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Free School meal Vouchers 22nd February

Due to an administrative glitch with the Edenred free school meal voucher system, we have been advised that vouchers may not arrive until tomorrow or Wednesday this week.  Please do not worry, as this has been rectified, but unfortunately, vouchers will be late this week.

Light Oaks' Got Talent 2021

Hi all.  We really didn't want our talent show to be cancelled this year, but because of Covid, we have decided to run it online instead!  Entries need to be videoed and emailed in to LOJSchool@gmail.com by 26th February.  An email with further details was sent out last week, but this can be found HERE if you haven't received it.

We are really looking forward to seeing our entries this year and we can't wait for our live-streamed show (only available in school - sorry parents!)

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Online Safety

Thank you to all of our parents who are doing an excellent (and very stressful) job supporting Light Oaks' children with their remote learning.  We have had a brilliant response with over 92% of pupils accessing work remotely or in school every day. Thank you also for making sure your children are safe online and they are following our rules for safe participation. 

We have, unfortunately, had some concerning phone calls with regards to social media and WhatsApp group chats.  We understand that children are missing their friends and social contact, and recognise that chat facilities may provide a way for them to keep in touch.  However, parents should consider their role in keeping children safe by supervising their children when they are using any form of chat facility.  No social media sites or chat faciities - including WhatsApp - are safe for children under the age of 13 (or 16 in the case of WhatsApp) without direct adult supervision, and we would urge all parents to check and watch what their children are doing, posting and receiving online. 

We have already had to inform the police and social services about a number of illegal and unsafe incidents.  Please make sure your child is neither a victim or a perpetrator of a hate crime, grooming or illegal posting.

If you are in any way concerned about online bullying, illegal or unsafe use of any digital platform, you should remove your child from the platform immediately and report incidents to the digital provider, social services and/or the police.  We can deal with incidents of poor behaviour, but we cannot control what your child accesses and this is your responsibility as parents. If we feel that there is a safeguarding concern around an incident - including if we feel parents are not dealing with the problem - we will report this, in line with our safeguarding and child protection policy.

We strongly recommend that you take the excellent advice that is published at the following websites:

• The NSPCC online safety pages HERE.

• Government advice about online safety during the lockdown HERE.

• UK Safer Internet Centre information HERE.

• Parent Info site with advice and guidance about online safety including 'how to' guides to settings and security HERE.

We are providing an unprecedented amount of face to face and other online learning opportunities for your children, which we hope you have found useful and easy to follow during this lockdown period.  Please make sure your child is staying safe online - both while they are learning and at all other times. 

Free School Meals Vouchers

Free school meal vouchers for week beginning Monday 18th January have now been sent to all eligible parents' email adresses.  Vouchers will be emailed every Monday until half term.  Further information about half term vouchers will be sent nearer the time.

 

Contacting us January 2021

Thank you to all our parents who are continuing to support this latest national lockdown by keeping your children at home and helping them to learn remotely.  We are trying to organise some online digital books for the school today, so they should be ready to lend from our virtual library early next week. We will email parents when they can be accessed.

As you most probably know, all class teachers are based in their own classrooms and are teaching live to the pupils in school as well as remotely to those of you at home at the same time.  We therefore need parents to keep the Teams Meetings and the Showbie chats for learning only.  In order to tell us about children being off school, changes to days or other administrative information (including requests for calls from staff), could we ask that parents contact school ONLY by phoning 0161 921 1690 or by emailing via the school website or directly at lightoaks.juniorschool@salford.gov.uk.

Thanks! 

BBC learning offer from 11th January

For families finding live teaching difficult, or those who can't access teams and/or showbie, the BBC have a schedule of TV learning which can be watched every day, or streamed on BBC iplayer.  BBC materials are always of a high quality, and we recommend these wholeheartedly - both for leanring and for enjoyment!  Full details can be found here.

Free School Meals Update

All families who are not in school and are entitled to free school meals can order a food box.  Some parents have already done this and these will be arriving in school on Tuesday 12th January with food for two weeks.  We have no information yet about the national voucher scheme, other than it will not be backdated when it is reinstated, so we urge any parents who are entitled to free school meals to order a food box from us via the school office on 0161 921 1690.

Update Sunday 10th January 2021

Hello to all our families - we hope you are all safe and coping well in our new lockdown.  We sent an important email to everyone on Friday clarifying the government expectations about school attendance.  It is important that:

• If you are a critical worker, you should keep your child at home if possible.  Only take up a place in school if it is absolutely necessary to enable you to go to work.

Thank you to everyone who is helping their child to learn remotely.  Can I remind you that we need ALL remote learners to log into Teams by 8:45am so we can take a register and give you instructions about the day.  Those families who can only access Showbie will be able to find the independent learning on the site at this time too.

Can we apologise that we have not yet been able to support parents with devices to access Teams at home.  Our technician was unsuccessful at building the government provided devices on Friday.  The company is trying to work out what the problem is early next week.  However, we do have a limited number of tablets which we can offer families which can access Showbie.  Please call school if you need one.

