Latest News and Updates

We have sent you a lot of information recently. This is perhaps unsurprising given the current context of Covid-19, the full return to school, and the need to be prepared for home learning in the event of a lock down - interesting times!

It is very important that we work together over the coming weeks and months to achieve the best outcomes for your children. As such, please read the information below carefully and let us know if you have any questions. We have rearranged the information sent out over the last week into 2 separate blog posts:

1. MANAGING COVID-19 IN SCHOOL – Click here

2. LOCKDOWN LEARNING  - Click here

Many thanks for your ongoing support.

PREPARING FOR POTENTIAL HOME LEARNING IN THE FUTURE

All schools have been asked to offer immediate remote education in the event of any lock downs or bubble closures. If children have to stay at home, we do not want them to lose unnecessary learning time. As such, please read the information below carefully and let us know if you have any questions.

PLEASE SPEAK TO US ASAP IF YOU CANNOT COMPLETE

THE ‘NEXT STEPS’ ON THE ATTACHED DOCUMENT.

Many thanks

SCHOOL CURRICULUM AND REMOTE EDUCATION

The following extracts from the latest government guidance for schools will give parents a context for the curriculum children are experiencing in school at the moment. Schools should:

Develop remote education so that it is integrated into school curriculum planning. Remote education may need to be an essential component in the delivery of the school curriculum for some pupils, alongside classroom teaching, or in the case of a local lock down. [Schools should] use a curriculum sequence that allows access to high-quality online and offline resources and teaching videos and that is linked to the school’s curriculum expectations. [Schools should] select the online tools that will be consistently used across the school in order to allow interaction, assessment and feedback and make sure staff are trained in their use.

Now we are into the swing of our new version of school life, we wanted to share some more details about curriculum matters and how we are planning and teaching English and maths.

Provision this term, according to the Government guidance referenced above, requires us to prepare for seamless movement between face to face learning at school and home learning in the event that a child/family needs to self-isolate whilst awaiting testing or if a bubble or the school is temporarily shut down.

As such teachers are using transferable online resources as a framework for planning and teaching in school.

In English we will be following the curriculum progression of Oak National Academy lessons and in maths we will be following the schemes of work from White Rose Maths (however, this was already the case prior to COVID-19).

The online resources can then seamlessly be used and accessed by children via SeeSaw if they are not in school and as such limit any further gaps in education. The videos and resources produced by both Oak and White Rose may be used in class to share resources or to listen to a focused text but the teachers are teaching the lesson content – in school, the videos are used as a planning tool or resource - not as a ‘virtual teacher’.

Ensuring that our curriculum can work in school and at home has required a considerable amount of adaptation and planning -it is working well so far. However, we will continue to refine and review our curriculum as the COVID-19 situations evolves.

If you have any questions about curriculum content, please don’t hesitate to contact us. It is extremely important that you understand what we are trying to achieve, and how, so that we can work effectively together to get the best possible outcomes for the pupils over these coming months.

SEESAW APP – CHATTING?!

We can see that some parents have already downloaded SeeSaw (see attachment below if you haven't yet) and started to respond to the work set by teachers with their children . When using SeeSaw, please ask your child to only post work and messages linked to the learning tasks set by the teachers. We have seen that some very enthusiastic pupils have been sending multiple messages to teachers on a range of subjects not at all linked to their work! SeeSaw is designed to be used for pupils to submit work and receive feedback – not as a ‘chat’ app! Please also encourage your children to send their work and comments in one post, not multiple posts. Many thanks for your support with this.

Please note:

• SeeSaw should only be used for submitting work set by the teachers and for asking questions specifically about the work set on SeeSaw.
• Class emails should be used for questions about any other aspect of school life.

Many thanks for your support today with the full reopening of Crossdale for all pupils. Having been largely closed to most pupils since March, it was great to welcome back the vast majority of our Crossdale family!

The logistics of staggered starts, breaks, lunches and ends to the day, as well as bubbles and hygiene measures, has proved a challenge given the increased number of pupils on site. However, based on our experience today, there are several ways in which you can help.

If staff and parents are diligent about following our procedures carefully and consistently, there is a greater chance that Crossdale can stay open and not be subject to a partial or full lockdown.

1. Please ensure you stick to the start and end times to the day detailed below. Please don’t be early or late and help us control the number of people on site:

• Reception 9:00am - 3:30pm
• Y1 8:50am - 3:20pm
• Y2 9:10am - 3:40pm
• Y3  9:00am - 3:30pm
• Y4 9:10am - 3:40pm
• Y5  9:10am - 3:40pm
• Y6  9:00am - 3:30pm

2. Only one adult per family should accompany their children onto the school site.
3. Parents of children in Base 2 and 3 – please let your children go to the ‘Be Safe Bees’ alone to avoid congestion near entrances to the school. Parents of children in Y3 and Y4 should stand on the middle playground, but not past ‘The Tower’.
4. Please be mindful of social distancing with teachers and avoid congregating on the playground. You can send any questions to your child’s teacher using the class email system.

To answer your questions and point you in the right direction, Mr Cresswell, Mrs Westie or Miss Seedhouse will be available on the gate every day from 8.50am and after school until 3:40pm. 

Kind regards,

Mr Cresswell

 Extra Information

• If you have any questions or concerns about symptoms of covid-19, always use this link to get clear advice from the NHS: Check Your Symptoms - https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19/
• Please read the attached parent leaflet
• Our full opening plan can be found here
• Please ensure you have discussed and practised our Rainbow Rules with your children before tomorrow – especially practising effective handwashing.
• Going to school ‘does not increase risk of young children catching coronavirus’ – Click here to read more.

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you and your families are well and that you have had an enjoyable summer. 

Please see the 'Full Opening Plan' below for more details about our plans from the 7th September.

You will also find 2 other documents that will be useful for the return to school.

Do not hesitate to contact us next week if you have any questions or queries.

Kind regards,

Mr Cresswell

New September start date for pupils: 7^th September

Dear Parents,

We have recently had funding confirmed to carry out extensive improvements to our school over the summer holidays. This funding will allow us to replace the heating system across the entire school. In conjunction with the new double glazing and insulated roof we have had installed in recent years, this will ensure the building is comfortable and warm for the children at Crossdale.

Although we are delighted to be in a position to carry out these improvements, the allocation of  funding and project planning have been significantly delayed due to the Covid-19 situation. In fact, the engineers and designers are still finalising the details of the project. The planned works are extensive and likely to cause significant disruption and upheaval. As a result, school governors have taken the decision to delay the date that children return to school in September until Monday 7^th September.

Delaying the start of term by 2 days for children will give staff time to ensure the school building and site are fully prepared and safe. We do acknowledge that this situation may cause parents some inconvenience, but given the extent of the planned works, governors believe the delay is essential to ensure adequate preparation takes place prior to pupils returning.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Regards,

Peter Cresswell