Translatable newsletter content
10th Sept 2021
Welcome
What an amazing start our new school chef Mrs Jacqui McCarthur and her team have had this week. She has taken the challenge to get our school the Food for Life Gold Mark by the end of 2022. To do that as much food as possible has to be sourced within 30 miles of our school. The large majority of this has been done, sourced from local producers and is of a really high quality.
The staff had tasters on their professional development days last week and many of them are in the hall with the children continuing to eat the new dinners with the children. The children are buzzing and it has been lovely hearing children talking to their parents after school about their fantastic new lunches. We are so proud that our new school chef has started so well and know that the range and quality of the lunches is just what the children at Lakenham should have.
As the lunches have now gone in-house, rather than being through an external company, we have more say around what we use within the food and where the food comes from. If you have a glut on an allotment or know someone who does, please drop extras into the kitchen. Mrs Henson’s apples are being used for apple crumble at the moment and Mrs Williams’ courgettes have been added into soup, which is available every day. The children picked yellow beans and chillies on Tuesday and they were added into the curry on Thursday.
Year 3 children last year helped develop this term’s menu, so it has been approved by the children. We would like as many children as possible to have a school dinner every day. If you would like to be part of the school allotment team to help grow some of the food that the children will be eating, please talk to Miss Hart (Assistant Headteacher Community) or Mrs Zita Matthews (CALM and Thrive leader).
CALM- Come and Learn More
Some of the children in C.A.L.M have been very busy harvesting and weeding the allotment. From seed, the children have looked after and grown beans, beetroot, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, herbs, chillies, courgettes, tomatoes and squash. We even have a melon growing in the poly-tunnel! In the warm sunshine beans and chillies were picked and handed to the school dinner team to use in the brand new menu. They were used in a vegetable curry- what a treat to see the full journey from seed to plate in a few months! The time we have spent together in the allotment has been very rewarding. It has been a way of relaxing, focusing, problem solving, gaining resilience when things don't go quite right and getting amazing results in the food we have grown. Gaining all these skills in the allotment has meant that our children have then been able to use these qualities in their learning within class.
Nature School
Wow! What a first week it has been. I have really enjoyed getting to know you all and spending time in the outdoor area.
After finding out the little bugs of Lakenham have been moaning about being too cold, we spent our week building a bug hotel, one floor at a time. Every child in the school from year 1 up has been involved in creating the hotel which is full of 'creature comforts.'
Reception
What a wonderful week we have all had getting to know one another and making friends. We have been exploring our early year’s provision both inside and out. We have been building and playing collaboratively whilst harvesting the runner beans that had flourished over the summer. Exited by our new kitchen, the children gave their crop of runner beans to the chefs!
Children have also been sharing their chatterboxes so it has been lovely to get to know everyone individually.
If you are still creating one with your child please bring it in over the next week for them to share with their friends.
Year 1
What a great start we have had in year one, getting to know each other through games, discussing our own lives, our families and our likes and dislikes. We discovered how different we all are but also that we have many similarities that bring us together as a school family.
Self-portraits have been drawn to display in our new classrooms. We have also been exploring our new learning environments to find out how we learn in year one, including our shared area in the atrium and our outdoor area. Next week we will continue to get to know each other before beginning our first enquiry.
Year 2
Year 2 have been doing lots of challenges! We thought of words to rhyme with ‘cat’, we made tall paper towers, we started making books about ourselves and we found ways to make numbers, like 6, 10 and 20.
You can see that Year 2 have been very busy already!!
Music Concert Year 2 & Year 3
Year 2 & 3 were very lucky to have their own music concert this week!
Miss Amey and her band took us on a musical journey across the world. The children got to experience a range of music genres, cultural music and even got to learn some new facts about musical instruments.
Year 3
Welcome back Year 3!
This week we have been reading Ruby's Worry and thinking about different emotions and strategies we can use to manage them.
We have also been busy settling into our new classrooms and provision. We have been exploring our new Year 3 enquiry area, our art studio and our woodwork workshop.
Weekly workshop challenge: to create a photo frame for your self-portrait painting.
