COVID-19 Update

13th Mar 2020

As a community we remain committed to keeping you updated with information about COVID-19 (also known as Coronavirus). Yesterday the Government’s COBRA Committee met to discuss the UK response to the current situation and decided not to close schools.

This reflected guidance shared already in a letter from Mr Greg Fell (the Office of the Director of Public Health in Sheffield) who confirmed that all schools are expected to adhere to guidance from Public Health England (PHE) and the Department for Education (DfE).

I receive regular updates from the DfE and from the local authority who are working on plans to support schools should the situation need to change at some point in the future.

It is important to be clear, there are no plans to close schools currently and all pupils are expected to attend school as usual unless advised by medical professionals to do otherwise.

At St John Fisher we are all hoping and praying for the best. We are working hard to do all we can to promote and ensure the good levels of hygiene that will help protect our community. We have also just increased the number of cleaners and introduced an additional cycle of more focused cleaning on top of the additional measures already introduced.

However, given the speed with which decisions to close schools have been made in some other countries I do believe that it is sensible for us to plan and prepare for every possibility, and to share these plans with you.

COMMUNICATION

As mentioned in an earlier communication, we will still have a responsibility to offer an education accessible to all our pupils in the event of a future closure. It is important that set tasks are completed. Questions around tasks can be emailed to the relevant teacher via our class email accounts. A reminder that emails will not be responded to after 5.00pm and at weekends. The addresses are:

The ‘Class Dojo’ system is also a useful means of communication. Our records show that though most parents/carers have signed up, a number have not. Invitations will therefore be sent to everyone. If you have signed up please disregard the invitation – it is for your information only. If you have not previously signed up, please do so straightaway.

If you have any questions or issues about accessing the ‘Class Dojo’ app please contact us immediately, thank you.

For parents and carers of children in FS2 extensive use will continue to be made of our popular ‘Tapestry’ system, so please let us know if you experience any problems accessing it or using it.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

The plan is to do lots of things online via our website and the various learning platforms that we use. Information around tasks will be posted in the ‘Class Zone’ of our SJF website and can be accessed via this link: http://www.st-johnfisher.org/class-zone/. The activities will cover a broad and balanced range of curriculum areas.

To support you the pupils’ log-in details will be reissued today for:

MyMaths
Bug Club
Times Tables Rock Stars
SPAG.Com (new to school, so log-in details will be issued for the first time)

We know that some families in the past have experienced difficulties when trying to log on to certain platforms. If you encounter any problems logging on, please contact Mrs Barrett via the Y6 email address:

year6@st-johnfisher.org

We know that not everyone has easy access to the internet at home, and our planning needs to take full account of everyone’s circumstances. This is why parents and carers have been asked to tell us if they do not have easy access to the internet so that appropriate steps can be taken.

In the event of a closure appropriate activities for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be emailed directly to families via the class email or our Parentmail system - so please make sure that school has your most up-to-date details.

The children will be bringing home additional reading and library books and more books will be made available via our ‘Bug Club’ system.

Please note that these are to cover a three-week period and should be enjoyed and not rushed.

One reading and library book will then be changed weekly so that there are always more books at home in case school has to close. We will try to get everyone through the library today and those we miss will go on Monday.

FREE RESOURCES

‘Twinkl’ is an excellent resource for teaching professionals and parents/carers. Normally there is a charge, however in the light of the current situation this Sheffield-based company is offering free access for the next six months. Setting up is easy to do and you are asked to go to: twinkl.co.uk/offer and enter the code: UKTWINKLHELPS.

‘Classroom Secrets Kids’ is another free-to-access site that provides activities and games that also support home learning. You can access this via: kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk and look for the ‘Classroom Secrets Kids’ section in order to register.