20th March 2020
Dear Parents,

Re: Arrangements for priority childcare/ education in Stanwix School next week.

We are aware that many workplaces are issuing letters to show that your job falls under the ‘key worker’ role. We would like to stipulate that this letter must be supported by clear evidence of your employment. For example a valid ID card, last month’s wage slip, bank statement or mobile banking app to show payment from your employer for last month’s salary.

We would like to remind you that you can provide this evidence this afternoon, Monday morning when we open at 9:30am or any day from Monday you need us to provide childcare.

With thanks in advance for your support and patience in this unprecedented and difficult situation.

Your sincerely
Mrs K McMullan

Coronavirus Update 20/03/20 

20th March 2020

Dear Parent/Carer,

 

Re: Arrangements for priority childcare/education in Stanwix School next week. 

 

Further to/in addition to the letter from Dan Barton at Cumbria County Council regarding the situation with Covid-19, I am writing to advise you of the arrangements for next week. I can confirm that Stanwix School will be open next week from 8-6 in order to provide priority childcare for parents who have been identified as key workers, and who cannot make any other arrangements for childcare.

 

As we have been advised to open school at 9.30am on Monday morning, there will be no breakfast club on Monday but after school club will be running. Both breakfast and after school club will run as normal from Tuesday. If you require these services, please book on SchoolMoney over the weekend so that we can plan staffing and food requirements.

 

Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined in the letter from Dan Barton. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

 

Please remember to bring a letter from your employer with confirmation of your role. We would be grateful if you could let us know your childcare needs, the days and times (shift patterns) that you require. We will do our upmost to accommodate. Please appreciate, as we have to check employment information, there will be a delay getting into school. If you can do this by the end of the school day today please do so at the office.

 

If you do not require childcare on Monday but are a key worker and would require it later in the week, please bring the above on the day you do require. All children must arrive at school via the main entrance.

 

School lunches will be available for those children attending. However the set menu online will be not be available (please pay/book online to confirm by picking any meal option).

 

It is vitally important that you continue to follow the guidelines for self isolaton.

 

With thanks in advance for your support and patience in this unprecedented and difficult situation.

 

Yours sincerely Mrs K McMullan

______________________________________________________________________________

 

Cumbria County Council

20 March 2020

 

Dear Parents/Carers

 

Urgent Guidance: Priority childcare arrangements in schools for children of essential workforce from Monday 23 March

 

As a country, we all need to do what we can to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. That is why the government has given clear guidance on self-isolation, household isolation and social distancing. And the most recent scientific advice on how to further limit the spread of COVID-19 is clear. If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading.

 

That is why the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible.

 

Arrangements in Cumbria

 

In Cumbria some schools will reopen to support key workers with essential child care, only for those children who absolutely need to attend. This will be children who are vulnerable or whose parents are critical to the Covid-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.

 

Because some schools are already closed due to large numbers of staff self-isolating, or displaying symptoms, this means that your child’s normal school may not be available.

 

Your child’s school will be in touch with you to inform you about this as soon as possible and to confirm whether or not they will be open next week, and if not, to inform you which local school your child should attend.

 

There will be no school transport provision. Parents will be required to take their own children to school if it is essential that they attend.

 

Children should attend school in their uniform as usual.

 

If you are sending your child to school on Monday, please arrive no earlier than 9.30am in order to give schools time to finalise preparations ahead of opening.

 

Who can send their children to school?

 

Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined below. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

 

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 can attend school from on Monday.

 

If parents think they fall within the critical categories below they should confirm with their employer their specific role is necessary for the continuation of this essential public service.

 

If people do not act responsibly and only send children if necessary, schools that are open may be overwhelmed. Please be responsible and only make use of this provision if absolutely necessary.

 

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.

 

Yours sincerely

Dan Barton Assistant Director – Education and Skills

Coronavirus Update 19/03/20 

 

19th March 2020

 

Dear Parents,

 

 

UPDATE – Preparation for Monday.

 

As directed nationally all schools will close at the end of the day on Friday. Strategically necessary schools will be opening as hubs to provide childcare for parents in priority workforce groups and vulnerable children.

 

It will be late tomorrow morning when we find out if we are a hub school. Hub schools will open on Monday. The local authority will be contacting you by 5pm on Friday to inform which schools and settings you should be taking your children to. All parents who have completed the survey have provided contact details.

 

Arrangements and protocols of how children will physically register at schools on Monday morning are being worked through and further information will follow. Parents will be requested to bring identification and proof of employment.

