News

Today’s message (Tuesday 05 January 2021)

The Prime Minister made his announcement about the national lockdown at 8pm last night. The Department for Education sent its daily coronavirus update email to schools (which normally arrives at around 1pm) at 10.50pm last night. Read more about the national lockdown.

We think it’s right that the government has taken decisive action to keep school communities (children, families, staff and others) safe. We appreciate this is a rapidly moving situation and that decisions have to be made quickly in light of the changing data.

The timing of this decisive action has placed huge demands on us all:

• You‘ve had to make last minute arrangements to sort out childcare or work arrangements (thank you for doing this).
• We‘re still working hard to sort out safe bubbles for key worker children and arrangements for home learning.

Safe bubbles for key worker children

This is our priority right now. Sorting this out will mean we can have more children in school, meaning those with a genuine critical role to play can carry on with their jobs.

Thank you for working with us today – only a handful of children have been in school.

We asked that you complete an online form if you’re a key worker who needs a place in school. Across Sphere Federation (and in other schools across the country), the demand for places has been huge – much higher than last time.

The Prime Minister’s message is that schools are closed and must move to remote provision. Whilst he said that schools were safe, he also said schools may ‘act as vectors of transmission, causing the virus to spread between households’. We need to protect the children who are in school – and staff – and that means keeping numbers low. The new virus strain isn’t known to be more harmful, but it is known to be much more easy to pass on – this makes it even more important to keep numbers low in school.

Because of the very high demand for places, and following communications with other schools in Sphere and beyond the federation, we need to restrict places.

We need everyone to think carefully about their childcare needs. We have a duty to open to children of key workers, and to children who may be vulnerable in some way, but we also have a duty to restrict numbers to stop the spread of the virus.

Arrangements for home learning

This is our other top priority right now.

Sphere Federation schools have had provision in place for home learning for some months now. On 15 December 2020, the Department for Education published guidance on providing remote education information to parents – we’d done this weeks earlier and met all the recommendations in the guidance.

The problem is that neither the Department for Education’s guidance, nor our own current home learning guide and policies, factored in another full national lockdown.

We’re working hard to put in place provision that will go over and above the Department for Education’s requirements.

Our plans will include seven daily learning sessions, each lasting around 30 minutes. We think these shorter ‘bursts’ of learning will be more accessible for children than longer sessions. Six of the sessions will be delivered by Sphere Federation teachers who work in the same phase as your child, with the seventh being a daily Maths lesson from White Rose Maths, which we use in school. (There will be an extra lesson each week, Religious Education, available especially for children at St James’ CE Primary, but open to all.)

We know some of you will want to see live Zoom lessons happen. We don’t currently plan to do this for various reasons, including the fact timings are inflexible (families with two or more children may not have enough devices, or good enough broadband, to access the lessons at the same time); and we still need to have teachers working in the classrooms to support children in school (it’s hard to deliver a Zoom session while there are children in the classroom). We do plan, however, to provide daily ‘drop-in’ Zoom sessions in the afternoon with the child’s class teacher – an opportunity to review and reflect on the learning that’s happening. Our teachers are also keen to read any emails you send with updates about your child’s learning, and they might call you at home for updates, too. (Do let us know if something like this would help support your child’s learning.)

And we know some of you need access to electronic devices. You might have heard talk of schools being able to provide devices to support home learning. These devices are supplied by government and are extremely limited – quite possibly even more so now. If you’re struggling to access the online learning, please contact Miss Hague. We can provide paper-based learning as an alternative, for example.

The daily lessons will begin on Friday this week – a good opportunity for your child to begin to familiarise themselves with their new online teachers.

We’re working really hard at the moment, so please bear with is. Nevertheless, if you do have any questions, comments or concerns, do get in touch. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to get back to you as soon as we’d normally like, but we’ll do our best.

Home learning

Home learning activities are available on the school website. Go to the Learn More section and then the Home Learning page. There are activities for the full week.

We’ve been preparing these learning activities for some time. We’ll be moving towards some of our own ‘prepared-for-broadcast’ lessons and daily Zoom meetings as soon as we can assess pupil numbers and staffing numbers in school. In the meantime, check out the Learning Activities ‘box’ that’s on the page, and also consult the Home Learning Guide and Policies – you’ll find a home learning schedule there which might help, for example.

Important message (04 January 2020)

The Prime Minister’s announcement that schools should close from tomorrow for all pupils except children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable was made at 8pm this evening. School leaders did not receive any prior notice.

Tomorrow

I’m sure you’ll appreciate that this very short notice has left us no time to make arrangements. As a result, I’ve agreed with the Heads of School that Sphere schools will be closed tomorrow for all pupils.

The only exception we’re able to make for tomorrow (Tuesday 05 January) is for children of key workers where there are absolutely no alternative options. If this is the case, please arrive at school at the normal time with a drink and packed lunch for your children. Unfortunately, we can only accommodate a small number of pupils tomorrow. It would really help if you contact your employer who should be sympathetic to your childcare needs under these exceptional circumstances.

Longer-term

We need to plan for the longer-term. Please complete this online form before noon on Tuesday 05 January if you’re a key worker who definitely needs to send your child to school.

Please note:

• Because of staffing, if your child comes to school, they will access the same learning as those children who remain at home.
• Please only complete the form if you have a definite need.

Read what the definitions of key workers are.

We’re very sorry for these last minute changes but you’ll understand they’re beyond our control. Thank you for your continued co-operation. Be assured we’ll keep you updated with our plans.

Repeating our weekly message (03 January 2021)

Whether schools should open or not continues to be in the news. Our message today confirms what we said on Friday 01 January…

Our school is open again on Tuesday 05 January, following a planned training day for staff on Monday.