HELP NEEDED - if anyone has any wood off-cuts that the Year 3's could use in their woodwork workshop please could you bring it in.
Year 4
It has been wonderful welcoming our year 4 classes to school this week. There has been lots of smiles, laughter and excitement as we have all got to knoweach other. This week has been packed with a variety of learning such as playing ‘getting to know you’ games, completing map challenges, taking part in some relaxing outdoor reading, math games and so much more! It has been lovely to get to know everyone and we are looking forward to a very successful and enjoyable year together.
Year 5
Welcome back Year 5! And welcome to the team Mrs Barrett. This week Year 5 have begun their enquiry - The Island. The children thought about what they already know about Islands and have started to think about what they would like to research and find out. The children are really enjoying their book, Floodlands about a little girl escaping from Norwich which has become an Island due to Global Warming. They have made predictions about what they think might happen and have been acting out certain parts of the story. We can't wait to see where their learning will take them.
Newsletter 17th July 2020
End of the year Firstly.
I wish to say a huge thank you from the staff of Lakenham for your continued support this school year. The school is really improving and I end the year as a very proud headteacher of what we have all been able to accomplish under very challenging circumstances – personally, physically, academically and emotionally. What a year it has ended up being, nothing that any of us have ever experienced before and we have learnt to do things very quickly. Within 2 days the school went from a fully in school experience to a home learning experience. Thank you for your support with this quick change. I am so proud of the dedication of the staff who were continually thinking of how we could best support our school families and how we can improve our school environment and learning experiences.
The Black Lives Matter campaign has made us reflect on the school curriculum and the subject leaders have made sure the curriculum the children have is reflective of our school community. We also need to thank our governors who help us reflect and further improve.
Support for families over LOCKDOWN •
The inclusion team & teachers have been visiting up to 70 families per week. Knocking on the door and stepping back. This has enabled them to support children and families.
• Work packs delivered or made for pupils who not able to access online. • Regular phone calls from staff and inclusion team
• Support from outside agencies accessed where necessary.
• Informal information and support also on School Facebook page - Lakenham Primary School
• Parental Support Advisor - 1/2 termly newsletter for wellbeing and support for families
• Questionnaires for families and children to ascertain emotional support required. Children and families received bespoke support
There is other stuff we can’t share, but what I do know is that we have tried to do what we can to support the families of Lakenham Primary during this difficult time. I wanted to thank the staff for continuing to think of what else they could do to make the online learning more interesting:
• Reading bedtime stories or longer books for children – including videoing in their own homes with their own children around, sometimes being stars in the videos.
• Making whole school projects to take some pressure off families.
• Trying to make sure that practical activities could be undertaken – children have reflected in their questionnaires that they have learnt to ride bikes, iron, washup, cook, climb trees.
We look forward to seeing you all in person on the 7th of September 2020. Thank you for your continued support! Please keep healthy and safe over the summer.
Mrs Williams and TEAM Lakenham
Furloughed? Made redundant? Self Employed?
Just because we are on holiday doesn’t mean we stop supporting families at Lakenham Primary. Has someone in your family been furloughed, made redundant or is self-employed and not had an income during lockdown?
Through a grant from the Sunday Times Christmas appeal, we have been able to organise a charity - The Phoenix Centre, to support our school families during the holidays with food hampers. Your family doesn't need to be eligible for Free School Meals, as those families will be receiving food vouchers over the summer. You just might need a little more support over the summer? If you feel this might be you, please contact the school office. Or if your circumstances change over the holidays, just come in. No questions asked, you just need to be a Lakenham family. Pick up will be Mondays 11.30-1pm from the school carpark.
Home Learning.
This is the last week for home learning before the Summer. Work packs are also available from the school foyer. Please bring back any of the school books you have at home. Well done for keeping going with this different style of learning. We have loved seeing photographs of what is going on at home.
Nursery
For our final week of learning, we have been thinking about our summer adventures; where we might go and what we might get up to.
We listened to the story of “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” By Michael Rosen and made our own versions of the story. We have packed our suitcases, made a picnic and even went to the airport! This was lots of fun!!