We may also be able to help a limited number of parents who do not have internet access, or who have limited data.  Please ring school if you need this support.

Thank you and enjoy next week's learning!

IT Difficulties Wednesday

We are experiencing difficulties with our online learning platform.  Please do not ring school, as we cannot answer all of your calls at the moment.  We have contacted our technicians who are trying to remedy the fault. 

Please check you are ONLY using the most up to date version of Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome to access RM Unify.  If you are finding the borrowed tablets a problem, please set up your own google account to download Teams or any other app that is required.  We have a technician coming into school today to try to build some more devices to lend out.

Please do not worry - we have planned for the rest of this week to be a trial run of the systems, as we recognise that there will always be problems with technology! 

Please access any work via Showbie today, or use TT Rockstars, Purplemash, Spag.com, ReadTheory or read a book!  You could also practice your writing skills by writing a story.  The BBC is screening educational programmes, or your could go to the Oak Academy Website HERE and choose something from your year group that you are interested in.

Information for Wednesday

Children coming into school (Parents who we have contacted or who have requested a place in school via the survey)

·        Year 3 & 4 school day is 8:30am – 3:00pm;  Year 5 & 6 school day is 8:45am – 3:15pm

·        Junior siblings can arrive at the earlier time, but must pick up at the correct time (parents can wait on the playground)

·         Parents should wear face coverings whilst on the school premises

·         All pupils will be in their usual class and will be taught by the class teacher, who is also teaching remotely at the same time

·         Lunch arrangements remain the same – pupils can bring a packed lunch, or can order a school dinner as normal

·         Pupils must wear school uniform, should bring a warm coat and a fleece-type top to stay warm in class

·         All places are full time, but parents who need part time provision should contact school on Fridays to state the pattern of attendance for the following week

·         If your child is unwell for any reason – please keep them away from school and phone school for advice

 

Children learning from home (Some parents have been contacted today to collect paper based learning for their children this week – more information about their particular learning will follow)

 ·        Pupils should log into RM Unify as they have been shown at school (see attached instructions) NO LATER THAN 8:45am

 ·        Pupils will have at least three remote learning sessions via Microsoft Teams during the day, followed by work which can be completed remotely on Showbie (see attached information)

 ·        An acceptable use agreement is attached to discuss with your child

 ·        Information about pupils entitled to Free School Meals has not been finalised by the Government yet – we will contact you as soon as we get the information

 ·        Don’t panic!  This week is very much a trial and error week for the whole school community – parents, children and staff. 

Thank you once again for your patience.

Zandra Wilkinson

Headteacher

 

 

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School Closure Tuesday 5th January

URGENT

Dear parents,

As you will be aware, the government tonight announced a full lockdown of schools from 8pm this evening.  Due to this extremely short notice, and despite the brilliant responses to our survey this evening, we do not have enough time to organise opening our school safely tomorrow.  The chairs of Governors and the Headteachers of both the Infant School and the Junior School have agreed to take an exceptional closure day tomorrow in order to contact parents and organise a safe return for those pupils who are entitled to a place.

I can only apologise that we have been forced to take this action, but I hope that you will understand how important this is to get right.  We will be attempting to contact all parents tomorrow so please be patient.

Stay safe

Zandra Wilkinson

Headteacher

 

 

21st December 6X message

An urgent letter has been seny out by email to 6X today.  Could all paretns please check their emails immediately.  Thank you.

Free Meals at Asda

Asda are offering free meals for all children under 16 throughout December.  Tier 2 can eat in, Tier 3 can take away.  No adult meal needs to be purchased and there are no minimum spend requirements or restrictions on the number of children in a family group that can take advantage of this offer, but it is limited to one meal per child per day.  The meals include breakfasts, pasta dishes, fish fingers and a pick and mix sandwich deal, and they are all served with a drink and a piece of fruit.  More informaiton can be found by clicking HERE.

Christmas Events

A letter has been sent home to all parents this week with details of Christmas activities.  Please check your email.  You can also access the letter by clicking HERE.

Parents' Evenings November 2020

Parents' evenings will take place remotely on Tuesday 10th November and Wednesday 18th November.  These will be done remotely over via Microsoft Teams - you do not need any special softare to access this meeting, but will need to access the internet. We will email an invitation early in the first week back at school.  If you will not be able to accept this invitation, please let school know.

Keep checking your emails, and ring school if you have not received anything by Wednesday 4th November.