The current situation is that the Department for Education’s expectation in Leeds is that no primary schools are expected to close as the region remains in Tier 3 restrictions.

The National Education Union (NEU) has recommended to its members not to return to school or early years settings at the start of term due to concern about the higher transmissibility of the new Covid-19 variant. The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has issued guidance to school leaders which recommends seeking the views of staff who do not intend to come to school – so far, we’ve had very few staff express this intention and therefore we are in the position of confirming Friday’s message: school is open again on Tuesday 05 January.

If you’ve concerns about your child returning, it might help to reassure you that there appears to be no increase in severe child cases of Covid.

As we’re sure you can appreciate, the situation is changeable. However, for now, certainly… we’re looking forward to seeing all our pupils return to school happy and healthy on Tuesday.

Our weekly message (01 January 2021)

A short message to kick-off the new year…

We’d like to wish you all a much happier and healthier new year than the one we’ve just been through. Thank you for all your support in 2020 and your continued support in the year ahead.

Our school is open again on Tuesday 05 January, following a training day for staff on Monday.

There’s a lot of information in the news about schools not opening straight away. However, this applies to secondary schools, and to some primary schools in the south east. It does not apply to primary schools in Leeds or surrounding areas.

Also in the news is testing of staff and pupils for Covid. Again, this does not apply to our school. Testing pupils for Covid will happen in secondary schools. There’s no indication that testing for Covid will be introduced in primary schools.

We’re looking forward to seeing all our pupils return to school happy and healthy on Tuesday.

Our weekly message (18 December 2020)

Asda free meals

Asda supermarket cafes are providing children under the age of 16 with a meal completely free of charge via a takeaway service. There are no minimum spend requirements or restrictions on the number of children in a family or group that can take advantage of this offer. The offer will run until the end of December, except Christmas Day when stores are closed.

It’s been a tough year but your support and cooperation has helped us enjoy a successful term. We wish you all a happy and healthy holiday over the Christmas period – stay safe and help others around you stay safe, too.

Covid-19 notification procedures during the Christmas break

If your child receives a positive Covid test result in the period Saturday 19 December to Thursday 24 December 2020, we need you to tell us.

So you can give us all the information we need, please use this form or scan the QR code below.

This means we’ll have the information to take the necessary actions, laid down by the Department for Education.

We’d prefer you to use the online form, but if the technology fails you, please contact school: scholesheadofschool@spherefederation.org.

If your child receives a positive test result after Thursday 24 December, you can tell us on the first day of the new term (Tuesday 05 January).

Some Christmas cheer this lunchtime…

We’re all set up for our Christmas dinner today – and joined by a few seasonal friends…

Many thanks to Mrs Pennock, our lunchtime supervisor, and all the lunchtime staff.

Learning updates (Years 1 – 6 only)

Today, your child (Years 1 – 6 only) will go home with a copy of their Learning Update.

This is so we keep you up-to-date with how well your child is doing at school. At the end of Autumn 1 and Spring 1, we have our parent-teacher meetings (this year by Zoom), and at the end of Autumn 2 and Spring 2, we update you with these mini-reports. In the Summer term, we send you a longer, annual report.

As always, please contact us if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns.

(Children in Early Years will have a Learning Update a little later in the year.)

Our weekly message (the second of two this week – 11 December 2020)

This week, a primary in north Leeds has had to close for the rest of the term because of positive cases of Covid-19. As a whole, numbers in Leeds are reportedly in decline, which is good news, but please let’s all stay Covid-cautious. It’s thanks to your cooperation that Sphere Federation schools have been relatively unaffected by the pandemic so far.

The rest of this week’s message has various items…

Asda free meals

Asda supermarket cafes are providing children under the age of 16 with a meal completely free of charge via a takeaway service. There are no minimum spend requirements or restrictions on the number of children in a family or group that can take advantage of this offer. The offer runs until 31 December (except when stores are closed).

TikTok

TikTok’s terms and conditions state that the app should only be used by people 13years old and over. Despite this, it’s sometimes used by children younger than 13. There’s a new feature that you should know about. Family Pairing allows parents and carers to guide their child’s TikTok experience in a safer way. Features include:

• Search – decide what can be searched for; this includes content, users, hashtags and sounds
• Screen time management – set out how long can be spent on TikTok each day
• Discoverability – decide on the account being private (you decide the content) or public (anyone can search and view content)

Grief and loss

Staffed by experienced counsellors, the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Grief and Loss Support Service is for anyone who is experiencing loss of any kind and the grief and emotional distress that loss may cause. Available to everyone living in West Yorkshire, the service is a free telephone counselling support service that operates 8am-8pm, 7 days a week. It includes text and live online chat facilities as well as translation options. Call the service on 0808 196 3833, or use text or online live chat at griefandlosswyh.co.uk.

Introducing Ollee – a virtual friend

Ollee is a digital friend for children aged 8-11, created by Parent Zone and funded by BBC Children in Need’s A Million & Me initiative, which aims to make a difference to children’s emotional wellbeing. Ollee is designed to help children reflect on how they feel and to process their experiences with the support and help of their parents and carers – and it does this by offering them advice about a range of subjects: school, family, friends, their body, the internet and the world.

For each of these subjects, children can choose an emotion that matches how they feel about it: happy, angry, sad, confused, frustrated, stressed or worried. Next, they can choose from a list of topics – for instance, a child who was worried about school might be able to select ‘I haven’t done my homework’ as the cause of their worry. Finally, they’ll see a page of advice about the topic, presented in child-friendly, bite-sized chunks they can read then or save for later.

Have a happy and healthy and safe weekend, whatever you get up to.