5^th January 2021

School Closure

Dear Parents and Carers 

You will now be aware that a new national lockdown has been announced to run from 6^th January until February half term.  In line with the guidance from the government, school has now closed to the large majority of our children. I am very relieved to say that our decision not to open the school yesterday was very prudent and has avoided us having 400+ children in the same space with so much being unknown about the new variant of the virus.

The school remains open to a limited number of children who are classed as vulnerable or children whose parents are critical workers who are required to continue attending their work places (under the strict definitions as issued in the updated government guidance.)

Vulnerable children and young people include those who:

• are assessed as being in need under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, including children and young people who have a child in need plan, a child protection plan or who are a looked-after child
• have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• have been identified as otherwise vulnerable by educational providers or local authorities (including children’s social care services), and who could therefore benefit from continued full-time attendance.

Critical workers

Parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and EU transition response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined in the sections detailed at the end of this letter.

Whilst we wish we could have all children in school, it is currently safest to only have a very limited number of children on site and this enables us to implement better social distancing measures for both adults and children. Thank you to those critical workers who have already contacted us requesting spaces, this has helped us to quickly set up our provision (info@newlandsprimary.co.uk ).

Remote Learning (Home Learning)

Our teachers plan meticulously for deep learning and our curriculum will continue online on our website. Children are expected to work from home – this is not optional! Primary school pupils are expected to work for an average of 3 hours a day if at home.

https://www.newlandsprimary.co.uk/home-learning/

Click on your child’s year group to access the weekly home learning grids and resources. Teachers are busy planning for children’s learning at home and will shortly be posting videos to support the children and to stay in touch. We realise that not everyone has access to online learning and therefore we will continue to provide paper work packs for those who request them if you cannot access things online.

Teachers are available on the year group emails and look forward to hearing from you if you need any help or want to show off any great learning from home. Teachers will also make weekly contact with children via phone calls.

Benefits-related FSM Eligibility

If your child is entitled benefits related Free School Meals, we will be providing food parcels for them. The school has made the decision to put this support into place immediately whilst we await any further information on whether the government will use a national scheme for this period of lockdown. The school will make contact with families about how to go about collecting food parcels if you are entitled.

We understand that this is a worrying time for all families, but it is important that families continue to follow Public Health advice and if you should have any health worries, please go to 111 online in the first instance. Remember if you are unwell or self-isolating, you should not be leaving the house for a period of 10 days.

If we all follow the rules, we will get through this together.

Should you need to get hold of anyone at school over the closure period, please call the school office or email the school at: info@newlandsprimary.co.uk. Staff will be checking this email daily, but may not be able to reply straightaway.

If you have a question about learning, please use the year group email address:

Year R              year.r@newlandsprimary.co.uk

Year 1              year.1@newlandsprimary.co.uk

Year 2              year.2@newlandsprimary.co.uk

Year 3              year.3@newlandsprimary.co.uk

Year 4              year.4@newlandsprimary.co.uk

Year 5              year.5@newlandsprimary.co.uk

Year 6              year.6@newlandsprimary.co.uk

We will send out any updates during the closure period via MarvellousMe, email and our Facebook page, or text message if needs be. Please ensure we have up to date contact numbers and email addresses and that you keep your MMe notifications turned on.

Thank you for your on-going support and stay safe. We hope to see you soon.

Karen Mellor

Headteacher

CRITICAL WORKER LIST:

Health and social care

This includes, but is not limited to, doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes:

• childcare
• support and teaching staff
• social workers
• specialist education professionals who must remain active during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response to deliver this approach

Key public services

This includes:

• those essential to the running of the justice system
• religious staff
• charities and workers delivering key frontline services
• those responsible for the management of the deceased
• journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of:

• the coronavirus (COVID-19) response, and the delivery of and response to EU transition
• essential public services, such as the payment of benefits and the certification or checking of goods for import and export (including animal products, animals, plants and food), including in government agencies and arms length bodies

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food:

• production
• processing
• distribution
• sale and delivery
• as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines)

Public safety and national security

This includes:

• police and support staff
• Ministry of Defence civilians
• contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and EU transition)
• fire and rescue service employees (including support staff)
• National Crime Agency staff
• those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas

Transport and border

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response and EU transition, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass and those constructing or supporting the operation of critical transport and border infrastructure through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes:

• staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure)
• the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage)
• information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response
• key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services)
• postal services and delivery
• payments providers
• waste disposal sectors