Reception
Last week reception children learnt about space. They made their own rockets, jet packs and a moon. We imagined what it would be like to walk on the moon. They also made lists of what they thought they should take to the moon and thought about what they would ask Tim Peake about living in space.
We continue to be extremely proud of all our reception children and what they have achieved at home. Well done!
Year 2
There has been more making in the Year 2 Google Classroom this week.
This week we have been making and then writing instructions. Joshua made cheese biscuits and Mrs Read made a fruit cake. We have also been reviewing our Year in Year 2. There have been so many wonderful things that we have done: our trip to see the seals, our Poles Apart performance and our money making DT Christmas project. We are sad to be leaving Year 2, but know Year 3 will be just as exciting!
Year 4
Mr Saunders introduced the children to Digimaps for Schools which allows us to find online maps of anywhere in the World. The children's’challenge was to find where they lived and annotate it with details, showing they have read the map correctly.
Year 6
On Tuesday afternoon, we held a socially distanced picnic for our Year 6 leavers. Luckily, the sun shone on us all afternoon and a great time was had by all. It was lovely for those who could attend, before they leave Lakenham and move onto high school. The children wanted to show everyone how much they have enjoyed being at Lakenham in their jump for joy! Goodbye and good luck to all our Year 6’s.
Music
We are delighted to launch an opportunity for students across the county to join The Music Hub for some free online summer workshops. This is free for any young person between the age of 6-18 who is living in Norfolk. https://www.norfolkmusichub.org.uk/site/summer-school-workshops/
Online tour of Reception & Nursery
Have your seen the online tour of Reception and Nursery. Sadly, Coronavirus has meant none of the transition they would normally have to learn about school is happening this year. An interactive tour has been made which you can share with your child. To find it go to the front page and EYFS page of the school website. Nursery and Reception Places Available We look forward to welcoming you and your family into our school community
‘School Readiness’ Videos for Parents
The Norwich Opportunity Area, in collaboration with Norfolk County Council’s Early Years Team, Family Learning Team and Library Service, has created a set of 5 short videos that give parents 50 fun activities that parents can do at home to support their child’s ‘school readiness’. Each of our 5 videos contains 10 fun and simple activities, based on some of the Early Learning Goals, that will help get your child ready for learning in September. These activities do not require any special resources and they can all be adapted to suit the needs of the child.
Please check out our videos here:
https://norwichopportunityarea.co.uk/getting-ready-for-school/
1. 10 fun activities that support Personal, Social and Emotional Development
2. 10 fun activities that support Communication and Language
3. 10 fun activities that support Physical Development
4. 10 fun activities that support Numeracy
5. 10 fun activities that support Literacy
Transition Top Tips Postcard and Video
In collaboration with Norfolk County Council’s Early Years experts, the Norwich Opportunity Area has recently created a new Transitions postcard and accompanying video giving parents 10 top tips for a smooth transition period. Each of the suggestions are simple but important, therefore we would like to get these messages out to as many parents as we can. To watch our Top Tips video or view the postcard, please click here > https://norwichopportunityarea.co.uk/top-tips/
September Opening: Term begins for all pupils on Monday 7th September 2020
The following information was sent via email and on the school Facebook page last week. However, it is important that families know what is happening in September. We know after reading through the DfE guidance, there will be a lot of cleaning!
You will have heard the government announcement that schools will be open for all pupils’ full-time education from the 7th of September 2020. Our school has been welcoming pupils ever since the lockdown was announced, including over the holiday periods. We have also welcomed different year groups back to school since June. We approached this with great caution, reviewing all the scientific advice to ensure that we could be as safe as possible. This has gone extremely well, as our safety measures and risk assessment were thorough. We had consulted with a health and safety expert to further support staff. Thank you to all those parents who sent your children back into school, it has been lovely to see children. When we consulted with parents, during the last term, only 20% of parents wanted a place in school. So, we made sure that we were able to support the 80% of children who were at home as well as the 20% on site. That has made for a much quieter school!
We are delighted that we can now look forward to seeing all our pupils back in September. We have been very busy over the last couple of weeks planning, completing new and detailed risk assessments and working out exactly what school will look like and feel like when your child returns. But also making sure our classrooms are still friendly but with COVID-19 changes.
