Our school day is 8:45am - 3:15pm (3:20pm for Years 5 and 6). School clubs finish at 4:20pm. Wrap around care is available from 7:45am-4:30pm Monday to Thursday and 7:45am - 3:20pm Friday. Year 3 and 4 swimming lessons in Summer 1 2024.
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Coronavirus latest 20th March

Friday 20th March

Dear Parents,

We now have the Key Worker list and are able to share this with you.

Please can you read and adhere to the Government guidance below and only send your child to school on Monday 23rd March if it is absolutely necessary for you to do so. Our aim is to work together to support you but to also limit the chances of the virus spreading. If children can stay safely at home, they should.

The Government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend.

Please, therefore, follow these key principles outlined by the Government:

  1. If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.
  2. If a child needs specialist support, is vulnerable or has a parent who is a critical worker, then educational provision will be available for them.
  3. Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions.
  4. Parents should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should observe the same social distancing principles as adults.

If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors and cannot keep your child safe at home then your children will be prioritised for educational provision.

Key Worker list:

Health and social care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key public services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

 

 

Our proposal, stated on yesterday’s letter, still stands.

From Monday 23rd March- Friday 27th March our proposal is:

  • To open for school hours at Henshaw for the children of Key Workers and children in receipt of free school meals or EHCP’s
  • We will provide fun activities alongside the work that we are sending home in packs for children not in this group to do at home.
  • School will be fully staffed according to the needs of the numbers. We will maintain this providing we have staff that have not had to self- isolate.
  • We will provide meals for all those who attend school in this protected group
  • We expect that all children who are coming to school will be brought to Henshaw for 9am and collected by 3.30pm

Please can you email sarah.hutchinson@henshawprimary.uk or sarah.hutchinson@greenheadprimary.uk by 3pm today if:

·         You are a key worker and fall within the critical categories above and it is absolutely necessary for your child to attend school

·         Your child has an EHCP or are entitled to free school meals

Please can you also include in the email whether or not you are currently self-isolating and require your child/ children to return to school after their 14 day isolation period or whether or not you require your child/children to attend school on Monday. 

Once again, thank you for your support and patience in this ever changing climate.

 

Many thanks

 

Mrs Hutchinson, Mrs Fairless and Mr Ratcliff

 
 
Thursday 19th March 2020
 
Dear Parents,
 
We are writing this letter to you after a leadership team meeting responding to the information that we have at this moment. Changes are happening all the time so we have decided to respond on a week by week basis. We will always keep in line with instructions from Public Health England and the DFE and never fall below the standards expected from schools.
 
In summary then, from Monday 23rd March- Friday 27th March our proposal is:
 
•To open for school hours at Henshaw for the children of Key Workers (list of definitions to be shared as soon as possible) and children in receipt of free school meals or EHCP’s.
 
•We will provide fun activities alongside the work that we are sending home in packs for children not in this group to do at home.
 
•School will be fully staffed according to the needs of the numbers. We will maintain this providing we have staff that have not had to self- isolate.
 
•We will provide meals for all those who attend school in this group.
 
•We expect that all children who are coming to school will be brought to Henshaw for 9am and collected by 3.30pm, Monday to Friday. Breakfast and After School clubs will not be available during this time.
 
We have made the decision to join together at Henshaw based on the fact that we have fully functioning kitchen facilities to provide the children with a hot meal.
 
This arrangement is for the COVID-19 crisis only.
 
You may have seen on various social media sites that the local food banks are closed. However, if you are in need of the support of the food bank, please call the West Northumberland Food bank on 01434 700068. Further information is on their website-
 
Please adhere to the Key Worker list when released- if your job does not fall into this criteria, we will send work home for your child. 
 
We are so grateful to all parents for the way in which you have responded to this current crisis and supported the schools’ decisions. 
We hope and pray that we will all remain safe until this crisis has passed.
 
Kind regards
 
Mrs Hutchinson, Mrs Fairless and Mr Ratcliff
 
 
Wednesday 18th March 2020
 
Good evening everyone,
 
I’m sorry for the late post-as you can imagine it has been a bit manic tonight! 
 
I understand that many of you are self-isolating at the moment but if you could read the following letter and respond accordingly I would really appreciate it. 
 
