Latest News

Free School Meals Scam

Sat 28 Mar 2020 ND

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have been made aware that some parents in the county have been approached via text and/or e-mail in relation to Free School Meal arrangements in light of Covid-19 (Coronavirus).

We understand parents have been asked to provide their bank details and personal information about children who are eligible, including names and dates of birth, with a promise that money will be sent to them directly.

This information is not accurate.

As a school, we will continue to provide vouchers after Easter for those who are entitled to free school meals (but as previously said, this is not for those who take up the universal infant school meals). We will provide more information about this once we have guidance from the government.

Can we also take this time to remind you to be aware of anyone who contacts you either directly or via social media offering services for your family in these difficult times. Unless you can trust them, you should not be sharing personal information related to you or your family as it may not be used in the manner you would have hoped.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Yours sincerely, Nicola Dawson
Headteacher

Easter Holiday Care

Thu 26 Mar 2020 ND

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are currently trying to assess what provision we may be able to offer during the Easter holidays to care for children who attend Wincheap school whose parents are key workers critical to the COVID-19 response. Our staff numbers are dwindling rapidly as many are either self-isolating or have symptoms, so we are likely to have minimal staff, but would like to support where we can. We will not be able to open at weekends and during the bank holiday and cannot guarantee that we will be able to open every day.

Please indicate on the form below which days childcare will be essential for you and we will try to accommodate this if we can. We would be grateful if you could return this as soon as possible, and by Friday 27th March at the latest so we are able to make arrangements. Please e-mail your completed forms to headteacher@wincheap.kent.sch.uk

Please be aware we may not have sufficient staff to open on all the days that are requested. We will not be able to provide lunch, breakfast club or after-school club.

We would also like to remind you of national guidance that every child who can be safely cared for at home should be, to limit the chance of the virus spreading.

Yours sincerely, Nicola Dawson

Headteacher

Phone Calls & Visitors

Wed 25 Mar 2020 ND

Please be aware that we are operating with a skeleton staff in order to keep the school open for our critical workers’ children. This means that only essential telephone calls can be responded to. If you have a question about logins or supporting children with work, please email the home learning email address:

homelearning@wincheap.kent.sch.uk

Your query will be answered as soon as is practical.

Please also note that there will be no one to man phones over the Easter break. If your query is vital, please email:

info@wincheap.kent.sch.uk

We are also not accepting any visitors to school even if just requesting information - as recommended - in order to maintain the social distancing regulations. All requests for information must be done by email.

Thank you.

Free School Meals

Mon 23 Mar 2020 SW

Staff will be out delivering this letter and vouchers to some of you in the next few hours...

School Meals

Mon 23 Mar 2020 AR

For children planning to attend this week with keyworker parents.

We regret to inform you that, due to circumstances out of our control, from today onwards we are not able to offer school meals. All children will need to bring their own packed lunch.

Thank you for your understanding at this time.

Friday 20th March 2020

Fri 20 Mar 2020 ND

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we close our doors to the vast majority of children until further notice, I would like to wish you all the very best of luck and thank you all for the amazing support and positive comments over the last couple of weeks during these challenging times. We are very sad that we will not continue to see you all regularly, but please do take care and stay well. Please keep in touch by email (headteacher@wincheap.kent.sch.uk) should you wish to. All further updates will either be on our official Facebook page or on our website (www.wincheap.kent.sch.uk) under Parents and then Latest News. This is where we will keep you updated regularly on any further guidance or information, so please do check regularly. Please also contact us via homelearning@wincheap.kent.sch.uk during normal school hours should you need to ask questions about your child’s work or request further work. Please do not send any work back to school until we reopen our doors. Thank you 

For those few parents, who will still be bringing children to school following a telephone call from us today, please continue to follow all school routines:

• Children should wear school uniform as usual.
• The school day starts between 8.30 and 8.45 am and finishes at 3pm.
• All children should arrive within this time and should come into school through the office entrance, where they will be gathered in the Key Stage 2 hall at the start of each day. They will also leave through these doors at 3pm.
• Please contact the school office (01227 464134) if we are expecting your child and they are to be absent for any reason.
• School lunches will be provided as normal for those who want them.
• There will be no breakfast club or after school club/extra -curricular clubs until further notice.
• Children should keep PE kits and Forest School clothing at school so that they can access these activities when set up.

Any further information will be distributed in the usual way – ie by letter, Facebook and the website.

Please remember that every child who can be safely cared for at home, should be. The fewer children making the journey to school and the fewer children in school, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and affect vulnerable individuals in wider society. Sending your child to school must be the last resort if you have no other alternative.

Once again, thank you all for your ongoing support. Our Wincheap community is wonderful and very appreciated.

Yours sincerely, Nicola Dawson
Headteacher

Reminder Regarding Key Workers

Fri 20 Mar 2020 ND

Please remember that if you meet the criteria (sent previously) and it is impossible to find someone to keep your child safe at home, your form must be with Ami in the office by 1pm today so that we can cater for numbers. We will then let you know whether we can accommodate your child later today. Any child arriving at school on Monday who we are not expecting, will be sent home. Thank you.

Please remember that every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

Key Workers

Fri 20 Mar 2020 ND

Good morning everyone!

Please find below a list of key workers. If you feel that your job fits into one of these areas, please be sure to complete a form and return to the school or phone Ami at school on 01227 464134 to discuss whether your child can continue to attend school. We will let you know as soon as we can what the arrangements are. Apologies for short notice - have only just received the list!

