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Week beginning 16th March 2020

Dear Parents/Carers,

The sun is shining, we are all open and the children are enjoying wonderful learning; how very pleased I am.

The government press conference yesterday really clarified the next stage with the pandemic and the process for schools:

If anyone has a new continuous cough OR high temperature (37.8 degrees or higher) you should stay at home for 7 days: www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance
Please notify the school using the online form at www.ash-grange.surrey.sch.uk/attendance-and-absence-procedures/

It is clear that when there are more people nationally that are suffering from the Coronavirus (type of flu) and are progressing on to suffer from Covid-19, the government will escalate their response; which may result in the school closing for a period of time. So we want to be ready for that whilst also carrying on as “normal”.

We will continue with all our measures:

Our latest information on how the Coronavirus is being dealt with at Ash Grange can be found at www.ash-grange.surrey.sch.uk/coronavirus-information/ - Please check regularly for updates.

In the event of a government directive regarding closures we want to be fully prepared to support any learning we can at home. To this end please ensure that:

Your email details are up to date
All parents are using Marvellous Me and know how to see all the contents of it.
Parents/carers of Preschool, Nursery and Reception Class are using I-connect and know how to see all the contents of it.
Your child can access: Mathletics (Reception to Year 6), Readiwrite (Year 1 to 6), Reading Eggs/Eggspress (Reception to Year 6), Timestable Rock Stars (Year 2 to 6)

Parent/Teacher Day Cancelled – School will be open to pupils

So we can make the most of every school day available and to prevent any passing on of the virus, we are cancelling parent/teacher meeting day on Wednesday 25th March and making it a school day for children to attend. You will of course receive the termly report, it will come home on 25th March. If you would then like to discuss the report with the teacher, please complete a contact form on the website or let the office team know and the teacher will then book a phone call with you at a mutually convenient time.

Our Chair of Governors’ has also written a piece for the newsletter regarding this important issue.

Year 6

As per the school calendar, next week is mock SATs week in Year 6. Please ensure that your child is at school every day, so that they can fully prepare for the actual tests coming up in May. Thank you - Mrs Rumsby.

Eco Matters

Surrey have opened up their 2020 plastic challenge which we will be taking part in over the coming weeks, the video has been published of last year’s challenge, which we feature in:

Wastebusters Video on website at www.ash-grange.surrey.sch.uk/caring-and-protecting-our-world/

Parent Reps

Do you have the time to attend a half termly meeting of the Parent Council to represent the views of your class? We have a vacancy in Preschool and Year 5, if you would be interested and want to know more ask one of the current team or pop in to discuss with me.

Swimming Reminder

Parents please ensure your child has full kit in school - trunks/costume, hat, towel and suitable footwear (flip flops or crocs are ideal) to walk to and from the pool.

We will have a small number of costumes/trunks available to purchase from the office. Swimming hats are available for £1.

Wednesday - Reception, Year 1 and 2
Thursday - Year 3, 4, 5 and 6

Active Points

Points are being awarded this week for trackers, any child who achieves 5,000 earns 100 points for their team, 10,000 = 300 points and there is an extra 100 points for every additional 1,000 steps. Get walking!

Eco Points

Week Beginning 16th March is a Focus Week - This week is Not Wasting Energy Week – keeping heating off when not needed, opening windows if the heating is off, keeping doors closed at breaktime to keep the heating in, lights off when not needed, computers off when not needed. Hopefully this important learning will help the children to reduce our wasted energy and yours at home.

Attendance

This week’s class for best attendance was Year 6 with 97.3% - well done to them all.

Kind regards, Mrs Curtis

Dear Parent/Carers,

As Chair of the Governing Body, I wanted to drop a quick message to everyone to thank you all for your continued support to our school with the recent changes that have been brought in to reduce the risk of spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus). We are really proud of how quickly Mrs Curtis and our school team have reacted to put in some measures to help our community such as increasing social distancing between the children, postponing assemblies and changing parent access into the school buildings to the office area. Teachers have also been working hard to ensure that work is available in the event of a closure, so please do look out for this and any updates that come from school.

I also wanted to jot some thoughts down about a few things to perhaps consider should more restrictive measures are implemented by the Government.

if you have changed email address or telephone number, please do let the office know so that your records can be kept up to date and school are able to keep in touch if anything changes.

Swapping phone numbers with other parents that you see and know at school. One of the risks should the country enter a lockdown scenario is that some people may feel quite isolated. Being able to keep in touch with people that you would normally see at school may help – perhaps organising a call once or twice a week just to have a catch-up by phone.
This might also be something that the older children might be able to do if you were to swap phone numbers with their friend’s parents
In the case of a very restrictive lockdown in the country, it may not be possible to meet up “for coffee” with a group of friends. If you have conference / multi-person calling on your phone or computer such as Skype, consider a call catch-up instead – a chat about what was on the TV the night before or a general “natter” can help to ease any feelings of isolation
Be mindful of where you are looking for information – consider the source of news and try to stick to “official” outlets such as well-known news stations and websites, the NHS official website etc. We live in a social media age and not all information such as Facebook posts will continue accurate or up to date advice
As always, if you do find that your mental health is suffering, seek advice and support such as MIND, The Samaritans, NHS 111

Kindest regards

Vicky Hallewell

Chair of Governors