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Good afternoon all,

 

I am writing this after we have all been catapulted into another 6 weeks of lock down with very little warning and preparation.

 

I am hoping that you are all coping and managing as best you can.

 

I am fully aware that those of you who are home schooling yet again, many whilst trying to work from home or manage shifts/work must already feel exhausted at the prospect. We will as always do our best to support you.

 

As before remember these are exceptional times; yes we want our children to make academic progress but not at the expense of anyone's sanity or well-being-and I do not say that lightly. Parent's should not feel guilty if they have to prioritise what they can do and just do the best you can. We know that we will be catching up with learning after all of this, and we know we can do it, but in the mean time do your best and be kind to yourself.

 

Teachers are uploading home learning work on a daily basis. One teacher per year group has been allocated to specifically communicate with both year group classes via dojo and zoom and provide the work for the offsite learning page. You may therefore be communicating with the teacher from the other class. This is because the other teacher is in school supervising the key worker children for their year group. We believed it essential to have a dedicated teacher for this as the children at home deserve this focus and dedication.

 

On Fridays teachers coordinating home learning will be taking their planning and preparation hours and will not be responding to dojos (work will still be provided). If you have an urgent question please contact the headteacher email.

 

Likewise I have instructed teachers that they need to mute their notifications

after working hours and at weekends. I know many continue to respond however I think they need time to reflect and relax if we are to keep the positive staff morale that we always have.

Teachers are humans too with family lives and obligations and all the stresses that you feel at home, so I would ask you to be as considerate as always during this time.

 

With one teacher dedicated to home learning our provision in school is reduced. We have doubled our capacity since the last lock down through careful planning and are operating within government guidelines. Our figures are based on our risk assessments and this has been confirmed as an accurate process by the DFE.

 

The key worker list is however full but a changing entity and I would again ask that if you do not need your place because you are at home then please inform us so that we can support others who need it. 

 

I must thank all the parents who have taken a pragmatic approach to this and released their place where possible.

 

I must however also thank all of those key workers who are continuing to keep us safe and enable systems to work successfully. It is difficult to be a front line worker at this time.

 

Coffee mornings

Mrs Tomlinson and I thought it would be a good idea to hold some zoom coffee mornings with parents. A little like our parent's forum but a space for parents to share the ups and downs of lockdown. Share any ideas and be a space for contact and communication. We want this to be a positive space to keep in touch and may even throw in a game or 2!

We will set 3, at varying times and organise how to set this up. Bring your beverage of choice, bring some ideas and share the silliness of all of this!

Watch this space.

 

I will be restarting my off site updates page -under the children's tab on the website. If any children have news to share please do so via the blog email address we used last time.

 

Assemblies will be uploaded to the assemblies balloon.

 

Thank you for you cooperation, lovely messages of support and patience.

 

Please take care of yourselves and stay safe,

 

Sarah Houseman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good afternoon all.

 

I hope you have all been keeping well and have had a lovely Christmas time.

 

As I am sure you are aware we have moved into tier 4 with further restrictions affecting our community, I therefore just wanted to give a quick update as to our position.

 

We have checked all published information and Dovedale Primary School will be open as usual from Monday 4th January.

 

It is expected that all children will return to school on this day as usual. 

 

Although I am sure that some people may be worried about the new strain, its spread and it's impact, we will continue to work extremely hard to manage all risks associated with COVID and will take extra care to make sure our school is the safest place it can be for the children, families and staff.

 

Our systems so far have proved effective and we will continue to monitor and adjust as necessary. We will continue to follow guidance and ensure the best learning and support provision is in place for our children.

 

I would ask that you continue to observe distancing guidelines and keep your children with you when dropping off and picking up and do not congregate on the school grounds. This has proved very successful so far and I appreciate your support with this measure.

 

If you have any concerns please contact me on the headteacher@dovedale.derbyshire.sch.uk email and I will respond.

 

I wish you all a very happy and hope full new year.

 

Sarah Houseman

Happy Friday all,

 

It has been a lovely week here at Dovedale with Christmas festivities resounding out all week as the different bubbles have held their Christmas parties.

The children have continued to demonstrate brilliant behaviours and in spite of all the excitement have continued to make us proud.

 

The EYFS children completed their Nativity which has been shared with their parents. A massive thank you to the EYFS team for organising and coordinating this and an extra special thank you to Mrs Norton for writing the performance 'When Santa sanitised the chimney'.

 

The Christmas jumper day raised a huge £291.18 for Save the Children and we have delivered a massive array of goods to the food bank through your generous donations. In these difficult times it makes me very proud that our families and staff still take the time to consider those in need. A great example to our children.

 

Contact tracing

I need to state that if I am informed of any positive cases over the next week I will need to contact any close contacts. This will be up to and including Christmas eve. Rest assured I will take all guidance on this and follow the guidance on the timescale of possible infection spread. I very much hope for everyone's sake that this will not be necessary as we have had an excellent run of zero cases. 

