Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Flu immunisation Sessions
Wed 30 Sep 2020Dear Parents/Carers
For the school year starting September 2020 we will be continuing with the e-consent for the Flu Programme. This year we are vaccinating children in Reception, Year 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. When completing the e-consent, please state the year group your child will be in at the beginning of the school year September 2020. If you have already completed a consent form you do not need to do this again.
Please visit https://www.derbyshireandcityimms.co.uk/Forms/Flu to complete the consent form. The option to consent or decline the vaccination is at the end of the questionnaire so please complete even if you do not want your child to have the vaccination.
Your unique school code for Dovedale Primary School is DD141540
For more information about the vaccination and the date we are due into your school please visit our website: http://www.derbyshireschoolnurses.org.uk/parents/immunisations
It is unlikely that we will be able to run “catch up” clinics this year so please make sure you complete a consent form before the date we are due into school.
If you experience any problems please call the School Age Immunisation Team:
Repton: 01283 707178
Clay Cross: 01246 252953
Or email us DCHST.immunisationteam@nhs.net -
Friday update
Fri 25 Sep 2020Dear Parents,
Welcome to the Friday update.
It's been a productive week here in school and it feels very positive with lots of smiley faces!
Assessments
Today you will receive your child's progress slip if they are in years 1 to 6 letting you know what the focus for your child will be over the next few weeks. We have been very impressed by how well the children have performed in their baseline tests but there are a few core elements that we will be addressing.
Pick up and drop offs
A little reminder about keeping your child with you at the end of the day, some children seem to be wandering and therefore potentially mixing.
Can I also request that you stick to your child's allocated gate times. Staff are on hand at specific times to coordinate with the allotted times. Children shouldn't be coming in earlier just because the gates are open unless they are siblings as they may not be supervised.
Planning for closures
I have placed a Department for Education letter for your information under the parent's tab - Coronavirus updates- and also a brief outline of our contingency plan for any closures. We are obviously hopeful that we will not get any positive Coronavirus results but need to be prepared for that eventuality. We have a comprehensive contingency plan in school and I have outlined some bits for you that I think you will find most useful.
Celebrating success
I have posted the REACH celebration assembly under the children's tab-Mrs Houseman's updates for children.
Coats and jumpers
Please make sure your child has a coat and jumper in school now that the weather is getting decidedly colder.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend - stay safe together!
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Friday briefing
Fri 18 Sep 2020Happy Friday everyone!
A busy week here in school with all systems working well, although we are continuously reviewing our practices to ensure we keep up to date with the guidance and keep everyone safe whilst getting on with the education of our children.
Corona virus
We realise that there are going to be lots of illnesses over the coming months so do check out the updates under the parent's tab to support you with decisions. Thank you to all the parents (and staff) who have sensibly followed the guidance this week, we realise there will be lots of negative tests and lots of frustration trying to get one if needs be, but know this is one way we can attempt to prevent any spreading of the virus. We are trying to be as practical as possible but obviously can't diagnose individual cases.
If you or your child is requested to get a test please dojo the results to the class teacher or call the office. It is extremely important that we are informed immediately of any positive tests.
Healthy choices
A reminder that food in pack ups should be healthy options- not sweets, although a chocolate biscuit treat is fine. A sandwich or healthy similar substitute, cheese and fruit are all good options. Too many sugary items cause a slump in the afternoon, are bad for little teeth and have very little benefit for little people's growing bodies and minds. (I know we all need a treat sometimes!).
Assessments
The baseline assessments have all been completed and you will receive an update on this from your child's class teacher. We will then teach to the gaps over the following term. Further catch up will be delivered in the Christmas term for any children who teachers determine still need a 'covid catch up'.
Online safety
I would remind all parents of the importance of checking out the followers on their child's Tik Tok and Instagram accounts on a regular basis. If there are any followers who you would question the reason as to their being there delete them. For example: non family/friends adults. If any parents do find questionable followers, I am happy to talk this through with them.
