Addendum to the Behaviour For Learning Policy in response to the wider opening of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Meanwood C.E. Primary School

Date: 28^th May 2020

Date shared with Governors: 2/6/20

Date shared with Staff:  5/6/20

Date published on the School Website: 5/6/20

 

 

 

 

1. Introduction

1.1 Following schools being closed to the majority of pupils, the Department for Education have announced a phased-re-opening of Primary Schools starting with the introduction of Year 6,1 and Rec pupils with possible guidance on re-opening for other year groups to follow.   

1.2 This addendum to the Behaviour For Learning Policy details adaptations made after 1^st June 2020 rather than providing the typical school day experienced up to April 2020.

1.3 To make it easy to read, this addendum talks about teachers.  But when we use the word teachers we also mean other staff with responsibility for pupils.  

1.4 This policy appendix is guided by the Department for Education Guidance released throughout May 2020 regarding the re-opening of schools and other education establishments.

1.5 This policy addendum is specifically intended to:

• ensure the safety of every member of staff and pupil during this time
• encourage young people to take responsibility for their behaviour during this time
• tackle incidents/instances of poor behaviour effectively and fairly during this time
• allow teachers to feel safe and supported during this time
• foster an environment where all members of the school community respect and adhere to the social distancing guidance during this time

1.6 Once agreed by Governors, the information in this policy addendum will be communicated:

• to pupils in the first session held on pupils’ first day of face-to-face sessions and in the Policies section of the school’s website
• to teachers – by email, staff briefing and in the relevant section of the School’s website.
• To parents/carers – by Parentmail or on the relevant section of the school website
   

2. What we expect pupils to do during this time

2.1 Pupils must only use the entrance/exit they have been assigned to enter/leave the school building.   

2.2 Pupils must sanitise their hands on entering the school building.   

2.3 Pupils must walk directly to the classroom they have been assigned. Pupils are not permitted to move around the building freely or open any closed door.

2.4 Pupils must sanitise their hands on entering the classroom.   

2.5 Pupils must walk directly to their assigned desk.  Pupils must only sit at their assigned desk.  Pupils must not touch any desk assigned to another pupil or any equipment on a desk assigned to another pupil.

2.6 Pupils must only enter their designated area during break time

2.7 Pupils must meet our expected behaviour in class which is set out in the Behaviour For Learning Policy.  

2.8 Pupils must not attempt to make physical contact with any other person.   

2.9 Pupils must not attempt to deliberately move within 2 metres of any other person. If they do, we will remind them of social distancing rules

2.10 Pupils must not deliberately, unnecessarily or maliciously perform actions associated with symptoms of Covid-19, for example but not limited to, spitting, coughing and/or sneezing or any action that could spread germs.

2.11 Pupils must follow the government guidance when needing to cough or sneeze by covering their mouth and nose with a tissue or coughing or sneezing into their arm.

2.12 Due to the movement of teachers, rather than pupils, between classrooms, there may be short periods of time where pupils will be unaccompanied.  Pupils must continue to meet the expectations that have been detailed and explained to them during these times. 

 

We appreciate that the guidance states that Reception children cannot be expected to distance socially. In our school, they do not have assigned desks either

3. What we expect our teachers to do during this time

3.1 We expect all of our teachers to address any behaviour that is unacceptable, that breaks our school rules or from a child who doesn’t follow a reasonable instruction.  

3.2 Teachers will address poor behaviour by speaking to the pupil and giving them an instruction to stop the witnessed behaviour before informing a member of the Senior Leadership Team of the poor behaviour witnessed.

3.3 Where the behaviour of a pupil makes us worried that they could cause harm to themselves or another person the pupil will be removed from the class by a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

4. The actions we may take when a pupil misbehaves during this time 

4.1 Any pupil that cannot cooperate with our expectations  and guidelines will be directed to return home and will continue with home-learning until further notice.  This period will last until the Headteacher decides they can safely return to school.

4.2 Any pupil that displays behaviours that demonstrate they are not willing to cooperate with us in maintaining a safe environment will be deemed to have committed a serious breach of the school’s Behaviour For Learning Policy and therefore an additional sanction, detailed in the school’s Behaviour For Learning Policy may be considered.
4.3 The following are some examples of what we consider to be unacceptable behaviour (additional to the list in Section 4 of the Behaviour Policy) specific to the context of the phased return delivery of face-to-face sessions, though the list is not exhaustive:

• refusing to sanitise or wash hands
• wearing a face covering that covers more than just the nose and mouth
• not moving directly to the allocated classroom
• deliberately making contact, or attempting to make contact, with another person
• deliberately moving within 2 metres, or attempting to move within 2 meters, of another person
• deliberately, unnecessarily or maliciously performing actions associated with symptoms of Covid-19, for example but not limited to, spitting, coughing and/or sneezing or any action that could spread germs
• not attempting to cover the nose and mouth with a tissue or arm when coughing and/or sneezing

 

 

 

5. Behaviour outside the school during this time

5.1 Pupils must not congregate in groups with others beyond their household before or after school.

5.2 Pupils must leave the school site when directed and once through the gate make their way directly to their home.

5.3 Failure to follow these instructions outside of school during this time could result in the pupil being directed to complete home-learning until further notice and not return for face-to-face sessions. 

