Latest News and Updates

Due to a very  generous donation from one of our Crossdale families we have purchased CGP maths and English books for all pupils from Y1-6. These books have short ten minute daily activities in and are are in line with National Curr

Dear Parents and Carers,

When I last wrote to you on Thursday, schools were still waiting for guidance from the government following the Prime Minister’s announcement to close schools to most pupils from Tuesday 5^th January. Further guidance did arrive late on Thursday afternoon, and then again at 5.30pm on Friday.

In the most recent update, found here, the government has added the following sentence, ‘Children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school or college if required, but parents and carers should keep their children at home if they can.’

Having spoken to several parents about critical worker provision last week, I am I no doubt that parents are taking this matter seriously and trying to support us in keeping numbers low in school – this is hugely appreciated. However, in the light of the latest guidance and the data we have all seen over the weekend about Covid-19 cases across the country, please review any days you have booked in school next week and only send your child if he \ she cannot access their learning safely from home.

If you do send your child to school next week, please be assured that we understand this is necessary and we are very happy to support you at this incredibly challenging time for our country. It is my hope that reported cases will fall over the next week or so and that we will no longer have to ask critical workers to be so cautious about sending their children to school. 

Many thanks for your ongoing support – over the course of last week, many parents offered encouraging words that were greatly appreciated by everyone at Crossdale.

Kind regards,

Peter Cresswell

 

NB Please read Thursday's blog if you missed it: PROOF OF CRITICAL WORKER STATUS

 

7th Jan 2021

Dear Parents,

Many thanks for your support over the last 24 hours as we have responded to the latest Government announcement about the national lockdown.

Home learning

The home learning provision we will be offering is centred around the SeeSaw app – hopefully this will now be familiar to most of you following its use last term. Each day, there will be links to activities and further links to videos that offer explanations of lesson content. Teachers will offer feedback using  SeeSaw, with more detailed feedback on one piece of work per day, and will create short videos of themselves to encourage and motivate the children. Oak National Academy and White Rose maths video lessons will be used - they are recommended by the Department for Education and were created by the government, at huge expense, to support home learning during the current pandemic. Parents will be able to use class emails to ask their child’s class teacher questions.

Some parents have asked why Crossdale doesn’t offer live lessons. I have asked all schools in Equals Trust this morning if they offer live lessons – no schools that have replied offer live lessons and all intend to use the videos that Crossdale children will be able to access. However, we are reviewing the potential use of Teams or Zoom to create an opportunity for classes to connect, for children at home and at school.

Critical Worker Status

Many thanks to those parents that completed our critical worker survey so promptly, allowing us to plan our critical worker provision. It is clear that far more parents have identified themselves as critical workers this year compared to the previous lockdown. Today, every teacher is in school teaching their own year group bubble and, with some support from a teaching assistant, managing home learning at the same time. Numbers last year meant that we could dedicate some staff to teaching in school and other staff to supporting home learning – this is not the case at the moment.

As we get advice and guidance about bubble sizes and risk assessments, the larger numbers may become hard to manage alongside supporting home learning – we hope not! If numbers do continue to grow, we may have to ask critical workers to obtain a letter from their employer to confirm their status. In the meantime, please only book the critical worker provision if necessary to fulfil your critical worker role.

We will send a critical worker booking form for next week later today. For the rest of this week, we are expecting those children identified on yesterday’s survey in school. Many thanks for your help with this – please call us if you would like to discuss critical worker provision.

I hope you and your families remain well during these challenging times.

Kind regards,

Peter Cresswell

Dear Parents,

I would once again like to apologise for the inconvenience and disruption caused by the closure of Crossdale today. To allow as many children as possible to attend school, we have spent yesterday evening and today reviewing the resources and options available to us.

Decisions about provision have been made based on the age of the pupils, resources and staff available and systems that have previously worked well. We have also spoken at length to staff members throughout the day. As such, our plans have had to change several times today - apologies for the late notice.

Year Group	Provision	Staff
Reception	Tue-Fri - fully open to all pupils.   Keyworker vulnerable pupils enter via normal entrance at 9:00am (finish at 3:30pm).   All other pupils enter via the Hive at 9:05am (finish at 3:35pm).	Mrs Ingle/Mrs Mellor & Mrs Deegan   Mr Pharaoh & Mrs Mansour/Mrs Oliver
One 8:50am – 3:20pm	Fully open to all pupils.	Mrs Morgan Mrs Westie & Mrs Ogilvy
Two 9:00am – 3:30pm	Fully open to all pupils.	Mrs Jones & Miss Holder   Mrs Payne
Three 8:55am – 3:25pm	Fully open to all pupils.	Mrs Westie (Tuesday) Miss Seedhouse (Wed & Fri am & all-day Thursday) Miss Hayes (Wed & Fri pm)
Four 9:05am – 3:35pm	Fully open to all pupils.	Mrs Phoenix
Five 8:55am – 3:25pm	Fully open to all pupils.	Mr Brierley & Miss Powell
Six 8:50am – 3:20pm	Fully open to all pupils.	Mr McKenna teaching remotely via Teams with Mr Sanders/Mrs Oliver supervising.

*NB Keyworker and vulnerable children only include the children included on the register that closed at 9.30am this morning. They will be the only children we are expecting where they are referenced. Please call school if you have any questions about key workers / vulnerable children.

This model of provision requires  additional resources and we may not be able to replicate it in coming weeks. However, we are hoping that government guidance emerges this week that allows us to return to a more typical timetable as soon as possible. Please bear in mind that this model also has little room for contingency so any unforeseen circumstances may mean things need to change.

 We will update you later this week with details of provision from 11^th Jan.

Also, please also note new start and finish times (two in the Year Reception class) which will hopefully reduce congestion on the playground.

Windmills Childcare will be available for Breakfast and Afterschool club as normal from tomorrow.