school to ensure the safety of everyone in the school community.

Those parents who refuse or cannot wear face coverings should maintain social distancing of at least 2m from children and other parents/ carers at school.

We thank you in advance for ensuring greater levels of safety at school’s and in our communities.

Many thanks,

Matthew Ashton

Director of Public Health

The wider reopening of schools-Update

On the 22nd June we are reopening for Y6 children along with our key worker families.

We are currently contacting parents of Y1, Reception and Nursery children as we make plans to welcome back these year groups. More information will follow regarding this. 

In order to ensure that we maintain social distancing with increased numbers of children on site we have reviewed the timings of the day. Each group of children will have a specific time to arrive and leave school in order to minimise contact with other groups. Siblings/families are able to arrive together and they will be taken to their year group bubbles by staff. Please check the timings that apply to your child/children.

Staggered school drop off times 

8 am -8.15 am – Key worker children who have a pre-arranged early drop off at school

8.50-9.00 am  – Key worker/Hub children 

9.15 am- Year 6 children   

Staggered end of day times 

3 pm – Siblings/family groups

3.10 pm-EYFS children

3.15 pm – Key Stage 1 children

3.20 pm- Key Stage 2 children  

3.30 pm – Year 6 children

Other information 

To reduce infection children must not bring personal belongings into school and all children will receive a school dinner/school packed lunch.

For those families who do not receive Free School Meals can I remind you that the weekly cost of a school lunch is £7.50. The cost of this has been greatly subsidised by the school.

In order to reduce the risk of infection we have been advised that we are unable to accept cash in school.

Last year we introduced SIMSPAY (previously known as AGORA) as our online payment system.If you have previously used SIMSPAY please use this method to pay for your child’s school dinners .

If you need help logging on to SIMSPAY please email Miss Chute on admin@oliprimaryschool.co.uk or ring school on 0151 260 8957 and we will support you with this process.

Y6 – return to school update

Following the advice from Steve Reddy, Director of Children’s Services and his team our school will be open to Y6 pupils on 22nd June 2020. (See below)

Children should arrive at school at 9.15 am in their uniform. They will not be able to bring in any personal items from home and all children will receive a school hot dinner or a school packed lunch. For those families who are not in receipt of free school meals can I remind you that school dinners cost £7.50 per week.   The children can be collected from school at 3.30pm so that we can ensure social distancing.

We look forward to seeing the children back in school on Monday.

 

STEVE REDDY – UPDATE ON WIDER RE-OPENING OF SCHOOLS
As of 11th June, almost all schools are open to children of key workers and vulnerable
children. The return of Year 6 children was initially planned for 15th June but this was
paused until 22nd June.
Having consulted with Cheshire and Merseyside Directors of Public Health 1, they now feel able to support schools to progress their plans for a phased return of Year 6, if deemed safe to do so on 22nd June.
 This will be based upon the individual context of each school and will be dependent upon the size and layout of the building, circulation around the site and availability of staff. Places will be allocated until a school reaches its capacity as determined by its individual risk assessment. Once again, the stage at which
schools are able to open for these pupils will vary from school to school.

Liverpool City Council
Cunard Building, Water Street, Liverpool, L3 1AH.

Y6 return to school -DELAYED

Following recent information about the virus rate and advice from public health, school’s have been advised by Steve Reddy the director of Children’s Services Liverpool, NOT TO OPEN for Y6 on the 15th June 2020 as planned.

We will continue to work with the local authority, school staff and governors to ensure that we meet the needs of as many children as possible. More information will follow for our Y6 children and families and we will continue to risk assess for a wider school reopening as we move forward throughout the summer term.

Catherine Sergeant

Head Teacher 

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