Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Photographs and Gifts for staff

  Fri 27 Nov 2020

  School Photographs

   

  Our original booking for the individual school photographs was very early in the term and at that point, our risk assessment didn't permit us to have any external visitors into school other than those linked to the maintenance of the school building.

   

  When our booking was cancelled, we expressed that we would still be interested in having a photographer to take individual photographs of the children during this academic year- we have asked for a Spring term booking as we hope by then, we may even be able to allow siblings that don't attend our school to take part. I appreciate many of you would normally use school photographs as Christmas gifts so I'm sorry this can't happen this year. I know some schools have still managed this- every school's risk assessment will be different depending on building size, room availability, staffing etc.

  We did look at the possibility of taking photographs ourselves but unfortunately this is not possible due to staffing and absence.

   

  Hopefully, when we have the photographs later in the school year, you can use them towards other gifts for family members- maybe even an end of COVID/ reunion gift!

   

  Gifts for staff

   

  We have been asked if Parents/ Carers can still provide gifts for staff members this Christmas. That is a very thoughtful question to ask. With everything that comes into school which other people may touch, we either clean it or quarantine it for 3 days. E.g. when children return reading books, they stay in quarantine and get put back on the shelves after the quarantine ends as it is not really possible to wash books! The same can happen with gifts. As long as these are bought to school by Friday 11th December, they can be quarantined and ready for staff to take home the following week (different staff end of different days which is why I've said Fri 11th)

   

  I know many of you bring home baked goods to share with staff. Whilst I'm sure Parents would be very careful with hygiene etc, it is probably better this year to not bring these- thank you.

• COVID Lockdown changes

  Thu 26 Nov 2020

  Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire move into tier 3 from Wednesday 2nd December.

   

  The key changes for our area are: shops, gyms, salons will be able to open and you will be able to meet in a public space outdoors with a maximum of 6 people in total (still socially distancing). The other aspects of not mixing households, not going on each other’s gardens etc remain the same as now.

   

  • Meeting others inside- you cannot meet inside with anyone in any indoor setting including houses except with your own household members apart from the following exceptions.
    • Meeting with your support bubble. (Many people seem to misunderstand the support bubble- these are formed by a household that only has one adult (with or without children) joining with any other household. These shouldn’t be changed. Many people seem to think any two households can join to make a support bubble-this is not true.
    • To give childcare for children under the age of 13 (you can form one childcare bubble to ensure children are looked after while parents are at work etc. Children should only go to this household when the child care is needed or the childcare giver should only come to the child’s house for the period needed for childcare.
    • To provide care for vulnerable people or respite care
  • Private gardens - you cannot meet in private gardens with anyone except your household or support bubble.
  • Public spaces, e.g. parks, beaches, countryside, outdoor sports facility- you can meet outside in these places in a group of no more than 6 people (still remain 2m apart from those not in your household or support bubble)

  Please see the full letter on the parents tab- letters in date order for full details. 

• Christmas activities

  Mon 23 Nov 2020

  Christmas activities 2020

  Monday 23^rd November 2020

   

  Dear Parents/Carers,

  As we are sure you are aware, our Christmas activities this year will have to be very different. We have thought long and hard about how to keep the children safe and yet still give them some special experiences.

   

  Christmas jumpers

  The children will be allowed to wear their Christmas jumpers for school every day the week beginning Monday 14^th Dec (the last week of term.) Please ensure their names are in them and remember that they will still need to wear their P.E. clothes on their allotted P.E. day unless you hear different from their class teachers. There will be no charge for this.

   

  Christmas cards

  Many schools are not allowing Christmas cards this year due to the requirement to quarantine the cards but we have found a way to ensure this can still happen safely so if your child would like to bring Christmas cards in for their friends and adults they can still do this as long as these instructions are followed:

  • Envelopes need to be labelled with the recipient’s name and class. Please remember to use a surname initial if there is more than one child with the same first name in that class.
  • Cards should be brought in during the week beginning Monday 7^th December and taken to their OWN class (not the class of the children receiving them.) The last day to bring cards is Friday 11^th December as we need to quarantine them before they are given out.
  • Staff in school will them deliver the cards to the correct classes and they will all be given out in the week beginning Monday 14^th December.
  • The children will be asked to take the cards home and open them there.

