We are trialing short meetings on Teams for the children this week so that they can see their friends and have a chance to ask their teacher any questions. Please use the following instructions to access your child’s Teams meeting.

Google Office 365
Use your child’s email and password to login.
On the left – hand side of the screen click on the teams app.
Click on your child’s class when it appears on the screen.
At the bottom of the next page, it should say join meeting. Click this at the time of the scheduled meeting.

Class 8 teams meeting is Friday 15th at 9.30 a.m. Dates for other class meetings will follow.

We are aware that some children will not have access to a web cam and a microphone, and we will continue to telephone these children. Please continue to email queries and work to the year group email addresses.

Take CJS Team

We have been informed about a variety of catch up clinics for the children who have not yet received the flu vaccination. Please find a list of catch up clinics on our website. Parents/Carers who did not consent previously, can also attend these clinics with their children.

There is one tomorrow, 9.00 a.m. till 1.00 p.m. at Moorside Family Centre, Chester Road, Moorside, DH6 8EQ

Confirmed Catch Up Clinics (1)

We are very impressed with the amount of work that is going on at home and we want to do something to recognise this. Therefore as of Tuesday 12th January we are holding a competition! Every star that you receive on purple mash is work 1 house point. Every thumbs up is worth two house points and every smiley face is worth 3 house points. If you receive a golden trophy this is worth a whopping 5 house points! Please record the number of house points that you are receiving with an adult and bring this record in to school when we come back. We will total up all of the house points and the winning house will receive a very special prize!

Also look out in the post for rewards being sent home. Keep up the great work everyone!

CJS Team

Dear families

If children have queries about their work they can email their teachers using the year group emails. Please try to encourage children to be independent in emailing their questions themselves, it is an excellent tool for them to use to practice their ICT skills.

As each child has been provided with their own 365 account they should be using the email set up for them. If they do not know what this is please email Mrs Raine on consettjunior@durhamlearning.net

There are some fantastic questions coming in from the children not to mention pictures of their work. Please applaud them and tell them we think they are doing a fantastic job!

Take care
CJS team

Morning all, the conditions of the roads due to last nights snow fall have made it unsafe to drive to school for some. Side roads and estates are extremely poor with main roads not much better. Given the weather forecast for the remainder of the day we will not be opening the school today. Online learning will be set as normal, HOWEVER, we expect all children to enjoy the snow! Stay safe, CJS

Dear all our amazing children!

Just a quick ‘thumbs up’ to all children who are accessing their year group emails to communicate with their year group staff! The fact you are asking amazing questions and seeking support for your remote learning shows how independent you all are…

If parents/carers have queries of their own please continue to direct these to consettjunior@durhamlearning.net so we can all share the workload.

Year3@cjschool.co.uk
Year4@cjschool.co.uk
Year5@cjschool.co.uk
Year6@cjschool.co.uk

CJS Team

Dear families

Yesterday I informed families who have children entitled to Free School Meals that Taylor Shaw have made the decision to provide weekly food hampers while the school is open. At that time, we were unsure what the contents would be, below is a list of the items to expect.

1 x loaf of bread 800g
2 x Jacket Potatoes
1 x Cucumber
3 x Tomatoes
200g Cheese
5 x Fruit
6 x Eggs
1 x Baked Beans 400g
Fruit Yoghurts

The deadline to complete this form was 10.00 a.m. today, if you have forgot to do this I will extend this to 12.00 noon today. So far we have had 17 orders.

I have had requests for other people to collect the hamper on their behalf. This is perfectly fine, but please ensure you/they do not collect the hampers until we have sent a text to say they have been delivered to school.

Collections are to be made from the school kitchen hatch (car park), and the child’s name/family name must be stated in order for them to be given out.

Any queries, I am here to help

Mrs Raine

Good Afternoon to all our families,

I hope everyone is well at home and you are all preparing to adapt to the changes ahead. Although we knew this would be a difficult few months and the risks of another lockdown looming, at no point did we feel we would be back to the point we were in last March as soon as this. Let’s hope we can all be there for each other and keep a close eye on the vulnerable people around us.

As today was the first day back in remote learning for most of our CJS families, we have had a few queries on how things will actually work. The remote learning policy was set up last term and shared with families, however, we appreciate it is all very different when actually put in place.

Therefore, I just wanted to share an update with you all to clarify the Remote Learning situation.

The children at home should be following the timetable that is issued as part of our Remote Education Policy  – I have added a link to this policy and shared the Timetable below.

Remote Learning

Remote Learning Timetable

https://www.lingotot.co.uk/consettjuniors.html

We appreciate that it won’t always be possible to complete work at a regular time, as many families are sharing devices, and those with siblings in secondary schools may take priority if their lessons are live . However, the expectation is that this work is completed, even if this means a variation to the times for some children. The completion and standards of work will most certainly be monitored with regular feedback through Purple Mash. Remote learning work will NOT necessarily be marked live or even given extensive feedback, as the staff are still teaching children of critical workers and vulnerable children who are in attendance at school.  Teachers will now be planning online lessons, planning and teaching children in school as well as marking completed work. Please rest assured all pieces of work the children complete will receive a response, however, this cannot be as detailed as some may prefer.

