"I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength..."

It is difficult to explain just how different school has felt over the last eight weeks, suffice to say that without all children our family has not really been able to thrive. Over these last two weeks we have all begun to feel whole again and start to regain what had been lost! Settling in was (and still is) the theme of all we are doing and remembering the challenges we face in being such a large group again. We are so proud of all the children and the courage they have demonstrated in ‘picking up’ where they left off in January and it’s a great testament to families and to the children themselves, that they have done so well. It definitely does feel like Our Lady’s once again! We recognise that for some children settling in will take a little longer but we are all here to support and nurture children as they find the confidence and courage that they need.

I can imagine that you as parents will have been filled with mixed emotions; the emptiness of the rooms during the day, the missing, for some of you, of teaching at home, the sadness of not having the daily company and fun, yet the relief that family life can return to some normality and delight that children are back with their friends. Hopefully as routines are re-established and the days lengthen and Spring sunshine lifts our spirits, we will all feel that sense of optimism and renewal that is definitely in the air. We just need to give it time.

Once again it has been lovely welcoming children in the morning at the gate and saying goodbye at the end of the day, despite the rain and wind! Thank you so much for following and implementing our school guidance and continuing to look after each other, keeping the whole community safe; this is the biggest ‘thank you’ you can give to us.

Please could we just ask a few things, firstly, is in continuing to wear your masks/face coverings as you come to drop off and pick up your child/children. THIS IS STILL VITALLY IMPORTANT!!! We cannot yet afford to let our guard down against this virus and must ensure we still keep our families and others safe. It worries me terribly to see people having conversations and NOT wearing masks!!! Please do not let your guard down now and put yourself or anyone else in danger!

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Secondly please can everyone leave the perimeter of the school swiftly after collecting your own child(ren) to avoid groups gathering. In line with guidance the school day is arranged to minimise contact beyond class bubbles and we so appreciate your continued support with this too. Children share openly with staff and we do worry when hearing that children are mixing in houses outside or travelling in cars with other families outside their class or family bubbles just because we are trying so hard here to implement guidelines which ensure safety for all. We would never want to interfere with your life beyond the school gate but are just anxious that we all do everything that is possible to keep school safe and open for everyone. Professor Chris Whitty was quoted last week as saying: "A lot of people may think this is all over. It is very easy to forget how quickly things can turn bad." As we see it, we’re all in this together, we couldn’t have done what we have without your fantastic support throughout. There does seem to be progress but we’re entering a dangerous phase, lighter days, the yearning we all have for social contact and more openings and gradual loosening of some restrictions. Please let’s be united and continue to do all we can to keep one another safe. As ever, thank you.

If you are taking a COVID test…..

A plea to families as a reminder that if, for any reason you or a family member have to go for a PCR Covid test; or you are awaiting the results of a test - YOU MUST NOT SEND YOUR CHILD INTO SCHOOL! This could put your child and/or others in danger as they could spread the virus to others unwittingly. As I have stated above - now is not the time to let our guard down. If we are to look forward to restrictions easing over the next few months - we MUST ensure we still take every precaution now to ensure that can happen. Again, thank you for your support in this.

There is also now the opportunity for families to access free lateral flow tests which can be administered at home. These tests are for non-symptomatic people - but may give you peace of mind if you have several people in your family bubble who access various places of work, school nursery etc

Home Testing Kits for Adults

If you have a child who goes to nursery, school or college in your household or bubble, get peace of mind by taking a rapid Covid test twice using a simple home test kit which gives results in 30 minutes 

You can collect your test kits from:

Yeadon Way Covid testing site  1pm – 8pm, Monday to Sunday

Also, from Monday 22 March, you can also collect tests from any of the symptom-free testing hub sessions listed on the council website ⇢ www.blackpool.gov.uk/GettingTested

No appointment needed - just give your name and contact details on arrival

If you are unable to get to a testing site, you can order tests online ⇢ https://www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

Crossing Patrol

As you may have seen, we now have no crossing patrol on Common Edge Road. Hopefully this will not be permanent, but as I stated in a previous post, due to many retirements it has left a shortage of people able to fill these vital jobs. I really do urge anyone who thinks they may be able to spare the time, to consider applying for a crossing patrol post with Blackpool Council… you really could save a child’s life!