Face coverings
ADULTS: when coming onto the school site from September, we are requesting that you wear a face covering. We have limited the rolling drop off by taking this precaution. We didn’t want families waiting across the road for the next year group slot, clogging up the road. So, the compromise is, if you come on site to pick up or drop off a face covering must be worn. We will also be doing this outside the building when around home adults. We really appreciate your support with this.
Timings
We will be using the three entrances and a rolling time for pick up and drop off to help with congestion. This will be reviewed after the first week to see if there are any changes or tweaks to make sure this is as effective and efficient as possible. There will be one-way systems.
We respectfully ask that everyone makes every effort to arrive and collect children during their time slots.
Anyone who does not arrive on time will need to drop off at 9.15am via the main office.
Before and After School Care
We will be reopening before and after school care, however we are asking parents/carers to book in advance on Parentpay. You will not be able to attend if you haven’t pre-booked. The hall will be split into the key stage bubble groups with their own equipment. The entrance will be the main office.
Uniform and equipment
Children are to wear school uniform.
Physical Education
The children are being asked to wear their PE kits to school on the days they are doing PE. In winter that will include wearing a tracksuit bottoms/jogger (dark colours please). When PE kits are able to come back into school, they will be in draw string bags as they don’t fall off the hooks in the classroom.
Book bags
We ask that children bring their book bags into school each day with home school contact/reading record in and reading book from school. We continue a NO BACKPACK policy. Bookbags are available in the school office or a plain blue one can be used.
Packed lunch box
Children who have home packed are able to bring this to school. Our risk assessment has shown, we are not able to clean the hall between groups quick enough to not end up having lunchtime for a whole day! So, the children are going to be eating in the classrooms. To help with the amount of waste in classrooms, all home packed lunch waste will be sent home.
Water bottles
All children will need to have their own water bottle, as we will not be able to have open cups that others can use.
Please send a named bottle filled with water, no squash or juice, as this gets sticky if it is spilled.
Cleaning down
The children will be cleaning down the equipment they use as they go through the day. We are continuing with our usual jingle with an amendment, can you find it? Choose it, Use it, Wash it and Put it away
Toilet breaks
Each bubble of children will be allocated their own toilets. Handwashing posters are displayed in the toilets and by the sinks. The external toilet doors will be wedged open.
First aid and illness
Each member of staff will be provided with a first aid kit.
PPE must be worn when treating a child in close contact and hygiene measures followed after any event.
The disabled toilet near the Reception classrooms is set up as an isolation room so that if a child displays symptoms of COVID-19. Parents will be required to collect from that room, accessing from a side entrance and ensure a COVID-19 test is undertaken. As soon as the result of the test is known, the school is to be informed. If it is positive, then the school will ring Public Health England and they will advise us on the next steps. This could include whole class bubble/year group or more being closed for a maximum of 14 days as all staff and children will self-isolate awaiting results of tests.
If a child falls over and needs to plaster, where possible, they will be encouraged to do this for themselves, guided by an adult.
Further protective measures
Regular cleaning of used areas, social distancing, good personal hygiene and thorough handwashing are promoted by the government guidance as being the most effective way of preventing viral spread.
We understand that some of you and your children will be anxious about returning in September, after some months out of school. Please be assured that we are taking exceptional measures to make our school as safe as can be. We will be providing additional emotional and wellbeing support for all pupils, and will also be providing additional opportunities to support learning where this is required. Although very many of our pupils have worked hard using Google Classroom or paper packs of work, provided by our dedicated teachers, we are fully aware that learning has been lost. We are all determined that your children will absolutely not be “a lost generation” and we’re adapting our curriculum to make sure that they get the learning and knowledge they need to achieve success in the future. This will start on the first day with the first unit of learning being about how to be back in school, friendships, building up confidence and wellbeing. It is really important that all children are back in school at the beginning of the term to be involved in this important project.
Your children deserve a great, and safe education.
Pastoral Support
If any parents need any support from our Pastoral Team please email office@lakenham.norfolk.sch.uk ,telephone the school office on 01603 877780 or leave a message on the answer machine. A member of the Pastoral team will get in touch.
