Skerton St Luke's CE Primary School › Newsletter

Newsletter - 14th October 2022

It has been another busy half term in school and we have a number of things to really celebrate. Firstly, the opening following the building works was really lovely with a number of past staff visiting us and joining in the celebrations with the Bishop of Lancaster, Right Reverend Dr Jill Duff. Everyone commented on how the school looked and how polite and engaged the children were. This made me feel very proud. Year 6 had a very successful residential visit to London. Due to the train strikes scheduled for the day of travel, the children and staff had to travel down the night before so they ended up with three nights away. Everywhere they went members of the public commented on how well behaved they were and how polite and well-mannered they were. Thank you to all of the parents who supported us and trusted us to take care of your children. Year 4 and Year 3 have both been out of school on school trips linked to their curriculum. Year 4 to Trough of Bowland and Year 3 to Lancaster Castle. In both cases the children were well behaved and listened and responded well. The children have reported that they had a fantastic time and enjoyed their learning. We have further visits and activities coming up and I look forward to seeing parents at some of these as well. Please keep an eye on the ‘Dates for your Diary’ which is at the end of this newsletter. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter - 26th September 2022

Thank you to all of you for your support for the local food banks through our harvest festival on Friday. All of your donations went to St Luke’s Church to be presented during the service on Sunday and then distributed to local food banks. Food Boxes As you may be aware there is a huge demand for boxes and support from the local food banks and they do an amazing job in helping people in our community. We have been fortunate enough to receive donations from Rapid Relief Team who provide boxes with food that has a long shelf life for people to access. If you, or anyone you know, could do with support from this charity, please contact Mrs Armistead direct to arrange – head@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk OR 01524 65445. School Opening On Tuesday 27th September the Bishop of Lancaster, Right Reverend Dr Jill Duff, will be in school to conduct the official opening of our new build. This will be conducted in the hall at 9.30am and all of the children and special guests will join us. Unfortunately we don’t have enough room in school to invite all parents to join us, but we would like to invite you to come for a look around school from 3.30pm on Tuesday 27th. You’ve seen the changes from the outside, now come and see them inside the building. Ways to get involved • Join in Friends of Skerton St Luke’s (FOSSL) activities. All parents of pupils at the school are automatically members of FOSSL so anyone can come along to meetings and join in with all fundraising etc. For more information email friends of skertonstlukes@gmail.com or DM on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/friendsofstlukesschool • Become a School Governor. School governors are volunteers who work together with the Headteacher and the local authority to improve education and other outcomes for all pupils. The governors meet as a full governing body three times per year. If you would like to know more about this role please contact Mrs Armistead on 01524 65445 or email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk. • Volunteer to listen to children read. If you have some time to spare, a good grasp of written English, and if you enjoy spending time with children, you could become a school reader. For more information please contact Mrs Goodwin on 01524 65445 or email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk. • Offer to lead an after school club/ lunch time club in the Spring or Summer Term. We love offering different extra-curricular activities to the children in school. If you have a particular skill that you would like to share with children then consider offering to lead a club in school. Some examples might be gardening, sewing or cooking. For information please contact Miss Garnett on 01524 65445 or email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk. • Join Drop In on Wednesday straight after school. Parents can join their child in the classroom to chat about and see what they have been learning. No need to book, just turn up. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter - 15th September 2022

We continue to be in the official time of mourning following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. As you will be aware, Monday 19th September is a Public Holiday for the funeral, therefor school will be closed. Thank you all so much for a fantastic start to the new school year. The children are all working hard and the atmosphere in school is incredibly positive. We would love more parents and family members to get involved in school and there are a number of ways you can do this. • Join in Friends of Skerton St Luke’s (FOSSL) activities. All parents of pupils at the school are automatically members of FOSSL so anyone can come along to meetings and join in with all fundraising etc. The next meeting is on Friday 16th September at 9.15am in the Cabin on the school playground. For more information email friends of skertonstlukes@gmail.com or DM on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/friendsofstlukesschool • Become a School Governor. School governors are volunteers who work together with the headteacher and the local authority to improve education and other outcomes for all pupils. The governors meet as a full governing body three times per year. If you would like to know more about this role please contact Mrs Armistead on 01524 65445 or email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk. • Volunteer to listen to children read. If you have some time to spare, a good grasp of written English, and if you enjoy spending time with children, you could become a school reader. For more information please contact Mrs Goodwin on 01524 65445 or email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk. • Offer to lead an after school club/ lunch time club in the Spring or Summer Term. We love offering different extra-curricular activities to the children in school. If you have a particular skill that you would like to share with children then consider offering to lead a club in school. Some examples might be gardening, sewing or cooking. For information please contact Miss Garnett on 01524 65445 or email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk. • Join Drop In on Wednesday straight after school. Parents can join their child in the classroom to chat about and see what they have been learning. No need to book, just turn up. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter - 2nd September 2022

