Public Health England have produced a letter for schools to distribute to parents which explains when a person requires a coronavirus test and what the symptoms of coronavirus are. The Department would be grateful if we could share and circulate this letter amongst parents at our school.

The intention of the letter is to help prevent children being taken out of school unnecessarily and answer some of the questions parents may have around testing.

23rd September – PHE letter to parents and guardians

We will be sending home the individual photograph proofs with children today. If your child was absent last Friday when the photographer was in, you can still have your child’s photograph taken by making an appointment with Mark to go to his shop. You can make your appointment for first thing on a morning if it helps with work and school dropping off, as long as we know they will be late.

The costs of the photographs are kept low and we receive no commission from sales. We are supporting a local business who have been affected by lockdown.

The orders must be returned to school before FRIDAY 23RD OCTOBER (or Mark if your prefer) and you must include either the correct amount of cash OR enclose a cheque payable to ‘Mark Wilkinson Photography’.

If your child is absent today they can collect it when they return to school.

Dear Parents and Carers

We are very concerned that too many Year 5 and 6 pupils are arriving at school well before their allocated time – some as early as 8.40 a.m. This cannot happen as the Year 3 and 4 pupils allocated time is 8.45 a.m. Please ensure if your children have no younger siblings that they arrive as close to 9.00 a.m. as possible. It is creating unnecessary congestion around the school but especially at the top gate. Also, blocking local residents drives is not helpful. We have been sent car registration numbers of those parking irresponsibly and we will not hesitate to forward these to the council and police.

The children are our number one priority. A pupil from another school was hit by a car after school yesterday, it was up close to the Infant School, which is also a congested area. I am sure no one would want the injury or fatality of a child on their conscience. Luckily this girl was not seriously injured, but very shaken up.

Also at pick up times, we have seen an increase in parents/carers arriving at school as early as 2.45 p.m., Year 3 and 4 do not finish until 3.05 p.m. Please do not come early than your collection time and when collecting children from the yard listen too our staff and follow the cones, some parents are cutting across the yard.

We are trying our best to ensure that the bubbles in school do not mix, we have employed additional staff at lunchtime, increased our cleaning budgets and efforts; all to ensure we do not have any positive cases of COVID. It is very clear from local restrictions that we ALL need to take responsibility in following the rules and guidance.

We really need your support in this matter.

Many thanks,
Mr P Dixon

Head Teacher

Evening all,

Firstly can I just take this opportunity to thank parents and families for the way they have adapted and supported the school at this crazy time. As you know it is difficult to make judgements as to whether our children have colds, perhaps flu or are displaying symptoms of Covid but I must thank you all for taking a pragmatic and sensible approach at this time, it is very much appreciated.

Secondly, thank you for following the guidance of pick ups and drop offs, it is certainly much smoother this week. You may see parents coming to the main entrance, please do not worry, this is because they have appointments.

Can you also please share with those who drop off and pick up our children to be mindful of the one way system we use for driving around Beechdale and Ashdale road; as well as remind family members that parking outside the One Point building is not permitted.  It really is not necessary to block residential driveways or to get so close to school as it actually puts your children in serious danger. The staff car park is strictly for staff of the nursery and our school, also as many families leave school via the car park now, it is not safe to use the car park as a u-turn or waiting point.

As always I hope you are all well, please be very proud of your children, they have settled so well and are a credit to you all.

Thank you again

Mr Dixon

Head Teacher

We are delighted to confirm that despite the many challenges we have all faced together over the past few months, M & M Theatrical Productions will still be honouring our forthcoming pantomime booking of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ on Tuesday 17th November. .

To ensure high standards of health and safety are maintained, we have the companies policy and they too have our risk assessment. We will be operating this with four separate showings on the day to allow for the separation of our bubbles and cleaning between.

In the past all children would be in the hall and it was a live team of about four actors. The company have purchased cinematic screens to deliver the show in a pre-recorded and digitally interactive way. Only one actor will perform in this show, by the use of the screen. It sounds amazing and we are so pleased the children can enjoy the show with safety in the highest regard.

As the sound can be controlled there will be no loud bangs as there was in the live shows, so more children can enjoy the show. If you have any queries please speak to Mrs Raine.