 

2021

We do not know what the new academic year will bring in terms of lockdowns or closures but I am sure that whatever the new year brings we will face it with the same pragmatism and positivity that I have seen from children, parents and staff alike over this last term. In the mean time I sincerely hope that you and yours are able to celebrate Christmas safely and and happily.

 

 

Sarah Houseman

 

 

 

 

Happy Friday all,

 

A lovely sparkly end to the week here at Dovedale with lots of Christmassy outfits on children and adults alike.

 

Thinking of Christmas, there are 2 events being held at All Saints Church in Sawley that may be of interest to you and your children. One is a Christingle candlelight walk on Christmas eve  and one is a walk through Nativity on Christmas eve between 10.00 and 4.00. I have attached the flyers below for timings and details. Both have taken current restrictions in to account.

 

Parking!

Again I need to raise the issue of parking considerately. Some cars are parking high up on pavements, some on corners and some look more like they have been abandoned than parked! It is quite embarrassing and frustrating dealing with the calls and apologising on your behalf. I do feel more thought could be given to this and although as a school we have no control over how you choose to park I would ask that you consider what impression it is giving of our school and the safety implications for our children.

 

Last week

Next week is our last week of the term and I hope that everyone has read the 2 letters I emailed out on Thursday. We need to be vigilant over this next week to make sure that everyone is able to have the Christmas they deserve and that I do not need to inform any children of the need to isolate. I do not enjoy those messages! So please read the letters if you haven't yet had a chance and hopefully we will continue through to the last day in the positive way we have managed this half term.

 

There is a PTA design competition running at the moment, the children can bring in 50p for a template and return their masterpieces by Wednesday

16th December for judging. There will be 1 winner chosen per class.

 

I hope you all have a very lovely weekend.

 

 

 

Happy Friday everyone!

 

I am very proud to say we have had another great week here at Dovedale Primary school. The weather has been dodgy but the children have been great!

 

Year 2 had their 1960s day which was a real hit. I was so impressed with all the outfits and the dancing!

 

Thank you to everyone for your support with the poppy appeal. We raised a huge £685.52. 

 

I have had a few messages about children racing about on their scooters outside of school, near people's cars and up driveways. Although I realise this is not being done maliciously this is causing some upset for some of our more elderly neighbours. I would therefore ask for some thought to be given to this when they are out and about.

 

We have started our advent countdown with the appearance of the tree and some quite naughty elves in the classrooms getting up to tricks.

Elaine Jones our community governor has also provided us with some lovely advent assemblies which the children are really enjoying, so it is starting to feel quite festive.

 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

 

 

 

 

Happy Friday everyone,

 

Another busy week here at Dovedale Primary School.

 

We have continued with our anti bullying week work and also focused on Diwali. Miss Bestwick and Miss Nadin have compiled another great video of all the lovely activities the children have completed. This can be found on a new tab in the children's section of the website. Scroll to the bottom of this tab and you will find 'Dovedale Videos'. It can also be accessed through Twitter.

 

We had our autumn  full governor's meeting this week. I would like to say thank you to the Dovedale Governing body for their ongoing support, ensuring the school is held to account on all things policy and procedure ensuring the best outcomes for the children. If you would like to see who our governors are and what they do, go to the Governors tab on the website.

 

Next week is assessment week so the children's timetable will be slightly different. We are hoping to see more great progress as the children have been working so hard.

 

As we head into tier 3 I would like to thank all of our parents for being so diligent and understanding. We have been clear of cases for the last 3 weeks and we know this is due to your hard work as much as the systems we have in place in school.

As always do not hesitate to contact me if you are experiencing any difficulties. All conversations will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.

 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Friday all,

 

We have had a great week here at Dovedale.

 

The year 5s have completed bikability and we published our first class assembly online for this year. Thank you to Mrs Thorpe's class for their hard work on this.

 

We have also been doing some Anti Bullying week activities and these will continue in to next week and we learnt about Diwali. 

 

The PTA held a virtual meeting this week and will be issuing a colouring competition for the children. This will be 50p to enter and there will be a prize per class. The templates will start to go out on Monday 7th December and should be returned to school by the 14th for judging. I will send a text reminder. We are very grateful that our PTA still continues to be proactive at such a difficult time.

 

With all the news around closures and covid we know that some of our young people are feeling quite stressed. 

I have added a link below about supporting your child to deal with scary world news. There are some useful ideas that could help adults too!

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/talking-to-your-children-scary-world-news

 

On a similar note we know that there are added stresses for adults, particularly through job losses or the financial toll that the current situation has forced some families to face. If any of our families are concerned about food over the Christmas break please contact myself and we can talk together about ways to support you. I hope you realise that this will be done in a confidential and non judgemental way. Email on headteacher@dovedale.derbyshire.sch.uk or call the office and ask to speak with me.

