Covid-19 - 16th March
Dear Parent/Carer,
I am writing to you to help you understand the preparations we are making to support your child and you at school during the Covid19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.
St Joseph’s continues to follow the advice of Public Health England (PHE) about keeping our school open and on maintaining high levels of hygiene in our schools. If anything changes in the advice given by PHE, we will inform you immediately.
However, we understand that things are changing rapidly and we want to help you to be prepared in the event that your child is off school or we are instructed by the government to close.
- The situation now Monday 16th March
St Joseph’s is open and will remain open until we are instructed to close by the government. If this is the case, we will contact you in writing, by text message, email or letter.
What to do if you, your child, or someone you have recently been in contact with, is showing symptoms (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ ) of Covid 19:
• If a family member or close contact is self-isolating without symptoms, your child should come to school
• If a family member or close contact is self- isolating with symptoms, please inform us immediately and your child should not come to school
• If a family member or close contact is diagnosed with Covid 19, please inform us immediately and your child should not come to school
- • If a child is showing symptoms or has been diagnosed with Covid 19, please inform us immediately and your child should not come to school. At this point (as with any notifiable disease) parents and St Joseph’s will be acting under the instructions of Public Health England.
- What to do if your child is kept off school because they are showing symptoms of, or have been diagnosed with, Covid 19
It is a good idea to start thinking about what you and your child can do if they are at home for an extended period of time.
- Taking time off work to look after your child
Speak to your employer if you have to take time off work to look after your child. They should have a plan for staff during this time.
If you don’t work and are claiming Universal Credit or another benefit and are concerned about being able to meet your job seeking commitments, contact your job centre or work coach for advice.
- Keeping your child engaged while they are off school
Think about stockpiling some activity supplies now: arts and crafts materials, games, jigsaws etc. These can be picked up second hand from charity shops, and some libraries have stocks to borrow. Some ideas are below:
- • Top Trumps • Guess Who • Monopoly • Snakes and Ladders – can be fun to make your own board • Playing Cards • Boggle • Glue sticks and PVA glue • Coloured paper
• Craft bag of supplies • Colouring pens and pencils • Jigsaws • Chess
• Sudoku • Crosswords • Lined paper
Websites for learning
http://www.sciencefun.org/kidszone/experiments/
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/childrens-stories https://www.mymaths.co.uk/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/
https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/your-childs-maths
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/codeclub
https://www.planbee.com/geography (free resources)
https://www.history.org.uk/membership/resource/9112/primary-membership-sample-resources (free resources)
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/games-and-apps
https://learning-resources.sciencemuseum.org.uk/resourcetype/classroom-resource/page/2/
- 3. Accessing support from other organisations while your child is off school
https://southwark.foodbank.org.uk/
https://southwark.foodbank.org.uk/locations/
https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-a-foodbank/southwark/
https://www.pecan.org.uk/southwark-foodbank
https://southwark.foodbank.org.uk/get-help/foodbank-vouchers/
- 4. What to do if your child is at home because the government has instructed us to close the school
Your child will be given a homework pack to complete.
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Will be available via email to answer any technical queries during this time.
We will continue to operate the school as normal until we are instructed otherwise.
Any general updates will be posted to the website. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Best wishes,
Anita Gallagher, Pat Reilly and Anna Swann