As you may have heard in the press the Winter Grant Scheme has been extended to provide support to families who are eligible for free school meals. If you are eligible you will receive a supermarket voucher to the value of £40 per child to provide support for food and fuel.
We will not be receiving the vouchers until towards the end of week commencing 22nd March. We have until 16th April to distribute these to you as these are not necessarily to cover free school meals during the holidays.
The vouchers will be emailed to the email address we have on our system. IMPORTANT – if your email address has changed since the last batch was sent please contact Julie Walker by Friday 19th March by either private message on our Facebook page or contacting 07766 510933.
For families who wish to collect vouchers from school:-
If you have previously collected your vouchers from school we would advise that you receive them by email as we cannot guarantee they will be ready to collect before the holidays. If you wish to change to email please contact Julie Walker via the options above.
We will update you as soon as we have further information.
Thank you.
Returning to School on Monday 8th March
Dear Parent/Carer
I’m sure you’re as pleased as we are to have the children starting back at school on Monday 8th March. Our aim will always be to provide the most enjoyable experience for the children whilst ensuring that safety is still our number one priority. To ensure we make school as safe as possible, the changes we made to the organisation of the school day in September will continue from March 8th.
Attendance
The Government has made it clear that attendance at school will be mandatory from March 8th 2021. This means that children must attend school, unless they are complying with medical or public health advice.
Start/finish times:
| Start time | Entry Point | Finish time | Exit point | |
| Reception | 8:50 to 9:00 | shelter entrance to reception class | 3:00 | shelter entrance to reception class |
| Key Stage 1
(Year 1 and Year 2) |
8:50 to 9:00 | KS1 door | 3:05 | KS1 door – collection on yard |
| Lower Key Stage 2
(Year 3 and Year 4) |
8:50 to 9:00 | KS2 door | 3:10 | KS2 door – collection or walk home themselves |
| Upper Key Stage 2
(Year 5 and Year 6) |
9:00 to 9:10 | KS2 door | 3:15 | KS2 door – collection or walk home themselves |
| Nursery | No change to nursery arrangements | |||
All start times cover a 10-minute period and you can drop your child off at any point within that time window. A member of staff will be at the door to welcome your child and direct them to their class. We kindly request that only one adult drops off/picks up each child to help ease congestion and facilitate social distancing.
When dropping off or collecting your child, please stand in the yard where it is easier to social distance. Please do not stand on the school railing side of the path on Chapel Street as this prevents social distancing and forces people onto the road to walk round you. If you cannot enter the yard (for example if you have a dog) then please stand on the opposite side of the street.
Face masks should be worn unless this is not possible on medical grounds.
Class Bubbles
As in September, each class will become a bubble with their teacher and teaching assistant. Year 1 and 2 children will be taught in ability groups for phonics across the Key Stage but will be distanced within these groups to maintain bubbles. Contact between bubbles will be limited and we will be operating staggered break and lunch times so that access to yards, dining hall and toilets takes place on a rota system. The lunch period has been extended to enable us to limit numbers in the dining hall and ensure tables and chairs are sanitised between bubbles.
Hygiene
All children will be asked to wash their hands or use hand sanitiser on entry to school. Hand sanitiser and anti-bacterial wipes will be available in all rooms to ensure that ‘hot spots’ like handles and surfaces can be cleaned regularly. Toilets will be cleaned between bubbles at break and lunch times to further reduce the risk of infection.
Uniform
All pupils will be expected to return to school in March in school uniform. As we will have doors and windows open to improve air circulation, please ensure your child always brings their school jumper or cardigan.
PE days – On your child’s PE day they should come to school ready for PE to avoid the need for changing clothes in school. Please send your child in joggers or leggings rather than shorts and remember a warm top as windows/doors are open for ventilation.
PE days for each class are:
| Monday | Year 6 |
| Tuesday | Year 5 |
| Wednesday | Year 3 |
| Thursday | Year 2 and Year 4 |
| Friday | Reception and Year 1 |
Breakfast club
Breakfast club will be available from 8th March for those that need it. Children will sit on separate tables according to year group to maintain bubbles.
Preventing the spread of infection
In order to increase safety in school, all staff now participate in the twice weekly lateral flow testing scheme introduced by government.
In the event of you or your child presenting with symptoms of COVID-19, please arrange for a test and refer to the stay home guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance
Many thanks for your continued support. We very much look forward to welcoming everyone back on the 8th!