  Virtual Pantomime

  This year we will all be watching a Virtual Pantomime of Cinderella which has been produced especially for primary aged children. This will be on Thursday 17^th December at 10am.

  You have the chance to buy your child a “goody bag” for £1. This will contain crisps or popcorn, a mini bag of sweets or a mini chocolate bar and a drink. These are on sale now and can be ordered through School Money up until Friday 4^th December so we have time to purchase the contents. Orders after this date will not be accepted so please ensure you get your order in on time. Please do not send money into school as we will not be able to accept it. If you have problems accessing School Money, please contact Mrs Grant in the office and she will assist you.

   

  Virtual Visit from Santa

  If you would like your child to “meet” Santa via the Internet – this is still possible. We can connect our computers up to the North Pole Internet so that Santa can meet your child and have a one-to-one chat with them. He will also send a special gift to them by reindeer plane! Unfortunately, we won’t be able to take a photograph this year but I’m sure your child will tell you all about it.

  This will cost £3.00 per child and will take place in school during the week beginning Monday 14^th December. Please order your Santa chat on school money by Tuesday 8^th December at the very latest. We will not be able to take late orders.

   

  Bedtime bags

  We are very lucky to have been given 9 bedtime bags from a family-friendly life insurance and savings company called Foresters Financial. These contain teddy bears, blankets, books, shower gel and other really lovely things.

  We have decided to hold a free raffle in each class so they are distributed fairly. Watch our web-site as we will announce the winners on there and present these at the end of the week.

   

  Hampers

  The congregation members for St. Michael’s Church in Pleasley have kindly offered to create 3 hampers for our families. Again, we will hold a free raffle in school and distribute these in the last week of this term. We will announce the winners on our website.

   

  Christmas Services

  Usually, we would take the children to the Church for our Christmas service. It is not possible to do this but we are still going to hold services for each Key Stage with Reverend Karen Bradley using TEAMS. These will take place during school time on Monday 14^th December. We can’t sing inside at the moment so children may be signing along to Christmas songs or using musical instruments to play them or accompany them.

   

  Christmas Performances

  As you know, we can’t have our usual nativity performances this year, but we still want to be able to share something with each of you. Each class is doing some kind of little performance (maybe a dance to a Christmas song or singing a Christmas song in small socially distanced groups with all the parts put together, or acting a small nativity, playing a Christmas song using the instruments etc). Our staff have very creative ideas so I’m sure they will be special. These will be filmed and shared with you via links on our website. If we have time and circumstances allow, we may be able to create DVDs of the whole school’s performances put together as a special keepsake. We will let you know if this is the case.

   

  Christmas crafts

  All children usually take part in the Christmas Tree festival at St. Michael’s with each class decorating a tree to be displayed. Children are still making the decorations and the trees will be displayed at school (we may be able to display them outside school where the poppy display was for a short period if the weather permits). We will be sending photographs of each tree to the Church.

  Children will still be making cards and calendars and each class will have some Christmas activities within their own class room. We know this isn’t like a Christmas party but we will make it as fun as possible. (You will not need to send in food this year.)

  If you have any questions about any of the above activities, please get in contact with the office and they will be able to help you.

  It won’t be the same Christmas as normal this year – but we will do our best to make it memorable for your children.

  Many thanks for your continued co-operation.

  Kind regards,

   

  Mrs. Donna-Marie Johnson

  Headteacher

                                                                       

• Remembrance

  Fri 06 Nov 2020

  Have a look at our beautiful Poppy Waterfall and the wreath we have made for the memorial in Plealsey to honour and remember those in the armed forces that have lost their lives in the line of duty and to thank all those who have served or continue to serve our Country.  Each child has made their own contribution to the display and I'm sure you'll agree, it is a beautiful display of love and thoughtfulness. 

  We can't have our usual whole school Remembrance service at the memorial in Pleasley this year but we will still have a service and silence in school on the 11th November to mark the occasion. One of our pupils (Zak) can be seen in the photograph selection below, taking the school wreath to the memorial.

  You may even see the images in the CHAD this week!

