Newsletter 20th January 2022

COVID UPDATE INFORMATION FOR PARENTS 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. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter 1st December 2021

COVID UPDATE INFORMATION FOR PARENTS Following the announcement of the temporary measures as a result of the Omicron variant, we are asking you to read our guidance and follow these measures. Our aim is to keep our school, and the wider, community safe on the run up to Christmas. KEY GUIDANCE • Face coverings are to be worn by all staff and visitors in communal areas of school. Although face coverings do not need to be worn outdoors, due to the close proximity of our families walking in and out of school, we are strongly recommending parents (or other relatives) to wear a face covering when collecting or dropping off your child. • If there is a positive COVID-19 case in your household, the guidance still states that anyone under the age of 18, or anyone fully vaccinated, does not need to self-isolate. However, unless they are already displaying symptoms, we are urging parents to wait a couple of days and then book a PCR test for your child. • 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. • Close contacts to a positive Omicron variant of COVID-19 must self-isolate for 10 days and book at PCR test, regardless of age or vaccination status. • Children do not need to be confined to ‘bubbles’; however, if we have a rise in COVID cases beyond our threshold, our class bubbles will be re-introduced, along with other restrictive measures. • Children will continue to be encouraged and taught how to follow good hygiene procedures. • Our classrooms will continue to have adequate ventilation. Please note that during this cold snap, we encourage pupils to wear an extra layer – get those vests on! • Nativities will be pre-recorded and shared with parents via Class Dojo in order to ensure that we keep visitors in school to a minimum. We will continue to carefully monitor absence and illness across the school. If we are informed of a positive case in school, we will inform parents of children in the same class. If cases increase and meet our threshold, we will re-introduce extra control measures. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter 22nd November

Thank you to all of you who managed to attend the parent teacher meetings last week. Most of you were able to join in the meetings online or have telephone meetings in order to discuss your child’s progress in school. I am very proud of the progress the children are making across school. We have had some really successful reading workshops with parents and children in school and I thank you for engaging with these. I hope that you enjoyed spending time in school with your child. As you will be aware, COVID cases in the area are on the rise again with several schools in the local area having high numbers of pupils and staff absent from school. Currently we have people who have tested positive and are self-isolating. If your child displays any of the COVID symptoms – a cough, a high temperature, loss of smell or taste, please keep them off and take them for a PCR test. I have a duty of care to the staff in the school and so I have made the decision to pause all larger group visits into school by parents and carers. This, therefore means having to share nativities via recording again this year. I know that many of you will be disappointed by this news, but at this point my main priority is to continue to enable staff and pupils to access learning in school. It is my hope that we will be able to invite parents back into the building for workshops etc in the New Year. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter 20th October 2021

As we reach the end of this Autumn Half Term I would like to say a huge well done to everyone. It has been a tough term and everyone is feeling very tired, especially the children. During this half term everyone has worked hard to get the children learning and catching up to where they should be. I am very proud of everyone’s efforts and, even though we have more hard work to do, I feel confident that we will get there if we continue to work together. I cannot stress enough how important it is to share books and complete homework tasks with your child/children. Please continue to do this over the half term break so that the children can pick up where they left off when they return. Please be aware that this is a two week half term break due to the school undergoing some building works during this time. I look forward to seeing you all back in school on Monday 8th November. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter 17th September 2021

Thank you so much to everyone who attended the ‘Meet the Teacher’ events last week. If you were unable to attend, the information you need is on your child’s Class Dojo page. Please ensure you take notice of all the information coming from school, as we want you to know of everything we are doing to help your child learn and grow. The children have settled really well into their new school year and are working hard to catch up and further their learning in school. If you have any questions please contact us on 01524 65445 OR contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk It is also essential that parents have access to Parent APP and Class Dojo as much school information is shared this way and we will continue to do this post COVID. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter 3rd September 2021

Final Newsletter 2020-2021

As we finish for the year I would like to say a huge thank you to all of you for your support and understanding throughout a very difficult year. Together we have weathered the changes brought about through COVID and the ever changing rules surrounding the virus. At times it has been very challenging for you and for staff and most of all our children. Because we have tried our best to communicate, stay positive and support each other, our children are finishing this year very positively. Even as some classes have had to self-isolate towards the end of term the majority of you have been understanding and shown such kindness towards staff who are just having to follow government and Local Authority guidelines. Thank you. The children at St Luke’s absolutely embody our Bible passage ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ Luke 10:27 and I could not be more proud of them. I hope that you all enjoy a relaxing and COVID free holiday and we will do what we do best which is prepare for the Autumn Term and be ready for all eventualities. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter 17th June 2021

Share in our celebrations and look ahead to class transition, Euro day, St John's Hospice Big Picnic and more....

Newsletter 26th May 2021

With the school year flying by, it has been great to see children back in class over the summer term busy with their learning. Looking towards next half term and the end of the year, things will be a little different than normal - still, plans are afoot to make the end of the year as memorable as possible whilst keeping us all safe in school. We have some events and trips planned which the children will enjoy and share with you at home, on Class Dojo and Facebook. Please read on....

This weeks' newsletter 18th May 2021

Please take the time to read our newsletter - it is a way for you to keep up to date with events and news in school and the local community.

Welcome back...

School REOPENS 8th March 2021 to ALL children

We look forward to welcoming ALL our children back to school...

Looking ahead through December and beyond

As we enter the time of Advent and preparing for Christmas, I would like to thank you all for the fantastic effort you have made to follow school rules and work together to keep each other safe. I am very proud that we have managed to keep the school open, apart from Friday, throughout this Autumn Term and I am hopeful that we will be able to continue this over the next few weeks. You should all be very proud of your children and the effort they have all put into their learning this term. Every child in school has made progress in their learning, been engaged in class and continued to develop friendships and resilience throughout this strange time. Even though Lancaster and Morecambe have become more COVID safe we need to continue to follow government guidelines until we are told otherwise. We are planning events at Christmas that will make the experience as normal as possible for the children in school. Please continue to look out for class notices on Class Dojo and messages via parent app that will inform you of all we have planned. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy time as you make your Christmas preparations.

A message from Mrs Armistead - 20th October 2020

New Procedures for Drop Off & Collection at school (6/9/20)

Thank you for your patience and supportive comments following our first day back on Friday. We are all working to see what the ‘new normal’ is going to actually look like so I appreciate you working with us during this time. After much feedback from you, the parents, and staff following the drop off and pick ups last week I have decided to completely overhaul the plan.