Dear Parents/Carers/families and our lovely ‘incredibly missed’ children
We hope you have all enjoyed the summer holidays and managed some ‘safe’ breaks away or days out together. As I am sure you will agree school re-opening is desperately needed. At this time of year we usually send you all a list of reminders about returning to school after the summer, these are required now more than ever and are also quite in depth. Please take the time to read through them, and discuss with your child, as well as re-capping on the information in the link below regarding changes to the operation of the school day including times – adhering to these things is vitally important for the safety of all. Over the next few days the teachers will forward information to me which will be uploaded to class pages regarding timetables and this term’s curriculum. Understandably many children and families are anxious about the reopening of schools, rest assured we are preparing for this and will ensure support is in place for any child/family who are struggling.
Next week we have arranged short visits for our Year 3 pupils, additional transition days for current pupils and then a full school return for all on Thursday 3rd September. If this applies to you we have already sent you a school text, but we will re-send again this week.
https://www.consett-jun.durham.sch.uk/changes-to-the-times-of-the-day-september-2020/
Below are a few reminders and bits of information to read before starting back…
First day back – School re-opens to ALL children on Thursday 3rd September. Year 3 children have been allocated a visit time on Tuesday 1st September. All Year 3 and selected current pupils have been invited to come to school for a full day on Wednesday 2nd September. Please do not send your child into school before Thursday if this has not been arranged.
Breakfast club – We will be running our breakfast club from Thursday 3rd September. You do not need to book a place for this club. It starts at 7.45 a.m., so please ensure your child does not arrive before this time as there is no supervision of your child until 7.45 a.m. Breakfast club remains to be £2.50 per day and free for all children on FSM or for pupils we receive pupil premium funding for (if you are unsure please contact Mrs Raine). This must be paid using ParentPay in the week your child attends. Children come to the main door and ring the bell to enter. Breakfast club changes for Covid – children must sit at their own year group table only, staff will operate a table service for children. There will be no outdoor time during breakfast club and when their start of day commences they will go to the class from the hall.
School start time – School starts at different times depending on the year group your child is in.
Year 3 and 4 times from 3rd September on wards
Start time: 8.45 am
Lunchtime: 11.50 am – 12.35 pm
End of Day: 3.05 pm
Year 5 and 6 times from the 4th September on wards
Start time: 9.00 am
Lunchtime: 12.35 pm – 1.20 pm
End of Day: 3.20 pm
If children come into school before their designated start time it must be for the breakfast club service. If you have children in different year groups your other child can go into breakfast club and sit at their year group table for the 15 minute wait time. At the end of the day children who have siblings finishing at 3.20 p.m. will wait in the hall and be escorted out with their class teacher at 3.20 p.m. This support will mean families do not need to wait outside for the 15 minutes and also keeps the flow of parents/carers moving to prevent issues with social distancing.
School Meal Arrangements – All children must remain on the meal arrangement they accessed before the holidays, unless you informed Mrs Raine otherwise. There is a two week notice period required for a change to school meal arrangements. If you change without notifying the office then your ParentPay account will be charged the daily rate. School meals remain at £2.05 and the weekly rate is £10.25. Children on packed lunches can access a dinner on a Friday as part of an on-going Fun Friday arrangement we run, but this must be pre- ordered, either on a one off basis or permanently. Meal arrangement changes due to Covid – all children will have a staggered lunch and will eat in their classrooms. Lunchtimes in the hall will cease due to the inability to successfully clean the area and allow the children sufficient time to eat their lunch. Instead, by year group children on school meals will go into the hall to collect their meal and return to the classroom to eat.
Swimming lessons – Due to Covid there will be no swimming sessions this term. This will be reviewed and changes will be shared with you accordingly.
School uniform – Please visit our website for the school uniform requirements. All children must be in the correct uniform, which includes shoes and P.E. kit. Our uniform supplier is Tots to Teams. https://www.consett-jun.durham.sch.uk/parents/our-school-uniform/ . Changes due to Covid – school uniform is preferred but it will not be mandatory until the second half term. However, we discourage children from wearing football strips and clothing that may get damaged. Our school policy on ear rings, hair and nail polish remains the same and can be found by accessing the school uniform link.
School finish time – See above.
Appointments – All routine medical appointments, unless an emergency or exceptional circumstances, should be made outside of the school day. If they are during the school day, you must provide a copy of the appointment details. Changes due to Covid – if you have an appointment during the school day which cannot be made at any other time, you must inform Mrs Raine so that changes for entering and exiting school can be arranged.
Emergency contact information – If you have moved house, changed your contact number, or your listed contacts have change, please forward this information to Mrs Raine on the first day (or before by email). If you are a family who require two sets of important information, you must inform us of this. If you are a parent who does not live with your child, we can post important information to your address, i.e. school reports/newsletters.
Water bottles – Children in year 3 will be provided with a school water bottle (and homework bag) on their first day. Additional water bottles can be bought from Mrs Raine for £2.00. Water bottles must go home everyday so please ensure your child remembers this. Should they forget please do not send them back into school for it that day.
After school clubs – Changes due to Covid – ALL after school clubs have been put on hold. We hope to be able to start year group clubs after this half term, as we cannot mix year group bubbles. This means that the on going clubs, band; cross country; football and karate are also on hold. We will look at the possibility of resuming after school cross country by year group, if the need is there. If you require the Infant School after school club, all questions relating to must be directed to Consett Infant School.
Payments to school – We have now added more services to ParentPay. Previously only dinners and breakfast club were paid in this way. But due to moving towards a cashless school and keeping items in school to a minimum, other services have now been added. Therefore the payment of dinners, breakfast club, clubs (when on) and trips must be paid through ParentPay. However, school fund and those going to Ford Castle in 2021 (so far this is still planned) will be through cash payments in school. Future residential trips will be added to ParentPay, If we raise money for any charity now, where possible a ‘Just Giving Page’ will be set up.
School fund can still be paid in the same way or dropped into our ‘money spinner’. School fund is £1 per week (or a donation if you prefer) and is used for resources for the children. We do rely on school fund.
School texts – If you need to contact the school to inform of absences, general enquiries etc., we have a school text number, 07537436638 . Alternatively you can send an email to consettjunior@durhamlearning.net . If your child is absent from school you must ensure you inform us, otherwise this is recorded as an unauthorised absence, which will result in an attendance referral if they hit the triggers. It is our responsibility to monitor and support attendance in our school. Changes due to Covid – we have received updated policies and procedures for attendance which we will share shortly. Attendance from September is mandatory. We will support all families who are anxious about returning to school, but this is a legal requirement and we must conform to this. Failure to send children to school after it has been raised with you and support offered, will result in a Fixed Penalty Notice and furthermore face prosecution.
We hope this information is useful, especially for those new to our school. Please contact us should you need any further help.
Looking forward to seeing and meeting you all over the next few weeks.
CJS Team
