Attached is the new menu which will start from Monday 15th April 2024
Return to school September 2024
Dear families
I hope you have all enjoyed some time off from work and days spent with your families over the summer, it has certainly been a dryer summer in the UK compared to 2023. The staff cannot wait to hear about all the children’s adventures over the holidays!
As you know Wednesday is staff training day and we are closed to children. School reopens on Thursday 5th September, we hope the children are really excited to come back and see all their friends.
Six weeks is a long time so below are a few reminders for families.
The start of the school day
The gates open at 8.40 am for children to enter the playground. The yard is staffed by Breakfast club staff from 8.35am.
The school day starts at 8.55 am and at this point each class should make a line in their classes at set points on the playground. All staff will be on the playground from 8.55 am to collect their classes.
Registration takes place at 9.00 am in the classroom.
Any child not in school by 9.00 am is to be registered as late. If children are not in school by 9.20 am, and no message has been received, we will make contact with parents/carers to establish the reason for absence. Attendance is a key priority for CJS and if we have concerns over attendance we will follow all necessary steps to ensure children attend school regularly and on time. We would strongly encourage you to work with us if we identify issues with your child’s attendance. Children arriving after 9.20 am will be registered under a ‘U’ code, which means they attended after registers closed and it is an unauthorised mark – these marks count towards referrals for penalty notices.
Breakfast club
Breakfast club runs from 7.45 am, parents do not need to register children, a daily register is managed by Breakfast staff at the main reception, which is then added to ParentPay. Children can come anytime between 7.45 am and 8.30am, children can access a range of breakfast food and drinks. Several members of staff manage breakfast club. Children go outside with staff from 8.35am until the bell goes at 8.55 am. We are pleased to say that we will continue to offer free breakfast club to children who are entitled to free school meals and those we receive Pupil Premium funding, if we no longer receive funding for your child we will let you know over the coming weeks. If you wish to use childcare vouchers to pay for this service you must ensure Mrs Raine is aware.
PE days
If your child’s timetable states they have PE, they need to come to school wearing their school PE kit. All timetables have been received by staff they have been added to the website and within the ‘Hub’ of the school app.
Please be mindful of the weather on PE days, they may need extra layers, if this is the case they can wear their school jumper over the top. It is important that children are wearing our school uniform.
Swimming lessons resume in the first full week of term (therefore Tuesday 10th September 2024) and for the first term this will be for Year 5. Class 5 will swim on a Tuesday and Class 6 will swim on a Thursday. This information was shared with families while the children were in Year 4. Children should be collected from the baths on their allocated days, if they are in a club they will be walked back to school. If you have siblings in other year groups and will struggle with the overlap when collecting, please let school know.
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 are charged at a daily rate of £2.81 and the weekly rate is £14.05. 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. Therefore, if your child accessed this last year it will automatically continue, if you are a Year 3 family you can confirm this with Mrs Raine. Children on packed lunches must not bring in nuts of any kind, this includes peanut butter – we have children in school with allergies. Hot food is also not permitted, such as flasks. If you want your child to have a hot meal they will need to be on school meals.
Children have the independence of choosing their own school meal options every morning through ‘cypad’ this links to ParentPay and charges for the day appear on there from 3.00 p.m.
Clubs
Our extra-curricular clubs will be back in full swing from day 1. This half term sees the return of many new and long-standing clubs.
Our clubs are extra-curricular only, not childcare, most clubs cost £1 and some are free. They all last for a half term and it relies on our staff giving up their time to run them. They change regularly in a bid to reach out to a range of interests for all year groups. Club details are shared via the app and a date/time is given to book a place, they are all on a first come basis. If the club your child is assigned to is a sports related club and it is not their usual PE day, they can come to school wearing their school PE kit.
Emergency contact information
If you have moved house, changed your contact number, or your listed contacts have changed, please forward this information to Mrs Raine on the first day (or before by email/app message). 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/email important information to your address, i.e. school reports, however, our app shares information with all families.
Water bottles and snacks
Children in year 3, and children new to our school, were provided with a school water bottle (and homework bag) on their transition day. Additional water bottles can be bought from Mrs Raine for £2.00. Water bottles should go home daily.
Children can bring in a healthy snack for morning break. This must not be sweets/chocolate or crisps. It must be fruit, cereal bars or other healthy snacks.
School fund
School fund can still be paid in the same way (ParentPay). School fund is £1 per week (or a donation if you prefer) and is used for resources for the children throughout the year. We do rely on school fund but it is voluntary.
Medicines in school
We can administer medication in school but you must complete a form for us to do so. Medicines must be prescribed and in the pharmacy packaging that clearly states this. No medicine will be administered if these things are not in place. If your child requires medicine as part of a care plan or long-term medication only one form needs to be completed unless doses change, medicines in relation to short illnesses require a new form each time. If your child uses an inhaler there is also a form to complete so please request this from Mrs Raine. We can now administer calpol/paracetamol to children but you must have given signed consent for us to do this. If we do feel your child needs this medicine during the morning we will ring you first to confirm they haven’t had this, if after lunch we will send you a message to state they have had a dose.
End of school day – we have a staggered end of the day
Year 3 & 4 finish school at 3.25 pm – they are brought onto the school yard and handed over to parents/family members.
Year 5 & 6 finish at 3.30 pm – teachers/members of staff will walk children out in a line to the edge of the school site and dismiss them from here. This is to mitigate noise and ensure calmness.
If children are not collected at 3.30 pm they will be brought back into school and primary contacts telephoned. Please talk to your child about the importance of only leaving with a trusted adult, if they are not collected they must return to school so we can contact their parent/carer.
We hope this information is useful, especially for those new to our school. Please contact us should you need any further help. No question is a ‘silly’ one! A short newsletter will be shared before the start of term.
