Since sharing the devastating news about last nights deliberate fire, it is without surprise that our families were as equally shocked as we were. Their generosity and care has been amazing, calls to help tidy, emails offering help and to just to share their devastation. We have also been informed that a gofundme page has been set up to try and give the children back the summer house they once had. Thank you to all parents and especially Kyla, Mother of Elise, for starting the page. We are speechless….and for those who know our staff team, that doesn’t happen often!

With everything going on at the moment, the tasks involved in preparing the school to reopen, this is the last thing we expected.

Thank you to everyone, it really means a lot.

CJS team

https://www.gofundme.com/f/new-summer-house-for-consett-junior-school?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet

It is with great sadness and anger that we inform you of a fire that we had on our school grounds last night, which resulted in the school’s outdoor summer house being burnt to the ground. The fire brigade were called at 5pm by a parent who lives nearby.

The team worked for over an hour putting out the fire and then making the site safe enough for children to continue attending.

The school is currently open to key worker children, with the intention of opening for Year 6 pupils on the 15th June. The police believe that this was a deliberate arson attack. The summer house was built after the school won the Tesco community grant scheme and we intended to make it into an outdoor library for the children at our school. As you can imagine the whole team at CJS are deeply saddened by this thoughtless act and we are appealing for any witnesses to contact the police 0345 606 0365 or 101.

As a school who put our hearts into the local community and families, we are left devastated by this thoughtless and disgusting attack. With all the uncertainty and sadness we are facing in the world right now, this act is utterly shameful.

We are obviously relieved that no-one was hurt in the fire and our children were not present to see it.

From all at CJS

We have been informed that the cost of school meals will increase from September 2020.

The cost of a school meals will increase from £2.05 per day to £2.10 per day.

The fifth set of work packs are printed and ready to collect. If you have previously emailed consettjunior@durhamlearning.net or rang school to request paper copies, you DO NOT need to do this again as we have a list.

Due to social distancing, these packs will be in named sealed envelopes and left in the school reception porch. When you come to collect it, please be considerate of other people who may also be collecting theirs, and maintain your 2m social distance. As they are in the front porch you can come at anytime as access to this area is 24/7.

If you have not arranged for a paper pack please do not come to school, as there will not be a pack for you to collect.

This afternoon your child’s website class page will not be available. If you try to log in it will request a password. This is to allow the new packs to be uploaded to the website. If you have not yet printed or saved the documents from your child’s page, you only have until 3.00 p.m. to do so. Once the pages are live again the only work on there will be the newly uploaded packs and on going topics. This is to save confusion on what your child has or hasn’t done. Do not start any work until you receive your text. All children in each class have different capabilities, your text will be curtailed to meet your child’s ability.

As previously shared, these websites are also really useful

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/znbnscw
http://www.thenational.academy/

Finally, these fifth packs are for the two weeks commencing Monday 8th June, we have agreed that there will only be one more pack of work to complete before the end of the summer term, which will be for w/c 22nd June. The remaining two weeks are for children to catch up on any work they have not yet completed from previous sets and we will also set a fun ‘challenge’ to end the summer term – details to follow.

As always we welcome photographs of what your child has been up to emailed to school, we have really enjoyed the Fun in the Sun photographs!

Stay safe…we are only an email away…

CJS Staff Team

We are looking forward to starting to welcome some of our children back into school.  The information below is tightly linked to risk assessments and is aimed to support all staff and children in school and minimise the risk as far as possible.  We recognise some of these measures are very different to how we normally work but we need to ensure everyone in school is safe.