If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors listed below, and you cannot keep your child safe at home then your children will be prioritised for education provision:

Health and social care

This includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

Education and childcare

This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.

Key public services

This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

If workers think they fall within the critical categories above they should confirm with their employer that, based on their business continuity arrangements, their specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service.

Coronavirus Update – School Closure To Most Pupils

Thu 19 Mar 2020 ND

Dear Parents and Carers,

Following on from my last update, I’m now writing to let you know that we have been instructed to close the school to almost all children after this Friday until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs, including those with an EHC plan.

Please note that we will only be able to make provision for pupils who fall into these two criteria. There will be no exceptions. We realise that this may be inconvenient for some parents/carers, but we are unable to make individual arrangements in the interests of fairness, consistency and of course minimising social contact. Please be considerate and do not put us in a difficult position by asking us to accommodate your child if they do not fulfil the criteria.

We are likely to have fewer staff ourselves so will be ensuring adequate staffing to provide supervision and care for children who do attend, for as long as we can. This means that we will not be running a normal timetable. As indicated by the Secretary of State, schools will be providing care, not education.

Therefore, we will need to know in advance and within a very short time period which children we will have in school. If you are intending to send your child in during this period of closure, please complete the attached sheet and send it in to school, or telephone/email Ami Rathmill on 01227 464134 (arathmill@wincheap.kent.sch.uk ), with all the details requested (even if you are currently self -isolating). This will need to be with us by tomorrow (Friday 20th March) at 1pm at the latest, as I am sure you can appreciate we have very little time to organise arrangements.

Once we receive that information, we will check against our guidelines and let you know whether your child meets the criteria. If you indicate that your child will attend and this changes for any reason, please let us know. We will also continue to provide hot meals for the time being. Normal arrangements will apply.

All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We’ll re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is via the website and Facebook.

What we’ll continue doing while your child is at home:

Your child’s learning is of course important to us, so we’ll continue to help your child to learn.

As detailed in a previous letter:

Each child will be issued with a Home Learning exercise book and a list of activities to do. Should you run out of work, there will be an email address for you to contact us during normal school hours to request further work (homelearning@wincheap.kent.sch.uk) . We will endeavour to get back to you as soon as we can, but please bear in mind that we are all still working and some staff may be absent; your patience is appreciated. Please also consult the school website (www.wincheap.kent.sch.uk) or the official school Facebook page for access to work resources and any relevant information. The appropriate website pages will be under the Children tab and Class Newsletters, along with the Wincheap TV page, where some teachers may upload learning videos in due course to support your child. News surrounding the school will be found on the website under the Parent tab and Latest News.

Safeguarding and other urgent concerns:

There may be a need for parents/carers, pupils or staff members to urgently contact the Pastoral Manager about safeguarding issues or other pressing matters during the closure. Please contact Mrs Amanda Cole on acole@wincheap.kent.sch.uk or by telephoning the school number as indicated below.

Free school meals:

If your child usually receives free school meals we will also be in touch in due course with more information about support from a scheme that the government has just announced.

What we won’t be able to go ahead with:

• Breakfast or after-school clubs

• SATs tests in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2

• Phonics Screening in Year 1

• Multiplication Tables Checking in Year 4

• Sending out reports and assessment data at the current time

• All school events eg any planned trips, showcase moments, Easter Bonnet parade (even for children continuing to attend).

This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.

If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via info@wincheap.kent.sch.uk or headteacher@wincheap.kent.sch.uk or on the school telephone number 01227 464134. Our local vicar, Barney DeBerry has also kindly offered to be available should anyone wish to talk to him on Vicar@smb.org.uk .

Please remember also that if you or your child feels unwell and you want to know what to do next, please use NHS 111 online.

Thank you again for your continued support. We will be in touch with more information when we can.

Yours sincerely, Nicola Dawson

Headteacher

Letter To Parents

Wed 18 Mar 2020 ND

Wednesday 18^th March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

This afternoon, we have had a case reported to us of a child from our school who has had the symptoms of a continuous cough and high temperature. This child has a family member with a confirmed case of Covid 19.

The child concerned has not been in school since last week and the symptoms have developed since. Consequently, I have notified and sought advice from Public Health England who advised me that there is no further action required to be taken by the school, as the child did not have symptoms when on the school site.

The child will not be tested, in line with current policy, so we will not know for certain whether or not they have the virus. However, based on the family link, this is likely to be the case. I am sure you will join me in sending best wishes for a speedy recovery; we are pleased to report that the child is already much better.

Public Health England have advised us that it is important that no one attends the school site if they have symptoms of a new continuous cough or a high temperature under any circumstances, but instead should self-isolate for 7 days. Family members, or anyone they live with, should self-isolate for 14 days. With that in mind, should your child start to develop these symptoms whilst at school, we will follow advice and telephone you immediately to collect them. Equally, please be reassured that all those who are well should continue to attend as normal.

Should you be concerned that you or your child or any family member in your house has an underlying health issue, putting them at extra risk, please follow advice and self-isolate, but please let us know on the first day of absence.

We are continually reviewing the situation to ensure we are doing everything possible to keep your children safe and healthy. I will of course, continue to update you as appropriate.

Thank you as always for your support.

Yours sincerely, Nicola Dawson

Headteacher

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