As is normal in school around the holidays, the children would receive a Raring2Go! magazine to take home, detailing what’s going on in the area.
Obviously in the circumstances we find ourselves in, this has not taken place. Instead Raring2Go! have produced an online version for you to read at your leisure, covering local stories and things to do whilst staying at home.
Such is the situation at this time, various ever-changing guidance and information is being filtered down from the Department of Education and Derbyshire County Council daily. This is a cause of much personal frustration for both myself and all Headteachers at the moment and we are working incredibly hard to digest what the obligations are for our schools. In light of this, I wish to give all parents a further update on our plans for June onwards.
On the week commencing Monday 1st June, school will only be open to children of key workers or children who fit into the vulnerable category. This includes key worker children who have not necessarily attended our service since the school closure in March. This is a decision led by Derbyshire County Council and they are asking us to openly encourage that more key worker families start coming back into school. We have written a letter for all of those families who are on our Key Worker Register, and asked them to confirm whether they will be sending their children into school OR whether they will be keeping them at home, by Monday 25th May. Once we have the numbers of our key worker children coming in, we will communicate with these families regarding the arrangements.
On Wednesday 3rd June, our aim is to issue our next statement to all parents – informing them of the possible date for the reintegration of other year groups, although this is subject to guidance from Derbyshire County Council. Our school position remains unchanged in that we will prioritise the integration of Reception pupils in the first instance; we feel this will enable our youngest pupils to slowly and gently transition back into our school after many weeks away. Following this we will look into integrating some Year 1 pupils. We still hold the intention of having Year 6 into school before they officially leave us in July too.
As always, should you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to call us. In these times, I would urge all families to keep calm and to take a measured view until more information is gathered. Much is said in the media daily and so much is communicated on social media – it is so hard not to be influenced by what we see and hear. As somebody who has been affected by the passing of someone with COVID-19, I understand the concerns wholeheartedly. I know that sending children into school, whenever that is, will be a time of worry and trepidation. However, as somebody who has worked in education for 16 years also, I know the power of education and the social and emotional aspects that being in school brings for our children.
Keep calm and stay safe. Each and everyone of us is doing the best we can in very difficult circumstances. Let’s not lose sight of that rainbow!
It is a week since we issued a letter regarding our initial thoughts about the reopening of our school from 1st June 2020. In light of the continuing media coverage, we wished to issue the following timeline for when further information about our plans will be released.
Friday 22nd May – In school we are working on the amendment of our risk assessment to protect children and staff and framing our graduated integration plan for the affected year groups – Reception, Y1 and Y6
End of this Week/Beginning of next week – all mentioned year groups, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 – will receive a letter via email. This will outline our plans for reopening and the safety measures that we are putting into place. All parents will be asked to make an informed decision concerning their intentions after carefully considering the information.
End of next week – once we know how many children to expect – we will then issue information about each child’s ‘school bubble’ and outline the plan for their education as they integrate back into school life.
I can confirm that school will not be open on Monday 1st June due to our planned INSET Day.
In these challenging times we find ourselves in, our mental health and well-being is incredibly important, more than ever.
This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the charity, Heads Together, have launched the 60 seconds support series to help with people’s mental health and well-being.
Please click HERE for further information.
During this time whilst we are advised to stay at home and stay alert, a lot of us are purchasing more items online.
Did you know that you can raise funds for our school whilst shopping online?
The Giving Machine is a charity and not-for-profit organisation, where they turn the commission you’ve generated by purchasing something online via The Giving Machine website into a charitable donation, which is passed on to the School.
There are so many companies which are linked into The Giving Machine; including Amazon, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Groupon, eBay, Boots, Iceland, M&S, Argos….the list goes on!
To get yourself set up to help support our school, just click on the link below to register. Once you have registered, go to the ‘For Shoppers’ tab and from the drop down list, select ‘Support a Cause’. Enter our sign-up code, 59645, then select our school and ‘add’ to your causes. You can then do all your shopping online by going to your normal websites via The Giving Machine website. The best thing is, is that it doesn’t cost you a penny!
With the current situation that we find ourselves in, it is unlikely that we will be holding our usual Summer Fayre or potentially even our Christmas Fayre. These are our main fundraisers through the year. These funds are vital in providing our school with additional support where needed, e.g. funding towards school trips in order to reduce costs to parents. Anything that you can do to help raise funds for our school would be amazing, and it doesn’t cost you any extra money!
Top Tip: It might be a useful reminder to save The Giving Machine website as your home page.
Thank you.
Well this challenge certainly had you puzzled! Our staff have enjoyed engaging in this challenge too as they’d not seen each others photographs – we definitely foxed them having all the pictures in black and white!
Wait no longer….the results are in!
Photo 1 – Mrs Smith
Photo 2 – Miss Knowles
Photo 3 – Mrs Bonsor
Photo 4 – Mrs Wilkes
Photo 5 – Miss Walton
Photo 6 – Mrs Butler
Photo 7 – Mrs Harris
Photo 8 – Mr Smith
Photo 9 – Mrs Mailer
Photo 10 – Mrs Weston
Photo 11 – Mrs Billings
Photo 12 – Mrs Brace
Photo 13 – Mrs Farmer
Photo 14 – Mrs Thorne
Photo 15 – Mrs Cresswell
Photo 16 – Miss Bains
Congratulations to all of those who managed to guess correctly – well done!
How well do you know the teachers and staff at Coton-in-the-Elms Primary School?
We thought we’d give you a lockdown challenge for a bit of fun, to lift your spirits.
Click on the link below for the challenge – good luck!
You will have all seen the Government announcement on Sunday, surrounding the potential reopening of schools from 1st June at the earliest, and the subsequent coverage in the media following this. I am also aware that the reopening of schools has become a topic of much discussion on the various social media platforms over the last few days and it is clearly a worrying time for all.
Firstly, as a member of our school community who has recently lost a family relative to Covid-19, I wanted you to know that I understand the concerns that you may have regarding Sunday’s announcement. As a new Father, I understand the overwhelming instinct to keep one’s own children safe and free from harm. Quite rightly, the safety of all of our families and staff is of paramount importance.
At this time, I am unable to give you a specific update on what Sunday’s announcement means for our school community or how we intend to safely facilitate the government’s plan. As always with headline announcements, there are many questions that follow and it takes time for guidance to filter down through local authorities, to individual schools. In the meantime, we have already started to consider the necessary steps that we may need to take and we would ask that you bear with us as we consider the best arrangements for our school.
Rest assured, should your child be required to return to school in this Summer Term, there will be a number of specific measures that will be put in place to ensure their safety whilst they are able to continue with their education. We will publish the steps that we are taking as a school in due course.
In the meantime, we urge you to keep calm, stay safe and look after yourselves.
Thank you.
