Willington Primary and Nursery School

Chapel Street, Willington, Crook DL15 0EQ

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Covid Update 4th January 2022

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Dear Parents and Carers,
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.
  • This means that a pupil who is a household contact of a positive case can continue to attend school provided they test negative on an LFD test each day before school.
  • Testing should start from the day the positive household member had symptoms or, if they didn’t have symptoms, from when they tested positive. A photograph of the negative LFD result MUST be sent to Mrs Walker each morning using the mobile number: 07766510933 (Please add your child’s name to the message.) or private message on our Facebook page.
  • If your child tests positive on LFD or develops COVID symptoms they will need to isolate and take a PCR test.
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.
Accessing LFD testing Kits
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
Changes to the isolation period
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

Parent Consultations

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This term we will be holding parent consultations by phone. On Wednesday 10th November, parents of children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 will receive a link via text message/ email that enables them to book a time slot for a phone call with their child’s teacher on a designated day next week. When making your booking, please ensure you supply us with the phone number you would like us to contact you on – you can enter this in the ‘Comments’ section.

(A link for Parents of children in Reception, Year1 and Year 2 will be sent next week for appointments the week after.)

If you are not available on your child’s designated day due to work commitments, please contact your child’s teacher via Dojo to arrange an alternative date and time.

Please make a booking as this is a great way to discuss your child’s progress and ask any questions you may have.

If you do not have access to the internet or are unable to make a booking please contact the school office via telephone on 01388 746414 and we will be happy to help.

We look forward to speaking with you!

Covid Support Grant – Summer

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The Local Authority have announced they are receiving a further grant to support vulnerable households with food and fuel. Families who are entitled to free school meals will receive a supermarket voucher worth £80 per child to provide support for household bills.
The scheme will be the same as the one in May. All vouchers will be forwarded to you as you have previously requested. If you would like to change your options for receiving them it is important you contact us by the end of today by ringing/messaging 07766 510933 or private message on our Facebook page.
As soon as we have received the vouchers and they have been distributed we will contact you to let you know.
Thank you

Covid 19 Information and Update 28th June 2021

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Dear Parents/Carers,

With under three weeks until the end of term, we are usually in the midst of preparations for sports days, summer fair and leavers assembly. Unfortunately, we find ourselves in the midst of a third wave with Durham having some of the highest infection levels in the country.

Obviously, due to the current situation, we are unable to invite parents into school. We are however, still having ‘mini-sports days’ for each bubble and staff will take photos to post on SeeSaw or Dojo. Year 6 are still preparing their leavers assembly, but instead of performing it live, it will now be made available to parents in video format. I know it’s disappointing not to be able to come and support you child but we have to do all we can to try and prevent year group closures.

With the rise of the new COVID Delta variant, we all need to be extremely careful and extra vigilant. If your child is unwell please keep them off school until they are feeling better. If your child presents with any of the COVID symptoms, we are asking you to get them tested. If your child comes to school and presents with symptoms, for example a persistent cough or high temperature, we will ask you to take them home and arrange a test. Your child will not be allowed back into school until a negative PCR result has been seen. Tests are very easy to arrange, can usually be booked the same day, with the results coming back within 24 hours. Whilst we appreciate that you may have to take time off work to get your child tested, we must err on the side of caution given the current rise in cases.

Once again, we would like to thank you all for your patience and support during these challenging times.

 

Going Wild Challenge

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The whole school has been taking part in the Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild 2021 – The UK’s biggest nature challenge! The children have a challenge to do one wild thing a day throughout the month of June! That’s 30 simple, fun and exciting Random Acts of Wildness. Here are a few snapshots from this week of the children going wild!

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Water Safety

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Fire Officers from Crook Fire Station visited school to talk to pupils about water safety.

Sadly, accidental drowning takes an average of 402 UK and Irish citizens each year. Throughout 2020 and 2021, millions of young people have also missed out on the vital opportunity to swim, leaving a dramatic gap in school swimming and water safety education.

With summer fast-approaching, we’re sure everyone is keen to get out and enjoy the UK’s beautiful water sites. The lack of access to tuition, coupled with a desire to enjoy being out and about this summer is a real concern.

Please visit Royal Life Saving Society for further information.

Headteacher’s Half-Term Message

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Dear Parents/Carers,

I am delighted to be able to report that we have reached half term with no classes having to isolate and no positive COVID cases. I would like to thank you all for the way you have supported the

school and followed the rules to keep everyone safe.

Even though vaccinations are ahead of schedule and restrictions are easing, I am still asking everyone in our school community to be careful and take all possible precautions to ensure we remain COVID free when we return to school on the 7th June for the remainder of the school year.

We are obviously mindful of the Indian variant and government advice is to retain our bubble system at least until the end of summer term. For this reason, we are still unable to invite parents into school unless absolutely necessary and therefore, our normal end of term activities will unfortunately have to take place behind closed doors for pupils only.

On a more positive note, since returning in March, teachers have been working flat out and children have really got stuck into their learning, resulting in a huge amount of progress being made throughout the school.

I would like to wish you all a safe and happy half term – at least the weather has come good at the right time for a change!

Mr Cornforth
Headteacher

Fun and Food for Half Term Holiday

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Do you find the school holidays a struggle? Finding fun things for your kids to do that don’t cost the earth and paying for all that extra food or childcare.

Durham County Council ‘Fun and Food’ provides FREE holiday activities with healthy snacks and meals for children and young people. Activities are provided by schools, voluntary and community sector groups, sport and leisure services and our Family Centres.

Click here for further information in your area.

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.
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