Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• School Back Open 26th January but no Breakfast Club

  Mon 25 Jan 2021 Mrs Rudd

  The school will open again tomorrow to those who have been given a critical worker or vulnerable pupil place. However we will have to make sure paths are clear and safe therefore we will not be having our usual breakfast club. We will open the gates at 8.45am for all pupils.

  Water Mill Close will be very icy therefore I suggest that you do not try to drive down. 

  The children will be going into the playground to play in the snow, therefore please send them in with appropriate footwear, gloves, hats and coats.

• Snow Closure

  Sun 24 Jan 2021 Mrs Rudd

  For the safety of pupils, staff and parents we have decided to close school tomorrow. The roads are very dangerous and are likely to get worse with -5 temperatures predicted over night.

  Those pupils who would have been in school can complete the online learning tasks set for their Year group.

  Stay safe and warm everyone.

• Thank you

  Fri 15 Jan 2021 Mrs Rudd

  A huge thank you to parents, staff and pupils for everything you have done over the last two weeks to keep our children safe and learning. I think it has been a brilliant achievement.

  Every day not only are we teaching children in school, we are also teaching the children at home through our online services. The vast majority of pupils are taking part and are accessing a full curriculum.

  Staff are keeping in touch with you all and we are quickly sorting any queries you have with accessing the materials. Parents are doing an amazing job of supporting learning as well as taking care of their other responsibilities.

  It just shows what we can do when we all work together! Water Mill is a fantastic community, I am so proud of you all and feel so lucky to be your headteacher.

   

  The government has announced that vouchers will begin again next week for those children entitled to free school meals. If you have not registered for free school meals then now is the time to do it. Children who are attending school will not be entitled to vouchers as they can get a meal in school.

   

  Our current texting system will end in March. From then on we will use emails, the school app and the website to communicate with parents. Please make sure you have downloaded the app and that the school has a current email address for all those who want to get messages.

   

  Please get in touch if you have any queries or comments about the organisation of learning during this period. I think we are dong a great job, but we are always happy to consider how we could do things even better. Positive comments are very welcome too!!

   

  Have a relaxing weekend everyone

• Government Advice

  Thu 07 Jan 2021 Mrs Rudd

  We have received the following information from The Department For Education:

  'Being at school is vital for children and young people’s education and for their wellbeing. Time spent out of education is detrimental for children and young people’s cognitive and academic development, particularly for disadvantaged children and young people.

  The decision to limit on-site provision to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers, does not suggest that schools and colleges are no longer safe places. Instead, limiting attendance is about reducing the number of contacts that all of us have with people in other households. We have resisted limiting attendance at schools and colleges until now, but in the face of the rapidly rising numbers of cases across the country and intense pressure on the NHS, we now need to use every lever at our disposal to reduce contacts outside households wherever possible. In all cases, provision must continue to be made on-site for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers to safeguard their welfare and ensure essential services can continue to function.

  The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has in the last few days said: “Children’s wards are usually busy in winter. As of now we are not seeing significant pressure from COVID-19 in paediatrics across the UK. As cases in the community rise there will be a small increase in the number of children we see with COVID-19, but the overwhelming majority of children and young people have no symptoms or very mild illness only. The new variant appears to affect all ages and, as yet, we are not seeing any greater severity amongst children and young people.”

  There is no evidence the new strain of the virus causes more serious illness in either children or adults and there continues to be strong evidence, to date, that children and younger people (those under 18 years old) are much less susceptible to severe clinical disease than older people.'

• School Closures update

  Thu 07 Jan 2021 Mrs Rudd

  You should all have been contacted now about procedures during the school closures. You should also have received an email giving you passwords etc for the online learning platforms we will be using. If you have not heard from us then please get in touch urgently so that you have all of the information you need.

   

  If you think you are a 'critical worker' (the new name for key workers) then please get in touch if you require a place for your child and have not already been offered one.

   

  We will be keeping a record of all pupils attending the daily online meetings with class teachers. If your child does not attend then we will contact you to find out why. If your child regularly does not attend they will be asked to attend school instead.

   

  Further details about the procedures are available on the Covid page of this website.

• School Closures

  Tue 05 Jan 2021 Mrs Rudd

  Teaching staff are currently contacting parents of children who meet the criteria for attending school so that they can start tomorrow, Wednesday. This means key worker and vulnerable pupils. ( A full list of these is on the government website)

   

  All home learning will start on Thursday. We will be sending home information about home learning tomorrow, including passwords to access the online learning sites. We will contact parents of those without internet access to let you know how you can access paper versions of the work that is being set tomorrow.

   

  To date we have had no further information from the government about their requirements for the lockdown school closures. We are therefore planning based upon what we have been doing so far and the risk assessments that we already have in place.

   

  I will update you all tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.

• School Closures

  Mon 04 Jan 2021 Mrs Rudd

  After spending today planning for the safe return of all of our pupils, the government has now announced that all schools will be closed from tomorrow and that only key worker and vulnerable pupils will be allowed to attend.

   

  We now need to organise groups and staff so that we can safely teach these children and organise home learning for all other children. We are not surprised about this announcement and had thought that it would happen at some point so had already started planning for this. However we need to close to all pupils tomorrow, including those of key workers and vulnerable pupils, just for one day so that we can sort classrooms, staff and risk assess for this new way of teaching.

   

  We will be contacting all those who will be able to come to school on Wednesday to let you know about the arrangements.

   

  We will also be contacting all those who will be being taught from home to let you know the arrangements for this.

   

  If you are on the governments key worker list can you please make sure you complete the form in the previous link by 10am tomorrow morning at the latest, or you may not be offered a place.

   

  I am sure that you agree with us that this decision should have been made earlier so that you and we could prepare. However for the safety of all of our community we think that it is the right thing to do.

   

  More information will be available on the Covid section of this website tomorrow afternoon. Please be patient, this is going to take a lot of organising.

• Key Worker Form

  Mon 04 Jan 2021 Mr Hill

  Just in case we have to close we are updating our list of key workers. Please click on the below link and complete the form if you are on the governments key worker list.

   

  https://forms.gle/8TuH1UyNHEec6AEf7

• Start of new term

  Sun 03 Jan 2021 Mrs Rudd

  Happy New Year to you all.

  I am sure you will have heard/read on the news about all of the talks about schools opening/not opening this week. I have only heard the same information as all of you and as things stand at this moment the school will open to all pupils on Tuesday. However changes seem to happen at the last minute and it could be that we are told something different by then. I will keep you informed and if I hear anything that changes the plans I will let you know by email and through this section of the website.

  Just in case things do change we are sending out a form for key workers to complete so that we would know how many children would be in school if things do change and only certain children are allowed in school. If this happened we would contact all those who would be eligible to come in.

  I am personally very disappointed that these decisions are all being made at such short notice. I feel it is very unfair to working parents and worrying for staff, parents and pupils.

  I will be in touch if anything changes.