In order to allow all four bubbles to see the show we will need to end the school day later than normal on this day, but this will ONLY impact on Year 6. Year 6 will not be finished until 3.45 p.m. on this day.

Dear Families of Year 6

We have recently received the very sad news below about our 2021 Ford Castle trip. As overnight stays are currently not allowed we desperately want to try and organise something else. We have produced a ‘Teams Questionnaire’ and would like you to complete this with your child. Please can this be done before Monday 21st September.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Uv_fRWSDc02_Oo-YvfENhzGYEp0zDERAnxWCoX5eIjVUMk5BRTNWM01ISEtGV0dXRFFVRjg2WEJaOS4u

“As we are all aware the Covid 19 epidemic has caused great disruption to our lives and especially to schools and pupil activities. Ford Castle has been closed since the government “lock down” in March with now no possibility of opening this year.

We have carefully reviewed our options for continuing at Ford in these uncertain times and have had to make some difficult decisions. Our 2020 income has been drastically reduced and although the government initiatives have helped many costs have still to be met this year. The end of the furlough scheme next month has caused us to dismiss most of our staff which has been extremely upsetting as we had built an excellent team and these good people now face difficult times.

The number of school bookings for 2021 is less than we would normally expect only 4 months before the start of next year and it is likely that 2021 would see a greatly reduced number of visitors. A second wave of Covid or even a large spike in infections would reduce numbers even more. In this situation we have reached the decision that Ford Castle cannot open in 2021 or perhaps even longer.”

This information will also be distributed in a letter to all year 6 pupils today. It provide parents with details of how they can make their child’s application for a Secondary School placement in 2021.

PLEASE ENSURE YOU MAKE YOUR APPLICATION AS NEAR TO THE OPENING DATE AS POSSIBLE, AND ENSURE YOU RECEIVE AN AUTOMATED REPLY TO YOUR APPLICATION.

The application process for the Secondary Admissions 2021 Intake is due to begin on Monday 14th September 2020.

Parents can make their application for Secondary School online by visiting www.durham.gov.uk/schooladmissions and the School Admissions online application facility will be available to parents from Monday the 14th of September 2020.

The Closing Date for Secondary School Applications is the 31st October 2020.

If parents do not wish to apply online they can complete a paper application form, and these are available to print from our website (same website address as above) from Monday the 14th September 2020.

Alternatively these application forms can be requested by e-mail to schooladmissions@durham.gov.uk or by telephone from the School Admissions and Transport Team on 03000 265896.

Copies of the Parent’s guide “Primary and Secondary School Admissions in County Durham 2021/2022” will also be available from our website or on request from Monday the 14th September 2020.

Dear Families

Based on the uptake of the flu immunisations last year and after analysing the figures of using paper or electronic forms, it has been decided that it would be better for our school to have paper consent forms.

Each class has been provided with the forms today for children to bring home tonight.

Please can these be returned to school by Friday 25th September. The nasal flu immunisation team will not be in school until the 4th December, but early collection of forms allows us to monitor those who have or have not given consent, ready to pass to the team on 23rd November.

Please note, if you do not give permission, your child cannot have the immunisation.

I have attached a scanned copy of the form below, should you wish to print and complete yourself.

Kind regards
CJS Team

Flu Immunisation Consent Form

There are an increasing number of families who are NOT contacting school to inform of the reason for their child’s absence. In the current climate it is absolutely vital that you do this. We have many methods of communication in place, which should offer flexibility of communication for all – with no barriers for contacting us.

Attendance at school is mandatory, therefore all absences must be reported ASAP. Depending on the reason for absence you may not need to contact school everyday, but you will be advised of this in the first instance. Failure to contact school could result in a home visit, or a welfare check from the Police.

Telephone: 01207 504431
Text: 07537 436638 – Only the primary carer will receive a school text message, used when the app is not suitable, i.e. absences, reminders, events, payments and school closure emergencies. You cannot reply to school texts but you can send separate texts to this number. Please use school texts to inform of absences, appointments or if you have a general inquiry.

Email: consettjunior@durhamlearning.net

Key Contacts:
Mr. P Dixon – Head teacher and Safeguarding Lead
Miss R Waters – Deputy Head teacher and Sendco
Mrs. D Raine – School Operations Manager and Safeguarding Officer

Kind regards
CJS Team