Looking forward to seeing and meeting you all over the next few weeks.
CJS Team
Statement from the Palace
Buckingham Palace have released a statement regarding the Funeral of the Queen. It will be held on Monday 19th.
As per the instructions from the King, the school and all other public institutions will close.
God save the King.
Communication to Families – Reminder
Just a reminder to all that we now communicate to all families with children on roll in our school via our new CJS app (Weduc).
The pages on this website are still in use, therefore polices, class pages, contact forms etc are still valid and updated for parents/carers. If you are related to a child in our school we can give you access to the app, but you will need to contact Mrs Raine for this.
Our app contains a regularly updated calendar, absence recording, message facility and a daily updated newsfeed. We strongly encourage all families to access this.
Currently the website team are working to embed a page to our website where all newsfeed items can also be displayed – we recognise the website is a well used tool for families not in our school and we want you to see the amazing things we do at CJS.
Weduc and Our Bespoke CJS App
Dear Families
On Wednesday 8th September 2021 we went live with our new app. All parents/carers were sent enrollment codes via text and email several times in that week. We have 219 children on roll and 182 of these children have at least one parent/carer who has engaged with the app (84%). This means that only 182 families will receive the information we share. It is vitally important that all families have this app as they will miss out on all school communication including; special days, trips, clubs and all other events.
CJS Team
We’re Going Live with Our App on Weduc!
Dear Families,
Today we are going live with Weduc. This afternoon you will receive an email/text with an enrollment letter and code. Please follow the instructions and download our app. There is limited information on the app but this is our main method of communication now.
Thanks
CJS Team
Excellent Attendance – What a great start to the year…
Dear Families
I just wanted to offer an update on attendance after our first week in school. We aim for 96% whole school attendance and we are at 95.91% which is really good. There were some children on holiday at the end of last week, please ensure you check term dates and try to book them outside of term-time, I know this has been difficult this year due to holiday companies changing your dates.
We are also very impressed with the communication from families if children are unwell or absent, we have many methods of communication in and out of school and it is great to see them fitting around your own routines and giving you flexibility to keep us informed.
Our aim is to ensure all children access education and make progress, which can only be achieved when children are in school and learning. This is a great start.
Thank you
CJS Team
Driving Incident on Collecting Children on Friday 3rd September
Dear Families
It is with sadness and frustration that I am writing this message to all families today. Since the end of the school day on Friday 3rd September we have received numerous telephone calls and emails regarding an incident that happened outside the grounds of the school, whereby, a person in their car was driving recklessly around the school to collect their child from the gates. Not only were they driving at speed, but they were also driving the wrong way around our one-way system. There are 219 pupils in this school, as well as many smaller children from the nursery. It is totally unacceptable, and we have advised those who have contacted us to report such reckless driving to the police. We have also spoken to the police and their advice is to report it as soon as it happens so intelligence can be notified, and they are subsequently caught driving in this manner.
In all our information shared, to families old and new, we specifically set out the systems we have around school and the most sensible and safe way to adhere to them. It is a school, drop off and collection will be busy, but at least have safe regard for all other members of our school be it children or staff.
Please see the information below (taken from the 2021 School Brochure) if you need to refresh yourself on our systems and hope that such reckless driving never happens again.
“BRINGING CHILDREN TO SCHOOL
Would drivers please note that if transporting children to school the school operates a voluntary one-way system from 8.40 – 9.00 a.m. and 3.15 – 3.40 p.m. (subject to change if staggered times are still in place).
Cars entering Beechdale Road are requested to follow a one-way system along Elmdale Road onto Oakdale Road, children can be dropped off and collected on Oakdale Road and then cars continue back along Beechdale Road. Unfortunately, we do have a problem with parking in the vicinity of the school. Many parents now park on Ashdale Road and walk down to meet their children. Please note the requests below are to ensure that your child can enter and leave school safely.
• Do not block driveways to houses or park on pavements when collecting children.
• Observe the “No Unauthorised Vehicles beyond this point” sign, the double yellow and the yellow zigzag lines (“Keep Clear”). There is high risk of a fine for failure to comply even for dropping off.
• Do not bring cars into the school drive and car park – even to turn around. (Unless there are medical reasons).
• Please inform anyone who will be bringing or collecting your child (including taxis) of these rules and one-way system.
• There are now double yellow lines outside the school gates – please do not stop on these, as parking fines have already been issued to some people.”
Thank you in advance and I do hope this will never happen again.
Mr P Dixon
Head Teacher
Secondary Admissions 2022 Intake – CURRENT YEAR 6
Information from the DCC admissions team
The application process for the Secondary Admissions 2022 Intake is due to begin today, 6th September 2021.
There is a link below to the Secondary Admissions Preference Letter.
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 6th of September 2021.
The Closing Date for Secondary School Applications is the 31st October 2021.
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 6th September 2021.
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 2022/2023” will also be available from our website or on request from Monday the 6th September 2021.
School Places and Admissions Team
Covid-19 Information for Families – Repost
This information has already been shared to families, however, it is very important that you understand what the changes mean for children in school.
One point to bring to your attention is that if your child has one or more of the symptoms of Covid, either evident in school or if you ring school to inform us of this, we will request a negative PCR BEFORE they can return to school. A negative LFT will not be accepted.
Whilst we appreciate this is inconvenient, especially for working families, but we have guidance that we must also adhere to. We hope that by making this clear to our families it will not be a surprise when it is requested.
PCR test results are usually returned with 24 hours and as long as no other family member has symptoms and have been double vaccinated, then only the child is to isolate.
Apologies again, but this will be enforced for all children with one or more symptoms.
https://www.consett-jun.durham.sch.uk/covid-19-information-for-families-from-september/
CJS Team
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