 

6. School leaders have prepared an extensive risk assessment to make sure that our children and staff stay safe in school. Without our wider school community all adhering to the government guidance on social distancing, the measures we take in school will be completely undermined. Concerns have been raised about the behaviour of adults in and around Meanwood; that others may not always have been following social distancing rules.

Even if the Government’s message about social contact changes, we would always aim to follow the current messages in school, and equally expect families to do so out of school. This is especially the case if your child is in Rec, Yr 1 or Yr 6 and attending school.

You are now able to meet in groups of up to six people from different households outside as long as you remain two metres apart. This means that parents and carers must ensure their child stays two metres away from other people – children hugging and hand-holding, games like tig, tackling in football should all be avoided. The only people to enter a home should be members of that household. It is against the law for anybody to stay overnight in a home that is not their own.

If a child says something that indicates they or someone in their household has not followed Government guidelines, we’ll do some or all of the following:

• continue a conversation with the child in an informal, friendly way – this will help us to gain a better understanding and (hopefully) reassure ourselves that social distancing has not been undermined (we won’t ask any leading questions)
• contact the child’s parents / carers to discuss what the child has said and to clarify the situation
• isolate the child away from the rest of the children in their ‘bubble’ while we wait for more clarification from the child or their parents / carers

 

Equally, if an adult says something that indicates another family may not have followed government guidelines, we’ll follow this up too.

Ultimately, we may have to ask a parent / carer to collect their child from school and they may lose their child’s place in the bubble. This is because our school is close to capacity in terms of numbers in bubbles.

We’d do this reluctantly, but this would be fair to other families in school who are following the guidance, many of whom are key workers and have less choice about whether their child should attend school, too. This is for the safety of all.

 

These facts and instructions only form part of the school’s overall plan to ensure that the children transition back to school safely. Our school ethos will be even more important than ever as we adjust to our new normal. 

 

 

 

Helen Eagles

June 2020

 

Following a meeting of the teaching Staff on 5.6.20, it was agreed that school would begin the process of opening to more children from Monday 8th June. In the first instance, will now be able to accommodate Yr6 children ,as well as all of the children of Key Workers and those we have identified as vulnerable.

 

Before leaving home, please ensure your child washes his/her hands.If you have a thermometer,please check their temperature too.

 

Yr6 children should come in via the Green Rd door between 8.45 and 9am.They need to go straight into the Hall, not congregate around the entrance or in the cloakroom. They do not need to wear school uniform and will just stay until 12 noon on the first day. From Tuesday, the children will be in school all day, finishing at 3.15pm so will need to bring a packed lunch.

 

 We would encourage you to arrange a meeting place away from the Green Rd door if collecting your child. Please remember to leave 2m between yourself and any other parents who may be waiting too.

 

We are closing to all children every Friday at 12 noon.

 

There will now be two bubbles for KW & V children, one for KS1 and one for KS2. Children need to enter school via the After School Club intercom on Monday. They will be told what to do from Tuesday onwards once in their bubbles. Please come to the front entrance to collect your KW & V child on Monday and you will be told which classroom to go to to collect your child from then on.

 

We then plan to admit Reception children on 15th June and Yr 1 on 22nd June. Reception children will be in two bubbles but will both enter school in the usual way . Please socially distance in the lower playground when delivering or collecting your child to or from school. There will be a staggered start : 9-9.15am and for at least the first week, collection will be at 12.05pm.

 

The arrangements for Yr1 children are the same, except that the gate to be used is the one by the top of the steps leading into the park (by the ice cream van!) A member of Staff will come out to collect the children from the top the steps between 9 and 9.15am and we will bring them out to you as you arrive from 3 -3.15pm.

 

We will update parents on lunch arrangements when we get to the KS1 children staying for lunch.

 

Please contact me or any of the class teachers if you need further clarification on anything at all. 

 

Helen Eagles

5.6.20

 

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister (May 28^th ) that all schools should open to more children: contrary to its claims, we do not feel that the Government has satisfactorily fulfilled its five tests for a wider re-opening of school to children in Reception, Yrs 1 and 6.

 

School will therefore remain closed to all except those children of Key Workers or identified as vulnerable until Monday 8^th June at the earliest.

 

We have studied the Guidance from the Government, Local Education Authority, Diocese and Unions at length. The most important considerations for having more people in school are the safety, health and welfare of everyone in the building. We do not currently believe the scientific rationale for a June 1^st wider re-opening is a sound one and the risk of increased infection is still too high. The PM’s determination to press ahead with a fixed date is seriously at odds with the scientific evidence released to date and the deep concerns expressed by parents and schools alike. The decision the Government made to open to children from Yrs 6, 1 and Reception was not based on any of the models put to them by SAGE, its own scientific advisors. On Wednesday (27^th May) at the Government Education Committee meeting, a DfE advisor also stated: “there are policy decisions that come on top of science and transmission evidence.” Make of that what you will.

