Lockdown School Updates – Friday 12th February
Half term
Next week is half term, with school reopening for the children of critical workers and vulnerable children on Monday 22nd February. Home Learning will also recommence on 22nd February.
Microsoft Teams will be muted over half term, so children will be unable to add comments on the Teams chat.
Please use this break to relax and have some fun. This term has been really tricky for everyone and some quality family time is more important than ever.
COVID19 ‘Track and Trace’ during half term
If your child or a family member receives a positive COVID19 test over the February half term, please can you email us using this address:
trackandtrace@stsaviours.bwmat.org
This inbox will be monitored regularly over the half term. The normal school inboxes will NOT be monitored.
We may need to contact you and assist in ‘track and trace’ alongside advice from Public Health, especially if your child has developed systems within 48 hours of their last day in school.
Even if your child has not been in school, or there is a positive test within your household at the end of half term, please still continue to use the trackandtrace@stsaviours.bwmat.org inbox to inform us of any positive cases, so we can use this information to plan for the start of Term 4.
When will all children return to school?
This is the question on the tip of everybody’s tongue and I know how much everyone wants schools to reopen fully as soon as it is safe to do so. The Government have stated that they plan to start the full reopening of schools from 8th March. They have also stated that schools will be informed of the ‘road map’ two weeks before this date. If the Government stick to this commitment, we should have more information shared with schools straight after half term.
As soon as this has been released, and we have had a chance to consider what this means for St Saviour’s Schools, I will write to families. It is likely that the Government will lay out a plan for a gradual and staggered return to full school attendance so please be prepared for this possibility, it is unlikely all children will be back in school on the 8th March.
St Saviour’s Virtual Library
We have just launched our virtual library on our school website.
Choose a book from our virtual bookshelves and a teacher or teaching assistant will read you a bedtime story.
Click here to enter the library
#HotChocFri makes the press
This week a ‘Hot Chocolate Friday’ article was published in the ‘Bath and Wiltshire Magazine’ website. You can read the article by clicking here.
You can also visit all previous articles that have been published about St Saviour’s Schools by visiting our ‘in the press’ section of our website.
Thrive@Home
Mrs Simmons will be running some 30 minute, stand alone, 'Thrive@Home' sessions for small groups of children starting after half term. These sessions will initially be by invitation only (you will receive an email an invite on Teams which you will need to accept), but please do let us know if you think your child is really struggling and could benefit from attending one of these sessions.
Sessions will be run live on Teams and be based around fun, creative activities, with the opportunity to have a general chat whilst the children are doing these activities. You may be asked to collect a pack of resources from the Junior School Office prior to your session if we are using resources you may not have readily available at home. If you do not feel your child would like to attend the session, this is no problem, but it would be helpful if you can please let us know as soon as possible, so that we are able to offer the space to another child.
‘100 Challenge’
This week in assembly, we celebrated the life of Captain Sir Tom Moore. Sara, Sophie and Mrs Simmons read a story about his life which you can watch here. They have set you all a ‘100 Challenge’, where they have asked you to complete an activity 100 times in memory of Sir Tom, who walked 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday to raise money for the NHS. This could be anything, from completing 100 star jumps to reading 100 books! Maybe you will complete your activity very quickly, or perhaps it will take a longer amount of time.
Get creative, and we can’t wait to hear and see what you have been up to.
Junior School Live French Lessons and Spanish and French clubs
Starting next term ‘Todo el Mundo - Languages for Everyone’will be teaching every Junior School class French live on Teams – you will receive an invitation for these sessions.
We will also be starting up an additional free Spanish and French club live on Teams. This is available for the children that working from home. Please email french@todoelmundo.co.uk to sign up to one of the clubs below. A Teams invite will be sent before the first session.
The clubs will teach French or Spanish through songs, games, stories and art. Places are limited to 12 per class to ensure plenty of individual attention. Children can be new to the language or have learnt before and there is no activity book to buy or worksheets to print.
Year 2 FREE French Club with Elise Acard Tonga
Thursdays 12.30-1pm
Years 3&4 FREE Spanish Club with Katherine Mallia
Thursdays 12.45-1.15pm
Years 5&6 FREE Spanish Club with Katherine Mallia
Wednesday 12.45-1.15pm
We have updated our ‘Pupil and Parent Agreement for Remote Learning’
We have added information on this document to clearly state why we record online live Teams sessions.
The new information is as follows:
• Group and whole class sessions will be recorded for the core purpose of storing the information so absent children can access the missed session(s)
• One to one sessions will not be recorded but other safeguarding mitigations will be in place, for example, staff will be in school when meeting a child one to one online, or another member of staff will be present in the call
To read the full agreement please click here
‘Camp in a tent’
Inspired by the example of Max Woosey, (featured on BBC News) who camped in a tent to raise money for a hospice and the challenge to 'give a tent for Lent' with the Shelter Box Charity, Robert Beesley (The Clerk to St Saviour’s Governing Body) is going to camp in a tent for Lent to raise money to buy tents for Shelter Box. This is 39 nights, starting next Wednesday!
The tents bought go to disaster areas around the world.
You can donate to this fundraising event via Robert’s ‘Just Giving’ page here
A message from the BANES ‘Community Wellbeing Hub’
If you are vulnerable and need help getting food, medicine, housing or other essential items, are feeling isolated, or concerned about your physical and mental wellbeing the Community Wellbeing Hub can help.
Call the Community Wellbeing Hub on 0300 247 00509am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Please check for Christmas and New Year opening hours.
email BATHNES.thehub@virgincare.co.uk
website: http://communitywellbeinghub.co.uk
Text 07870 868368
Following us on Twitter @cwhbanes
Bath & North East Somerset Council, working with 3SG, Virgin Care, and local NHS colleagues, have set up the Hub to give advice and support to those who need it during Covid-19. If you need support to self- isolate please contact us on the number above so as we can support you through this process.
If you can get support from family, friends or the local community, or can order food or medication online, please continue to do so. This means staff operating the phone line can prioritise those who need the most help and get to calls as quickly as possible
If you need to contact the council about its services please ring Council Connect on 01225 394041 or email Council_connect@bathnes.gov.uk
Thank you
On behave of all the staff at St Saviour, thank you for your continued support and understand through another tricky term for our community and thank you for balancing your personal and professional lives with home schooling.
Please have a relaxing and enjoyable break.
Best wishes,
Mr Beament
Executive Headteacher
St Saviour’s Schools