Return to School 2nd November

We hope that everyone had a very restful half term break.  We return tomorrow with the prospect of a new national lockdown scheduled to begin on Thursday.  Please note that school is not affected by the new rules and we will be open as usual.  Could we remind parents of the following, especially now that the threat of community tranmission is increasing rapidly:

• if you have any symptoms of Covid-19, however mild, do not attend school (if you are a pupil) or the site (if you are an adult or sibling)
• inform school if a pupil shows symptoms, get a test, and engage with the track and trace system
• remain socially distanced from other households whilst on site (stay 2 metres away)
• wear a mask whilst on school grounds for anyone over the age of 12
• remind and encourage your child to follow our covid safe rules in school and at home
• stick to your allocated staggered drop off and pick up times - and please keep your children away from others on the school playground if you need to wait for siblings.
• keep your children off our playground and field equipment at the start and end of the school day

We recognise that the new lockdown may well cause some of our parents a range of difficulties; please do not hesitate to contact school if you need any help or advice during the next half term.

Flu vaccination 2020

School nurses will be in school on Thursday 5th November 2020.  A link for you to sign your child up has been emailed to all parents today.  If you need any further details, or do not receive the link, please ring the school office on 0161 921 1690.  Please Note that consent MUST be done via the link in the email, and cannot be given by school.  The flu vaccination is voluntary, but is highly recommended while the Covid pandemic is still with us.

IMPORTANT Update to School procedures 2nd October

Good morning.  We are today emailing all parents a letter with an update on the current situation and some changes to school procedures.  Instances of Covid-19 have been rising rapidly around the country and particularly in our local region.  We have therefore had to review our risk assessment and tighten some of our procedures, as advised by our local authority and public health partners.  Please note that FROM MONDAY 5th OCTOBER 2020:

• only one adult per family should bring children onto the school site, or enter the site to collect children at the end of the day (this includes the playground, field and paths);
• adults dropping off or collecting pupils from the school site must wear a face covering whilst on school property;
• all adults must remain 2m away from members of other households at all times.

Thank you for respecting our staff by complying fully with these procedures and acting responsibly if reminded of the rules on site.  Please note that all of our staff have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and to feel safe while at work.

what to do guide September 2020

Here is a handy guide from the NHS to help you decide what to do about cornonavirus symptoms, contacts and other scenarios when you are not sure whether to send your child to school.  Please click HERE to download this useful and simple PDF poster.

Thank you to all parents who recognise that our main aim at this time is to keep all of our community safe.  In light of the national - and especially the local - situation of rising cases of Covid-19, we are sure that you will understand that we must be very wary of any illness which is presented in school.  There have been a number of queries regarding coughs, so we are publishing the NHS advice below to make it clear what is meant by each symptom.  We are also awaiting further advice which we have requested from Public Health in Salford.

Main symptoms

The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

Most people with coronavirus have at least 1 of these symptoms.

Letter for whole school Friday 11th September

Please click HERE to read the letter e-mailed out to all parents today.

 

Clarification about testing and illness 11/9/20

As per government and LA guidelines, any pupil or staff member who displays any of the main symptoms of coronavirus infection, must stay away from school and be tested.  You can phone school for advice on how to do this and speak to Miss Buckley on 0161 921 1690.

If a member of your household is showing any of the main symptoms, you shoudl all self isolate until they have had a test.  Please let school know you are doing this, and let us know the result of the test as soon as possible.

Symptoms of coronavirus infeciton are:

• a new, continuous cough
• A high temperature (you feel hot to touch on the chest or back)
• Loss of sense of smell and/or taste (anosmia)

We will ONLY inform parents when there has been a positive test in the school.  Please keep checking our website for this information.  If a child or staff member tests positive, the class and associated adults will be required to self isolate for 14 days, and you will be notified of this by school.

We cannot inform parents if there has been a suspected case in school, or if a contact of a child has tested positive.  Please ensure that you instruct your children to follow the covid safe rules and wash their hands regularly, remain socially distanced from other classes and adults, clean up after themselves and tell a teacher if they are feeling unwell.

Thank you to all our families for helping us to keep the school community safe.

Thank you Wednesday 9th September

A big thank you to all our families for following the new staggered timetable that we have had to adopt to ensure we don't have too many people on the school site at once.  Can we please ask that you keep your children off the play equipment, so that we can keep each of our class zones just for them.  It is particularly important that children from the Infant school do not play on equipment in the junior yard, or on the field, as this could mean both schools having to close in the event of a coronavirus outbreak.  The infant school would also appreciate you keeping away from the sandhills area and would remind families to stay on the paths into and out of school.

Please could you leave the school site as soon as you have dropped off, or picked up your chidlren and keep each entrance clear for others to access the site safely. We realise it is very tempting to stop and chat, but please fight the temptation while on school premises, or around the site.

Social distancing is extremely important, and we thank you all for maintaining 2 metres between your household and others whilst at school.

PE Days

 

Good afternoon,

 

Please see below the day that each year group will be doing PE.

 

 

Year Group	PE Days
Year 3	Monday and Thursday
Year 4	Thursday and Friday
Year 5	Tuesday and Wednesday
Year 6	Monday and Friday

 

 

On PE days, children are to come to school in their PE kit which they will stay in all day.