Part of the government expectation is that we contact families weekly, the reason for this is not only to ensure families are coping with the remote learning, both in the delivery and the completion. But also to ensure they are coping with the changes and the priority is their well-being. On a weekly basis you will receive a call either from the class teacher or the class support assistant, please ensure you answer the call and note that you may either receive a call from the school number or a withheld number.  When staff call you they will want to speak to both the parent and the child. Please use this as an opportunity to ask questions and/or offload any struggles you are having.

If children are not completing work that has been set for them, we will need to make immediate contact. While we all want children to be in school, we also need to ensure we are continuing to meet their educational needs. The work set mirrors the curriculum they would be offered should they be in school.

The 365 email address they have is an opportunity for children to make enquiries/ask for help from the year group staff. Year group teachers monitor these so please encourage the children to be independent and use them. The email address is as follows (please just change and apply the number applicable to your child’s year group 3, 4, 5 or 6).

year3@cjschool.co.uk

If your child has a specific query about their work/log ins, please use the designated year group email. If your issue is regarding anything else, please use the school email consettjunior@durhamlearning.net

We want you to know that we are still a fully operational school even when you are at home, we will still set tasks/activities and communicate with you throughout this lockdown, we request the same from you.

This is still early days in the whole process – I’m sure we may have the odd teething problem – but I’m hopeful all will work well. We understand that this is a difficult time for parents/carers who are trying to work from home and teach their children.  Although the expectation is for work to be completed, the children can only do their best without the direct support of staff in school.

Kind regards,

Mr Dixon
Head Teacher

Dear families

We have received confirmation today from Taylor Shaw (our school meals provider) about how they are going to support families of free school meal children during this lock down while school remains open to critical workers/vulnerable children.

As our kitchen is open to serve meals. A decision has been made to prepare food hampers for children who meet criteria and are not in school. Each food hamper will contain ingredients to allow families to give their child a meal that week, without collecting on a daily basis.

If you are entitled to FSM and would like to order a weekly hamper then please complete this forms link below by 10.00 a.m. tomorrow. Orders are placed with the supplier and are delivered to school on a Monday, starting next week. You only need to complete this form once and we will order every week on your behalf. If you do not complete the form you will not have a hamper to collect. ALL HAMPERS MUST BE COLLECTED FROM THE SCHOOL HATCH.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Uv_fRWSDc02_Oo-YvfENhzGYEp0zDERAnxWCoX5eIjVUQzRTQ09aSzlBRTBSSTZPRU43QzhFTjA4TC4u

The content of the hampers has not yet been shared but meets the following criteria:

Food parcels should:

• Contain food items rather than pre-prepared meals due to food safety considerations.
• Minimise the fridge and freezer space that schools and families will need to store foods.
• Contain items which parents can use to prepare healthy lunches for their child/children across the week.
• Not rely on parents having additional ingredients at home to prepare meals.
• Not contain items restricted under the school food standards.
• Cater for pupils who require special diets, for example, allergies, vegetarians or religious diets – schools should ensure there are systems in place to avoid cross-contamination.
• Contain appropriate packaging sizes for household use, rather than wholesale sizes.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools

It certainly appears things are not going well for the start of this term, not only have we closed to most of our children, but now the weather forecast is also causing concern!

Despite only opening for some children – please can we request that you revert to the information below and be aware this could also impact on the opening of our school.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/gcy8n36q6#?date=2021-01-05

This post is to alert parents to our procedures in the event of bad weather. It is our priority to remain open and as such Mr O’Dowd will work to ensure that the site is both accessible and safe.

There may, however, be occasions when the school might not be able to open as normal as a result of severe weather. It is always difficult to make the right decision due to the unpredictability of the weather; we will aim to do this as swiftly as we can. Please rest assured that any decisions taken will be based around ensuring that your children are kept as safe as possible, taking into account: whether children can get safely to school/public transport is running/main roads are accessible; whether enough staff can get to school to have a safe pupil-teacher ratio.

In such instances, any changes to the usual opening times will be communicated via:

◦Visit https://www.durham.gov.uk to see a list of ‘temporary school closures’

◦Local radio alert
◦A school App alert
◦A school website update
◦A school text message

Please be aware that when the school is open during periods of bad weather, we anticipate a later arrival of children due to transport delays caused by road traffic conditions. In light of this, on some occasions we will alert you if we change the time we close the register.

On rare occasions too, a decision may be made to send pupils home early or to close the school during the school day due to severe weather conditions. In such instances, parents/carers will be notified in the first instance by a school text message, followed by a school app alert and school website update. There are also some families who will be contacted directly on other numbers, but only if they have notified the office to do so. It is on these poor weather occasions we would stress the importance of checking your phone and ensuring your contact details are correct.

If you are in any doubt about school closures please ensure you check our systems for our communications first.