Newsletter June 26th 2020
Nursery
Thank you for all your efforts with our online learning over the last few months. With only 3 weeks left till summer, we are looking ahead to our children moving to reception. During the next few weeks, this will be our focus in order to ensure our children are school ready!
Reception
Reception children took inspiration from the book Superworm for their home learning. Corben made his own wormery and Rose showed us how to make our own worm puppets. Many children shared their own Superworms they made at home. We were impressed to see the plants Dali had been growing at home and the beautiful salad she made from her homegrown plants. We are very proud of all the reception children who have continued to work hard on their reading and writing at home.
Year 1
Year 1 has begun their 'Recycling to Sell' project. This week we have been investigating materials and looking at the importance of recycling.
Year 2
Year 2 have been empathically and caringly considering the lives of refugees this week. We have been looking into why people might need to leave their homes, the journeys that they take and the treatment that they might receive when they reach their place of refuge. We have learned that unfortunately they do not always receive the welcome that they deserve. We carefully considered how we could welcome refugees. Deniz made smiley cookies. He said "I think they would understand that language better".
We have also looked into the lives of famous refugees. Chloe researched the life of Judith Kerr, the author of the Tiger who Came To Tea and Mog who was born in Germany. Nitesh made a presentation on LuaLua who was born in Kinshasa, but moved to England at a young age and played for many English Premiership teams. Other famous refugees who were researched this week who have made an important contribution to British society are Mo Farrah, Michael Marks co- founder of Marks and Spencer’s and Rita Ora.
On Friday, we decided that stories make the world a better place because they can help us see how and why people make the choices they do.
Year 3
'Friday was a day of solidarity and learning with the aim to build a welcoming culture in schools. Our task was to create a piece of artwork which uses the word 'Welcome'. This will contribute towards a great big welcome to refugees in Norwich.
We are so proud of all the wonderful contributions that Year 3 made.
Year 4
'In Year 4, we have been creating our own menus from our imaginary restaurants. Some of the food sounds delicious.'
Year 5
For this week’s Art, the children created an imagination portrait by drawing their thoughts, feelings, ideas and hobbies as a thought cloud. We were particularly impressed with some of the artwork we received. One person drew several places that we would love to visit ourselves! We have also seen some other interesting creations in the classroom, including a home-made animation film and decorative plant pots. Keep up the hard work, Year 5!
Year 6
For English in year 6 we are writing a story about going through a mysterious door. One lesson was to design what this mysterious door could look like.
Could all books belonging to Lakenham Primary & Nursery school please be returned to the school office by Friday 3rd July 2020. Our school library has been transformed over the last few weeks thanks to lots of our teaching assistants. We will need all the books to be returned so everyone can enjoy them in September. Thank you.
Did you Know Lakenham Primary & Nursery School’s website can be translated into many different languages. Click on the small world symbol next to search at the top of the screen.
You can read our website in your home language. https://www.lakenhamprimaryschool.co.uk/
????? ????? ?????? ????? ????
???? ????? ????? ?????? ??????????? ????? ??????
Mo?ete citati web stranicu na vašem maternjem jeziku. Kliknite ovdje da biste promijenili jezik po vašem izboru.
?????????????
Web si mu?ete precíst ve svém domovském jazyce.
?? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ????????
Galite perskaityti svetaine savo namu kalba.
Pute?i citi site-ul în limba de origine.
??????????? ?????? ?????? ? ??????? ???????? ?.
Click on the world icon at the top of each page to select your language.
Newsletter June 12th 2020
Home Learning.
Make sure you are logged into Google Classroom regularly - if
you haven't logged on and need to get your password please call
the office 01603 877780 or
email- office@lakenham.norfolk.sch.uk.
Work packs are also available from the school foyer.
Reception
In Reception, we have been inspired by Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We made puppets to retell the story and some of us made a miniature bear's house too! We wrote letters to Goldilocks, we thought of questions about different types of bears and researched the answers. We also invited our own teddy bears to a picnic which we prepared ourselves.