 

PE Kit should be: · Plain black or blue track-suit · white T-shirt · Trainers

 

PLEASE NOTE: football shirts/tracksuits are not allowed, and expensive kit with logos is discouraged

 

Welcome Back - Monday 7th September

Welcome back to all our families - we are very much looking forward to seeing you all in school.  The children who came on Friday had a wonderful day and were all smiles! 

Remember:

Y3 - 8:30 - 3:00

Y4 - 8:45 - 3:15

Y5 - 9:00 - 3:30

Y6 - 9:15 - 3:45

Please make sure you walk on the left on pathways and stay socially distanced from other households.  Thank you!

Transition Visits Friday 4th September

Any parents whose children have been invited to transition visits on Friday 4th September, please note that uniform is required.

Thanks!

Parent information for September

POSTED 24th August 2020

All parents should now have received the parent handbook which outlines our response to re-opening the school in September.  We have followed government guidelines throughout our risk assessment and policy development, and have liaised closely with the Infant School throughout the process. 

We recognise that some of the changes may well be inconvenient for some parents, but we must stress that any measures put in place have been done to reduce the chance of community transmission of the coronavirus.  I would hope that all of you would want to keep our school, our children and our community safe and virus free.

We would also urge you all to think carefully before criticising the school for attempting to follow the guidelines laid down by the government, as we have worked exceptionally hard to manage the almost impossible task of continuing our excellent learning alongside reducing the amount of social contact around school from September.  With upwards of 1400 people accessing the school site across the two schools at the start and end of the day, our biggest chance of transmission is during drop off and pick up, which is why we have staggered the start and end times of the school day.  We have also insisted on pupils being in school for the usual six and a half hours, in order to maximise the time we have to ensure all pupils catch up to where they should be. We know that you will agree that these two aims are our first priorities on return to school.

• If you cannot access the parent handbook (which serves as our opening policy), click HERE.
• The school operational risk assessment, which has been agreed by the Local Authority click HERE.

September return

All information about the organisation of a return to school in September will be communicated to parents by email.  Please make sure we have a current email address for you and check it regularly over the Summer holidays.  If you need to give us a new email address you can email us at lightoaks.juniorschool@salford.gov.uk or use our contact form HERE.  You can also update your details on the school APP.  We will post updates on the website as well - so keep checking over the Summer.

The latest Government guidance for parents can be found HERE.

We will post a plan for re-opening and the updated risk assessment on our website as soon as possible. Please note that there has been a change to the back-to-school date.  We are now opening to pupils on Monday 7th September 2020.  Year 3 pupils will be invited in on Friday 4th Septembr for a half day transition visit.  Arrangements will be emailed out to parents.

September uniform 9th July 2020

Information about uniform for September has been emailed out to parents today.  The letter can be found HERE.  The Uniform price list can be found HERE.  Please contact school for any further queries.  Please note some changes to uniform for September due to the Covid-19 pandemic:

• SHOES: black trainers are required instead of school shoes and a pair of wellies and a waterproof jacket with hood will be needed in poor weather
• No bags are allowed
• No pencil cases to be brought from home
• All PE will be outdoors so outdoor kit is essential for the winter months (white T-shirt; black or navy track pants or sweat pants; black or navy tracksuit top or hoody)

A link to the uniform page can be found HERE.

END OF TERM 2020

Dear parents/carers,

as we near the end of the school year, we would like to say a big thank you to all of those who have been so supportive over the past year.  Under some very difficult circumstances, your support has been even more vital than ever and has been much appreciated.  We would also like to say a sad goodbye to our Year 6 pupils and parents and we wish them good luck at their new school as they start an exciting new chapter in their lives.

A letter from Salford LA regarding the September full opening of schools can be found HERE.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

• school will close for Year 6 on Friday 10th July 2020
• Year 2 will receive personal email invites into school for a 45 minute 'meet the teacher' session for either Tuesday 14th July or Wednesday 15th July 2020
• school will close to all pupils for the summer holidays at 4pm on Thursday 16th July 2020
• there will be no online work posted over the summer holidays
• free school meals vouchers will be send out to eligible families for the summer holidays on 17th July 2020
• CHANGE TO RE-OPENING DATE: school will re-open to pupils on Monday 7th September 2020 (this is a change from the published dates)

We look forward to seeing everyone in September - please keep checking the website and your emails for further information about arrangements for the next academic year, as they are likely to be very different from previous years.

Stay Safe, The Light Oaks Team

Transition for Year 6 Parents 25th June

The Government and Local Authority have advised High Schools that they can invite Y6 pupils into schools for the purposes of transition before the end of the Summer Term.  However, as far as we have been told by these schools, none are planning to hold on-site transition meetings or visits.  You should have already received a letter from the High schools informing you of transition arrangements, details of your child's form tutor and links to the welcome videos that all schools have produced.