Welcome to the new school year 2022-2023 Welcome back to all of you. I hope you all have enjoyed a fabulous summer and are looking forward to the new school year. A huge welcome to our new children and families who are joining us and we hope that you are made to feel very welcome and arriving at school, on time, looking very smart and ready for a fabulous learning year. I pray that it is an uninterrupted year in school so that we can really focus on ‘Opening Minds. Learning through Challenge and Celebrating God’s World’. In this newsletter I have included lots of information that you will need for the year ahead and dates for your diary for this half term. I look forward to the year and working with all of you. Please, continue to look after yourselves and each other. Kind Regards, Mrs Armistead

Newsletter - Friday 24th June 2022

As of Monday 27th June we will be able to use the new front office in school. Access to classes through the new class doors at the start and end of the day will continue. So, all pupils should come into school between 8.45am and 8.55am as usual via the playground entrance. All playground gates will be closed for access from 8.55am, which is the official start time. All pupils who are late, arriving after 8.55am, must be accompanied by an adult and enter through the front office. Access will only be via the new pedestrian gate at the front of school. NO ACCESS will be allowed via the school playground during school time i.e. after 8.55am and before 3.15pm. Mrs Armistead

Newsletter - Tuesday 14th June 2022

Welcome back to the second half of the summer term. We have another busy half term in school so please note all of the upcoming dates and events at the end of this newsletter. As you will have seen, the building works are now nearing completion and children can already access classrooms from the external doors onto the playground. This has had a huge impact in school all ready. Please be aware that these doors access straight into the classrooms, so do not knock on doors or peer through windows as this will disrupt learning in the classrooms. All children arriving late MUST come to the main entrance with a parent in order to sign them in. Currently the entrance is across the playground, next to the hall. We anticipate that in the next couple of weeks the new front entrance will be accessible, in which case visitors and late arrivals will come to the front of school. We will let you know when this happens If you have further concerns, questions or feedback please get in touch via contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk Mrs Armistead

Newsletter - Monday 9th May 2022

Thank you to those of you who completed the Parent Carer Survey last term. I have analysed what you have said, shared your positive and complimentary feedback with staff and governors and taken on board your suggestions and concerns. As the survey was anonymous I am unable to talk directly to those parents who had specific concerns and so would encourage anyone who is unhappy about something to contact me directly so I can deal with the issues. I have actioned a number of issues raised in your feedback: You said: Online parents evening is not long enough. We did: We hope to return to face to face parents evenings following Covid restrictions. We know that 10 minutes twice a year is not long enough to share all that we know about your child. We encourage you to come into school to as many activities as possible. Starting in June, we will have open classrooms after school each Wednesday from 3.20pm – 3.45pm. Please feel free to come into school and see what your child has been learning. You said: School has taken a long time to get back to normal following the pandemic. We did: As the country was opening up we continued to keep social distancing in place as we were struck by further ‘waves’ of Covid amongst pupils and staff. Our risk assessments will always look at the health and safety for this school. Other schools make their decisions following their own risk assessments for their setting. During the Spring Term we had a number of staff absences due to covid and other illnesses, we managed to cover this amongst ourselves and not close classes. Since Easter we have been able to invite parents into school for more activities. We thank you for your patience and will continue to assess the risk as we go forward into the summer term. Please do join us in school for Friday Celebration at 9.10 each week. Further in school activities are shared on our school newsletter. Some positives include: The teachers and staff have done an amazing job throughout Covid. Thank you. My child loves school. The school have really helped me as a parent. Thank you. If you have further concerns, questions or feedback please get in touch via contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk Mrs Armistead

