Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates

Message regarding reopening of school in September.

Dear Parents/Carers,

As you will be aware, yesterday the Government made an announcement about how children will return to school in September.  We received this information at the same time as you and, although we have obviously been thinking about what may happen in September, we will now be looking at this guidance in detail with support from the school governors.

Whilst we appreciate that you and your child will have lots of questions, please be assured that we will release more information as soon as we can.

Kind Regards

Mrs H Smith

Headteacher.

Privacy Notice - Coronavirus - Track and Trace 

Please read the privacy notice below regarding the new NHS 'Track and Trace' scheme.

In view of the statement below and in line with the issues that still exist, Larklands Infant & Nursery School will open on 1st June 2020 to the children of our Keyworkers who are currently attending school and those identified as vulnerable.

Plans will continue to help us SAFELY accommodate more keyworker children as soon as possible. Once the guidance is clear, we will look at expanding to other priority groups and we will inform you as soon as we can do this.

At this moment in time we ONLY need parents of Nursery and Reception children to complete the online form.  If you are having trouble using the QR code please email school and we can send you a link by text message.  

Unfortunately, due to the high demand there does seem to be a delay in these vouchers getting to parents.  We can only apologise for the delay and assure you that they have been ordered to be sent every Monday while schools are closed.  With the scheme not being run by ourselves we have no further control on when you will receive these vouchers.

The Government has now announced that there would be a national voucher scheme for Free School Meals. This is being operated by a company called Edenred and the Department for Education indicated that all schools would receive an e-mail from them. That e-mail eventually arrived last week. Since then, we have spent time setting the system up in school.

The system works using e-mail addresses, we have used the same email address that we used to send the Morrison's e-cards.  From now on every Monday (from 20th April) you should receive an e-mail from Edenred with instructions about what to do. Essentially you will receive a 16-digit e-code which will allow you to select a voucher from a choice of supermarkets.   (It is worth checking junk email boxes too!)

If you feel that due to your current circumstances you may now be eligible for free school meals, please follow the link below for further information and how to apply.

https://derbyshire.gov.uk/education/schools/your-child-at-school/meals/school-meals/free-school-meals.aspx

23rd MARCH 2020.

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO SCHOOL CARE PROVISION.

Dear parents/ carers

Following on from the changes made by the Prime Minister this evening we will be making the following changes to the school care provision:

We will only accept children from households where both parents/adults are key workers and separated families who are not able to place their child with another family member/carer.

If we deem that both parents are not key workers we will be calling and asking you to collect your child.

If we find that parents are at home working and you have sent your child to school we will be calling and asking you to collect your child.

Only children where both parents are undertaking essential key work will be offered care through the school.  This is so that there are the minimal number of children in school and is for the protection of these children and the staff responsible for them at school.  There will be no exceptions.

These changes come into effect immediately.  

If we do not have details of both parents employment, we will be contacting you for additional details.

If school staff become ill, we may have to reduce this care further.

Thank you and stay safe. 

Further updates on Keyworkers - 22nd March 2020.

I am still getting emails questioning if your child:-

• HAS to go to school……….NO

• IS ABLE to come to school due to parents being deemed as a key critical worker – MAYBE (but keep them at home if you can)

‘If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be’….. Regardless of jobs, ‘vulnerability’ or any additional factors…….health comes first!

Hopefully the flowchart below will help you decide.  But please remember that the fewer children there are at school – the risk of the virus spreading is reduced.  Social distancing is very difficult to maintain with children at school.

Hope this helps if you are unsure.

Thank you.

Update on Keyworkers - 18th March 2020

As you are aware, a decision has been made by the UK government to close all schools from Friday 20th March 2020 until further notice. School closures will affect the majority of our pupils BUT provision is required to be in place for the children of key workers and vulnerable children (those pupils who have a social worker involved with the family or who have an Education Health Care Plan).

We are aware of those pupils with an Education Health Care Plan and those where a social care worker is supporting a family but in order that we can identify and make provision for pupils of Key Workers at Larklands Infant and Nursery School we need to identify the families where parents work in any of the key roles, yesterday this included NHS workers, police, school staff and supermarket delivery drivers.

Unfortunately, schools were not provided with key worker information again in tonight’s briefing. So as a guide for pupil numbers we would ask that you kindly e-mail into school (info@larklands.derbyshire.sch.uk) if you think you may fulfil a front line keyworker role and will be requiring a place at school to give us a rough idea of the level of need and to consider your request. Please identify the following information for yourself and your partner; your name, your work role and place of work, as well as the name of an employer we can contact as we may need to verify your job role. (Please do not tell us any other information in your e-mail as we need to manage these as quickly and efficiently as possible). 

It is anticipated that schools will have up to 10% of pupils in school as this is deemed safe. We ask that you really consider if your child needs to be in school or if you have another family member who can care for them.

We are aware parents need answers quickly and we are trying our very best to navigate through a difficult situation with little guidance. We will aim to look at e-mails tomorrow morning and consider these along with any further government guidance that may come our way. We really appreciate your patience as we try to find a solution.  Please do not ring into school, we will contact you.

Many Thanks

Update - Thursday 19th March 2020.

As you may be aware a decision has been made by UK government to close ALL schools from Friday 20th March 2020 until further notice.  We will, however remain open to children where a social worker supports the family, children with an education health care plan and children where BOTH parents have key worker roles.  Unfortunately we are waiting the Cabinet to give us a definitive list of who will be included.  We will share this with you and explain your next steps as soon as we know the information.  Many thanks.

UPDATE - Wednesday 18th March 2020

I am sure you will have heard that schools are to close from the end of the day on Friday.  We will be open until then. If you have already told us that your child will not be in school, then you do not need to do this again.

I have had no further guidance at this time but I am sure we will get some more detailed information in the next 24 hours.

This is a very difficult time for everyone and please be assured that we will be doing everything we can to make this as easy as possible for you all.

I’ll update you as we have further information.  Please do not call in the morning about key worker questions, please give us a little time to try and organise things.

Thanks and take care.

We are following all Government and Public Health advice ~ we are ALWAYS doing the best for our children, families and staff.

Today (Monday 16th March 2020) we had some more updates on the coronavirus and actions we should all take.

The key messages were :-

• Avoid gatherings
• Avoid public places (pubs, clubs, theatres etc.)
• Work from home if possible
• No unnecessary visits to care homes
• By the weekend those with the most serious health conditions, the over 70's or pregnant women should avoid social contact for 12 weeks.
• Serious health conditions = adults who would normally be advised to have the flu vaccine (such as those with a chronic illness).
• If one person in a household has a persistent cough or fever, everyone living in the house should stay at home for 14 days.

I understand this is a worrying time for us all.

Whilst schools are still open we will do everything we can to ensure all children in school are safe and happy.

I ask all families to continue to understand and respect that our staff have their own and their families health to consider and will also need to act as they see fit.

If your child is going to be absent from school because of the new advice or for ANY reason you must phone us on 0115 9324288.

I will be following every update and letting you know anything new or different.

If you have any questions, worries or are not sure what to do phone us or email us at info@larklands.derbyshire.sch.uk or headteacher@larklands.derbyshire.sch.uk.

If you have questions or need support from other agencies we have put together a catalogue of services that you can access and some useful information guides.

Letters from school regarding the current situation on Coronavirus.