In order to keep up to date with the arrangements for September and, indeed, any other transition activities, please visit the High School Websites where information is being posted.  Our main destination High Schools' websites are below - click the name to take you to their main page or the Y6 transition page to see information about transition:

• Ellesmere Park High School          EPHS transition page
• Buile Hill Academy                      BHA transition page
• Moorside High School                   MHS  transition page (password required)
• All Hallows RC High School           AHRC transition page
• Ambrose Barlow RC High School   ABRC transition page
• Canon Slade CE High School        CSHS transition page

Our pupils go to a vast range of High Schools, so apologies if your High School is not linked above. 

22nd June: Important information

SEPTEMBER 2020:  After Friday's announcement by the Prime Minister that schools will be returning for all children in September, we are now beginning to plan for how this will work and what it will look like.  We intend to offer all pupils a full time place, and we have enough staff to ensure that this can be delivered safely.  However, please keep an eye out for infomation about any changes from September.

END OF YEAR 2019-20 ORGANISATION: There are also two important letters parents should read regarding the end of this academic year.  These can be accessed by following the links below:

• End of Year reports
• Y6 end of term dates and year book

IMPORTANT 10th June 2020

Please note that parents of children who are in the priority groups (Y6, vulnerable or key worker parents) who want a place in school MUST contact school in advance.  We will not admit any child in to school without prior arrangement with the Headteacher or Deputy Head. Start dates will be the Monday after confirmation of a place.  This is to ensure we have time to organise the groups and plan for the safety of all pupils in school.  Thank you for your co-operation. 

Any child sent to school without prior confirmation will be sent home immediately, and will be kept away from the rest of the school until a parent comes to pick them up.

Please read the information in the original letter for planned opening HERE before making any decisions, as school is very different to normal.  The revised Home/School agreement which you will be required to follow is HERE.  We regret that we cannot accommodate any requests for children to be placed with specific friends or particular teachers: all decisions will be made in order to protect the safety of the whole school, and will be final.

UN Rights of the Child

We have been promoting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in school for the whole of this academic year.  Unfortunately, the closedown has meant that we have not been able to do as much work with the children as we would have liked.  We are now trying to re-introduce this to our children, and have uploaded an information sheet with some activities on the rights.  You can find this HERE. 

Online Assembly by the Duchess of Cambridge

On Thursday 18th June, the Duchess of Cambridge will lead an online assembly during which she will speak about the importance of mental wellbeing among children. The theme of the Duchess’ assembly is ‘spread a little kindness’

 

The assembly will be live on the Oak National Academy website at 11am on Thursday 18 June and can be accessed here:

 

https://classroom.thenational.academy/assemblies/

 

A recording of the assembly will be available to view on the Oak National Academy website following the event.

Testing 15th June 2020

The latest scientific guidelines suggest that children may experience different symptoms to adults, and although the main symptoms of a new cough, a high temperature or a loss or change to the sense of smell/taste are still the most improtant, children can also display symptoms such as:

·         Sore throat

·         Lethargy, tiredness or fatigue

·         Muscle aches

·         Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, loss of appetite

·         Headaches, dizziness

·         Runny nose

·         Rashes

·         conjunctivitis

If your child is in school, we will always send them home if they are displaying any symptoms of illness. Children in school will be required to be tested, which can be arranged by us, or through the NHS as below.  We will need to see the results of the test if the child tests negative nefore they can return to school.  If the test is positve, we will require all members of the child's group to self isolate for seven days, or longer if they develop symptoms. If you choose not to have your child tested, or do not wish to share their test results with us, they will need to stay away from school for 7 days from the onset of the illness.

IF YOU NEED TO GET A TEST YOU CAN FOLLOW THE GUIDANCE BY CLICKING HERE.

 

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Free resilience course

Supporting your child’s emotional resilience during Covid-19: Free Online course from  Bright Sparks.  The free 2 hour online course is designed to support parents of children aged 4-11 years during this time and aims to help parents and caregivers to understand and develop emotional resilience. The course will consist of recorded lectures, presentation slides and interactive questions, and participant will:

 

§  Understand how to help children build and strengthen their resilience

§  Feel able to support your children to develop general coping skills and mechanisms that help your child with common challenges of everyday life

§  Support children to adapt to issues and change in the home environment

§  Improve parent self-confidence

§  Identify the early signs of mental health issues

§  Gain practical support strategies and interventions, signposting and guidance will be given to help learners to feel confident in encouraging and maintaining positive mental health and building emotional resilience in children and young people.

 

The course is available until the 12^th June – with Bright Sparksending the course at 11am on the 12th June with a 1 hour live Q&A with our course tutors where you can ask specific questions.

To register for the training please use the following link: www.brightsparkscic.org.uk/er-covid19

School places from 8th June

3rd June 2020:  We are today confirming places for the partial re-opening of the school from next Monday (8th June).  All parents who have been allocated a place will receive a phone call today, or an email if we cannot contact you by phone.  We will need to send you a number of documents today via email, so please make sure you can give us an email address when we ring. Thank you for your patience at this time.

