Newsletter 9th February 2022

KEY GUIDANCE from 20 January

• Face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors in classrooms. From 27 January, face coverings are no longer advised for pupils, staff and visitors in communal areas.

• A director of public health might advise us that face coverings should temporarily be worn in communal areas or classrooms (by pupils, staff and visitors, unless exempt). We will inform you if this becomes advice from the director of public health.

• In the mean time we continue to put in  place recommended control measures:

1.Ensure good hygiene for everyone.

2.Maintain appropriate cleaning regimes.

3.Keep occupied spaces well ventilated.

4.Follow public health advice on testing, self-isolation and managing confirmed cases of COVID-19.

• Testing remains important in reducing the risk of transmission of infection within schools. There is no need for primary age pupils (those in year 6 and below) to regularly test, unless they have been identified as a contact for someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 and therefore advised to take lateral flow tests every day for 7 days.
• You should follow the latest government guidance on confirmatory PCR tests in Stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection following a positive LFD test
• Identifying close contacts will be conducted by NHS Test and Trace. Therefore, please report close contacts to NHS Test and Trace, where possible, if your child tests positive.
• School attendance is mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age and it is a priority to ensure that as many children as possible regularly attend school.  Absences may be marked as unauthorised and continued absences will be dealt with in line with school policy.

We will continue to carefully monitor absence and illness across the school. If cases increase and meet our threshold, we will re-introduce extra control measures.                                                

Parents Evenings will be on Monday 28^th February and Thursday 3^rd March.  You will once again be invited to sign up to a time to video call with your child/children’s teacher in order to find out more about how they are doing in school.  I urge you to sign up for this as we are really proud of the progress the children are making.

It is my hope that we will be able to invite parents into the building in the Summer Term to see some of the learning that has been taking place throughout this year.

Reception gates will open daily between 8.55am and 9.00am.  Please ensure your child is on time for school.

School starts at 8.55am for everyone.  Please ensure you are on time so that children are not missing out on valuable learning time.

Our World Book Day celebrations will be on Friday 4^th March. We are celebrating 25 years of changing lives through a love of books and shared reading.

Competition for best HOMEMADE costume of favourite character – one winner per class.

Parents will be invited to take part in coffee, cake and reading session. (More details to follow.)

Please donate cakes for the event.  Donated cakes to come to the school hall at the end of the day on Thursday 3^rd March.

Miss Butler is running a P4C (Philosophy for Children) Club after school on Tuesday afternoons for children in Years 3 & 4.  Does your child show an interest in the world around them?  Do they ask loads of questions about what they see and hear? 

Philosophy for Children, or P4C, is an approach to learning and teaching which enhances children’s thinking and communication skills, boosts their self-esteem, and improves their academic attainment. 

If you think your child might enjoy spending some time thinking, listening, talking and exploring; then this is the club for them.

Please let the school office know if your child would like to take part.

“P4C aims to help children become more thoughtful,

more reflective, considerate and reasonable individuals.” Professor Matthew Lipman, Founder of P4C

FOSSL would like to invite any parent/ carer to come to the first meeting of this year.  All parents are automatically member of FOSSL when their child attends school.  Come along and meet new friends and enjoy time together after our two years of isolation from each other.

FOSSL Meeting

Friday 25^th February 2022

The Cabin

Skerton St Luke’s CE School

9.00am

The Bag Collection will take place on Monday 28^th February.  Please bring bags to the main gate into school on this morning.  Unfortunately, we do not have any space in school to store bags before this date.

Follow this link to find out what they do and do not collect - https://bag2school.com/what-we-collect

We have a number of ways that we communicate with you and for you to communicate with us. Some people are getting a little confused by what to use when and what to use it for.

ParentApp – PA Connect – all newsletters, forms, information and letters will be sent out via ParentApp as a push notification, text message or email.  All parents need access to this as it sends you the latest messages etc.

Parent Pay – all trips, residential, music lessons, clubs, school dinners, night owls and early birds are to be paid for using Parent Pay.  In paying for the activity, you are also giving consent for your child to attend the activity.  We MUST have this permission for activities that take place outside the local area of the school.  All parents need access to Parent Pay.

CONTACT US – Any information that needs to be shared with the teacher, office staff, Mrs Armistead, our SENCO or Pastoral Team can be emailed to contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk.  Someone will endeavour to reply to your email within 1 working day of receiving it.

Telephone – You can call school anytime on 01524 65445.  During the building works the phone may not be manned at all times.  If there is no one available to take your call, please email school using contact-us

CLASS DOJO – This is specifically used to share learning including homework and home learning during periods of isolation.  Parents are encouraged to see their children’s learning and the whole school pages where we share whole school information.  It is very easy to message staff using Class Dojo but all too easy for staff to miss these messages. 

PLEASE DO NOT MESSAGE STAFF USING DOJO. 

Please call or email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk .  We will endeavour to reply to your messages within 1 working day of receiving them.  It is NOT ok to expect a member of staff to reply before 8.00am, after 5.00pm or at weekends.

in person – Staff members are always in the playground before and after school, as are members of SLT.  If you need to pass on a message, we ask that you email or ring and only talk face to face in an emergency.  If you require a longer discussion with a member of staff, please telephone or email to make an appointment.

SCHOOL CLOUD – Web based video calling that we use for Parent-Teacher meetings.  All parents must register following the email link sent to you from school cloud.  Parents Evenings are offered in November and April. An extra meeting may be offered following the end of year report in July.

I hope this stops any confusion around how to make contact with a member of staff in school. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the school office on 01524 65445 or email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk. A member of staff with endeavour to reply to within 1 working day of receipt of your message.