 

Our position will be reviewed during the w/b Monday June 1^st and further communication with parents made, should we not be opening to more children on Monday June 8^th

 

School will not be closed on Monday 1^st June for the scheduled Training Day: we will be open to the usual Key Worker children that day. However, we need to deep clean the whole building again so will be closed to everybody on Friday 5^th June.

 

As discussed with Reception, Yr1 and Yr 6 parents via online meetings over the past week, our current, planned timeline now is:

 

MONDAY 8^th JUNE  2020

• School will be open as usual to those children who have attended during lockdown, on the exact same basis as parents have booked them in for the past ten weeks. Please continue to contact Mrs Eagles when you need your child to be in school.

 

If you are a key worker returning to work on June 1^st please do not just send your child to school. You must discuss this with the Headteacher first.

 

• Yr 6 to return. Part –time on  Monday and Friday , full time Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday.

Yr 6 parents will be sent further communication on this next week.

 

• After School Club will reopen (3.15 - 5.45pm) each day to children of Key Workers only. If you wish your child to attend, please contact Ms Core. This will be paid for in the same way as before.

 

MONDAY 15^th JUNE

• Reception class to return to school part-time. 9am-12pm each day. Rec parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 8^th June

 

• As last week  for Key Worker children

 

• Yr 6 to be in school full time 9am-3.15pm, on Monday to Thursday , part time on Fridays.

 

MONDAY 22^ND JUNE

• Yr 1 to return to school part-time 9am-12pm each day. Yr1 parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 15^th June

 

• Reception children may also be part-time still. That decision will be made during the w/b 15^th June

 

• Yr 6 and Key Worker groups, as previous weeks

 

Please can all parents in Yr 1 and Rec please let Mrs Eagles, Mrs Parker or Mr Smith know immediately whether your child will be coming to school on those dates or not. Please remember that the Prime Minister said last weekend that a parent’s instinct for the safety of their children over-rides any Government advice.

 

Until we have definite numbers of children in school , these plans may have to be altered accordingly. If we suddenly have a huge influx of key worker children, a wider re-opening may not be possible on the date planned .

We are working hard, following the latest government guidance, to develop and implement a number of new ways of operating. This Guidance has changed 41 times since it was first issued,so it is very difficult to keep up with. However, it will allow us to open as safely as possible, focusing on measures that we can implement to help to limit the risk of coronavirus transmitting within our school.

Full Risk Assessments are in place in school. These have been written by Leeds City Council and adapted to the needs of our school. They will be available on the school website as soon as we re-open.

We have decided to close to at lunchtime on Fridays to allow for a thorough cleaning of school before the weekend. Staff will all take their weekly Planning, Preparation and Asessment time together on Friday afternoon to avoid the need for anybody else entering their “bubble” as cover during the week and to ensure their classroom is cleaned well.

Some of the steps we are taking in readiness for reopening include:

• Asking that anyone who is displaying coronavirus symptoms, or who lives with someone who has them does not attend school. That includes both children and staff. We will immediately isolate a child in school who is showing symptoms and would expect them to be collected straight away by a parent or carer.

 

• All children who are attending will have access to a test if they display symptoms of coronavirus. The aim is to enable children to get back to school, and their parents or carers not to need to self-isolate any longer than is necessary, if the test proves to be negative. A positive test will ensure rapid action to protect other children and staff in school.

 

• We ask all parents and carers to ensure they organise a test for their child, in the event that they develop coronavirus symptoms, and notify us immediately of a positive test.

 

• Once in school, children will be in their own “bubble”of 8 (Rec) or 15 (Yr1 and Yr6 ) each day and will not be allowed to mix with other bubbles. Children can only ever be in one bubble from here on in. Each bubble will have its own entrance, designated room, Staff, playtime, area of the playground and lunchtime. Contact with other bubbles will be minimal, if at all.

 

• Key worker children will also be put into bubbles of no more than 15 pupils. Children of key workers who are in Rec, Yr1 and Yr 6 will not be allowed to be in the class bubble in the morning and the key worker group in the afternoon.Those children will be kept separate in the afternoons. If parents decide to leave the child in the key worker, not the class bubble, then s/he will stay there all day.

 

• Children will be expected to socially distance as best they can. However, we accept that some may forget this when they are out to play. There will be an adult there to remind them, however.

 

• Parents will not be allowed in school at all. Please prepare your child to be left at the door as you will not be allowed in the cloakrooms

 

• Asking parents and carers to physically distance from each other and from staff when dropping off and collecting their children and to limit drop off and collection to one parent or carer per household. Parents should wear masks in the playground wherever possible.