Further Information about partial re-opening in June

We are today publishing two very important documents regarding the partial re-opening of Light Oaks Junior School from 8th June 2020.  These are very long and detailed documents which give a thorough and in-depth overview of our plan for re-opening.  We advise all parents to read these documents so that you are aware of the changes we have made to our processes and procedures.  In addition, these documents should give you a good idea of what we are doing to abide by the guidance issued to us from central government and the Local Authority.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have further questions about re-opening via phone or email.

Click HERE to read the information letter.

Click HERE to read the operational risk assessment.

Proposed opening in June new information

22nd May 2020

Thank you to all the parents who have answered the survey, and to those who have spoken to us at school.  If you haven't yet done so and need to speak to us about a place, please email school or phone us between 9:00am and 3:30pm Monday to Friday next week.  Please read the letter HERE which outlines our most recent plans.  Please note that neither the Infant School nor the Junior School are opening to new pupils until 8th June at the earliest.  More information is contained within the letter HERE.

*NEW* Letter from the Local Authority

The Local Authority have written a letter setting out their response to the proposed partial reopening of schools across the city.  The letter can be found by clicking HERE

Proposed Wider Opening of Schools from early June

Following the release of several guidance documents over the past week, we are beginning to develop our response to the Government's request that some pupils begin to return to school from early June.  Please note the following:

• Priority places will first be given to keyworker/vulnerable pupils and those with an EHCP.
• Following this allocation, Nursery and Reception are prioritised in the Infant school and Year 6 are prioritised in the Junior School.
• Although your child may fall within these priority groups, there is no guarantee that we can offer a place, as this depends on the numbers of pupils and staff available.  Please await confirmation.
• Children will be grouped into small groups (or bubbles) of no more than 15 pupils, dependent on the size of the room they are allocated, and staff availability.  These ‘bubbles’ could be mixed age, in any classroom and taught by any teacher or support staff.
• We will decide how to group the children, and we regret that these groupings cannot be changed by parental request.  These will not necessarily be related to friendship groups.
• Classrooms will have a differnt layout to normal and chdilren will be expected to sit in a specific place.  They will have their own equipment and will not be able to bring in their own belongings from home. 
• Pupils from any group will not be able to mix with children from any other group during the school day, including during breaks and at lunchtime.
• There will be a number of measures in place to try to keep your child as safe as possible.  However, we would like you to understand that schools can only minimise, and not completely eradicate the risk presented by Covid-19.  We will strictly enforce social distancing guidelines as far as possible, but please note that we cannot guarantee that children will be kept 2 metres apart from each other at all times.
• We will be following Government guidelines which state that PPE is not necessary: pupils and staff will not be allowed to wear a mask, gloves or any other PPE, other than for specific, high-risk procedures.
• There will be significant changes to all routines and expectations and a revised home-school agreement will be required before a place can be taken up.
• We, unfortunately, cannot provide wraparound care before or after the school day for any pupil.
• Teaching of the curriculum will be narrowed and will be significantly different to a normal school curriculum.
• We will be following contact tracing guidelines & working with the Government on this, as this becomes available.
• Children who display any of the revised symptoms for coronavirus along with all pupils in their 'bubble' will be sent home immediately, and are expected to self-isolate for 7 days, and the household for 14 days.
• Children are encouraged to attend, but parents will not be fined for non-attendance at this time.

FOR ALL PARENTS:  PLEASE COMPLETE THE SURVEY BY CLICKING HERE. Please complete this before the end of Tuesday 19th May.  Thank you.

Please also see national Government guidance HERE   Someone from school will contact you before 28^th May either by phone or text if we can offer your child a place, and to give you further information.

Planning for Partial re-opening from 1st June

UPDATE 12th May

Please note we are still closed to the general population for the next three weeks.  We are making plans to open partially from 1st June, as long as the Government, and our Governing Board, deem it safe to do so.  Government guidelines can be viewed HERE.  Only Year 6 pupils will be invited to attend school from 1st June, along with the children of keyworkers and vulnerable children.  Please note that attendance is expected, but is not compulsory and we will be contacting all parents of Y6 pupils over the next two weeks to discuss the arrangements.  PLEASE DO NOT RING SCHOOL, as we have no further information at this time.

Mental Wellbeing Help for adults

The Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership have developed an online self-help course to support adults who are experiencing stress or anxiety over the current COVID-19 crisis or more generally.  You can access the Silvercloud resource HERE.  The GMHSC website also has lots of infomation about mental health and wellbeing.  The main site can be accessed HERE.

free e-book

There is a free e-book to help children during the crisis through 'words and pictures to comfort, inspire and entertain in lockdown'.  It is full of short stories by famous children's authors and can be accessed HERE.

VE Day Friday 8th May 2020

"We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing, but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead."

 – Winston Churchill, addressing the nation on VE Day.

