Willington Primary and Nursery School

Chapel Street, Willington, Crook DL15 0EQ

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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.

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.
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