 

• Washing our hands more often than usual. We have developed routines to ensure children understand when and how to wash their hands, making sure they wash them thoroughly for at least 20 seconds using running water and soap and dry them thoroughly, or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered.

 

• Setting up many places in school where everyone can access hand sanitiser.

 

• Ensuring our children understand good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach and ensuring a good supply of tissues and bins throughout school.

 

• Implementing an enhanced cleaning schedule, ensuring surfaces touched by children and staff are cleaned regularly and throughout the day, including table tops, door handles and play equipment.

 

• Asking children not to bring soft toys to school

 

• Children can wear their own clothes each day, They should not wear the same clothes on consecutive days

 

The priorities for those in school will be helping children to adjust to new school routines, without many of their classmates around them for support. Teachers will also continue to post work on the VLE, Blogs and class pages for children to access from home if they are not attending school.

 

Given the current Government and DfE guidelines on how we need to keep children in their discreet bubbles in school, it will be impossible for us to have Yrs 2,3,4 and 5 back until September because we do not have enough staff or classrooms to be able to halve every class in school and run them as bubbles. But if we get version 42 and upwards of the guidelines and anything changes,we will alert parents as soon as possible

 

Thank you to everyone for your incredible work with the children since March 20^th. How many of you are considering a career in teaching now….?! Nobody in our profession has ever had to face such challenges before, or to make such impossible decisions. We know that our phased opening plan will not please everybody, but I think it’s the best option for us and has been thought about for a very long time. I know that you will all appreciate the myriad of complications  within which the Staff and Governing Body have been working and that should anything change nationally (i.e a “second wave”) we may be instructed to change our position yet again.

 

Our gradual approach should not be seen as us failing to deliver, but rather as a school working as hard as it can to solve a very difficult problem, with the needs and wellbeing of children and Staff at the heart of its actions. We have to live with the decisions we make and have followed guidance and risk assessments as closely and as best we can. Our worst nightmare is that school is opened more widely and somebody contracts the virus. There have been excrutiatingly hard decisions to make since the wider opening of school was announced: I guess only time will tell if they are right or wrong. The responsibility weighs very heavily, however.

 

Staff have been working tirelessly, whether in school or preparing online learning material from home. This, combined with coping with their own personal health and family situations, has been quite a juggling act for some. I guess many of you can relate to that! Our continued commitment to the children during lockdown cannot be faulted. The phone calls were an emotional tsunami for many of us, however…. I think the Staff have been absolutely magnificent and I know by the amount of communication I’ve had from parents, that you agree. I am not in the slightest bit worried about academic progress for our children: home learning has been so well supported by parents and carers so you’ve been totally fab too.

 

We hope that the videos we made for you have helped you to still feel like you very much belong to the wonderful Meanwood CE School community, which we are all missing so much and are so proud to be part of. Despite the mixed messages from the Government about standards of expected behaviour recently, please remember and put into practice what Barack Obama said:

 

 “When they go low, we go high.”

 

Enjoy being back in socially distanced groups of 6, stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves well, so that we can all be back together again come September. Thanks for all of your kind wishes and support. And the best news is, that the Premier League will be back soon………..!!!!!

 

Helen Eagles

HEADTEACHER

 

28/5/2/2020
















































 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister (May 28^th ) that all schools should open to more children: contrary to its claims, we do not feel that the Government has satisfactorily fulfilled its five tests for a wider re-opening of school to children in Reception, Yrs 1 and 6.

 

School will therefore remain closed to all except those children of Key Workers or identified as vulnerable until Monday 8^th June at the earliest.

 

We have studied the Guidance from the Government, Local Education Authority, Diocese and Unions at length. The most important considerations for having more people in school are the safety, health and welfare of everyone in the building. We do not currently believe the scientific rationale for a June 1^st wider re-opening is a sound one and the risk of increased infection is still too high. The PM’s determination to press ahead with a fixed date is seriously at odds with the scientific evidence released to date and the deep concerns expressed by parents and schools alike. The decision the Government made to open to children from Yrs 6, 1 and Reception was not based on any of the models put to them by SAGE, its own scientific advisors. On Wednesday (27^th May) at the Government Education Committee meeting, a DfE advisor also stated: “there are policy decisions that come on top of science and transmission evidence.” Make of that what you will.

 

Our position will be reviewed during the w/b Monday June 1^st and further communication with parents made, should we not be opening to more children on Monday June 8^th

 

School will not be closed on Monday 1^st June for the scheduled Training Day: we will be open to the usual Key Worker children that day. However, we need to deep clean the whole building again so will be closed to everybody on Friday 5^th June.

 

As discussed with Reception, Yr1 and Yr 6 parents via online meetings over the past week, our current, planned timeline now is:

 

MONDAY 8^th JUNE  2020

• School will be open as usual to those children who have attended during lockdown, on the exact same basis as parents have booked them in for the past ten weeks. Please continue to contact Mrs Eagles when you need your child to be in school.