Mr Cornforth
Half Term Message
Dear Parents/Carers,When the first lockdown was announced in March 2020, who would have believed we would be in a similar position almost a year later! On a positive note, we’ve made it to half term with no reported cases amongst our children or staff. From today, school closes to all children for a week and both children and teachers can put home learning to one side and have a well-deserved rest! As of today, there have been 16,201 posts onto SeeSaw and 12,325 comments made on student’s work! We are extremely grateful for the time and effort you have put into supporting your children at home as this will help minimise the effect of lockdown on their learning. I’m sure you will all enjoy a week without the pressure of home learning- I know the teachers will!
Whilst we would love to be back at school in March, we must wait for the government announcement, due on the 22nd February, to see if they believe it will be safe to do so. In the meantime, following the half-term break, school will re-open on Monday 22nd February to key worker and vulnerable children only.
If your child has attended school this week and develops symptoms on either Saturday 13th or Sunday 14th February, please get them tested and inform school if the test result is positive. You can do this by leaving a voicemail /sending a text message to 07766 510933. When you leave your message, please include the name of your child, their class and the date that their symptoms started, as well as your own contact details.
Thank you for your continued support – stay safe.
Willington Primary School
PARTIAL SCHOOL CLOSURE – Wednesday 10th February
School is open today (Wednesday) for children of critical KEY WORKER children ONLY. If you are a key worker please ONLY send children to school if it is absolutely necessary due to the worsening weather conditions and shortage of staff.
School work can be accessed on-line through the usual channels.
If your child is coming to school as you are a key worker please can they enter via the main office entrance. Thank you
Problem Reported with Supermarket e-Code Vouchers 02.02.2021
Problems have been reported when accessing e-code vouchers
Some people are having trouble accessing their e-vouchers for supermarkets. We have received the following message from the supplier when the issue was reported by us.
Update from supplier: There is a known issue at the moment which has been raised to our technical team as a priority. 10:34am
They have assured us they will contact us with an update when the problem is solved. Once we receive we will let you know.
Please do not attempt to use at a supermarket unless you have successfully downloaded and either saved to your phone or printed the voucher.
Update 13:54pm from e-voucher supplier ‘The issue has now been resolved therefore, recipients should receive new codes to their email address.’
Please ensure you check your spam and junk folders as sometimes they can appear in there. If you have any further problems please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Children’s Mental Health Week 2021
This week is Children’s Mental Health Week. The theme this year is ‘Express Yourself’.Self-expression is a great way to relieve yourself of stress and free your mind. Self-expression can help you to reflect on your life, actions, decisions, relationships, beliefs and thoughts – rather than keep them buried.
Click here to download some resources to complete with your child.
Further information and advice can be found at:
PARTIAL SCHOOL CLOSURE – TUESDAY 2nd FEBRUARY
School is open today (Tuesday) for KEY WORKER children ONLY. If you are a key worker please only send children to school if necessary due to the worsening weather conditions. Please use the main office entrance for access. Thank you.
School work can be accessed on-line through the usual channels.
WINTER FOOD VOUCHERS For HALF TERM
We have received funding from the government to help as many families as possible this winter. Every pupil in nursery through to year 6 who receives free school meals will be provided with vouchers that can be spent at Asda. Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s or Tesco.
This week you will receive an email with a link to order supermarket vouchers or if you have previously requested we will contact you to collect them from school.
If you are eligible you will receive one voucher for £20 per child, per week for February half term.
Please note – how you access the vouchers is slightly different to how you receive them in term time when the school is closed.
If you have any queries please contact Julie Walker on 07766 510933 or private message on the school Facebook page.
Governor – Mrs Elaine Walton
I am a Parent Governor who was elected by the parent community.
- Term of office end date – 22.10.2024
- Member of the following committees – Finance
- Voting rights on all committees named above
- Register of interests – none declared
I have been elected as a governor since December 2020. As a parent of children who attend this school, I feel it is my responsibility to take an active role in their education, and the education of those in the local community for the coming years. As a governor of this school, I hope to contribute all my skills and abilities to make sure that this school is providing the best possible environment for all our children to learn, safely and effectively.
Who is eligible for supermarket vouchers?
Dear Parents/Carers,
We will be ordering Supermarket vouchers to replace the food boxes as soon as our order window opens. Rest assured, as soon as there is any news regarding the progress of the vouchers, Mrs Walker will be in touch with you all. The vouchers will be available for pupils from Reception to Year 6 who are entitled to free school meals.
During normal school term time all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are currently entitled to free meals – this is known as the ‘universal infant free school meal scheme’. However, the vouchers are only available for those children in Reception to Year 6 who qualify for free school meals under the specified government criteria. Follow this link to see criteria https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
Unfortunately, the vouchers are not available to children in nursery.
Kind regards and stay safe,
Mr Cornforth
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