Year 1
Year 1 have been doing some amazing home learning this half-term! We started off writing Thank You letters to the NHS staff. For our history project we learnt about the importance of VE Day. Our learning went outdoors, and we created wonderful Nature Art, inspired by the artist Andy Goldsworthy! This week we produced music at home using household items and even got our siblings to join in! Miss Fryman and Miss Plummer want to say a massive thank you to all of the families for your ongoing support. Well done everyone!
Year 2
Year 2 have shown their horticultural green fingers as we spring ourselves into our Gardens enquiry.
We looked at the story of the Selfish Giant and thought about what would be found inside his garden. In 2G, Chloe created a model of the garden in summer which was “full of life” and Ella has been growing her own garden flowers inside her home, investigating what they need to grow strong and healthy. Isobel, Bethany and Deniz have also been busy growing plants in their gardens and sharing their progress with their classmates on the 2G Google Classroom Stream.
Our Garden enquiry has gone international as we looked at some different gardens around the world. Nitesh introduced us to the Mysore Brindavan garden in India which has colourful dancing water fountains and water slides. We all enjoyed looking at photos and a video that he shared.
Some pupils have already shared their Home Museums, which we have really enjoyed “visiting” and discussing together. We look forward to visiting more of these as they are completed.
Don’t forget that if you need any more reading materials there are plenty of free ebooks available on
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/books/free-ebooks/
Year 3 Home
Learning
Tyler from 3I created this wonderful poem
Plants, plants, it’s magical how they grow,
Some grow fast; some grow slow.
They provide all the fruit we need,
And it all starts with a cheerful seed.
Pop it in a plant pot,
Somewhere sunny, but not too hot!
It will soon raise it’s arms to the sky,
But keep it moist; don’t let it dry.
By Tyler
The Hubbles Bubble Year 4, 5 and 6
A Question of Sport Week Beginning 8/6/20
This week we have named our bubble and created posters for the classroom door. Our ‘Question of Sport’ topic has kicked off with a journey back in time to the Ancient Greeks to discover the events that led up to the very first Olympics. In creating our timelines were learnt that in 393BC the Olympics were stopped by a Roman Emperor. However, it was due to the determination of Pierre de Coubertin that in 1896 the Olympics were revived and now continue to this day. Inspired by Pierre we wrote our own persuasive arguments to ‘bring back the Olympics’ and made recordings of our speeches. We have also been exercising our problems solving skills solving Olympic Maths Challenges. With Mrs Stone we have been actively learning about the benefits of sport. We are looking forward to learning more about that ‘Question of Sport’.
4 Home learning
Year 4 have been having some remote cooking activities this week and some of the children have taken up some of Mr Saunders cooking challenges including home made pizza’s with veggie toppings and carrot cake. Mmmmm!!
Year 5 Home Learning
In Year 5, as part of their home learning, children were invited to create a model of part of a story about a Greek god. Lucy in 5M created this amazing model. She wrote:
‘This is my topic model it’s the story Eros and Psyche on the castle is Psyche and in front of the castle is Eros with his white wings. In the under world there is the three headed dog that Psyche defeated. Aphrodite is in the background by Mount Olympus, where she lives.’
We have also been overwhelmed by the home museums created by different families, showing us some of their treasured possessions and giving us an insight into their lives at home.
A big thank you to:-
Councillor Mrs C Larkin for her £100 donation.
Brenda Jones for food donations.
Asda for food donations, arts and crafts, tea and coffee for the staff.
M&H Plastics for bottles for our cleaning solutions and hand sanitiser.
All Parents/carers for your continuous support through this difficult time.
Ivan our volunteer for delivery food parcels
Clare and Elife our fabulous kitchen staff
All the staff at Team Lakenham
We would like to say a big and heartfelt goodbye to Mr Depledge who will be giving up his lunchtime role. We would like to thank him for his hard work and commitment to the Lakenham Primary community. Happily Mr Depledge is hoping to continue his role as Lollipop person. As the children aren't in school to be able to make a card for Mr Depledge, please feel free to email in pictures, or messages that we can put together for him....
20th March 2020 – Newsletter 23
Dear Home Adults
School building closure
On Wednesday this week, the government announced that schools will be closing on Friday 20 March 2020 and will not be open again for the foreseeable future. This could mean that today is the last day we have the pleasure of having your child/ren on site at Lakenham Primary School this year. If this is the case, we want to thank you for your support this year so far. However, this is not the end of the school year, we will be in regular contact during the school building closure period. These are unprecedented times.