 

If you are a key worker returning to work on June 1^st please do not just send your child to school. You must discuss this with the Headteacher first.

 

• Yr 6 to return. Part –time on  Monday and Friday , full time Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday.

Yr 6 parents will be sent further communication on this next week.

 

• After School Club will reopen (3.15 - 5.45pm) each day to children of Key Workers only. If you wish your child to attend, please contact Ms Core. This will be paid for in the same way as before.

 

MONDAY 15^th JUNE

• Reception class to return to school part-time. 9am-12pm each day. Rec parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 8^th June

 

• As last week  for Key Worker children

 

• Yr 6 to be in school full time 9am-3.15pm, on Monday to Thursday , part time on Fridays.

 

MONDAY 22^ND JUNE

• Yr 1 to return to school part-time 9am-12pm each day. Yr1 parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 15^th June

 

• Reception children may also be part-time still. That decision will be made during the w/b 15^th June

 

• Yr 6 and Key Worker groups, as previous weeks

 

Please can all parents in Yr 1 and Rec please let Mrs Eagles, Mrs Parker or Mr Smith know immediately whether your child will be coming to school on those dates or not. Please remember that the Prime Minister said last weekend that a parent’s instinct for the safety of their children over-rides any Government advice.

 

Until we have definite numbers of children in school , these plans may have to be altered accordingly. If we suddenly have a huge influx of key worker children, a wider re-opening may not be possible on the date planned .

We are working hard, following the latest government guidance, to develop and implement a number of new ways of operating. This Guidance has changed 41 times since it was first issued,so it is very difficult to keep up with. However, it will allow us to open as safely as possible, focusing on measures that we can implement to help to limit the risk of coronavirus transmitting within our school.

Full Risk Assessments are in place in school. These have been written by Leeds City Council and adapted to the needs of our school. They will be available on the school website as soon as we re-open.

We have decided to close to at lunchtime on Fridays to allow for a thorough cleaning of school before the weekend. Staff will all take their weekly Planning, Preparation and Asessment time together on Friday afternoon to avoid the need for anybody else entering their “bubble” as cover during the week and to ensure their classroom is cleaned well.

Some of the steps we are taking in readiness for reopening include:

• Asking that anyone who is displaying coronavirus symptoms, or who lives with someone who has them does not attend school. That includes both children and staff. We will immediately isolate a child in school who is showing symptoms and would expect them to be collected straight away by a parent or carer.

 

• All children who are attending will have access to a test if they display symptoms of coronavirus. The aim is to enable children to get back to school, and their parents or carers not to need to self-isolate any longer than is necessary, if the test proves to be negative. A positive test will ensure rapid action to protect other children and staff in school.

 

• We ask all parents and carers to ensure they organise a test for their child, in the event that they develop coronavirus symptoms, and notify us immediately of a positive test.

 

• Once in school, children will be in their own “bubble”of 8 (Rec) or 15 (Yr1 and Yr6 ) each day and will not be allowed to mix with other bubbles. Children can only ever be in one bubble from here on in. Each bubble will have its own entrance, designated room, Staff, playtime, area of the playground and lunchtime. Contact with other bubbles will be minimal, if at all.

 

• Key worker children will also be put into bubbles of no more than 15 pupils. Children of key workers who are in Rec, Yr1 and Yr 6 will not be allowed to be in the class bubble in the morning and the key worker group in the afternoon.Those children will be kept separate in the afternoons. If parents decide to leave the child in the key worker, not the class bubble, then s/he will stay there all day.

 

• Children will be expected to socially distance as best they can. However, we accept that some may forget this when they are out to play. There will be an adult there to remind them, however.

 

• Parents will not be allowed in school at all. Please prepare your child to be left at the door as you will not be allowed in the cloakrooms

 

• Asking parents and carers to physically distance from each other and from staff when dropping off and collecting their children and to limit drop off and collection to one parent or carer per household. Parents should wear masks in the playground wherever possible.

 

• Washing our hands more often than usual. We have developed routines to ensure children understand when and how to wash their hands, making sure they wash them thoroughly for at least 20 seconds using running water and soap and dry them thoroughly, or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered.

 

• Setting up many places in school where everyone can access hand sanitiser.

 

• Ensuring our children understand good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach and ensuring a good supply of tissues and bins throughout school.

 

• Implementing an enhanced cleaning schedule, ensuring surfaces touched by children and staff are cleaned regularly and throughout the day, including table tops, door handles and play equipment.

 

• Asking children not to bring soft toys to school

 

• Children can wear their own clothes each day, They should not wear the same clothes on consecutive days

 

The priorities for those in school will be helping children to adjust to new school routines, without many of their classmates around them for support. Teachers will also continue to post work on the VLE, Blogs and class pages for children to access from home if they are not attending school.

