Parents are welcome to attend sports days this year. The times have been chosen so that the event ends just before the end of the school day. Teachers will take their children back into school to collect their bags/coats then bring them out onto the yard for their normal home time.

Nursery sports will take place for all nursery children on Wednesday 13th July at 10:30AM. Mrs Britton will be in touch with further information.

It is extremely pleasing that a semblance of normality has returned to the world with COVID no longer constantly making the headlines. However, as we are starting to experience a handful of positive cases within our school community, it is a good time to remind ourselves of the current government guidance.

From May 2022, schools have been expected to manage Covid-19 in line with other Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI). Management of cases of Covid-19 has now been incorporated into the document: health protection in schools and other childcare facilities guidance.

The guidance states:

Children with mild symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat, or mild cough, who are otherwise well, can continue to attend their education or childcare setting.

Children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature (38 degrees or more) should stay at home and where possible avoid contact with other people. They can go back to education or childcare setting when they no longer have a high temperature and they are well enough.

If a child or young person has a positive COVID-19 test result they should stay at home and where possible avoid contact with other people for 3 days after the day they took the test. The risk of passing the infection on to others is much lower after 3 days, provided that they feel well and do not have a high temperature.

Please support us in preventing outbreaks in our school community by following the guidance outlined above. If you have any queries, please contact Mrs Walker during school hours on: 07766510933

In the Chancellor’s spring statement the Government made an additional £470m available to Local Authorities nationally to support families through the Household Support Grant.

To distribute the Local Authority received funding, they would again like to send vouchers to families that are eligible for Free School Meals via schools. The vouchers are not to cover free school meals during holiday periods, but are there to help families with the costs of fuel and food through the summer.

The value of each voucher will be £75.00 per eligible FSM pupil and you will receive them by the 8th July. When we have more accurate dates we will let you know.

The vouchers will be distributed as before via email or collection from school. If you have CHANGED your email address or wish to CHANGE how you receive your vouchers please text message 07766 510933 with your details and name of child/ren along with your new details. Alternatively, private message on our Facebook page or message WhatsApp 07766 510933. Please do not ring the school office. Thank you

Happy New Year to you all. We look forward to welcoming pupils back from tomorrow (Wednesday 5th January).

Unfortunately, the situation with COVID-19 does not seem to have improved and the new Omicron variant has led to a large increase in the number of people in County Durham testing positive.

Following recommendations from Durham County Council’s Public Health team, if there is a positive case of COVID in your household, your child can still attend school as long as they undertake daily Lateral Flow Tests (LFD) at home for 7 days.

If you are unable to test your child at home, please keep them away from school until the positive household member’s isolation period has ended.

We would recommend you have a supply of LFD testing kits at home in the event you are requested to use them. You can order home testing kits to be delivered to your home here www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

If you pick up tests from a pharmacy, you may be asked for a ‘collect code’ this helps the NHS match your details to the tests. To get a ‘collect code’ please visit http://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/collect…

Please register the result of your home test at www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result

The 10-day self-isolation period for people who record a positive PCR test result for COVID-19 has been reduced to 7 days in most circumstances. Individuals may now take LFD tests on day 6 and day 7 of their self-isolation period. Those who receive two negative test results are no longer required to complete 10 full days of self-isolation. The first test must be taken no earlier than day 6 of the self-isolation period and tests must be taken 24 hours apart. If both these test results are negative, and your child does not have a high temperature, they may end their self-isolation after the second negative test result and return to school from day 8. Anyone who is unable to take LFD tests will need to complete the full 10-day period of isolation.

If you have any questions regarding isolation and testing procedures, please contact Mrs Walker on the number above.

Kind Regards,

Mr Cornforth