Newsletters

Belmont School 5th March Newsletter

Welcome Back!

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are really looking forward to welcoming your children back to school full-time from next Monday. Our staff have been busy planning lots of exciting learning for the next three and a half weeks up to the Easter break. Now that Spring is here we will have many opportunities for the children to be outdoors, and to get fresh air and exercise, which we all need after the Winter lockdown. From next week our Reception classes will start Forest School sessions on the school site, while our Nursery children will be able to enjoy their outdoor learning on the new outdoor surface which was installed last week. Further up the school PE lessons will involve using the school’s all weather pitch and the field, including the new outdoor gym which we have built on the field and funded with the PE and Sports Premium.

We have valued your support and your positive feedback about our online learning since January and we now want to ask for your continued support to make sure your children attend school every day. Full school attendance is now mandatory. Last week’s letter explained the systems in place for our staggered start and finish times. The latest Government Guidance stresses the importance of making sure “bubbles” do not cross over during the school day to prevent the risk of infection, and this starts at the beginning of the day so it is essential your children arrive at school on time for their year group to enter the site. Late arrivals may not be permitted until ALL other year groups have already entered the site safely. The same procedures will apply at the end of the day when we expect children to be collected on time.

Unfortunately, you will still have to line up on the pavements either side of the school entrance at the start and finish time, so please make sure you arrive at the right time to avoid unnecessary waits and congestion. The Guidance recommends keeping a 2 metre distance between people outdoors, and where this may not be possible, wearing a face covering at all times, so please bring a face covering to wear while you are waiting outside the school and when entering the one way system with your children.

Harrow Council has now employed COVID Marshalls to work with the community to maintain social distancing and follow the Guidance. We have requested visits to the school by the COVID Marshalls to support us all.

Attendance

School attendance will be mandatory for all pupils from 8th March 2021.

If your child is ill, please notify the school office on 0208 427 0903.

If you or your child develop any signs of a continuous cough, high temperature and loss of taste or smell, book a PCR test immediately and let the school know as soon as you have been given the results - DO not send your child to school.

Quarantine and Self-Isolation after Overseas Travel

Booking holidays in the UK and abroad at this time is not permitted and the school cannot authorise any holiday requests. However we are aware that some families may have travelled overseas recently and it is essential that you follow the latest Guidance on self-isolating when they return to the UK.

The link below explains which countries are on the RED LIST because of infection rates. If you are returning to the UK from a RED LIST country it is a legal requirement to must book accommodation in a “Quarantine Hotel” for you and your family for 10 days from your arrival in the UK. If you are arriving from any country NOT on the Red List, you are still legally requires to self isolate in your home for 10 days from your arrival back in the UK.

From 15 February onwards, everyone allowed to enter England from outside the Common Travel Area (Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man) must:

Quarantine for 10 days
Take a coronavirus (COVID-19) test on day 2 and day 8 of quarantining
Follow the national lockdown rules

Coronavirus (COVID-19): red list travel ban countries - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

COVID - 19 Marshalls

Home Rapid Testing For Families

COVID -19 infection rates remain high, particularly in Harrow and other parts of North West London. In order to keep schools safe and open the NHS is now rolling out rapid testing to all families with school age children. This is intended to pick up asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 so that outbreaks can be managed and contained quickly. If any member of your household normally leaves home to go to work, your family should be taking rapid (Lateral Flow) tests twice a week.

School staff are already doing rapid home testing so ensure any infection is picked up quickly. We will be sending out a separate letter from Harrow’s Public Health Team explaining where and how families can get tested, and this will include arrangements for attending local rapid Test Centres as well and how to order home test kits.

Health & Safety and general reminders

The number of new cases of COVID-19 in Harrow remains high, but has decreased since the mid-January’s peak. So for that very reason I would like to ask you all to read the following to ensure that we are all doing our best in breaking the transmission of the virus.