 

Given the current Government and DfE guidelines on how we need to keep children in their discreet bubbles in school, it will be impossible for us to have Yrs 2,3,4 and 5 back until September because we do not have enough staff or classrooms to be able to halve every class in school and run them as bubbles. But if we get version 42 and upwards of the guidelines and anything changes,we will alert parents as soon as possible

 

Thank you to everyone for your incredible work with the children since March 20^th. How many of you are considering a career in teaching now….?! Nobody in our profession has ever had to face such challenges before, or to make such impossible decisions. We know that our phased opening plan will not please everybody, but I think it’s the best option for us and has been thought about for a very long time. I know that you will all appreciate the myriad of complications  within which the Staff and Governing Body have been working and that should anything change nationally (i.e a “second wave”) we may be instructed to change our position yet again.

 

Our gradual approach should not be seen as us failing to deliver, but rather as a school working as hard as it can to solve a very difficult problem, with the needs and wellbeing of children and Staff at the heart of its actions. We have to live with the decisions we make and have followed guidance and risk assessments as closely and as best we can. Our worst nightmare is that school is opened more widely and somebody contracts the virus. There have been excrutiatingly hard decisions to make since the wider opening of school was announced: I guess only time will tell if they are right or wrong. The responsibility weighs very heavily, however.

 

Staff have been working tirelessly, whether in school or preparing online learning material from home. This, combined with coping with their own personal health and family situations, has been quite a juggling act for some. I guess many of you can relate to that! Our continued commitment to the children during lockdown cannot be faulted. The phone calls were an emotional tsunami for many of us, however…. I think the Staff have been absolutely magnificent and I know by the amount of communication I’ve had from parents, that you agree. I am not in the slightest bit worried about academic progress for our children: home learning has been so well supported by parents and carers so you’ve been totally fab too.

 

We hope that the videos we made for you have helped you to still feel like you very much belong to the wonderful Meanwood CE School community, which we are all missing so much and are so proud to be part of. Despite the mixed messages from the Government about standards of expected behaviour recently, please remember and put into practice what Barack Obama said:

 

 “When they go low, we go high.”

 

Enjoy being back in socially distanced groups of 6, stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves well, so that we can all be back together again come September. Thanks for all of your kind wishes and support. And the best news is , that the Premier League will be back soon………..!!!!!

 

Helen Eagles

HEADTEACHER

 

28/5/2/2020



































 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Following the announcement by the Prime Minister (May 28^th ) that all schools should open to more children: contrary to its claims, we do not feel that the Government has satisfactorily fulfilled its five tests for a wider re-opening of school to children in Reception, Yrs 1 and 6.

 

School will therefore remain closed to all except those children of Key Workers or identified as vulnerable until Monday 8^th June at the earliest.

 

We have studied the Guidance from the Government, Local Education Authority, Diocese and Unions at length. The most important considerations for having more people in school are the safety, health and welfare of everyone in the building. We do not currently believe the scientific rationale for a June 1^st wider re-opening is a sound one and the risk of increased infection is still too high. The PM’s determination to press ahead with a fixed date is seriously at odds with the scientific evidence released to date and the deep concerns expressed by parents and schools alike. The decision the Government made to open to children from Yrs 6, 1 and Reception was not based on any of the models put to them by SAGE, its own scientific advisors. On Wednesday (27^th May) at the Government Education Committee meeting, a DfE advisor also stated: “there are policy decisions that come on top of science and transmission evidence.” Make of that what you will.

 

Our position will be reviewed during the w/b Monday June 1^st and further communication with parents made, should we not be opening to more children on Monday June 8^th

 

School will not be closed on Monday 1^st June for the scheduled Training Day: we will be open to the usual Key Worker children that day. However, we need to deep clean the whole building again so will be closed to everybody on Friday 5^th June.

 

As discussed with Reception, Yr1 and Yr 6 parents via online meetings over the past week, our current, planned timeline now is:

 

MONDAY 8^th JUNE  2020

• School will be open as usual to those children who have attended during lockdown, on the exact same basis as parents have booked them in for the past ten weeks. Please continue to contact Mrs Eagles when you need your child to be in school.

 

If you are a key worker returning to work on June 1^st please do not just send your child to school. You must discuss this with the Headteacher first.

 

• Yr 6 to return. Part –time on  Monday and Friday , full time Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday.

Yr 6 parents will be sent further communication on this next week.

 

• After School Club will reopen (3.15 - 5.45pm) each day to children of Key Workers only. If you wish your child to attend, please contact Ms Core. This will be paid for in the same way as before.

 

MONDAY 15^th JUNE

• Reception class to return to school part-time. 9am-12pm each day. Rec parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 8^th June

 

• As last week  for Key Worker children

 

• Yr 6 to be in school full time 9am-3.15pm, on Monday to Thursday , part time on Fridays.

 

MONDAY 22^ND JUNE

• Yr 1 to return to school part-time 9am-12pm each day. Yr1 parents will be sent further communication on this during w/b 15^th June

 

• Reception children may also be part-time still. That decision will be made during the w/b 15^th June

 

• Yr 6 and Key Worker groups, as previous weeks

 

Please can all parents in Yr 1 and Rec please let Mrs Eagles, Mrs Parker or Mr Smith know immediately whether your child will be coming to school on those dates or not. Please remember that the Prime Minister said last weekend that a parent’s instinct for the safety of their children over-rides any Government advice.