   

   

  

• COVID Lockdown changes

  Thu 05 Nov 2020

  COVID 19 Update

  Thursday 5^th November 2020

  Dear Parents and Carers,

                                      As you know, today is the start of a new 4 week National lockdown for us all. There are so many documents to read and I know many people get very confused about what they can or can’t do so I wanted to ensure the key messages were shared in what I hope is viewed as a simple manner. You may still need to read the full guidance on gov.uk for more detailed information about certain areas.

   

  Schools remain open to all pupils

  We are very pleased that all children can still attend school- remote learning is not easy and we would much rather have all the children in school with teaching taking place face to face. However, like many people, we are concerned about the increasing number of positive cases both nationally and locally, particularly as we have many staff and pupils in school who fall into the higher risk categories as well as many staff and pupils who live with people that fall into the higher risk categories so we need to do everything we can to keep EVERYONE safe, and following these rules will ensure this. Clearly, the same procedures in relation to self-isolation and possible class closures will remain in place for any positive cases found within school and remote learning will be provided for any pupil who has to self-isolate.

   

  Keeping safe

  I’m sure you will have seen in the media images of many people completely ignoring the rules putting themselves and others in danger and really not taking this seriously. I know there seems to be lots of contradictory information out there but there are two things that everyone agrees with. 1. This virus spreads via close contact and 2. This virus has killed and continues to kill people every day. We need to remember these when we are asked to make sacrifices.

   

  PLEASE ensure you follow the guidance consistently to ensure you help to keep our whole school community and their households safe. There are financial penalties for people not following the guidance but I would much rather people follow the rules because they know it is the right thing to do for themselves, their families and the community rather than fear of being prosecuted.

   

  Key changes- It is really important that children and all family members understand these

   

  • Stay at home- except for work, school, medical, certain events-e.g. funeral, buying food, paying bills, medical appointments, outdoor exercise. Where these can be limited, they should be. E.g. weekly shop not daily.
  • Meeting others inside- you cannot meet inside with anyone in any indoor setting including houses except with your own household members apart from the following exceptions.
    • Meeting with your support bubble. (Many people seem to misunderstand the support bubble- these are formed by a household that only has one adult (with or without children) joining with any other household. These shouldn’t be changed. Many people seem to think any two households can join to make a support bubble-this is not true.
    • To give childcare for children under the age of 13 (you can form one childcare bubble to ensure children are looked after while parents are at work etc. Children should only go to this household when the child care is needed or the childcare giver should only come to the child’s house for the period needed for childcare.
    • To provide care for vulnerable people or respite care
  • Private gardens - you cannot meet in private gardens with anyone except your household or support bubble.
  • Exercising- you can exercise outside with your household bubble OR with one person from a different household. You cannot be with your household AND someone from another household unless this is the single person you have formed a support bubble with.
  • STAY 2M apart- whenever you are near anyone not in your household, support bubble or childcare bubble, you should remain 2m apart. 2 m is quite a distance- many take a step back and think this is okay but that will not stop the spread of this virus.

   

  Face masks

  Even though we have staggered the start and end times to reduce the number of people outside school at any one time, we still do have lots of adults present and at times, these need to pass each other and sometimes stand less than 2m away from everyone else. To ensure school drop off and collection procedures are not contributing to the spread of infection, we are asking all adults (unless you are medically exempt) to wear a face covering when dropping off and collecting children and when waiting for different classes if you have more than one child with immediate effect. This is in line with the new government guidance where 2m distancing outside cannot be guaranteed.

   

  Keeping warm

  As part of the risk assessment in school, ensuring rooms are well ventilated in key. We need to ensure there is a flow of air through classrooms to keep risks as low as possible which means classroom doors are some windows are open. The heating is still on throughout school, though. Some children feel the cold more than others so as the weather gets colder, children may prefer to wear a base layer underneath their school uniform, e.g. an extra t-shirt or long sleeved top and tights or leggings underneath trousers. We will of course ensure the classroom temperatures stay within the guidance for appropriate working temperatures. Each classroom has a thermometer to ensure this.

   

  Let’s hope everyone can find it within them to ensure these rules are followed during this second lockdown to ensure everyone is as safe as possible and to give everyone the best chance or a ‘normal’ Christmas.

   

   

  Please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail regarding any questions or concerns (headteacher@anthonybek.derbyshire.sch.uk)

   

  Kind regards,

   

  Mrs Johnson