Online Learning
The staff have pulled together online learning to support families. If you go to the Home Learning tab, staff have ideas and activities for each individual year group. All key stage 2 pupils have been shown how to access google schools for specific learning and group tasks for the children to keep in contact.
You will have received your physical learning packs. The staff will have regularly update learning tasks, many which will be off line.
Ever wondered what this symbol was on the website? Click on it and it changes the language!
Key workers
The government has asked school to provide care for the children of key workers. Yesterday, you will have received communication via email and text asking home adults to identify if they felt they potentially fell into this category. This has helped the school identify which of our children would qualify for this provision. Thank you so much for the parent who have done this and for some of you, told us which days you might need care for your children. The office staff have enjoyed some of the photographs of yourself with your photographic ID’s.
This morning, the government has published the list of jobs which fall into the key workers category. It is really important that the whole document is read. Government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible and asked schools to remain open only for children who absolutely need to attend. This means that not every child of a key worker on the list would be expected to attend school. It is only the children whose parents have no other options. The most recent scientific advice on how to
future limit the spread of COVID19 is clear. If children can stay safely at home, they should, to limit the chance of spreading.
Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors area outlined in this letter. 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 you think your job is listed below, and you do not have any other way of looking after your children, please contact the school office as soon as possible, so we will be able to plan what we can provide.
However, you will be required to provide us with some evidence of your current role (ID badge, contract, service website that identifies you). Please send a photograph of your ID to office@lakenham.norfolk.sch.uk
The list of occupations are staff working in:
- NHS including health workers, cleaners, administrative staff, doctors and nurses; producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.
- Education and childcare – all staff who help to keep schools able to open – teachers, admin, TA’s, cleaners and kitchen staff; social workers and specialist education professionals.
- Key public services – justice system, religious staff, charities and working delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased and journalist and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting
- Local and national government – This only includes jobs that are essential to the effective delivery of the COVID 19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits.
- Food and other necessary goods – 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 include police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel, 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.
- Transport – This includes those who keep the air, water, road and rail – to help with freight and supply chains. This includes supermarket delivery drivers and those who work in supermarkets.
- Utilities, communication and financial services – This includes those working in financial services, oil, gas, electricity and water sector (including sewage), IT & data infrastructure that is needed during COVID19, civil nuclear, chemical and telecommunication network operations, field engineer, call centre staff, postal services and deliver, payments provides and waster disposal sector.
- Workers looking after the vulnerable and elderly
Staff news
If we return during this year, the year 5 classes will have a change of staff. Firstly, we wish to congratulate Mrs Stubbins who has been promoted and will leaving us during the shutdown. She leaves the school after many years of caring and supporting our children. We wish her the best; she will be missed!
Mr Josh Fiddy and Mrs Rachel Hales will be joining the year 5 team and Mrs Clementine Gold will be joining the year 3 team as teachers. We had planned to have open events for parents to meet the new members of staff, but this has not been possible.
Advice from a wise person online:
You might be inclined to create a minute by minute schedule for your kids. You have high hopes of hours of learning, including online activities, science experiments, and book reports. You’ll limit technology until everything is done! But here’s the thing...
Our kids are just as scared as we are right now. Our kids not only can hear everything that is going on around them, but they feel our constant tension and anxiety. They have never experienced anything like this before. Although the idea of being off of school for a long time sounds awesome, they are probably picturing a fun time like summer break, not the reality of being trapped at home and not seeing their friends.
Over the coming weeks, you will see an increase in behaviour issues with your kids.
Whether it’s anxiety, or anger, or protest that they can’t do things normally - it will happen.
You’ll see more meltdowns, tantrums, and oppositional behaviour in the coming weeks.
This is normal and expected under these circumstances.
What kids need right now is to feel comforted and loved. To feel like it’s all going to be ok. And that might mean that you tear up your perfect schedule and give your kids a bit more love. Play outside in the garden and go on walks with the dog, just don’t chat with others.
