Coronavirus Update

Posted 31/11/2021

View the latest risk assessment here.

Posted 14/09/2021

Dear Parents/Carers,

I would just like to clarify our expectations should anyone in your household develop COVID-19 symptoms.

COVID-19 SYMPTOMS:

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

Should anyone in your household develop any of the above symptoms you need to book a COVID-19 PCR test immediately. 

Family members may come to school pending their PCR test results but if they have any symptoms the must stay at home. Should a PCR test come back positive, you must collect your child immediately.

Thank-you for your continued support.

Posted 18/06/2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

Thank-you for your support throughout the lockdown period and our recent partial reopening to additional year groups.

The current situation at John Hampden Primary School is that we are using our full staff team and classroom space to safely accommodate the Key Worker, Reception, Year One and Year Six children we have in school presently.

The recent news that the government’s ambition to open schools to all pupils for a month before the summer holiday is not going ahead, means that many parents and carers will now find themselves in the difficult position of being asked to return to work by employers without childcare options to support this.

This is our position on extending provision at the moment:

Nursery, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5

We are unable to offer a return to school for children in these year groups at the present time and this is unlikely to change before the end of the summer term.

The children and staff have really missed “live” face-to-face contact, therefore the teachers are currently planning to arrange weekly ZOOM meetings with their children who are still at home. I will also lead a whole school assembly via a ZOOM webinar on Monday morning (and each subsequent Monday). Further details will follow shortly.

You may have heard that some schools outside of Thame are going to operate a rota system (groups of children in schools for half a week or half a day at a time) in order to accommodate more pupils. The latest government guidance published on 15^th June makes it clear that schools should not plan to extend their provision on a rota basis, either daily or weekly. There are still safety concerns surrounding teachers teaching a second bubble which they would have to do under a rota system. The guidance also makes the point that children in Rec and Y1 are less able to engage with remote learning than older children which is why these year groups have been prioritised for the first phase of reopening.

This is a very fluid situation, reviewed weekly, and safety of children and staff is always our primary concern. We appreciate your patience, support and understanding.

Transition

Next week we will be notifying parents of who will be teaching which class next year. This will be based on the assumption that all year groups will be back at school in September, although clearly there is undoubtedly an element of uncertainty as to what the COVID-19 situation may dictate in terms of government policy. Teachers will also organise a ZOOM transition meeting with their new classes before we break-up for the summer.

We are currently putting together a transition pack for all children to complete. It will include pages for pupils to talk about themselves, their like/dislikes, preferred ways of learning, worries or concerns for next year etc. We hope that the children will enjoy completing these for their new teacher and that it will give them an opportunity to air their thoughts about returning to school.

Reception September 2020 cohort

Our Early Years Leader, Mrs Begley, is currently working on the specific transition arrangements for our Nursery children who are due to start in Reception in September. This will include a video of her annual “Welcome Evening” that we usually schedule in June. There will also be an online Q&A session following this. A separate communication giving full details of this will be circulated over the coming days.

We hope you will support and understand the difficult decisions being made. They have not been taken lightly and if we could safely extend our provision for all children to end their year in school we would. In the meantime, we will endeavour to extend our virtual school community in the weeks ahead.

Thank-you your continued support,

Mr. P. Hankey.

Posted 11/05/2020

Posted 03/04/2020

An updated Bereavement Policy is now online. To view the policy, please visit the Policies Page or click here.

To read the latest safeguarding policy concerning the Covid 19 virus, please click here.

Posted 19/03/2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

ONLY COMPLETE THE GOOGLE FORM LINK BELOW IF YOU ARE A PARENT WHO BELIEVES THEY ARE A KEY WORKER AND REQUIRE CHILDCARE NEXT WEEK

From Monday 23 March, schools in England will only stay open for children whose parents count as key workers and for children who are vulnerable.

In order to find out how many of our children this applies to I need to know how many of our parents believe they are key workers.

A definitive list of key workers in this current context (COVID-19 national emergency) is yet to be published but I need an indication of probable numbers ASAP to aid forward planning.  Specifically how school will be structured next week is work in progress and you will of course be notified as soon as plans to manage this are finalised.

It may be that the government directs schools to only accept or prioritise children where all adults in the household are key workers – so completing this form does not guarantee that your child/children will be offered a place at school next week.

So – if you believe that you are a key worker and require childcare from Monday next week please follow the link below and complete the GOOGLE FORM.

https://forms.gle/oUrVcUaWJkWtDKbE7

Thank-you for your continued support,

Paul Hankey

Executive Headteacher

John Hampden and Tetsworth Schools’ Federation

Thame  Oxon  OX9 3HU  01844 212291

Posted 16/03/2020 20:30

Posted 16/02/2020 16:30

Posted 15/02/2020

Dear Parent(s)/Carer(s)

Re: Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update

Following my communication on Friday, I wanted to clarify and reiterate the key points:

• The Government directive is that all people with a high temperature (37.8 degrees or above) and/or a new continuous cough should self-isolate (stay at home, away from other people) for seven days.  Therefore if your child displays any symptoms please do not send them to school and let us know us by email or telephone.  Needless to say, any absence will of course be authorised.
• Staff will be extra vigilant during the day and we will contact you if your child starts to look/feel unwell and ask you to collect them with the expectation that they would then be off for the seven day self-isolation period.
• There is currently no direction to close schools to attempt to delay the spread of the virus. If this becomes necessary, we will follow the advice of Public Health England and advise you accordingly.
• If you have any concerns regarding your family’s health please don’t seek advice from school staff. You should visit https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19 for advice.
• You can expect at least a weekly update from the school via parent mail, the school website and the PTFA Facebook page.

Parents’ Evenings

The parents evenings scheduled over the next two weeks will go ahead as planned unless of course the situation changes.  I think it would be sensible that we have non-handshaking appointments on this occasion. Again, if you have any of the above symptoms, please do not attend. We can reschedule or arrange a telephone conversation at a mutually convenient time. Please e mail or call in advance if you are unable to attend in person.

Hygiene

Please be reassured that the school is maintaining good hygiene practices.  Desks, door-handles and toilets are cleaned daily and we have a special hand-washing song we’ve been singing with the children. The children will be washing their hands at regular intervals. There is also an NHS video which shows how to wash your hands effectively: Click here

Just to reiterate, if you are in any doubt about whether to send your child to school, please visit https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19 and complete the simple questionnaire.

I would ask that you please keep reinforcing the following advice with your children:

https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response

Kind regards,

Paul Hankey

Head Teacher