 Friday 8^th May marks the 75^th anniversary of VE day – the end of the Second World War in Europe. 

 Although the war would continue for another few months in the Pacific, the people of Europe could breathe a brief sigh of relief: their towns and houses would be safe from falling bombs; soldiers could begin to return home to their friends and families; everyone could start to rebuild their lives.

 Originally, grand plans were laid to commemorate VE day in the UK – street parties, community gatherings, sing-a-longs and remembrance services were to be held up and down the country. Obviously, this cannot happen in exactly the same way as planned, though that should not stop us remembering what a momentous and important event VE day was!

 Your teachers have worked hard to develop activities that you can do to remember this historic occasion and to get you in the spirit of the commemorations on Friday.

As well as these, I have also included a few links that you may find interesting, giving you a glimpse back in time! (These resources are suitable for all primary school age groups.)

Stay safe and stay smiling!

Mr Morris, History Co-ordinator

Links

Newsround information guide: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48201749

Photos of VE day: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/10-photos-of-ve-day-celebrations

VE day in Manchester: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/gallery/how-ve-day-celebrated-manchester-9196158

 Churchill’s Speech (+ transcript): https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1941-1945-war-leader/to-v-e-crowds/ (https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1941-1945-war-leader/end-of-the-war-in-europe/)

Rationing list: http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/war/rationing2.html

WW2 quiz: https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/quiz/history/take-world-war-ii-quiz/

Bunting guide: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4TrqYDyf4PMdLypxzyTwGDg/great-british-bunting

Colouring sheets: https://ve-vjday75.gov.uk/toolkit/

 ‘We’ll meet again’, by Vera Lynn:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsrOhqUuPN4

‘The White Cliffs of Dover’, by Vera Lynn:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovfQjR3iU-A

VE Day Horrible Histories: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/horrible-histories-songs-ve-day-song

VE Day Video footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rePb2NadxQw ​

*NEW* POP UK singalong 5th May 2020

Our friends at POP UK are doing a song a day for the next week.  You can access their website HERE.

*NEW* Groundbreakers Assemblies

We are very pleased to announce that Mary from Groundbreakers has offered to film a weekly assembly for us.  Groundbreakers are a Christian organisation who have delivered half termly assemblies for us over a number of years.  The children always enjoy Mary's contributions, and her assemblies are always very thought-provoking and aimed at all members of our community whatever their faith or beliefs.  I hope you will enjoy these as much as we always do in school.  Links will be posted on the PUPIL ZONE page under the weekly learning folders HERE.

Update 30th April 2020

As we move into the 7th week of school partial closure, we recognise that chiLdren may well be suffering anxiety and worry.  As an Emotionally Friendly School, we recognise that the current situation can have a detrimental effect on children's mental health and wellbeing.  We would like to let you know we are still thinking of everyone and we miss all the children greatly.  Teachers are trying to telephone all families to say hello and make sure you are OK, but if you need any help, please contact us at school.  Some great resources can be accessed below to help you talk to your child about the current situation, or to help with any anxiety or worries.

Think Ninja  is an APP for 10-18 year olds speciafically about COVID-19 and their wellbeing.

SALFORD ADVICE These are the pages of Salford Council with advice and help for parents during the crisis.

EMOTIONALLY FRIENDLY SCHOOLS have pages with lots of advice and links about how to talk to chidlren about the crisis and how to stay positive.  There is also advice here about coping with illness and bereavement.

HERE is a very useful document, recommended by our Educational Psychologists, which gives information about talking to children about COVID-19

Stay Safe: Stay at Home.  Zandra Wilkinson Headteacher

Update 27th April 2020

We hope everyone is safe and well, and that you have been able to access the weekly learning packs which we are uploading into the PUPIL ZONE section of our website.  Don't forget our twitter pages too @junioroaks where you will find a video made by all the teachers just to say hello to everyone.  Hopefully, those of you who are entitled to free school meals will have received the vouchers by now.  If you haven't. or if there is a problem, please call school on 0161 921 1690.  If adults want to do a bit of learning in their free time, the Government have just launched a new website HERE called The Skills Toolkit where you can brush up your digital and numeracy skills.  Stay Safe: Stay indoors.  Mrs Wilkinson

Update 16th April 2020

*NEW*

All the learning folders have been updated ready for next week.  Go to PUPIL ZONE and find your year group folder.  We are now on Week 28.  Remember, you can upload work to our learning email address lojschool@gmail.com

Update 2nd April 2020

FREE SCHOOL MEALS UPDATE: The Free School Meal Voucher Scheme has now been released.  We are contacting parents in order to send vouchers digitally to those who are entitled to receive free school meals.  If you have not received an email from us, please contact school on 0161 921 1690.  Vouchers are for term time only and will be sent ready for the week beginning 20th April 2020.

MENTAL HEALTH ADVICE: The Government have published some useful advice to help people stay mentally well during these extraordinary times.  The advice can be found HERE.  The Emotionally Friendly Schools Team have also published a list of websites where help can be found when talking to children about Coronavirus.  Thsi can be found HERE.

