Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• COVID 19 Update NHS Test and Trace

  Wed 23 Sep 2020 Mr. Matthews

  The following is a letter from NHS Test and Trace

  23 September 2020

  Dear parents and guardians,

  This is an important letter to share some information on how we can work together to make sure we can continue to give children and young people the best education in the safest way possible.

  One important part of ensuring the safety and wellbeing of pupils, parents and our communities is testing for coronavirus. We all have a duty to make sure that the right people have access to get tested at the right time. Every time a test is used inappropriately, a person with Covid-19 symptoms may miss out on getting tested.

  Therefore, I ask that you all follow these principles:

  • You should only book a test if your child has any of these three coronavirus symptoms: 
    1. a high temperature: any new high temperature where your child feels hot to touch on their chest or back (you do not need to measure the temperature)

   

  1. 1. a new continuous cough: coughing a lot for more than an hour, or three or more coughing episodes in 24 hours 

   

  1. 1. a loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste: a noticeable loss of smell or taste or things smell and taste different to normal

   

  • Your child does not need a test if they have a runny nose, are  sneezing or feeling unwell but do not have a temperature, cough or loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste because these are not normally symptoms of coronavirus. 
  • If you are unsure about whether to get a test, please check the official list of symptoms on the NHS website, which is reviewed regularly:

  www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/

  • Only the person with symptoms should get a test. You do not need to get a test for anyone else in the household unless they also have any of the three symptoms listed above. All members of the household need to self-isolate whilst waiting for the test result.

             

  • If the person with symptoms’ test comes back positive, other members of their household should continue self-isolating for 14 days and only get a test if they develop coronavirus symptoms.
  • If a pupil in a class or bubble tests positive for coronavirus, anyone who is advised to self-isolate does not require a test unless they subsequently develop symptoms.

  No one else in the same class or bubble as the symptomatic person needs to take any action unless advised by the school. Schools have detailed guidance and access to a Department for Education and Public Health England helpline for advice and support.

  Contacts of a person who has tested positive must follow the guidance carefully and in full, which means they must stay at home for 14 days. This is because it can take several days following contact with an infected person before an individual develops symptoms or the virus can be detected. Students should only book a test if they get symptoms.

  The NHS has produced some guidance to help parents understand when their child can and cannot attend school which you may find useful: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthybody/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/  

  It is vital for children’s learning and future opportunities that they are able to return to school and college. It is therefore vitally important that all we work together and do our bit to make this possible.

   

  Yours sincerely, 

   

   

   

   

                     Professor Viv Bennett CBE                                Dr Susan Hopkins

            

         Chief Nurse and Director Maternity and            Interim Chief Medical Officer | 

             Early Years | Public Health England                            NHS Test & Trace

            

              Head of World Health Organisation             Deputy Director | Public Health England

           Collaborating Centre for Public Health                                         

                            Nursing and Midwifery               Consultant in Infectious Diseases &

                                                                                                                Microbiology

             Follow me on Twitter: @VivJBennett                          Royal Free, London

            

   

• IMPORTANT home school communications update

  Mon 21 Sep 2020 Mr. Matthews

  In the event that you receive a positive COVID19 test result in your family, please email school immediately, 24/7, stating which family member it is, and which class your child is in. This will enable us to let parents know as soon as possible, if we need to close down a class or classes. 
  office@ashleigh.blackburn.sch.uk 

  
  Please make sure you are checking your school app messages frequently, make sure you've turned on notifications for it. This will be the way we tell you that a class or classes need to isolate. If this does happen, your class teacher will be in touch straight away to let you know about learning at home. Remember, children will already have the exercise book they bring home today, that they can record some of their work in. 

• Home Learning Update

  Mon 21 Sep 2020 Mr. Matthews
  Tonight, all children will bring home with them an exercise book which is to only be used if/when children need to remain at home due to having to isolate. Staff will use a combination of emails, Purple Mash and other learning platforms for home learning going forward. We will try to avoid the need for parents to print things out. Please use the exercise book they will have for recording home learning. 

• Site supervisor vacancy

  Mon 14 Sep 2020 Mr. Matthews

  We are looking for a part time site supervisor. Please click on the link below to see details.

   

  https://ashleighprimaryschool.secure-primarysite.net/vacancies/ 

   

• Useful COVID19 guide for parents

  Mon 14 Sep 2020 Mr. Matthews
  Greater Manchester have produced this useful guide for parents.

  

• Update, including drop off and collection times for siblings info

  Fri 04 Sep 2020 Mr. Matthews

  We've reached the end of a very successful first week back. The children really have been fantastic! Although many of the systems we have in place to address the current situation are quite foreign to everyone, children, staff, parents and visitors have very quickly adapted to them.

  As time passes, we will constantly review how we do things, and if there is a better way of doing something, we will make minor changes along the way.

   

  Drop off and collection times for families with multiple children currently at Ashleigh

  Before the holidays, we asked parents with more than one child in school, to either bring their children in at their allotted time, or, if it was more convenient, they could drop off at the later time and collect at the earlier. This has meant that a few children are losing 30 minutes a day of curriculum time, which clearly is not ok.

   

  To address this, from Monday 7th September, the following will apply.

  Parents with more than one child at Ashleigh can either:

  1. Drop off and collect at the allotted time, either waiting on the playground with the child who has yet to go in, or indeed, leaving the premises and doing multiple drop offs and pick-ups. This is probably the best solution for children, as it means they are going in and leaving at the same as their classmates. This option is clearly more inconvenient to the adults doing the running around!

   

  2. Drop off all the children at the earliest time which applies to any of their children, and pick up at the latest time which applies. For those families doing this, it is vital that children who are going in early still access the building through their class doors, as we don't want children having to walk through school and potentially having contact with children from other bubbles.

   

  As a school, we will as ever, work with you to reach the best solution possible for our children and their families. If you need to talk to me about this, I am usually on the playground in the morning and evening, so please come and have a chat.

   

   

  We appreciate all the support you have shown school over the last few months, and especially since starting back this week. We will continue to keep you as up to date as possible  using the app/website, so please download it and make sure you're receiving notifications. Some of the things we usually do at school, e.g. Shine assemblies, we are working on alternatives, so watch this space!

   

  Stay safe and well,

  Mr. Matthews

• Pencil cases for school

  Wed 02 Sep 2020 Mr. Matthews

  Many thanks to everyone who have managed to send in a pencil case with their child so far. Please remember, they are keeping it in school, so that we can minimise what is sent between home and school.

   

  They only need in their cases the following:

  - a few pencils

  - a sharpener

  - a rubber

  - coloured pencils

  - a ruler

   

  Anything else that they might need during the day will be provided by school, e.g. scissors, glue sticks etc. Children will not be sharing resources whenever possible, and those resources which are shared are sanitised after use.