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

• Return to School Tier 4 update

  Thu 31 Dec 2020 Jo Reid

   

  Tier 4 Restrictions and Start of Term

  I do hope you have all had a lovely break so far and have stayed safe and well with your families. You will probably be aware that the government announced their decision on the reopening of schools in Tier 4 from next week.

  Currently, whilst Oxfordshire has now moved into Tier 4, primary schools have been told to open as planned for the whole school, using the same restrictions and preventative measures as were in place during the November national lockdown.

  Botley School will reopen for pupils as planned on Tuesday 5^th January.

  Contingency planning

  However, if the rate of infection continues to rise, there is a possibility that the government may decide to change this decision and require primary schools to revert back to remote learning for all pupils, with the exception of Critical Worker and Vulnerable families. To ensure we are fully prepared for any eventuality, we would like to take this opportunity to update our list of families that fall into these categories. You can find out if you fall into the Critical Worker or Vulnerable Families categories by visiting Critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

  Critical Worker and Vulnerable Families

  If you believe that your family circumstances place you into one of the listed categories, please follow the Survey Monkey Link to provide us with your child/ren’s details for our records and let us know if you will be requiring space in school should the government close schools in our area.

  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JX3722Q

  Returning to School

  Before we return to school, please can we remind you of the following rules for staying open and helping to keep our community safe. It is critically important that every member of our school community follows these rules and the government guidance at this time if we want to keep the low rates of infection we have so far seen at Botley School.

   

  Rules for staying open

  • EY settings and schools will stay open and will continue as they did in their reopening in September

  • Wraparound care (BOHSC) will remain open and continue to run risk assessment checks. Now we know it can continue to run, invoices for this term are being prepared and will be sent home as soon as possible.
  • No other extra-curricular clubs can run outside of school hours.

  • Parents are allowed to form a bubble with another household for informal childcare of children aged under 13 – this does not apply to play dates
  • Support bubbles are allowed when a single parent joins with another household for support

  Attendance and vulnerable pupils

  • Children of Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) parents or members of their family home must attend school. 

  • Most children originally identified as CEV no longer need to shield. Speak to the GP or specialist if you feel your child should be in this category.  You should receive a letter if your child is deemed CEV. Please provide a copy of this letter for the attendance records at school.
  • Confirmed CEV children should not attend and will be provided with remote learning.
  • Clinically Vulnerable (CV) children should continue to attend.
  • It remains the parents’ duty to secure their child’s attendance regularly at school (where the child is a registered pupil at school and they are of compulsory school age)
  • It remains the schools’ responsibility to record attendance and follow up absence
  • We will be taking advice from and following the rules set out by the local authority on absence penalty notices and attendance monitoring during this period of restrictions.

   

  Visitors in school

  All visits to school are restricted – visits for parents and carers are suspended for:

  • New admissions
  • Settling children in a new setting
  • Plays and performances etc
  • Face to face parent consultations – our parent consultations for the Spring Term will again be arranged through TEAMs.
  • Impromptu meetings with parents at the start and end of the day are to be avoided. All messages for teachers should be sent via the school email or year group email systems.
  • Meetings with teachers should be virtual wherever possible and by appointment only.

   

  Ventilation and the change in weather.

  • Schools have been advised to keep windows and internal doors open in the classrooms as ventilation is extremely important. 
  • We encourage children to wear extra layers under their uniforms and bring an extra jumper or fleece into school in addition to their school Jumper.  This does not have to be a school uniform jumper. Please make sure any additional jumpers are named.
  • Please remember to send your child to school with a warm, waterproof coat every day.  Once again, please make sure that it has their name in it.

   

  Wearing of Masks

  • During this period, we will continue to keep our bubbles separate by eating in classrooms, playing in separate zones and avoiding movement around the school.  Therefore, children will not wear masks in school unless Government guidance changes.
  • School staff are now being asked to wear masks at all times when using communal areas unless they are medically exempt from doing so.
  • Visitors to the school will continue to be asked to wear a mask and follow our preventative measures in our school risk assessment. 
  • We continue to expect all parents/or carers to wear a mask when on the premises.  This includes dropping off or collecting their children unless you have a medical reason not to do so.

  Travelling to school

  • Journeys can be made to school but families are encouraged to walk or cycle to school wherever possible.
  • Please avoid busy times in the mornings by taking advantage of our slow start between 8.30 and 8.55 at which time the register will be taken. Please aim to arrive from just after the 8:30 opening time, to avoid queuing along Elms Road before the gate is opened.
  • Please remember to not pull into the double yellow lined area in front of the school gate as this is dangerous for the children and families who are crossing the road. We are pleased to see out local PCSO team have been in attendance in the last couple of weeks of term, and will continue to drop by this term as well to check that all our families are safely following the rules when dropping children to school.
  • The exit from school at 3.15 is a single time as access through our car park can be facilitated thus giving more space to pedestrians.