Bake biscuits and paint pictures. Play board games and watch movies. Do a science experiment together or find virtual field trips of the zoo. Start a book and read together as a family. Snuggle under warm blankets and do nothing.
Don’t worry about them regressing in school. Every single kid is in this boat and they all will be ok. When we are back in the classroom, we will all course correct and meet them where they are. Teachers are experts at this! Don’t pick fights with your kids because they don’t want to do math. Don’t scream at your kids for not following the schedule. Don’t mandate 2 hours of learning time if they are resisting it.
If I can leave you with one thing, it’s this: at the end of all of this, your kids’ mental health will be more important than their academic skills. And how they felt during this time will stay with them long after the memory of what they did during these weeks is long gone. So, keep that in mind, every single day.
Please look after your families during this difficult time, follow advice we are given by the government. We look forward to having the whole school back together. When we come out the other side, I am hoping that we are able to return with our heart relieved as our family, friends and neighbours survive this awful virus. I am very proud to be the headteacher at Lakenham Primary, we will do all we can to keep our community together, even though we won’t physically be together. We will get through this together, but apart.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch. Stay safe from all of us at Lakenham Primary.
Best wishes
Mrs Cassandra Williams, Headteacher and the Lakenham Primary Staff Team
Information re Coronavirus
Tuesday 17th March 2020 Dear Families,
With the rapidly changing advice regarding Coronavirus, I thought it was worth writing to prepare you for any changes the school may have to consider in the coming days and weeks.
The Government advice this week was largely expected and included a greater emphasis on self-isolation. We have been directed to send home any child or adult with a fever or persistent cough. If this should happen, the advice is that self-isolation for the child/adult and their whole household should occur for a period of 14 days.
This will obviously affect children, parents and staff and therefore could impact on the day-to-day running of the school. If or when we find ourselves in this situation, the following actions may be taken before school closure:
• Putting classes together with shared staff
• Closure of classes where needed or part time opening of some classes.
• Dividing classes between teachers.
We are aiming to get the children into the school building as quickly as possible in the mornings to stop mass gatherings at peak times. Please could you drop your child at their class line and leave the school premises promptly, thank you in advance for your support in this.
Please use the school office email or phone number to communicate with us, rather than coming into school unless you absolutely need to. Should you not get a quick response, please understand that it will be because we are busy supporting children and/or staff. I know this all sounds very anti-social but these are hopefully short-term measures that will enable us all to stay fit for work and school, for as long as possible.
For the moment, we are allowing music teachers and the nature school (BOB) lead to continue to come into school having received a clear understanding of the action they are taking but we will continue to review the situation daily and as we know more.
With regards to this week, we currently are cancelling any pre-planned meetings. We have also taken measures to avoid any unnecessary visits or visitors entering the school building this include:
• School events, after school clubs run by an external provider and trips have been cancelled.
• Swimming lessons have been cancelled for the following two weeks.
• Carpet times or group gatherings will be avoided at all times this includes
assemblies.
• Digital thermometers will be used in school to increase screening.
• Drinking cups have been removed from all classrooms and children have
been asked to bring in their own named water bottles.
• Increased hand washing throughout the school day.
• Hand sanitiser/soap is available to all children in class and in communal
areas of the school building. Children are actively encouraged to bring in
their own labelled hand sanitiser to use throughout the school day.
• Increased attention when cleaning high contact areas.
• Each child, where possible have their own named resources within class to
avoid cross contamination.
Despite the Education Minister’s announcement that schools will remain open for the time being, we are doing what we must, including preparing for a national closure. Your child will bring home a learning pack today for them to complete at home should the school be instructed to close. There will be further information on home learning on the schools website and this will be regularly updated in the event of closure.
Please ensure that we have your current contact details including your email address. Send any amendments to your contact details to: office@lakenham.norfolk.sch.uk
We are striving to keep the school open for as long as we possibly can and we will keep you updated on any changes of advice that comes through from the Government.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support of the staff team during this time, it is hugely appreciated. Whatever challenges we may face in the next week or so, I feel confident that we will meet these together.
Best wishes,
Mrs Cassandra Williams Headteacher