Thank you! 
 
Dear Parents,
 
I am writing following the announcement by the Government that the following has been announced:
 
•The school will be closed to the vast majority of pupils from the end of the day Friday for the foreseeable future.
•Where possible the school will remain open to children of NHS, emergency service staff, delivery drivers (I will have the definitive list soon).
•The school will where possible stay open to pupils with EHCPs and pupils linked to a Social Worker.
•SATS and Phonics assessments will not take place in May/June
 
I need to emphasise that this is conditional on the fact that we are able to offer this service with some staff now beginning to self-isolate.  
 
If you feel you are one of these key workers who will require the school to support you, I would ask that you contact the school by the end of the school day on Thursday via email to :
 
Until I have this information it will be impossible to plan accordingly for all eventualities.  
 
I would also like to emphasise that we will do all we can to meet the needs of this requirement but the situation is changing on a daily basis and I also have to consider whether I can ensure the Health and Safety on site with our staffing.  
 
For example, we may focus this provision on one of the two school sites in order to be able to sustain it.
 
Please note that we will keep you updated and informed in this ever changing climate! 
 
Many thanks 
 
Mrs Hutchinson
Tuesday 17th March 2020
 
Good afternoon everyone,
 
The following guidance comes from the Government via the DFE website and we as a school follow it. We will remain open as long as possible; our priority is the wellbeing of the children and staff. 
 
We are not medical professionals. We rely on you to help us during this trying time and be vigilant. If your child has asthma there is some guidance at the bottom of this message. It is recommended that asthma sufferers reduce the amount of contact with others-‘social distancing’ so if you decide to self isolate your child because of asthma related reasons we will support you. 
 
We have had to take a firm stance regarding any illness at this time for the welfare of the whole community. 
 
DFE government guidance:
 
What you need to know
 
Staff, young people and children should stay at home if they are unwell, with a new continuous cough or a high temperature to avoid spreading infection to others. 
 
If staff, young people or children become unwell on site or have a new, continuous cough or a high temperature they should be sent home
 
School staff will clean and disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces more often than usual using standard cleaning products
 
This guidance may be updated in line with the changing situation.
 
 
Guidance for adults/children with asthma
How to reduce the risk
 
The Government has now advised that everyone start to reduce the amount of contact they have with others. This is called “social distancing” and it helps cut down the spread of the virus.
 
If you have asthma and have no symptoms of COVID-19:
 
Wash your hands often with soap and warm water.
Use tissues to wipe your nose or catch a sneeze, and then put them in the bin straight away.
Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands aren’t clean.
Avoid unnecessary interactions with other people. This means avoiding large gatherings, shaking hands with people or hugging them, and unnecessary travel, especially on public transport. You should also avoid going to public venues like bars, restaurants and cinemas. If it’s possible in your job, try to work from home.
You do NOT need to stay inside your house at all times or self-isolate. You can go for a walk, or to the park, or to the shops if you need to buy things. Just try to cut down the number of people you meet with on a daily basis. And try to keep your distance from people when you see them.
Carry on taking all your usual asthma medicines as normal.
If someone you live with develops symptoms of COVID-19, you will need to stay in your home for 14 days.
 
 
If you have asthma and you DO have symptoms of COVID-19 (a new continuous cough or a fever):
 
You need to stay in your home for 7 days if you live on your own, or 14 days if you live with others. Everyone in your household will need to stay in the house for 14 days.
You don't need to contact 111 to tell them you are staying at home.
If your COVID-19 symptoms don’t go away after 7 days, or get worse, or you are having difficulty breathing, call 111 for advice, or 999 if you need emergency care.
Tell them that you have asthma, and if your asthma symptoms are getting worse.
If you get an asthma cough and are not sure whether your cough is a symptom of COVID-19 or related to your asthma, please speak to your GP, use the online 111 service or call 111 to ensure that you get the right care. 
Keep following your asthma action plan to manage your asthma and so you know what to do if your asthma symptoms get worse. If you are having an asthma attack, call 999 for an ambulance as usual, and tell them you have COVID-19 symptoms.
Carry on taking all your usual asthma medicines as normal.
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this information. We, as ever, will continue to update you when we receive information.