Keep keeping on
Thank you to our parents for continuing to distance, if parents feel they would like to wear masks on the playground of course they may do so but this is not guidance for the schools at the moment. I am sure you are all also aware of the need to follow the guidance out there in the community with regards to socialising and distancing. Although this is not directly a school matter, obviously children / adults mixing out of school could have a knock on effect if a positive case were to occur resulting in more bubbles having to shut down.
Next week I will post our REACH assembly on the blog on the website for parent's to view on Friday.
I hope you all have a lovely sunny weekend.
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Friday update
Fri 11 Sep 2020Happy Friday everyone!
What a great week we have had! It's been different but the children have tried so hard and are adjusting well-as are the staff.
I have seen some really positive comments about the school reopening and we are so grateful to work within such a positive community. We realise it is early days and will continue to do our utmost to keep everyone safe and well and happy!
We are coming up to cold season and although it is really difficult to determine if a cough or a temperature is just the usual seasonal norm we are asking that parents keep their children off and get tested if they have any of the 3 main symptoms. We know this is, in many cases, going to be a foregone result but this is what the guidance states and this is therefore what we must adhere to to make sure we are doing our best to keep us all safe.
All children have had their baseline assessments this week and you will shortly receive an update from your class teacher as to any gaps that we are going to focus on over the next few weeks. The parent's meetings planned for after half term to detail progress towards these targets will now need to be by phone call (recent guidance), and the teachers will liaise with parents about the best time for this to happen in the allocated week.
Our REACH assemblys for our role model children will start again in a couple of weeks and I will post these online for you to watch.
I wish you all a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you all back happy and well on Monday morning.
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Mid week update
Wed 09 Sep 2020Welcome to the mid week briefing!
I will continue to update parents as frequently as necessary to keep you up to date with the school's processes and reactions to the changing covid climate as well as all the really important general school activity.
Social distancing
As the numbers appear to be on the rise can I ask all parents to be particularly vigilant about grouping -especially those collecting from the playground. Once handed over your child should stay with you until they have left the school grounds. We would ask that year 1 and 2 parents do not congregate together, once collected parents should leave the school site with their children.
Water bottles
We have monitored the water bottle situation and will be asking children to take their bottles home each day to have them thoroughly washed and refilled and brought back the following day. This way they will only be handled by the child and parent and it saves time either end of the school day.
Sanitiser
We are concerned that our hand washing regime is detracting from valuable learning time. Although we realise that cleanliness is an essential element in our determined effort to limit the spread of the virus we believe this can be met through using hand sanitiser at some of the times we are currently hand washing.
We would therefore ask you to contact the school office if you do not want your child using hand sanitiser. (If you have already informed us of this you do not need to tell us again.) Children will still wash their hands thoroughly at pivotal points throughout the day but will sanitise at other appropriate times.
At the moment all other systems are working very well and children and adults are enjoying getting on with the new school year. The children have continued to make us smile with their positivity.
Thank you for your continued support.
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Friday update
Fri 04 Sep 2020Well we are back!
Thank you to all our parents and amazing children for making our return to school feel so positive.
The children have of course been a delight, very excited and slotted into the new systems brilliantly.
Thank you to our parents for continuing to distance (we know it's hard when you want a catch up). The staggered drop offs and pick ups are working very well and we are grateful that you are able to keep to the set times.
Can I request that once your child/children have been handed over at the end of the day that they stay with you and don't run around the playground or around the tree- potentially mixing with other children not in their groups.
All plans in school have so far worked very well, I am monitoring the hand wash situation as I know this is taking a while to get through and may consider hand sanitiser ( only with parental permission) at certain times-keeping hand washing at entry/exit and dinner times. However I will update on this after we have had a full week.
I am also watching the water bottle system to make sure this is appropriate. Again I will update next week.
A reminder that we will not be authorising holidays except in exceptional circumstances and cannot authorise holidays that have been re-booked in school time as they were cancelled in the holidays. I hope you understand that this would potentially cause a large amount of children being out of school when we really need everyone in as much as possible.
I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and we look forward to welcoming all the children back in to their new year groups on Monday morning.