Week beginning 14th September 2020
Welcome back to the new school year! We hope you all had a summer break that has left you well rested.
It was great to see all of the children arriving back in school on Monday looking really smart in their uniforms. We hope they have had a brilliant start to the year and are settling well into their new classes, they certainly seem happy and engaged as they play and learn together in a different ‘normal’. Thank you to our parents and carers who have worked with us this week, establishing new routines at drop off/pick up and tweaking them to make them to make further improvements. Please can we remind all though that the one way system needs to be used, parents/carers should not walk back through the main gates. Thank you.
A special welcome to our new reception starters, we hope they have enjoyed coming in for their school visits. Welook forward to welcoming them for the morning and afternoon sessions from Monday next week. The morning sessions are from 9-11am and the afternoon sessions are 1:15pm-3pm. Drop off at 9am is at the main KS1 doors (to the left of the main gate), where a member of staff will direct you and pick up for the morning is from the office entrance. Please adhere to social distancing. Afternoon drop off at 1:15pm is at the office entrance and pick, at 3pm is at the KS1 doors, as above.
*If you are interested in swimming lessons for your pre-schoolers we are currently compiling a waiting list and hope to have the pool open as soon as possible to restart them. Please email the school office if you are interested.
*Our music peripatetic teachers will be resuming music lessons next week and they will have contacted their current parents who they previous taught.
*On Wednesday 16th September, Mr Shephard and Mrs Bird will be giving demo lessons to Year 4 and Year 5 to see if they want to learn/continue to learn the trumpet, trombone, flute or clarinet. The demos will take place in year group bubbles in the hall. Year 5 will take part from 940-10am and Year 4 from 10am-1020am.
*Just a reminder: please remember that if it is a child’s birthday, we cannot distribute sweets because we are a healthy school and also in light of COVID we cannot share food in this way between our classes.
*On Friday 18th September, it is Jeans for Genes day. During the day, we will do a whole school assembly via Zoom. If you would like to donate £1 (optional donation) to this cause, Mrs Doble will add this onto Parent Pay, so we do not need to handle cash in school.
*We have added a section to our risk assessment about meeting parents and carers in school: parents/carers must make an appointment to speak to a member of staff (via a phone call to the office or email to admin). If meeting in school, please meet outside, if possible or if inside, wear a face covering. Only one parent to attend a face to face meeting, additionally, the meeting could take place via Zoom or Microsoft Teams if both parents wish to attend.
For those of you who might be confused as to what to do if your child gets a cold: (from the NHS website:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/coughs-colds-ear-infections/)
Children's colds
It's normal for a child to have 8 or more colds a year. This is because there are hundreds of different cold viruses and young children have no immunity to any of them as they have never had them before. They gradually build up immunity and get fewer colds. Most colds get better in 5 to 7 days but can take up to 2 weeks in small children.
Here are some suggestions for how to ease the symptoms in your child:
*Make sure your child drinks plenty of fluids.
*Saline nose drops can help loosen dried snot and relieve a stuffy nose. Ask your pharmacist, GP or health visitor about them.
*If your child has a fever, pain or discomfort, children's paracetamol or ibuprofen can help. Children
with asthma may not be able to take ibuprofen, so check with a pharmacist, GP or health visitor first. Always follow the instructions on the packet.
*Encourage the whole family to wash their hands regularly to stop the cold spreading.
Cough and cold remedies for children
Children under 6 should not have over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, including decongestants (medicines to clear a blocked nose), unless advised to by a GP or pharmacist.
Coronavirus (from NHS/government website): at the moment it can be hard to know what to do if your child is unwell. It's important to trust your instincts and get medical help if you need it. If your child has a cold, please follow the advice above, if your child has a fever or continuous cough or loss of taste and smell, they should self-isolate for 10 days, get tested immediately via the NHS testing website and everyone in the household should stay at home for 14 days. If someone tests negative, if they feel well and no longer have symptoms similar to coronavirus (COVID-19), they can stop self-isolating. Other members of their household can stop self-isolating.
Self-care isn't selfish, it's essential. No-one's perfect. But so often we compare our insides to other people's outsides.
This month we're encouraging everyone to be kinder to themselves (as well as others), especially when things go wrong. Self-care increases our resilience and helps us get more out of life. It also helps us accept others as they are too.
That just leaves us to say, have a wonderful weekend and see you all on Monday.