 

The survey only identified NHS and social care as key workers so I am not sure if the local authority list has been updated to include other professions. If I get any more information I will inform you.

 

Thank you for your continued support in an extremely challenging situation.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Mrs K McMullan

Coronavirus Update 18/03/20 

 

Dear Parent/Carer,

 

I am writing to thank you all for your continuing focused support during the last week. As you can sympathise, it has been an extremely busy week for the staff team at Stanwix; covering for absent staff, keeping up to date with current advice, and putting into place a variety of measures to keep children and staff safe in school. I am sure you have all had a busy week too, with many difficult decisions to make.

 

Continuity of Learning

 

The Leadership team have been planning and consulting with teachers and the Governing Body to prepare for all eventualities. To this end we hope to continue to provide the provision of education in the possible event of partial or full school closure. If teachers are absent, we will endeavour to condense classes to keep the school open. If we are instructed to completely close the school, then we have put into place contingency plans to provide on-line learning for each class.

It has been agreed that on the first day of closure, teachers will plan and prepare work for online learning for their class, therefore no activities will be communicated on the first day of closure.There will be an expectation that children, with parental support will engage with learning. For those children in Years 1 – 6 who are currently absent/self-isolating, we realise that is a challenging and difficul time and wish you all the best.

 

Communication

 

Any communications from parents can still be made in the normal way via the office email: office@stanwix.cumbria.sch.uk or via telephone/ text and they will be sent to relevant staff to respond. Please refrain from communicating via Class Dojo unless other lines of communication are unavailable.

 

A final note, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone for all their hard work and commitment in incredibly difficult and volatile circumstances. We understand that over the coming weeks and months that it will be a difficult time for all of our families, staff and wider community. I would like to stress to all of our families that our staff will still be there to support you all.

 

We will still be contactable via phone/ text and email, so please do not hesitate to be in touch.

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Mrs K.McMullan

Trips/ Activities 18/03/2020 updated 4.35pm

 

The Sands sing 22nd May cancelled.

 

National Xc Championships cancelled.

 

Big Dance Friday 17th April cancelled.

 

Year 3 Life Centre trip today cancelled to be rearranged.

 

Year 2 Tullie House trip will be going ahead tomorrow as planned.

 

Year 4 Football competition tomorrow has been cancelled. 

 

Year 6 Science trip to Glasgow is cancelled to be rearranged.

 

Class 1RT U Dance has now been cancelled.

 

Year 5/6 Boys Football Fixture vs Kingmoor Monday 23/03/20 cancelled to be rearranged. 

 

Swimming will continue on Fridays as normal for Year 3 / 4. 

 

Primary Schools Sportshall Athletics County Finals – 25 March @ Penrith Leisure Centre cancelled.

 

Key Steps Gymnastics County Finals – 26 March @ Penrith Leisure Centre cancelled.

 

All school football matches have been cancelled until further notice.  

Updated guidance for education settings on Coronavirus 17/03/20

Update 16/03/2020 6:00pm

 

Dear Parents,

 

Due to updated government advice, we are now asking children who have symptoms of COVID-19 or children who live with anyone with symptoms, to stay off school and self-isolate for 14 days. This replaces our information regarding 7 days' absence, and children who were able to come to school if they had a household member self-isolate but they themselves showed no symptoms.  

 

We are now cancelling all morning and afternoon clubs. However our wrap around care (breakfast and after-school) will continue.

 

We are also postponing all school trips and outside visitors. We would like to thank you for your understanding as things continue to change.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Mrs K McMullan

 

School Update 16/03/2020

 

Please see attached our latest updates. We will update this page as new information becomes available. We have added some additional information to the FAQ's sheet. Thank you for your understanding at this time. We will monitor the situation daily and update you as soon as possible. 

Kind Regards,

Mrs K McMullan

Updated guidance for education settings on coronavirus (COVID-19)

 

Today, the Department for Education and Public Health England have issued updated guidance for education settings on COVID-19. This guidance will assist staff in addressing COVID-19 in educational settings. This includes childcare, schools, further and higher educational institutions.

What you need to know:

The updated guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19#contents

Current advice remains in place: no education or children’s social care setting should close in response to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England.

The Chief Medical Officer has advised that the impact of closing schools on both children’s education and on the workforce would be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. Decisions on future advice to education or children’s social care settings will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group.

 

Updates on COVID-19: