Dear Parents,

LATEST UPDATE

1^st June 2020

Dear Families,

I am writing to give you an outline of how we plan to support you and your family in the weeks ahead.  

Our Provision

We are open for the children in Early Years, Year 1 and Year 6 and children of Key Workers where emergency childcare is needed in the other year groups. Further information for Key Workers can be found on www.gov.uk website.

If you have any questions then please e-mail admin@stanwayfiveways.essex.sch.uk or ring the school office between 9.00am and 3.30pm (01206 574849). 

Child Protection Policy during school closure

Please see policies

Support for Pupils with Free School Meals (FSM)

We have now issued vouchers to families in receipt of FSM’s .

KEY MESSAGES

1) You will receive your digital voucher to your phone/email very shortly.

2) If you are not registered for FSM but feel you are eligible you need to register with the LA, we cannot backdate vouchers.

Supporting your child’s learning

Our pupils love learning and we would love to help you to find ways of keeping your children interested and engaged over the forthcoming weeks. We do not want you to feel that our offer is placing an additional burden on your family. Please do what you can when you can, but concentrate first on making sure that your family is safe and happy.

We will regularly be updating you with ideas and projects through class DoJo which you can encourage your children to do at home, but you should feel under no obligation to complete any of them within a particular time period. We are aware that you are parents and not educators and that you may well be overwhelmed by the prospect of supporting your child’s learning over the next few weeks. We aim to be there for you and hope to develop ways for you to receive help and guidance from teachers from our school.

Thank you for your support. Keep well and safe everyone.

Kind regards

Jackie Irwin

Headteacher

As schools are closed and children are expected to access a lot of learning online it is important that they stay safe. As a parent it is important you are monitoring the time your child spends online and what they are accessing.

Here are some top tips to keeping your child safe online:

1. Having a conversation – As a parent or carer the best tool to support your child in leading a happy and safe life online is open conversation. This link takes you to a parents’ guide with advice on how to begin these conversations and how to work together as a family to support your child online.

2. A family agreement is a great way to start a conversation with your whole family and as you have everyone at home it’s a fantastic way to set boundaries and discuss how you are going to use technology during this time.

3. Screen time boundaries – The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) have provided guidance for screen time for under -18s. They have advised that although there is no set time to adhere to it is important that screen time does not impact on exercise, family time and that devices should be avoided an hour before bed to reduce impact on sleep.

4. Parental controls – These are designed to help prevent children from accessing inappropriate content online. They can also be used to set usage times and monitor activity.

5. – Cyberbullying - Being a victim of cyberbullying can be very distressing for a young person as messages can be sent anonymously and it is difficult to know who the bully is. Moreover, the bullying doesn’t always end once the victim has left wherever the bully might be (eg. school) as it can continue 24/7. For tips to prevent cyberbullying click here.

6 – Young children staying safe – Ofcom’s latest research has shown that 86% of 3-4 year olds have access to a tablet at home so it is important to keep young children safe online.

7 – Staying connected – There are lots of different ways to stay connected whilst self-isolating at home. There are also lots of new apps being used such as Houseparty and Zoom to find out about new apps and their risks use the NSPCC Net Aware website.

8 – E-Safety education – E-safety is a prominent part of the curriculum and while your child is not at school it is important that they are still made aware of the risks. Visit this website for activities for different ages about online safety.

9 – Making a report – reportharmfulcontent.com is a website designed to help you report anything which you believe shouldn’t be online. There’s guidance about how to report different types of content as well as help with the next steps you can take if your report isn’t actioned by the site or service you have made it on.

10 – Speaking to someone – depending on the age of your child there are a range of places they can go for help. For younger children they can call Childline for help and support and for older children The Mix offer free and practical advice. For parents and carers The O2 and NSPCC helpline can help with any questions or concerns you may have about keeping your child safe online. 

There is lots of support out there for staying safe online here are some more useful websites: Internet Matters, London Grid for Learning , Net Aware, Parent Info, Thinkuknow and UK Safer Internet Centre.

For further information visit https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/keeping-children-happy-and-safe-online-during-covid-19 where some of these tips are taken from.

Friday 5th June 2020 - 14.12 pm

This is your daily email to keep you updated on the government’s response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Updated guidance on school governance

The Secretary of State for Education has written to trustees and governors of maintained schools and academy trusts. We have also published frequently asked questions to support governors, trustees, governance professionals, clerks and chairs, in both the maintained and academy sectors, and to address the specific issues pertinent to governing and trust boards and local governing bodies (LGBs) during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The letter and FAQs can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-governance-update

Updated guidance on entry requirements for providers of initial teacher training (ITT)

We have updated our guidance for providers of initial teacher training to reflect the temporary change to the candidate entry requirements. We have temporarily relaxed C1.1 and amended the accompanying advice to allow candidates who are not able to provide evidence of meeting the required GCSE equivalent standard before starting a course, as a consequence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, to start the course. In order to continue on and complete the course, they must provide evidence by 30 November 2020.

The guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-initial-teacher-training-itt

We have updated the criteria and supporting advice, based on current public health advice, to help initial teacher training providers reduce the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on their ITT provision.

The guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-criteria

The information below has not changed since yesterday.

Preparing for the wider opening of schools and early years settings

Guidance on the actions for education and childcare settings to prepare for wider opening from 1 June, at the earliest, can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020

Guidance on implementing protective measures in education and childcare settings can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings

Guidance for early years providers to help them prepare to open their settings for children of all ages from 1 June can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-early-years-and-childcare-settings-from-1-june

Guidance for primary schools to help them prepare to open to Reception, year 1 and year 6 from 1 June can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-schools-from-1-june/planning-guide-for-primary-schools

Guidance for secondary schools to help them prepare to offer face-to-face support to year 10 and year 12 pupils from 15 June can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-schools-from-1-june/planning-guide-for-secondary-schools

Guidance for parents and carers as schools and other education settings in England open to more children and young people can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers

Department for Education coronavirus helpline

The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687

Opening hours:

8am to 6pm – Monday to Friday
10am to 4pm – Saturday and Sunday

If you work in a school, please have your unique reference number (URN or UK PRN) available when calling the helpline.

Updated handwashing advice

It is essential that everyone washes their hands more often, using soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Hand washing with soap employs mechanical action that loosens bacteria and viruses from the skin, rinsing them into the drain. Drying hands afterwards makes the skin less hospitable to the virus. Hand sanitiser can be effective if soap is not available or the situation makes using soap less feasible (i.e. when outside) but using hand sanitiser provides none of the virus-destroying friction that rubbing your hands together and rinsing with water provides.

The latest guidance and video on hand washing can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

The e-Bug project is led by Public Health England and has a dedicated webpage for learning resources on hand washing and respiratory hygiene. E-Bug has published posters on hand hygiene, and covering coughs and sneezes, to display in bathrooms, classrooms and shared spaces.

The hand and respiratory hygiene posters and other educational resources can be found here:

https://e-bug.eu

Collection of guidance for educational settings on GOV.​UK

All of the Department for Education’s coronavirus guidance for educational settings can be found in one place on GOV.​UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings