COVID-19 information for parents

North Tyneside, like all other areas across the North East, has seen significantly increasing rates of infection over the last few weeks and there is now widespread community transmission of the virus.

Working closely with North Tyneside Council and Public Health England, the school continues to ensure that we operate safely, and that we minimise the spread of the virus. This includes maintaining high standards of hygiene inside and outside classroom settings, grouping children in ‘bubbles’ and maintaining social distancing where ever possible.

As parents or carers, you can support the endeavours to help control the virus in North Tyneside by adhering to the national restrictions, maintaining social distancing and good hand hygiene.

We are also asking that you please keep your child at home if anyone else in the household is suspected of having, or has had, a positive test for COVID-19, or if your child has any of the following symptoms of Covid-19:

·         A fever – this means being hot to the touch on the chest or back;

·         A continuous cough -  a dry cough and coughing a lot for over an hour with more than 3 episodes per day;

·         Loss or change of taste and smell - this means no smell or taste, or that things smell or taste different to normal.

It is important that the whole household self isolates and that anyone in the household with symptoms get tested, as soon as any symptoms start to occur, via www.nhs.uk/coronavirus or calling 119.  Only people with symptoms should get tested.

If the test is positive the person will need self-isolate for 10 days, and the rest of the household for 14 days.

The action  we will take in school if a member of staff or a pupil has a positive test result for COVID-19 is as follows

o   As soon as we are informed of the positive test result, we will carry out a risk assessment with Public Health colleagues to identify any other children or staff who may have been a close contact with the confirmed case.  

o   If your child is not identified as a close contact of the confirmed case we will contact you to tell you that you do not need to make any change to your usual routine and that it is safe for your child to continue to attend school.

o   If your child is identified as having been in close contact with the confirmed case we contact you and ask you to keep your child at home to self-isolate for 14 days, in line with government guidance.  Your child DOES NOT need to be tested. Other members of your household or contacts of your child DO NOT need to self-isolate and can continue normal activities. If your child does develop symptoms while self-isolating then the household should self-isolate and the child should get a test.

The evidence from the Chief Medical Officer  is very clear that the balance of risk is strongly in favour of children attending school and that serious illness or deaths in children and teenagers from Covid-19 are extremely rare.  Therefore, it is really important that all children continue to attend school or college (unless asked to self-isolate) for their educational progress, for their wellbeing and for their wider development.

Letter for parents about COVID-19 symptoms

Public Health England have produced a letter for schools to distribute to parents which explains when a person requires a coronavirus test and what the symptoms of coronavirus are. The Department would be grateful if you could share and circulate this letter amongst parents at your school.

The intention of the letter is to help prevent children being taken out of school unnecessarily and answer some of the questions parents may have around testing.

You can view the letter here.

Dear All

It's me again - sorry! Just to remind you that we'll be taking part in Earth Hour from 1.30pm to 2.30pm in school this afternoon, and we hope you'll be able to join us. Rockcliffe parent Fiona Robertson has kindly created a poster with the key details of the main event tomorrow evening and I've attached it here.

Best wishes,

Sharron

PS Mr Singh thought you might be interested in events taking place at Chester Zoo today - the website will be live-streaming animal encounters throughout the day!

Earth Hour Poster

Dear All,

I do hope that you are all staying safe and well, and that your children are enjoying the activities within their home learning packs. The pupils who have been joining us in school this week have really impressed us all with their positive approach - their Rockcliffe Learning Superpowers are still very strong, and we're sure that your children are continuing to develop their powers, too!

Following an excellent suggestion by a Rockcliffe parent (thanks, Jo Bates!) we have finally activated the "Gallery" section of our website - accessed through an icon on the home page - and begun to add examples of our children's work/pictures/models/other stuff sent by parents or carers. This will help us all to see what fellow members of the Rockcliffe family are getting up to - it doesn't have to be linked to activities we have provided and might include, for example, photographs of sandwiches made/cakes baked/more adventurous dishes prepared, etc. Anything you would like to share would be welcome; just email me at: sharron.colpitts-elliott@northtyneside.gov.uk. Please understand, however, that there may be delays in the process - I am completely lacking in the skills required to upload pictures to the website and will depend upon our ICT Technician to do that for me. As we share Dave with several other schools, it may take some time - but then, that's something that isn't in short supply right now! 

Should you find yourself running short of things to do with your children, you might find it useful to check out the North Tyneside Early Years and School Improvement website at: https://nteysis.org.uk/home-learning/. Members of the advisory team have been working really hard to come up with ideas for all children within the borough, and will be updating the site on a regular basis.

Another thing you might do (!!) is encourage your child to make a card, or write a letter, to pass on to the residents of St. Anne's Nursing Home. Sadly, they are unable to receive visitors at the moment, and we have been asked whether our lovely pupils might like to cheer them up at this challenging time. Some children will make cards in school, tomorrow or next week, but it'd be great if you could join in at home, too. I'll forward any electronic copies I receive from you, but there will also be a box at the top of the school stairs over the next few days where hard copies may be dropped off, ready for delivery by a member of school staff. Everyone at St. Anne's will be really grateful for your support. Thank you in advance.

Very best wishes,

Sharron Colpitts-Elliott

Dear All

I am sorry to send another message so soon after the last, but I wanted to keep this one separate so that we (okay, I) don't get confused. I have been asked today by the local authority to pass on information about our Easter holiday offer, but in order to do that I need to have some idea of demand. We will DEFINITELY be open to the children of key workers on those days that are not bank holidays, but may be able to open on Good Friday and/or Easter Monday if necessary. We will, however, need to gauge interest so that we can sort staffing. Our wonderful teachers and support staff workers are happy to help, but to ensure everyone's safety I must only ask them to work on the school site when pupil numbers demand it. 

I appreciate that many of you have already let me know whether, and when, you require your children to be at school over the next few weeks, but I also know that your own, and the national/regional, circumstances are changing frequently, and that some people who have not needed our support in the past may do so soon. So I would be very grateful if you could let me know as soon as possible if you would like your children to attend school over the spring break, using the grid below. Thank you in advance - and apologies to those of you for whom this email is irrelevant. I am  aware, however, that I do not have a full list of key workers and that some of you may not have needed to contact me about this before now.

Very best wishes,

Sharron Colpitts-Elliott

Dear All

I am contacting you because you have indicated that you need your child(ren) to continue to attend Rockcliffe for at least some of the time over the next two weeks. I'm sorry to be sending this message so late in the weekend, but like everyone at the moment I have found myself extremely busy over the past couple of days...

For tomorrow at least, I would ask you to drop off and collect your child at/from the main school entrance, even if he or she is attending Kids' Club. The DfE and local authority both require me to send daily attendance information (of numbers, not names) of pupils and staff, and it will be much easier to get this right if we have a single point of entry and exit. After tomorrow, we may change those arrangements so as to prevent you from having to share a small space with other adults and children, and in the meantime I would suggest that you wait outside, maintaining a suitable distance from other families, unless the weather is much worse than expected.

Children should come to school dressed in their uniform, and it would be great if they could bring their home-school learning packs with them, including a reading book. Although we will be providing a much more relaxed environment than usual, we will be working for part of each day on the activities provided by teachers last Friday so that you don't feel you have to tackle these as homework at the end of a busy and quite possibly stressful day.

A packed lunch will be provided free of charge for your child, even if s/he is not usually entitled to such a meal. I'm afraid, however, that deliveries of milk and fruit to schools have been suspended. We have sufficient supplies for tomorrow, but from Tuesday you will need to provide a piece of fruit for your child if you wish him or her to enjoy a mid-morning snack.

We look forward to seeing you and your children soon.

Very best wishes,

Sharron Colpitts-Elliott

Following a meeting this morning of almost all North Tyneside headteachers, and key NTC staff, schools have been provided with a letter (attached) to distribute to parents. It outlines the need for us all to support the government's efforts to combat the spread of coronavirus using social isolation and social distancing. Clearly, this is very difficult for families including front line staff (categories are covered in the letter) who have problems providing childcare. This is why schools such as ours have been asked to remain open for children who are unable to stay at home with a suitable carer.

At Rockcliffe, we will continue to do our very best to provide a stimulating and enjoyable experience for your children, but of course our provision will be very different to normal. At present, most members of our staff team remain in post, but we do not know how staffing levels may be affected by the spread of coronavirus over the next few days and weeks. So, although we will welcome all those pupils in need of a school place, I must urge you to follow the governmental advice (below, and in the letter) and keep them at home wherever possible. This will help us as a community to stay safe and well.

Your children are bringing home learning packs today, and electronic copies will be making their way to you soon. Please keep checking the website for further activities and information. If you would like to collect a pack from school then simply let us know in advance, and we will make one available to you, either this afternoon (until 6pm) or next week.

