As you are aware we have been providing packed lunches from school during the closure. As of this Friday, 3rd April. They will no longer be available. This is because the government have introduced a national voucher scheme to support families in providing food for their children when we are unable to.

If your child is entitled to free school meals then you qualify for this scheme and will receive a £15 per week per child evoucher. More details are being released to us today.

These vouchers are for term time only and will start following the Easter holidays. However, we must have your email address to get the vouchers to you.

If you would like to receive them please email consettjunior@durhamlearning.net Ii you do not email or ring us we will assume you do not want this support.

If you did not receive a school text today and you feel you are entitled, please also ring the school office.

Thanks
Mrs Raine
Operations Manager

If you are struggling for ideas for things to do at home with your child…how about these…

PE with Joe Wicks on YouTube – week days at 9.00 a.m. but you can visit anytime on youtube to view the workout.

Wildlife With Steve Backshall On Facebook – everyday at 9.30 a.m. for answering all your wildlife, biology, conservation, geography and exploration questions.

Science with Maddie Moate on YouTube – weekdays at 11.00 a.m., Maddie and Greg chat about science and nature.

Dance with Oti Mabuse On Facebook – everyday at 11.30 a.m. but children can view the class at anytime.

Maths with Carol Vorderman – free access to her maths website; http://www.themathsfactor.com

Music with Myleene Klass on YouTube – twice a week and the next one is Friday 27th March at 10.00 a.m.

Storytime with david Walliams – free story everyday at 11.00 a.m. on his website: http://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com

As you are aware, your child’s school website class page has all work and website links attached. Texts directing you to the pack your child should complete was sent out last week.

We are aware that some educational apps/websites which are promoted by schools have been unable to cope with the demand of those accessing them at any one time. With this in mind we will continue to upload work to your child’s class page every two weeks. If you would prefer a ‘paper pack’ please email consettjunior@durhamlearning.net and we will ensure this is done for you and left named in the school porch.

Once uploaded you will be sent a school text which will direct you to your child’s pack. Every class page also has websites and links to other online resources to help you assist your child with their home learning.

Stay safe

Dear families

If your child is currently entitled to Free School meals, the Government are working on a National Voucher Scheme, which we hope will be in place next week. We understand that all leading supermarkets have agreed to join the scheme.

This will mean that we will purchase vouchers on behalf of all our free school meal children and forward to them to you to help support you in purchasing food during the school closure. If you are entitled to free school meals I will text/ring you with more details.

If the national voucher scheme is not available in the coming weeks then I have applied to Morrisons and we will use their voucher scheme to support you.

In the meantime, please remember we are in school now and free packed lunches have been made for collection from 10.30 a.m.

Warmest regards

Mrs Raine

If your child qualifies for free school meals, we are still providing this service during the school closure. We have a duty to ensure we still meet the needs of our families, where we can, in this difficult time.

Free school meal packed lunches will be made to order and will be ready for families to collect from 10.30 a.m. but please pre-order them. This is very valuable and guaranteed option for our families considering the current food shortages in the shops. If you have already opted for them you do not need to ring up each day.

If this is a service you would now like to use, even after turning this down previously, this can be done by ringing Mrs Raine today on 01207 504431 or emailing consettjunior@durhamlearning.net

Any surplus lunches, or those not collected are ‘safely’ being given to the vulnerable and/or elderly residents around our school. This also helps us to ensure they are well during the lock-down period.

Stay safe

Dear Parents/Carers,

As the situation with coronavirus continues to develop we are asking you to carefully consider whether or not your child needs to be in school.

We appreciate that the central government guidance around what constitutes a key worker is quite broad, however we would like to remind you that the reason schools are remaining open is primarily to ensure that those FRONTLINE workers who are key to helping this country get through this situation, can get to work.

Each school will have different levels of demand for these places and may handle this situation differently in order to ensure the welfare of all staff and children. We ask you to respect any restrictions your school may put in place to help them cope during these challenging times.

Finally can we remind you that in line with Public Health England guidance, the best place for your child, wherever possible is at home with you, helping to maintain good social distancing for our wider community.

Durham County Council

If you have credit on Parentpay this WILL be refunded to you at some point.

Unfortunately Parentpay have temporarily removed permissions to enable me to manually do refunds, which was my task for today. The reason for this is because all schools will be doing the same process and Parentpay need to ensure that DCC schools income team have released the refunds to Parentpay first. This is for all DCC schools, not just Consett Junior School.

I have been in touch with the income team at DCC who are aware of this change and will release the money owed to Parentpay in a bulk process once enough schools have sent in their requests.

Please rest assured I have submitted our request and I am waiting to be notified of when I will be enabled to complete the refunds to families.

Apologies for this, I wanted all refunds processed today as I am aware this money is needed by our families at this difficult time. Unfortunately there is nothing more I can do at this time.

Warmest regards
Mrs Raine

I just wanted to write to you all to say thank you. We have been so privileged this year to have your children in our school. They are the most amazing young people. Whilst I write this I am hopeful that this won’t be the end of the year – but just an extended Easter holiday.

We will continue to support our children and families throughout our period of absence, no matter how long the time. Please remember we will pick up emails and messages throughout the time off.

Please try not to burden the children with what is going in the world, it is a scary place, they really do not need to know…instead encourage them to be the amazing positive young people they always are…

Today has been full of joy, smiles, laughter and occasional tears…we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks to you all, my wonderful staff and stay very safe and we will see you all once the sun shines bright again.

Kind regards

Mr Dixon
Head Teacher

If you have received a call confirming your eligibility for your children to some to school during the school closure, below are how things will initially work. Obviously this is very new to us all and we will change and adapt things as we move forward. However, the times of the day will remain the same. Please bear with us…

We will continue to offer our breakfast service from 7.45 a.m, free to families that qualify as before, otherwise a charge will be applied on Parentpay in the usual way.
If the breakfast service is not required children can come to school from 8.40 a.m. (as before). However, children must now come into school via the main reception and ensure they see a member of staff so they can be registered on arrival.
If children are on school meals , this arrangement will continue. Fun Friday’s will stop temporarily.
The school service will end at 4.30 p.m., however, your child does not need to stay for the full day if it is not required. We have arranged this time as we have always tried to offer after school clubs and hope this helps with work commitments.
Children do not need to wear school uniform.
Children need to bring their work packs.
We ask that you inform us no later than the Thursday of the current week the days you require for the following week. Each child will have their own timetable in the office. If you shifts are the same each week please make that known to us.
Please ensure all children have their water bottle and their PE kit, we will still try to do sports where we can.

Can all families who know they are eligible email me the following:

Next’s weeks days required (or the start date of when it is). Please also try to be specific on times .
Contact details IF different to that we already hold.

consettjunior@durhamlearning.net

THIS SERVICE IS FOR DAYS YOU ACTUALLY NEED IT. IF A PARENT IS AT HOME, PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE AND KEEP YOUR CHILD AT HOME.

Finally, we would like to thank the staff at Consett Junior School who are volunteering to come in and care for our CJS children, for the foreseeable…

Stay safe, remember, we are still open…ring…email…despite this we are still here to support our families.

Many thanks
Mrs Raine
Operations Manager