   

  Outside Agency support

  • Children’s services and social care provision will continue in their support of vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

  Once again, I can only apologise for the length of this communication, but I believe that parents will want to know exactly what is being put into place to help minimise risk and keep our community as safe as possible in the face of the pandemic. Thank you for your support in helping the staff and the school in their endeavours.

  Yours sincerely

  Jo Reid

• End of term update

  Fri 18 Dec 2020 Jo Reid

  Dear Parents/Carers,

  This is my final update for this term, and what a term it has been! It was a privilege to join Botley School in September, and as I approach the Christmas break I have been reflecting on all the wonderful aspects of leading a school like Botley.

  Firstly, I have to pay my respects to the teaching and support staff who have gone above and beyond to ensure our school stays open and is as COVID safe as possible for our community, whilst also providing a brilliant curriculum full of enrichment activities and opportunities to celebrate our wonderful pupils.  I am sure you will all join me in thanking them for their hard work this term in the face of the enormous challenge the pandemic has put on them, and wish them all a peaceful, healthy and restful break.

  I especially want to pay my respects to the pupils who are an absolute joy to work with. They have overcome the obstacles put in the way of normal learning with resilience and spirit, and have made the most of the new opportunities to work together and spread the school spirit in the virtual world. I particularly enjoyed our whole school performance of ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ in our virtual assembly today. If you ask them, they may even share the actions with you at home so you can join the fun over the break.

  The pupils have also created a virtual Christmas performance for you to make up for the lack of live performances this term. All their performances have been uploaded to the school website for you to enjoy. You can find them on the ‘Winter Celebrations 2020’ page of the website.  I think these performances are the perfect way to say ‘Thank you’ to all of our parents, carers, grandparents and community members for their support over this term.

  Reminders

  Start of term: Pupils return to school on Tuesday 5^th January. (Monday 4^th is an INSET day)

  COVID-19 Festive arrangements: Information on what to do if your child tests positive for COVID in the first few days of the holiday are available on the COVID-19 Parent Information page of the website, including our emergency number and out of hours of contact details.

  That only leaves me to wish you all a happy and festive holiday, and a healthy and safe new year!

  Jo Reid

• End of term and Christmas COVID emergency arrangements

  Fri 11 Dec 2020 Jo Reid

  I wanted to write to you all about an email received from the Department for Education (DfE) on Tuesday afternoon. The email is suggesting that schools choose to put an INSET day on Friday 18th December.

  We have made the decision not to change the school diary at such late notice. We have things planned in for the children and we also know that a late change could be very difficult for our families in terms of childcare. In addition, we would have to come back a day earlier in January or finish later in the summer term to make up the time, which we are not able to do due to planned training for staff. School will therefore close as planned Friday 18th December at 1:30pm. 

  The email from the DfE does ask however, that we make everyone aware of the emergency arrangements in terms of Covid-19 cases during the school holidays and so it would be helpful if you could make yourselves familiar with the following information.

  What to do if a staff member or pupil develops symptoms up to and including Sunday 20^th December

  1. If a pupil or staff member develops symptoms up to and including Sunday 21^st December, book a test as soon as possible.
  2. If the test result is positive, telephone the Botley School Emergency number and alert Mrs Reid. The emergency number is 07896 988 077
  3. Mrs Reid will check all the contacts for the pupil or member of staff and will notify all other pupils and staff who were in direct or proximate contact with the affected person. This notification will be sent on Classlist and followed up by a telephone call.
  4. The school emergency number will be available between 8:00am and 10pm until noon on 24^th December. This is to allow for any tests results from Saturday and Sunday that may take longer than 24hours to be confirmed. Please remember this is not an advice line, it is only to notify the school of a positive case. If you need advice please phone the NHS helpline on 119

   

  What to do if a pupil or member of staff develops symptoms from Monday 21^st December

  1. If a pupil or staff member develops symptoms from Monday 21^st onwards, book a test as soon as possible.
  2. If the test result is positive, parents and carers should follow contact tracing instructions that will be provided by NHS Test and Trace.

  Free School Meals over the Christmas holiday

  This week, the government and the local authority also released details of the Winter Support Grant for families who normally access free school meals during term time. We will shortly be contacting parents with information on how to access this grant where applicable. If your family does not currently meet the thresholds for free school meals but you are experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the COVID pandemic, please do contact our Family Liaison Support Worker, Mrs Yasin, or Mrs Reid in confidence and we will do our best to signpost how to access additional support for your family over the holiday break.

  Travelling over the break

  The government have released specific guidance for the Christmas holidays which can be found on this link. Guidance for the Christmas period - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) This guidance includes guidance on travelling abroad over the Christmas break and isolation periods on return. If you and your family are planning to travel abroad for the holidays, please let your class teacher know before the break and ensure you follow the guidance for isolation on return where necessary. 

  Finally, I sincerely hope that we all get a festive holiday period without interruption – I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s very much needed and well deserved after the year we have all had.

  Yours sincerely

  Jo Reid