We ask you to continue to help us by:

Only ONE parent to drop off and collect pupils to the teachers at the allocated times. If you have children in other year groups, you will only be allowed in school at the correct times – Please note - No parents will be allowed to wait on the school site.
Ensuring that you spread out and maintain a social distance of at least 2 metres with others when waiting to come on site – Keep your distance.
Do not gather in groups outside of the school gates – Keep your distance.
Wear a face covering when dropping off and collecting pupils and do let us know if you are exempt.
Wash your hands regularly.

No parents may come into building without an appointment. All communication must be by email or telephone. We must maintaining social distancing and strict timings.

Uniform Reminders

School uniform will need to be worn but the children can wear trainers. This is to stop the need for children to continually change shoes in corridors, with the potential to mix with other year group bubbles, or have pupils’ belongings lying around in the classroom.

There will be no changing on site, so pupils will wear PE kit to school on the days they have PE, wearing their white t-shirt and black shorts. Please ensure that your child wears a school sweatshirt and black or grey jogging bottoms over the t-shirt and shorts as they will be outside.

Ordering Hot School Lunches

We are no longer taking bookings for hot lunches ion school.

Please order your child's hot meals for next week via the ParentPay website - www.parentpay.com. This is for ALL pupils including Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils.

All meals will need to be ordered in advance and the menu can be found on the website.

If you need any help, please contact the school office on 0208 427 0903.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

Please check out our Mental and Health and wellbeing web page for latest updated and support materials to help you and your child transition back to school.

We will be hosting a Mental Health Support Trainee who will be working alongside our Wellbeing Team to support families who require early intervention - Watch this space!

Remote Learning Expectations

We will continue to set online weekly home learning online via 'Microsoft My Teams'. Staff will review what has been completed and leave feedback on the pupil’s page.

We are digitising the way the school operates, this means you will have access to all of the pupils daily learning so that pupils can review what they have learnt during the school day at home.

If your child's bubble has to self-isolate due to NHS Test and Trace, we will notify immediately and your child will be able to access learning online as they have done during school closure.

Curriculum Information

We will be updating the class pages on our website shortly to provide an overview of the learning for the rest of this half term.

Relationships and Sex Education

In the Summer Term, Year 5 and 6 pupils will be taught a unit which covers Puberty. You can read the school's Relationship Education Policy on our website, which includes details of the unit contents.

We will be organising a virtual meetings for parents who wish to know more about the teaching resources we will be using.

Maths Online Resources

Do not forget, your children have access to Numbots, Timestables Rock Stars and Purple Mash - Do continue to use them!

Parent Feedback and Upcoming Questionnaire

We would like to thank you all for your kind emails and positive feedback about the learning provided by the staff during the lockdown.

Please help us to make our offer even better by completing a short online questionnaire:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_V8ndTzT4UCYwoCKGgyMkwjyZpKp2i1PmIziih0mWs1UMlNWOVI3ME4yQ0NCTDNBRjJMMzNHTFhOWCQlQCN0PWcu

We will share your views and feedback once the questionnaire is closed.

Spring Family Consultations

We will be setting dates for virtual parent consultations in the next few weeks.

We will inform you of the details shortly.

What is the census?

The census is a survey that happens every 10 years and gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales. The next census takes place on Sunday 21 March 2021.

Your answers to the census questions will help organisations make decisions on planning and funding public services in your area, including transport, education and healthcare.

When to complete your census

Every household should complete the census on Sunday 21 March 2021 or as soon as possible after. If you’ve responded before 21 March and things have changed, you can let us know by calling us free. You can find the numbers on our contact us page after 1 March.

The census should take about 10 minutes for the household questions and 10 minutes per person.

It is Mandatory - if you do not complete the Census you could be find up to £1000.

Safeguarding remains ‘EVERYONE’S BUSINESS AT BELMONT SCHOOL.’

Harrow Children Services’ Golden Number is available to everyone, and gives people one number to call for information or advice on services for children, young people and their families.

Golden Number: 020 8901 2690.

Last day of term - School finish time to be finalised

All Day

March