 

Until we have definite numbers of children in school , these plans may have to be altered accordingly. If we suddenly have a huge influx of key worker children, a wider re-opening may not be possible on the date planned .

We are working hard, following the latest government guidance, to develop and implement a number of new ways of operating. This Guidance has changed 41 times since it was first issued,so it is very difficult to keep up with. However, it will allow us to open as safely as possible, focusing on measures that we can implement to help to limit the risk of coronavirus transmitting within our school.

Full Risk Assessments are in place in school. These have been written by Leeds City Council and adapted to the needs of our school. They will be available on the school website as soon as we re-open.

We have decided to close to at lunchtime on Fridays to allow for a thorough cleaning of school before the weekend. Staff will all take their weekly Planning, Preparation and Asessment time together on Friday afternoon to avoid the need for anybody else entering their “bubble” as cover during the week and to ensure their classroom is cleaned well.

Some of the steps we are taking in readiness for reopening include:

• Asking that anyone who is displaying coronavirus symptoms, or who lives with someone who has them does not attend school. That includes both children and staff. We will immediately isolate a child in school who is showing symptoms and would expect them to be collected straight away by a parent or carer.

 

• All children who are attending will have access to a test if they display symptoms of coronavirus. The aim is to enable children to get back to school, and their parents or carers not to need to self-isolate any longer than is necessary, if the test proves to be negative. A positive test will ensure rapid action to protect other children and staff in school.

 

• We ask all parents and carers to ensure they organise a test for their child, in the event that they develop coronavirus symptoms, and notify us immediately of a positive test.

 

• Once in school, children will be in their own “bubble”of 8 (Rec) or 15 (Yr1 and Yr6 ) each day and will not be allowed to mix with other bubbles. Children can only ever be in one bubble from here on in. Each bubble will have its own entrance, designated room, Staff, playtime, area of the playground and lunchtime. Contact with other bubbles will be minimal, if at all.

 

• Key worker children will also be put into bubbles of no more than 15 pupils. Children of key workers who are in Rec, Yr1 and Yr 6 will not be allowed to be in the class bubble in the morning and the key worker group in the afternoon.Those children will be kept separate in the afternoons. If parents decide to leave the child in the key worker, not the class bubble, then s/he will stay there all day.

 

• Children will be expected to socially distance as best they can. However, we accept that some may forget this when they are out to play. There will be an adult there to remind them, however.

 

• Parents will not be allowed in school at all. Please prepare your child to be left at the door as you will not be allowed in the cloakrooms

 

• Asking parents and carers to physically distance from each other and from staff when dropping off and collecting their children and to limit drop off and collection to one parent or carer per household. Parents should wear masks in the playground wherever possible.

 

• Washing our hands more often than usual. We have developed routines to ensure children understand when and how to wash their hands, making sure they wash them thoroughly for at least 20 seconds using running water and soap and dry them thoroughly, or use alcohol hand rub or sanitiser ensuring that all parts of the hands are covered.

 

• Setting up many places in school where everyone can access hand sanitiser.

 

• Ensuring our children understand good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach and ensuring a good supply of tissues and bins throughout school.

 

• Implementing an enhanced cleaning schedule, ensuring surfaces touched by children and staff are cleaned regularly and throughout the day, including table tops, door handles and play equipment.

 

• Asking children not to bring soft toys to school

 

• Children can wear their own clothes each day, They should not wear the same clothes on consecutive days

 

The priorities for those in school will be helping children to adjust to new school routines, without many of their classmates around them for support. Teachers will also continue to post work on the VLE, Blogs and class pages for children to access from home if they are not attending school.

 

Given the current Government and DfE guidelines on how we need to keep children in their discreet bubbles in school, it will be impossible for us to have Yrs 2,3,4 and 5 back until September because we do not have enough staff or classrooms to be able to halve every class in school and run them as bubbles. But if we get version 42 and upwards of the guidelines and anything changes,we will alert parents as soon as possible

 

Thank you to everyone for your incredible work with the children since March 20^th. How many of you are considering a career in teaching now….?! Nobody in our profession has ever had to face such challenges before, or to make such impossible decisions. We know that our phased opening plan will not please everybody, but I think it’s the best option for us and has been thought about for a very long time. I know that you will all appreciate the myriad of complications  within which the Staff and Governing Body have been working and that should anything change nationally (i.e a “second wave”) we may be instructed to change our position yet again.

 

Our gradual approach should not be seen as us failing to deliver, but rather as a school working as hard as it can to solve a very difficult problem, with the needs and wellbeing of children and Staff at the heart of its actions. We have to live with the decisions we make and have followed guidance and risk assessments as closely and as best we can. Our worst nightmare is that school is opened more widely and somebody contracts the virus. There have been excrutiatingly hard decisions to make since the wider opening of school was announced: I guess only time will tell if they are right or wrong. The responsibility weighs very heavily, however.