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Social Media/Gaming/Apps

Unfortunately we have had the repercussions this week of many ‘mis -uses’ of social media sites which has led to friendship issues and much upset between many groups of children. This has really surprised and upset me as when we undertake our weekly programmes of work around online safety, the children all confidently discuss and explain how we should think of others, show respect and be careful with our words and yet many do not appear to be following these guidelines when in the security of their own homes. The teachers and myself are so disappointed in this as we know how kind and thoughtful all of our children can be.

I am hoping that over the last few weeks of Lent we can all try to take stock of what we are trying to do to shape our lives for the better and follow Christ’s example. As a school, we have also been looking at the example of St Joseph (on this - his Feast Day) and the difficult problems he faced in supporting and strengthening the bonds that unite us as a family.

Let us ask St Joseph to protect our families as he did his own. May he help us to discern God’s hand in the ups and downs of family life… St Joseph. Pray for us!

If you would like to access some good support sites for parents regarding advice on online safety I have identified a couple below.

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers

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I wish you every health and happiness during these final few weeks of Lent. May St Joseph help us to strive to be the best we can be and to support us in keeping our families safe during these difficult times.

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Posted
AuthorGuest User

Returning to school - March 8th.

“The best way to get things done… is to simply begin!”

We are so excited to be at the point where we can welcome our whole school family back together again. Finally school can open to ALL on Monday March 8th.

As you all know, these last seven weeks have been challenging, and it has taken a great community effort to enable school to operate on two levels; delivering home learning and providing what childcare we safely could for our vulnerable children and those of critical workers. Throughout this time, we have tried our very best to meet the needs of everyone in the community and we can only thank each one of you for your patience, understanding and kindness. This has not been an easy time for anyone and I know so many of you have had your own battles to fight.

However, we have to thank God that we are now in the position where we can begin to return and start to build on the amazing work and support which has been provided both at school and at home. Like we did in September, once again we will support all the children as they reconnect and re-establish those important relationships. We know it will be hard for everyone. Please give us the time to settle children back into school life and just as you always do, work alongside us to ensure that every child can continue to thrive. We will try to build virtues of love and compassion as the whole school reunites; really trying to ‘listen’ to each other and to God to help us all move forward. This will help us all as we try to understand the experiences and changes we have each been through. Seeing the world through the eyes of another and stepping into their shoes is a challenge for us all this Lent!

Starting school on March 8th

Before entering this third lockdown we knew that all the systems, routines and school guidance which we had implemented had created the safest possible environment. In following these, staff, children and parents were helping to keep everyone safe and well. Therefore, it makes sense to continue to embed these practices. As I stated in my previous blog: This is not the time to relax and forget the importance of protecting each other. I have looked very closely at the guidance updates from government and the key messages remain the same; minimise contact and reduce transition rates.  

Just as we did in the autumn we will continue to teach children in class bubbles and staff movement between bubbles will be minimised. The organisation of our school day will continue to stay the same, with staggered starts and a one-way system at the end of the day. These drop off and collection times in Family groups and specific year groups will continue to make arrival and exit times manageable for families. The same autumn times will be in place (8:40am and 9:00am/3:15pm and 3:30pm). We ask that you continue to wear face masks and follow social distancing protocol. This will mean changes for those families currently attending school provision.

It is crucial that all the guidance set out is followed meticulously to ensure that school remains open for All children. We have to continue to protect each other. If not, then bubbles will have to close and school may not be able to remain open. I have now updated all school guidance and organisation:

Please press the button below to access an overview of school organisation:        

In terms of lunches all Reception and KS1 children continue to be entitled to a free school meal and these are provided daily by our Kitchen Team. Lunches for KS2 children can be purchased using ParentPay at a daily cost of £2:00. *NB this will increase to £2.20 after Easter * It would be extremely helpful if accounts can be kept up to date by paying in advance as this really will save Mrs Duffill or Mrs Wilson time during this extremely busy period. The menus will be available at the school office and we can send one home with your child if you let us know.



1st Class Kids Uniforms

Here’s a message from 1st Class Kids for parents and carers who need to purchase school uniforms. Please read their letter here for details of how to order online for either home delivery or click and collect.

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We all look forward to our whole school family reuniting and filling our classrooms with love and laughter. We have missed all our children being in their class families and know their special friendships will rekindle and grow as we journey through Lent together. Although we are still unable to gather as a school, just being in the building and following in the footsteps of Jesus our Saviour, will bring a sense of celebration and joy which will lead us to becoming the Easter people we are asked to become.

We can’t wait!


Miss Haggerty

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Posted
AuthorGlynis Wilson

'Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward...'