• Children will be taught in groups of 8.
• All classrooms have been measured to support social distancing
• Children will be allocated to a group and this group (pod) will remain together at all times across the day, they will not mix with anyone else in school and will, where possible, have the same teacher at all times. They may not be in their normal classrooms and we cannot swap children or guarantee staff or other children in the pod.  Your child may not be with their friends due to numbers involved.
• Children do not need to wear school uniform but do need to wear clean washed clothes daily as the virus is known to sit on clothing and paper for a period of time.
• Please adhere to strict social distancing at drop off points and only arrive at school in time to drop off and collect your child.
• The office is closed to visitors and parents. No one can come into school unless by a prior arranged appointment and social distancing rules will be followed.
• Information or concerns can be passed through the office via telephone or email.
• Please ensure you are aware of your child’s pick up and drop off times and stick rigidly to these times to help the day run smoothly – Your child’s pod adult will collect children from the gate and they will be escorted into school to wash hands immediately. If you are late you must ring the office to arrange an alternative drop off.
• Your child’s pod adult will also bring them to you at the gate at the end of the day. We ask you stand at an appropriate place for collection, following social distance guidelines.
• Children should not bring anything from home into school except for a sun hat on days where it is forecast to be warm and sunny. We will provide water bottles daily.  Please ensure that you have put sun cream on your child at the start of the school day as they will be going outside wherever possible and this will protect them.
• All children in school MUST access the school packed lunch provision – this is to help mitigate the spread of the virus. For families that pay for school meals, they must pay using ParentPay.
• School will look different due to the measures in place e.g. marked playgrounds, distanced desks etc.
• All children will be given their own bank of resources to include all stationery etc. they will need.
• Staff may wear PPE to administer first aid or intimate care.
• For safety and timing purposes at the end of the school day, staff will not be able to liaise with you about your child that day. If there is anything that needs to be communicated to you directly, you will receive a telephone call.
• School will close at 1:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon to support remote learning and deep cleaning. Key worker care will continue to operate as normal on these afternoons.
• We will continue to set home learning for those children not in school.
• If you choose to send your child into school, we ask that you continue to maintain Government social distancing guidance at home to ensure everyone is protected within their pod. YOU MUST MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING AT ALL TIMES.  If social distancing is not maintained outside of school, we may withdraw an offer of a place for your child due to the increased risks to other children and staff.

Parent and Carer Protocol 03-06-2020

 

3rd June, 2020

Dear Parents/Carers

I just wanted to update you in regards to our preparations for welcoming a greater number of children into school.

Currently, we will be in a position to welcome year 6 children into school on the 15th June, staff will be ringing each family individually, this will be completed by the end of Tuesday 9th, this is to ascertain numbers. This will allow us to prepare the appropriate numbers of classrooms to accommodate the pupils who will be coming back into school. There will be 8 pupils per class.

The decision of returning to school lies firmly with families and their judgement will be totally respected, the decision to ring families, is just to give us clarity on numbers.

Alongside the Year 6 pupils we will continue to support the children of key worker children, currently we have 37 children registered to this group.

The government have expressed a desire that all children, at some point, return to school prior to the summer holidays; to be truthfully honest, this is unlikely to happen at Consett Juniors with current guidance and the 2m social distancing rule – our accommodation is not suitable. Obviously if guidance changes, we will adapt our planning.

Following this letter, I will also be sending out a guidance document for year 6 parents and children, setting out how the school day will look for them on the 15th June – this will hopefully help families make their decision whether to send their child back to school or not.

As always, I hope you and your families are well.

Paul Dixon

Headteacher

Dear Parents/Carers

Its with great sadness that I have to tell you that Mrs Smith has decided to retire at the end of the summer term, obviously we are devastated that she is leaving, but wish her nothing but happiness and a long happy retirement.

Mrs Smith has been at the Junior school for over 15 years and previously taught at Consett Infant school. She has taught a tremendous number of children (some now our parents) over the years, who have benefited from her calm, caring, measured approach – always with the children in the centre of everything.

We can’t currently celebrate as we would wish, but I am sure when things return to normal we will be holding a big party to give her the send-off she deserves. Due to this, we are gathering messages to pass onto her, if you would like to send in your own personal message please email consettjunior@durhamlearning.net

I’m sure you will join me and all the staff in wishing Mrs Smith well for the future and saying thank you for all the many years hard work and commitment.

I am sure we will continue to see much of her in the future.

Paul Dixon
Head Teacher

I stumbled across a recent poem today, I smiled and thought ‘how true’.  My youngest boy having a ‘hissy fit’ at the time I started to read it.  It made me think of some emails we have received over the last two months and remembering the reassuring telephone calls we have had with some worried parents/carers. You are all doing a brilliant job of parenting and supporting your children, whilst balancing work and worry about the unknown times ahead.