Newsletter - Friday 22nd April

Welcome back to the Summer Term. Each half term we learn about and celebrate a new Christian Value in school and this half term we are thinking about Friendship. The children will explore what makes a good friend and what it means to be a good friend to others. Each term we also work on building skills for learning and this term we are learning to be resilient learners. Please talk to your child/ children about these concepts at home. As you will be aware, rules around Covid testing and self-isolation have now come down to local organisations deciding what works best for them. We are asking that if your child is unwell with Covid symptoms, please keep them at home for 3-5 days or until they feel well enough to return. We will continue to teach children to follow good hygiene in school, including regular hand washing. If you are not sure about what to do, please email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk OR call 01524 65445 to speak to a member of staff. Welcome to our new Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator A huge welcome to Mr Marc Molloy who joins us as our new SENCO in school. Mr Molloy was previously at St Luke’s as a teacher and SENCO and has now returned after a time teaching at The Loyne Specialist School. He brings his expertise around all areas of SEND as well as new skills developed in his time at The Loyne. If you would like to arrange a meeting with Mr Molloy to discuss your child/ children, please email contact-us@skertonstlukes.lancs.sch.uk or call 01524 65445.

Newsletter - Thursday 24th March

Please be aware of parking around the school. Many local residents are having their drives blocked or unable to get in and out of their roads at drop off and pick up times. Please be courteous and follow the rules for public roads. A polite reminder that we have a no nut rule in school due to a number of children and staff having allergies. When packing snacks and or lunchboxes, please do not put anything with nuts in as they will be removed and disposed of for safety reasons. As we head towards Easter we are able to hold some lovely celebrations and activities face-to-face for the first time in the last two years. Consequently, we have quite a few things coming up: Wednesday 23rd March 5.30pm Year 6 parents – SATS and Isle of Man Thursday 24th March Year 2 parents – Class visit Monday 28th March 5.30pm Chocolate Bingo in the school hall (all welcome) Tuesday 29th March Egg Rolling Championship - Year 5 (am) and Year 2 (pm) – BRING YOUR OWN EGGS Wednesday 30th March Egg Rolling Championship – Year 4 (am) and Year 3 (pm) – BRING YOUR OWN EGGS Thursday 31st March Egg Rolling Championship – Year 6 – BRING YOUR OWN EGGS Easter Gardens and Experience Easter - Children 3.15pm Experience Easter – Parents and children in the school hall Friday 1st April Egg Rolling Championship – Reception (am) and Year 1 (pm) – BRING YOUR OWN HARDBOILED, DECORATED EGGS

Newsletter - Thursday 24th February

COVID ADVICE AND GUIDANCE As you will be aware, the Prime Minister announced the ‘Living with COVID’ strategy from 24th February 2022. The advice is that if someone tests positive you still need to self-isolate, although it is no longer a legal requirement. The guidance states: From 24 February, the Government will remove the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test. In addition, the Government will no longer ask fully vaccinated close contacts and those aged under 18 to test daily for 7 days and routine contact tracing will end. Adults and children who test positive will continue to be advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least 5 full days and then continue to follow the guidance until they have received 2 negative test results on consecutive days. Staff, children and young people who are contacts should attend their education settings as usual. This includes staff who have been in close contact within their household, unless they are able to work from home. 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. • 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 • 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.

Newsletter 9th February 2022

Attendance The children and staff are working very hard in school to ensure all pupils catch up on lost learning and make progress to be where they should be at the end of this academic year. It is more important than ever that your child is in school on time every day. It is the legal duty of parents to ensure this happens. Attendance for the whole school is currently at 92% which is VERY low for us. Our target is for 96% attendance. If you are a parent who gets your child/children here every day, on time – thank you. We know that this has been a really hard half term with staff, children and parents all being affected by COVID over the last 5 weeks. If you are having difficulties with regular attendance, please contact the school office to arrange a meeting with staff about this. Read the latest Newsletter on the School App to see the class percentages for the last 3 weeks of this term. We monitor attendance regularly and if attendance is an issue, you may be required to attend an attendance panel in school to discuss these concerns. We may also refer to Pupil Attendance Support Team or the School Nurse should attendance not improve following these discussions. ** Please ensure that your child attends school on time every day. **

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

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