Lockdown Update

As you will have seen in my last blog, I was very concerned going forward regarding the number of children requiring places at school as numbers were becoming very worrying. I have to say a huge thank you to those parents who have considered their position and are trying now to keep their children at home. It would be very helpful - and certainly safer for all, if we could reduce numbers even further. So I please ask you to keep considering your position and if you could reduce the number of days your child is here - or keep them at home if you can.

The Local Authority have also issued a letter for parents regarding this issue. You can read it HERE.

Limiting social contacts

Worryingly, I have conversations with some children today, who have been telling me that they have been visiting their classmates houses who are at home!!! I sincerely hope this has been an exaggeration - I truly hope no families have been as reckless as to visit another family bubble during this lockdown and put others’ lives in danger. I would therefore draw parents attention to the lockdown guidance, which states:

National lockdown: stay at home

You must stay at home. This is the single most important action we can all take to protect the NHS and save lives.You must not leave your home unless absolutely necessary.

It is against the law to meet socially with family or friends unless they are part of your household or support bubble. You cannot leave home for recreational or leisure purposes (such as for a picnic or a social meeting).

The police can take action against you if you leave home without a ‘reasonable cause’, and issue you with a fine (Fixed Penalty Notice).

You can be given a Fixed Penalty Notice of £200 for the first offence, doubling for further offences up to a maximum of £6,400.

I am sure that everyone is trying to ensure they are taking every precaution to fight this virus and keep yourself and others as safe as you possibly can. I hope all of our school community is doing this as approximately 1 in 3 people who have coronavirus have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it.

It is critical that everybody observes the safest possible behaviours:

ParentPay meals payments

We are trying to rota staff currently to limit the amount of staff who are on site at the same time while still being able to run school efficiently and effectively.

Please can I ask that those parents of KS2 children who are having hot lunches keep their ParentPay accounts up to date. This will save Mrs Wilson & Mrs Duffill valuable time as only one of them will be in the office on any given day. Thank you.

I know at the moment we are all struggling to see the light at the end, of what has seemed to be a very long tunnel, but we are a very strong community with Christ at the heart. We have worked together, hand in hand, for such a long time. Please know that we truly value all your support and we are already missing having all our wonderful children together. But we know that there will be a time soon when we can all enjoy just sharing the same space as one community. We just need to work together at the moment to protect each other.

I am more than aware of how much many families may be struggling to engage children at home with their learning. All we ask is that you try your best and that your child/children try to complete whatever they can. Class Teachers will try their best to support and work with you (There is always more than one solution to a problem…) However, please do not be upset if we contact you if we haven’t seen/heard anything from you or your child. We do not want anyone to fall behind and will do all we can to stop this from happening, but it does require you to help your child get into a routine with their daily tasks. Thank you again for all your support with this! We are working hard with the local authority, business and councillors to acquire further devices (laptops) we can lend out to families during this time. Please do let your child’s class teacher know if this is something you are struggling with and we will try to help.

I wish you strength, faith and hope as you journey through the next few weeks. Please remember we are here for you and will do whatever we can to lighten the burden. Please keep in touch by reading the website, as it is here you will find updated information. If there is something you do want to know, please do not hesitate to phone us or email to ask.

Please look after yourselves and take care.

God bless

Miss Haggerty

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Posted
AuthorGuest User

Supporting each other as a community to minimise risk...

Dear Parent/Carer,

 

On Tuesday, we made the decision that for continuity, places would be offered on a full time basis. Our aim was to ensure that teachers could provide quality remote learning which children could work through both at home and at school. Staff within class bubbles would then be able to work together to ensure each class teacher could be released to prepare and deliver lessons online.

Unfortunately, we have created a situation which is now not sustainable. Due to the expansion of the Critical Worker criteria we now have almost 50% of children in school. This has meant that teachers’ working hours are unmanageable as essentially they now have two full time jobs.

At this moment we have to pause and remember that the Prime Minister has closed all schools to try to stop the spread of infection. The instruction is to stay at home. The more children we have in school, the greater the potential for the infection to spread.

On Tuesday, we confirmed for many of you the offer of a critical worker place in school.

However, at this point I must ask you to now consider exactly what Critical Worker places are for.  Many people are entitled to the provision, but in supporting the national lockdown and the NHS, they have chosen not to use it as they are working from home.  Does this make it challenging for them? Absolutely.  But they recognise that the only way to stop a virulent strain of this virus is to limit contact.

