Willington Primary and Nursery School

Chapel Street, Willington, Crook DL15 0EQ

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Is your child safe online?

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One of the side effects of lockdown has been the increased use of technology. Most children have really benefited from this when in lockdown but unfortunately sometimes it can go wrong. The misuse of technology that some primary aged children have experienced includes, bullying, fraud and child abuse. Children need to be safe in the online world, just as they would in real life!
The best way of protecting your children is to talk with them about how they use technology, find out about the apps, websites and games they use and make sure they can share any worries they have with you. Both the net-aware and internetmatters.org websites are full of helpful advice.
Children will make mistakes and they will need your support not only to stay safe but to grow and flourish both online and offline.
Below we have listed five useful websites to help support your child staying safe. Please take some time to talk to your children and find out more on the websites below.
www.internetmatters.org A really useful website covering parental controls, apps and all aspects of supporting parents with technology.
www.net-aware.org.uk Great website for parents, written by the NSPCC that explains about individual apps and the safety measures they have in place for children.
https://www.childline.org.uk The website for children to get support themselves.
https://www.ltai.info Support with radicalisation
https://www.getsafeonline.org More for parents – this site explains how to protect yourself against online fraud – which is an increasing problem.

COVID Local Support Grant

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We are pleased to announce Durham County Council are once again receiving a further grant to support households with food and fuel from the COVID Local Support Grant. Families with free school meal entitlement will receive a £20 voucher per child to provide support with household bills.
Please note this is not a holiday payment and eligible families will receive them no later than 20th June.
We are hoping that families of eligible children in reception to year 6 will receive them prior to half term, however nursery children will receive them at a later date after half term due to the distribution dates of the grant.
The scheme will be the same as it was at Easter. If eligible, you will receive your vouchers as you did previously. If you have changed your email address or wish to receive them in a different way than you did at Easter please contact Julie Walker as soon as possible no later than 10th May by text message to 07766 510933 or by using private messenger on our Facebook page.
As soon as we have received vouchers and they are available to distribute we will contact you by text message and post a news item. Please do not contact school for updates.
If your circumstances have changed and you think you may be eligible for free school meals, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to help.

 

Closure of Nursery and Reception Classes for the Local Elections on Thursday 6th May

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Unfortunately, Durham County Council could not find an alternative venue for the Polling Station for the elections on Thursday 6th May. This means we have to close nursery and reception classes on that day so that we can seal off the early years areas from the remainder of the school.
When polling closes, all areas that have been used will be thoroughly cleaned and ventilated before children return on Friday morning.

Winter Fund Vouchers – Easter Break

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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:
The Local Offer
Healthy School logo
Sport England
ICT
Eco Schools Bronze Award