EASTER: school will remain open over the easter holidays (including Bank Holidays) for children of Key Workers.  Thank you to all the staff who have volunteered to give up their holiday time to ensure we can help during this time of need.

Update 31st March

FREE SCHOOL MEALS:

We are currently waiting for the Governemnt to set up our online free school meals voucher scheme.  This was announced yesterday, and we have been informed that it will be up and running before the end of the week.  We are currently emailing all parents whose children qualify for free school meals to check the email address we have on our system.  Please look out for this eamil and respond so we know it works.  If you have a different email address or a new one which you know school does not have, please let us know via the school office 0161 921 1690 or email lightoaks.juniorschool@salford.gov.uk  or via the contacts form on the website.

UNDERSTANDING CORONAVIRUS FOR CHILDREN

A handy guide to coronavirus for children can be found HERE

WELLBEING ADVICE

Our School Therapist, Julia, is sending us advice on staying calm and mentally well during this time.  We will post these HERE

 

Online Learning Update 27th March

We have now streamlined our online learning to make it as simple as possible for you to find what you need.  There is now ONE PAGE to navigate to which has links for each year group and week.  The Online Learning Hub page can be accessed from the Pupil Zone Page HERE.  Our latest information about learning at home can be found HERE. 

We hope that you are all well and that you are keeping happy and safe.  Look out for extra learning, blogs and other goodies over the coming weeks - and don't forget to check out our Twitter page @JuniorOaks

updated links to coronavirus information

Click below to find useful information:

Main Government page with all links

Guidance about self isolation and possible infection

24th March 2020: Update

Dear parents/carers,

I just wanted to message you all to say we hope that all is going well at home during this difficult time.  We are busy looking after our small number of children whose parents are critical workers and are keeping our country going through this crisis.  We are also attempting to clean the whole school on a very small number of staff, to ensure that all of the staff and chidlren who are coming in to us every day can stay as safe as possible.  We are going to update our website on a Thursday with extra work for your children at home to do, ready for the following week.  In the meantime, please continue with the learning ideas which we have provided with the exercise books sent out last week, keep doing Times tables Rockstars, do the activities on BBC bitesize and read as much as possible!

Playing board games, cards or building dens and playing shop are all great, fun activities which provide learning without even trying. You could make a treasure hunt, or design a wordsearch, crossword puzzle or a quiz to try out as a family.

At this time, we are as keen to keep children happy, as we are to keep them learning - so a bit of all of the above is vital through the following months.  As always, if you need our help or advice, please phone school on 0161 921 1690, email lightoaks.juniorschool@salford.gov.uk or contact us via the webform on our website.

 

Zandra Wilkinson

Headteacher

School Closure

Thank you for your support

20^th March 2020

Dear parents/carers

Important information regarding student attendance – from Monday 23 March 2020

Firstly, thank you for the very supportive approach that the vast majority of our parents have taken during these exceptionally challenging times. The children have also been incredibly sensible and positive and you should be extremely proud of the way they are handling the current situation.  Our staff have been working tirelessly to ensure these unprecedented changes run as smoothly as possible, in extremely difficult circumstances.

Many of our staff have attended school, despite having conditions which should have kept them at home, and I can only applaud their courage and determination to support our community at this time. Those who have had to stay away have been working to support their colleagues and the school as best as they can – so thank you to them for all of their efforts over the past few days.

Going forward, the provision we have been asked to organise is to ensure vital front line staff can continue to carry out their hugely important roles, and to ensure vulnerable pupils are kept safe.  We are grateful to all of these key workers who are looking after us all, and would like to extend our appreciation for the work that they do, not only now, but daily throughout the year. Because we are trying to ensure that only the most essential workers are given priority at this time, we can only apologise that we have had to make some difficult decisions regarding who has been offered a place after Monday.  We recognise that some parents will feel aggrieved that their financial positions have not been taken into account, but we have had to prioritise families whose parents are on the front line serving the public, and who have no other means of caring for their children at home. 

All parents who have been allocated a place will have been notified today.  If any parents’ situation changes and they need to be considered as a key worker in the future, or you have missed the mid-day deadline for the survey, please email school at louise.buckley@salford.gov.uk or through the website.  Our school office will be open until 5.30pm this evening and from 8.00 am on Monday.

Whilst we are formally closed from Monday 23^rd March onwards, we will continue to support your child, both academically and pastorally.  More detailed information will continue to be sent to you in support of this.  Please keep checking our Twitter pages, our website and on the parent APP for up-to-date details.

Ongoing Learning Activities

We have a pack of simple learning activities for all children to be given out this evening or this can be picked up from the school office at any time.  Further activities and online links will be posted on our website weekly.

Free School Meals

All parents who are entitled to Free School Meals have been contacted and offered support.  Please phone school if you have any queries.