 

Staff have been working tirelessly, whether in school or preparing online learning material from home. This, combined with coping with their own personal health and family situations, has been quite a juggling act for some. I guess many of you can relate to that! Our continued commitment to the children during lockdown cannot be faulted. The phone calls were an emotional tsunami for many of us, however…. I think the Staff have been absolutely magnificent and I know by the amount of communication I’ve had from parents, that you agree. I am not in the slightest bit worried about academic progress for our children: home learning has been so well supported by parents and carers so you’ve been totally fab too.

 

We hope that the videos we made for you have helped you to still feel like you very much belong to the wonderful Meanwood CE School community, which we are all missing so much and are so proud to be part of. Despite the mixed messages from the Government about standards of expected behaviour recently, please remember and put into practice what Barack Obama said:

 

 “When they go low, we go high.”

 

Enjoy being back in socially distanced groups of 6, stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves well, so that we can all be back together again come September. Thanks for all of your kind wishes and support. And the best news is , that the Premier League will be back soon………..!!!!!

 

Helen Eagles

HEADTEACHER

 

28/5/2/2020





























































 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

Since the Prime Minister announced on Sunday that schools may be opening to Reception, Yr1 and Yr 6 children from June 1st, anybody linked to schools in any way has been in a bit of a spin. I immediately had several emails from parents asking what it means for us and looking for guidance on what he was he saying. The simple answer is, we just don’t know. Yet. 

 

On Monday, the Government produced a set of guidelines for schools to take into account when, considering what their approach to opening to those year groups could look like. Since then, the Staff and Governors have been involved in a series of meetings, working on feasible solutions. But the problem with the guidelines is that they are very long, impractical and highly contradictory in places. And they are only guidelines: we need to do what we think is right for our children and Staff, working all the time with the health of everybody in the building as our guiding principle.

 

The Education Unions are clear that there can be no compromise on safety. We all  want school to reopen, but it can only be when it is safe to do so. We will not accept proposals that have lower safety standards than you would get in your supermarket of choice. If school does re-open in June and some pupils in Rec, Yr1 or Yr6 can return, we will carefully consider how the arrangements for these year groups work in practice, before sanctioning the return of pupils in other year groups.

 

So this is to let you know that we are all working on it, ahead of the final announcement from the Government on May 28^th as to whether schools have the go ahead. We will communicate with parents in Rec, Yr1 and Yr6 at that point.

 

We hope you are all well and staying safe. Although some lockdown restrictions have been eased, Coronavirus is still very much with us and in our community, so please take care... or be alert if you so wish!!  Our thanks again to those parents and carers who are working in, or volunteering for the NHS in any way and to all of the key workers for the incredible job you are doing.

 

Helen Eagles

HEADTEACHER

 

During the current lockdown, the financial situation of many families may have significantly changed. Some parents could now be applying for state benefits such as Universal Credit, having never been eligible before. If this is the case, you are also eligible to apply for free school meals. If you complete the form on the Leeds City Council website:

 

https://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/council-tax-and-benefits/free-school-meals

 

then let school know, we may be able to help by providing a daily meal for your child while you await the decision. This is currently in the form of a downloadable voucher which can be spent at local supermarkets. Please email:

hazel.core@meanwood.leeds.sch.uk

if you think that we can help.

 

 

As announced on 16th March, the country will remain on lockdown for at least another three weeks. This means that school will not reopen after the Easter holiday and will remain closed to all those except the children whose NHS parents are vital to containing or halting the threat of Covid19. 

 

In these unprecedented,dark days we would like to send our very best wishes to everyone connected to our school and the Meanwood community. Thank you all for the support we have had over the past month. We so hope to be welcoming you back this term, but only when it is safe to do so.

 

Staff will be updating work for children on the VLE or class pages on the website. Please remember that home schooling on a 1-1 basis is far more intensive for a child so they really shouldn't be working the number of hours a normal school day runs for. The tasks will be there and we already know that some parents are teaching absolutely everything and others, nothing at all. That's your call. Expecting children to carry on with their school work as if nothing has changed is unrealistic and will only lead to stress for everyone in the household.

 

Everything you do with your child is learning: cooking, gardening, helping with laundry, cleaning(!) The amount of talking you will be doing will probably far exceed what took place before and is vital to a child's social and emotional wellbeing. If you're a parent in lockdown and your child is safe and happy , then you're winning! The best quote I saw this week was:" I'm so pleased that my children have chosen to play with the percussion instruments again ........said nobody ever!"

 

Huge thanks to everyone in our school community who works for the NHS, or is a key worker/volunteer helping us to deal with this new reality. You are awesome people doing an incredible job. To do our bit we just need to stay at home and stay safe. Not much to ask, is it?

 

Helen Eagles

April 2010

 

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