I'll get back to you again later (sorry!) with information about school lunches, but in the meantime I must brief our staff on the latest guidance for our school. I will endeavour to answer any emails today, but please be aware that there are very many coming through, from different sources, so I may not get back to you until tomorrow evening or Sunday. If you know that your child's name has been added to the list of pupils who may be attending school next week, and you still wish to make use of the place, then let me know days and times and I will send you further information on Sunday. We will be operating from 8.55 to 3.15 as usual, and will also continue to offer care before and after the school day via Kids' Club.

Phew! Happy reading, and take good care of yourselves.

Very best wishes,

Sharron Colpitts-Elliott

NTC Letter to Parents 20/03/20

DofE - Closure of education settings: Information for parents and carers 

Hi Everyone

Following the publishing of further details of the partial closure scheme in the early hours of this morning, we now have clarification of what constitutes a key worker. Please find a list below. We now know also that only one parent needs to be a key worker for a child to be eligible. I have tried to get back to everyone who has emailed me about this so far; apologies if I have missed anyone out. I'm about to attend a briefing for North Tyneside headteachers at which I hope to gain further information, and I'll get back to everyone who has expressed an interest with a definite decision by the end of the day. It's not too late to contact me about this, but please be aware that I will be unable to access my emails until 1.30pm.

Thanks so much to all those of you who have sent messages of support; we all appreciate them a great deal. We are also very grateful for the many kind offers of help; our amazing staff haven't needed to call on any of you so far, but we've kept your details and may well be in contact in the future.

I'll be in touch with more details later. For now, take care and stay safe!

Very best wishes,

Sharron Colpitts-Elliott

Health and social care

Frontline health and social care staff such as doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, as well as support and specialist staff in the health and social care sector. In addition it includes those working in supply chains including producers and distributors of medicines and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

Nursery, teaching staff and social workers.

Key public services

Those required to run the justice system, religious staff, as well as those responsible for managing the deceased, and journalists providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

Administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the Covid-19 response or delivering essential public services, including payment of benefits.

Food and other necessary goods

Those involved in the production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery of food.

Public safety and national security

Police, support staff, Ministry of Defence civilian staff and armed forces personnel, fire and rescue staff, and those responsible for border security, prisons and probation.

Transport

Those who will keep air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the Covid-19 response.

Utilities, communication and financial services

Staff required to keep oil, gas, electricity, water and sewerage operations running. Staff in the civil nuclear, chemical and telecommunications sectors. Those in postal services and those working to provide essential financial services.

Dear All

Please find attached an NTC-approved letter relating to the (current!) situation; I'll be contacting you again later, once more detailed information has been received. In the meantime, thank you so much for your very kind messages of support, and offers of help. They are greatly appreciated, and I may well be contacting some of you about those offers once I've met with the teaching staff over lunchtime.

Take care, and very best wishes,

Sharron Colpitts-Elliott

PS Our home-school learning packs will be uploaded onto the site tomorrow.

School closure letter

Dear All

Apologies for the lateness of this message, but I've been considering the implications for the Rockcliffe community of the PM's announcement this afternoon. As you are no doubt aware, schools in England will close - for an indefinite period - for most children on Friday. However, they will remain open for vulnerable children and for the children of key workers. It is not clear as yet which pupils will be included in either category, but the Secretary of State for Education has contacted schools this evening to say that further information will be provided tomorrow. The local authority will also provide advice and support over the next day or two, to help schools fulfil their responsibilities effectively and efficiently.

Tomorrow, once I have details of which occupations are deemed to be key, and what exactly is meant by a vulnerable child, I will be contacting all parents and carers again, to ask you to let us know if your children will be eligible to attend our school next week and beyond. I expect that many teachers, teaching assistants and other school-based staff will be busy delivering learning in their own settings, and there will be other groups of workers included on the list besides the deliverymen/women, and of course the NHS workers, mentioned today. Once we know how many children from each year group will be attending our school, we will be able to arrange suitable provision for them.

The Chair of Governors, Mrs Mary Evans, and the deputy headteacher, Miss Karen Robinson, are working very closely with me at present. Indeed, I am fortunate in being supported in this work by an outstanding staff team and governing body, and together we will ensure that our Rockcliffe family continues to thrive. Although we will not be able to welcome all of our pupils into the school building, we will continue to support them throughout the period of closure; and will do our best to help everyone through this exceptionally difficult time.

Very best wishes to you all,

Sharron Colpitts-Elliott

PS I regret to say that we will have to cancel tomorrow's STEM Club session, as Miss Thompson will be attending a planning meeting of the Senior Leadership Team. We will be happy to accommodate your children in our Kids' Club free of charge should you be unable to collect them before 4.15pm.