In the last 72 hours we have had a surprisingly large number of people request Critical Worker provision. You will have noticed at drop off and collection how busy it is already.  I am asking you to reflect on the following:

Do you absolutely have to send your child into school?

What you can and cannot do during the national lockdown…

Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly across the country.  You must stay at home. The single most important action we can all take is to stay at home to protect the NHS and save lives.   (GOV.UK)

It is important to stress that the facility for sending your child into school during this lockdown is only to be used for emergency childcare for critical worker families when they really require it.

 This is not what I wanted to have to do or a message I wanted to send but I am so fearful that this request for places is threatening the whole of our critical worker provision in school and, more importantly, risks bringing too many children and adults into our school site.

I know the work pressures people are under and I also know that the expectation of children continuing their education at home remotely makes things incredibly difficult for working parents.  This is why we have significantly increased our offer from school for remote learning.

Although we expect children to engage in home learning we recognise that, for working parents, this may mean flexibility in the timetable we have set or in supporting with access to technology.  There are other ways we can support education at home beyond just sending children in to school.  We will work with you on this if it is needed.

If numbers do remain too high, we will be faced with the unwanted task of prioritising using the following criteria.  This may mean your place is no longer available.

The criteria we would prioritise by is:

1.      Vulnerable children

2.      Children where both parents are critical workers or children with single parents who are critical workers.  NHS and education critical workers to take priority if needed

3.      Children where only one of two parents is a critical worker. NHS and education critical workers to take priority if needed

I have already had some parents contact me and decline the offer of a place, as they have reflected and seen ways they could change work arrangements recognising the need to stay home and stay safe and to look after the NHS.  I am hoping that after the initial shock of lockdown that you can think carefully about not whether you can access a place but if you truly need to, and considering the larger numbers, if you really want to.

 Again, this is a virulent strain of the coronavirus and there is a reason that primary schools closed so suddenly.  Let us not under estimate the difficult job we need to do together to prevent transmission.

However, if you are a critical worker, in need of our support, at what must be an incredibly stressful time, know we are here for you.  I can only imagine how challenging this time is for our NHS colleagues.  I ask you to please consider your place under these extremely difficult circumstances.

Posted
AuthorGuest User

Lockdown: Further information

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for your quick response to reading the news feed and completing the attached form.

If you haven't completed the form, we are now presuming that you do not need school provision during lockdown.

We have now collated numbers and those of you who have requested provision can now be offered a place in school, commencing tomorrow. I know some of you have said that you are happy to have certain days and we have also accommodated this. We now need to be able to establish systems and routines for the coming weeks.

Further Information for children attending school from tomorrow

The school day will commence at 9am for all children, please arrive at your normal gate.

The school day will finish at 3:30pm Monday - Thursday and 1:30pm on Fridays. NB: Although we are unable to start straight away with any After School provision; we are looking to put some provision in place hopefully by next week and are trying to ensure that we can do this in a safe and consistent way for pupils and available staff.

Your prompt collection and drop off for the present times will be greatly appreciated.

Please can you also confirm tomorrow if your child will be having school lunches. We would ask that the children attending full time would take a hot school dinner each day and not bring any extra items into school. (This also includes rucksacks/bags)

We are urging everyone to strictly follow government guidance which clearly asks us all to stay at home outside school hours.

Whilst attending school please avoid mixing with any other households. This will help to keep all staff and children safe.

Further Information for children at home

Commencing tomorrow all teachers will have placed learning in their class ‘home learning’ areas. This can be located by clicking on the Home Learning tab on your child’s class page. All teachers can be contacted using their class emails/dojo. Please do be aware that teachers will also be teaching during the day so their response to you may be delayed. Please be patient. Emergencies can be dealt with by phoning the school office.

Finally

We will continue to communicate on a weekly basis so please do read the weekly newsletter and the teacher's blogs. Effective communication is so important and will help us to all work as one caring team to keep everyone safe. We can do this!

We will keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers and ask that everyone try to say the Rosary (even if it is just 3 Hail Mary’s) to keep the health and wellbeing of our whole community in the hands of Mary, the patron of our Church and school.

Tomorrow is also the Feast of the Epiphany: Please look at the Church website (link on our home page) to see Fr Jim’s special (virtual) mass for school.

Please do take care and look after yourselves

God bless

Miss Haggerty and the Our Lady’s Team

Posted
AuthorGuest User