Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Dear Families,
School will be partially closed on Thursday 27th April and Tuesday 2nd May, due to continued strike action by the NEU. Please check your email to see how you are affected.
Thank you for your understanding.
The St Bart's Team
Dear Families,
Booking emails for our spring Parents' Evenings (on 7th and 8th March) have been sent out. Please complete your booking before the end of the week.
Thank you,
The St Bart's Team
Dear Families,
This Thursday, 2nd March, is World Book Day - and we will be raising funds for more books in school. The children may, if they wish, also come to school dressed as a book character - but there is no obligation. It should be another fun time together.
Thank you.
The St Bart's Team
Dear Families,
School will be partially closed on Tuesday 28th February, due to continued strike action by the NEU. Please check your email to see how you are affected.
Thank you for your understanding.
The St Bart's Team
Dear Families,
Following the National Education Union's ballot for industrial action, the strike for 1st February 2023 may impact your child(ren). Please check for email updates.
Thank you for your understanding.
The St Bart's Team
Dear Families,
Welcome back to St Bart’s for our new academic year. We have lots in store for this coming year and we welcome some new staff to the team.
There are always some important pieces of information to share in September, so here are the first few.
Any snacks, drinks or packed lunches should be healthy. We do not allow fizzy juices or chocolate – and especially anything containing nuts! Morning breaktime snacks will be kept away from packed lunches and should not include crisps.
The children from Classes 1 to 6 may come to school in their PE kits, on their PE days. This means less time changing and more time learning.
PE Days:
Remember that earrings should only be of the stud-type and need to be removed for PE. If they can’t be removed due to a new piercing, you must tape them up securely for PE days.
We always ask for updated contact information from families, as well as permission for certain types of school activities. Please visit bit.ly/StBartsData2022 and complete this form as soon as possible.
Children in Classes 5 and 6 may also walk to and from school without adult supervision. If you would like this for your child, please complete the form at bit.ly/WalkingHome22
Homework will begin next week, so watch out for this in book bags.
We are very hopeful for this coming year – I trust that you are too.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Restall
Following the Government's announcement to remove the remaining legal restrictions for COVID-19, as we learn to live with the virus, here are the updated measure we should follow:
Testing
The Government has removed the guidance for pupils in most education and childcare settings to undertake asymptomatic testing. All settings may be advised Public Health to recommend lateral flow device (LFD) tests to manage an outbreak.
What if a child has symptoms?
They should not attend school.
National guidance recommends that people take a PCR test if they have symptoms. Anyone who tests positive is still advised to stay at home and avoid contact with others for at least five full days. They are advised to continue to follow the guidance until they have received two negative test results on consecutive days.
What about a confirmed positive case?
Children and young people with COVID-19 should not attend school whilst they are infectious. They should take an LFD test from 5 days after their symptoms started (or the day their test was taken if they did not have symptoms) followed by another one the next day. If both these test results are negative, they should return to school as long as they feel well enough to do so and do not have a temperature.
Contacts of a positive case are no longer required to self-isolate or advised to take daily tests and contact tracing has ended. Children and young people who are contacts of a positive case should attend school as usual.
The contingency framework for education and childcare settings guidance still says that school should consider taking further action if they face severe operational disruption to face-to-face education. We will do all we can to remain open for all pupils.
Please be assured that school continues to implement good infection, prevention, and control measures to provide protection against infection and associated education disruption.
If you have any questions, please contact school directly.
Dear Families,
Please check you email for news about this term and the impact of rising COVID cases in school.
Thank you,
Mr Restall
Dear Families,
School reopens to pupils again on Tuesday 7th September. It has been a long summer break and we are looking forward to seeing you and the children again, as well as beginning to welcome our new pupils and their families.
Following the relaxation of the Government's COVID restrictions and the latest publication of guidance for schools, we expect to be able to return to as much of the normal that we have all craved for a long time. We still must be cautious, so school will be relaxing their measures gradually.
As the "bubble" system is now not necessary, our start time returns to 8:55am (8:45am for Nursery), and we ask that all children arrive promptly in the appropriate part of the playground ready for the beginning of their important learning. Both site gates will be open, but there is no need for a one-way system - either can be used to access the school playground. Please continue to be considerate to those coming in the opposite direction. Remember, no dogs are allowed on site. cycles and scooters must be pushed, and please park in a way that respects our local residents. If you must drive into our visitors' car park, please enter the gates slowly, as many children need to cross the driveway.
The end of the school day for Reception to Class 6 is at 3:25pm. Again, both gates will be open. For Early Years families, please continue to queue at the entrance, leaving lots of space for visitors and those accessing St Stephen's.
All children are expected be smart, wearing our school uniform. We recognise that there have been some issues with some suppliers over the summer so please let us know if you would like to borrow a spare school jumper.
We are very excited about our new school lunches - eaten in the Dining Hall again. All families should have received an email from Hutchison to set up an "Appetite" account. This will enable you to pre-order your child's lunch. All children who wish to take a lunch, even for part of the week, must order in advance. We currently do not have the capacity to order enough food for every choice unless we have advance warning. Children cannot change their minds on the day, so please spend a little time involving them in their choices. Or new system will take a little getting used to but is so much better, and the quality of the food will be excellent. Payment is in advance, unless the children receive free meals (Reception, Class 1, Class 2 and those on benefits-related Free School Meals). Visit our Useful Information page for all details.
Breakfast Club will begin again on the 7th, from 7:45am. This is for all St Bart's pupils, from Nursery to Class 6 and booking is not required initially. Our daily cost remains the same, but there will be an increased choice of food options. Please ensure that payment is made promptly, as we cannot accept regular arrears.
We are hoping that the number of COVID cases is limited, but do not send your child to school if they have any COVID-19 symptoms. We will continue to monitor the situation and ask that you pick up your child straight away if they develop any symptoms whilst in school. We will not be sending home whole classes to self-isolate. If there is a positive case in school, individuals will be contacted by "Test and Trace" and asked to isolate and carry out a PCR test. If this test is negative, then they can return to school straight away. Obviously, any positive cases will still need to remain at home for 10 days and only return after this if they do not have any continuing symptoms. Remote learning will be made available to all those who have to isolate, usually via our Class Pages.
If we have 5 people within our school who test positive for COVID-19 within a 10-day period, we have an outbreak plan which, following discussion with our local Public Health team, we will then initiate. Any further action will be communicated to those involved directly, so please ensure we have your up-to-date contact details.
Each day, staff will be at the doors to greet and hand over the children. This enables brief messages to be passed on, but more detailed conversations should be kept for another time. All adults should still keep a respectful distance from each other and some my still continue to wear face-coverings.
There is much more to communicate with you over the coming days. In the meantime, please use our office email address as the main way to ask any questions.
We hope that this is helpful.
Kind regards,
The St Bart's Team