Read the poem, we, as parents/carers are not alone in the process of home learning. Just remember how brilliant you and your children all are. It will bring tears to your eyes (I have stopped home learning for today, they are on the Xbox).

Be thankful to our children… A Mum’s poem that reflects the challenges of home schooling

A picture tells a story

That only our eyes can see

We can choose what to make of it

But won’t necessarily all agree

A quick snap of an achievement

Can feel like we’ve found gold

But the end picture shown to everyone

Leaves the beginning of the story untold

When something made us beam with pride

And we chose to show you all

Don’t forget that what you didn’t see

Almost drove us up the wall

The tears, the tantrums and hissy fits

Have become a daily event

When working through the school tasks

That teachers have kindly sent

Not many kids are happy

Having a school inside their home

They long to be back in their class

Not having to learn alone

So while the crying may not end too soon

And some days aren’t so good

We’ll struggle through the worst of it

And pray tomorrow brings a better mood

If there comes a time where you’ve found joy

And something you want to share

Please show us all, we’d love to see

And show you that we care

We won’t need to know the beginning

Of the story you’re trying to tell

We’ll see the end, the picture

And we’ll see it’s turned out well

It’s easy to hide all the stress

And feel you’ve failed the test

But rest assured we’re all the same

You, me and all the rest

So if we see a picture

We’ll try not to compare

We’ll not know what led up to it

That made them want to share

It’s certainly a very strange time for all

Like no-one has felt before

We’re staying in, seeing nobody

Barely stepping out over the door

One day this will all be over

And our kids will begin to smile

They’ll get back to school,

to their teachers and friends

Who they’ve missed for such a long while

When this happens be thankful

For big things and for small

But mostly to our children

For the way they have dealt with it all.

https://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/be-thankful-to-our-children-mums-poem-reflects-the-challenges-of-home-schooling-198603/

To all our friends and families of Consett Junior School – either directly or extended family and friends.

During the academic year of 2019/20 we decided to raise money for ‘If U Care Share’, an amazing charity that supports those affected by suicide. We held non-uniform events and monthly coffee mornings, sadly, school went into lock down due to Covid-19. This meant that our future events; 10th July fun day, coffee mornings and running events have or will be postponed.

One of the events cancelled due to Covid-19 was my 69 mile run along Hadrian’s Wall, achieved in one day. However, let’s not be beaten! I have signed up to run this race in 2021 as well as run the virtual wall throughout June. We will continue to support this amazing charity, which is needed now more than ever before as people are faced with challenging times and unable to turn to family and friends due to social distancing.

Our previous online fundraising page also closed (due to Covid-19), so a new page has been set up. Once the charity confirm fundraising money already received from us prior to this closure, we will upload to the new page.

Once again, thank you to everyone that has supported us over the year.

I aim to complete the 69 mile virtual Ultra in 6 individual runs, which means I will ‘virtually’ stop at all Hadrians Wall pit stops. After running 15 miles last night I am currently resting at Lanercost!  Miss Oselton has also signed up for the Virtual Wall and will complete her runs throughout June, also raising as much money as we can together.

All sponsors are very much appreciated.

https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/consettjuniorschool

Mrs Raine on behalf of CJS Team

Transition Tuesday

Many young people feel a mixture of excitement, fear and nerves as they go to secondary school, probably more so this year because Year 6 has been disrupted due to COVID-19 and social distancing measures. We are very well aware of how big this transition is and, even with the restrictions, we are doing all we can to help your child, and you, settle into a new routine. Here is a site to support students and parents with this transition.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/zh4wy9q/starting-secondary-school/1

See some top tips from one of our Year 7 students:

We also know that you will have lots of questions, which ordinarily you would get the chance to ask us face to face. To try and address this we have created two online questionnaires; one is for parents and the other for students. If you would like to share any questions with us can you please complete and submit by Friday 5th June. We will try and have answers to your queries next #transitiontuesday.

Parental Questions ­

https://bit.ly/2ZXLNKM

Student Questions

https://bit.ly/3eDgqZP