 

On December 11th it is Christmas jumper day. Now whilst this may be tricky if things are not up and running completely after the 2nd, children can wear something festive on this day. This could be as simple as a tinsel crown, a festive badge, a jumper or a full on onesie. If families wish to and are able to make a donation for the Save the Children charity we will collect this in on the day. 

 

Some parents have been asking about Christmas cards. If your child wishes to send cards to their friends please have them in school by Friday 11th December. They will be put into a box in the classroom ready for distribution the following week. If they wish to give to friends in a different bubble these will need to be collected in by their teacher and forwarded to the appropriate class.

 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

 

 

 

Happy Friday everyone!

 

A great week here at Dovedale Primary school yet again.

 

We are well on the way with our new curriculum and the children seem to be really enjoying their new knowledge blocks.

 

This week we have celebrated Remembrance-hop over to our Twitter page (click on the bird link at bottom of website homepage) to see the beautiful montage compiled by Miss Bestwick of all the lovely things the children have been doing.

Next week we shall be looking at Diwali and road safety in our assemblies.

 

Today we celebrated children in need, showing Dovedale respect for those who may need our support. 

 

To make you aware, guidance on attendance published this week has stated that all children must continue to be in school and cannot be kept at home by parents unless they are ill or isolating due to a family member getting a test or testing positive. I will therefore be sending out attendance letters where attendance falls below the expected % as usual. Our attendance at Dovedale is usually very high-above national -and we will work with individual families to support them in getting their children in school. Days off school + lost learning and as there have been ( and may be) days when this is beyond our control we need to have the children in as much as possible if they are fit and well.

 

We thank you for your continued support in keeping our community safe and I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

 

 

 

Happy Friday everyone,

 

I hope you are all keeping well.

 

It has been a very positive return to the 2nd half term here at Dovedale. The children have come back positively and ready to learn and the staff are keen to get on with the new curriculum.

 

We have some activities planned over the next few weeks to engage the children in their wider learning. Next week we will be focusing on Remembrance -you may notice a display popping up over the weekend and there will be a video shared of children's work on this very important theme.

We are also celebrating Diwali and participating in Anti bullying week so we are looking forward to these wider themes.

 

Starting next week we will be conducting parent's updates by phone calls. This is obviously not ideal but will allow your child's class teacher to update you on your child's progress. Please be mindful that the teachers will be on the phone all day on their allocated day during the set times. The scheduling of these has meant that they have very little space between each call and so will need to end the calls promptly to move to their next call. If further time is required then this can be arranged separately with the class teacher. Thank you for your understanding with this.

 

We know there have been some people isolating this week and you are all in our thoughts and we hope you stay well. Remember we are  here for anyone who may need a little support at this time so please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to help.

 

Next week it is Children in Need and it's fancy dress Friday.

 

Lastly, a big congratulations to Mr McCarthy who has become a father to baby Grace. We wish him and the family all the very best.

 

I wish you all a very lovely weekend. 

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Firstly I hope that you and your families are keeping well.

As we head into the second half of the autumn term I thought I would just update you as to our continued efforts to keep everyone safe and well.

We will be continuing with our bubble system – with some adjustments to the year 6 bubbles. The two year 6 classes now need to line up separately on entry to school and will not be sharing the same playground space. The two classes will not be mixing at any time in school and we ask that you speak to the year 6 children about this prior to Monday. You will receive a dojo update from the class teacher. We have made these adjustments to entry, playtimes and lunchtimes as they will then be able to be completely separate as they do not share facilities including toilets.

Other year groups will need to remain as year group bubbles as they share a corridor and toilets. We will however limit contact as far as is feasibly possible.

We will continue with our sanitizing and hand washing routines, increased cleaning regime and ventilation - please make sure your child has a jumper or fleece in school for use in the classroom as we head in to the cooler months. Ventilation is a key factor in reducing the spread of the virus so we will be keeping windows and internal doors open.

I know there has been some question as to why one class, whole year group or small groups are chosen to isolate. All our decisions are based on Public Health England advice, our own risk assessments and a determination to prevent the spread as much as possible. I am not in a position to take a popularist approach and will not keep bubbles open when it does not seem safe to do so. Likewise I will not close classes if we have been advised that they are safe to stay open.

Although we are seeing an increase we still have a reasonably low turnover of cases at the present time and we will take every action needed to try and keep as many children in school as possible. I will not however, put anyone at risk and will continue closing classes or year groups where needed. We would ask that you continue to be extra vigilant with regard to any potential symptoms displayed in your child.  

Due to track and trace and other issues beyond our control we are also seeing some staff needing to isolate and will address any staff shortages as they occur.

If children, groups or classes need to isolate, home learning will be provided. Any parents needing support with this should contact the class teacher or myself and we will be happy to support you. We are determined to minimise any further disruption to the children’s learning.

We are aware that this is a worrying and potentially stressful time but we will continue to work with the whole school community to do what is best for our children and their families.

Please ensure you inform us if anyone in your household presents symptoms or tests positive and follow all the guidelines with regard to this. If anyone needs any advice please contact the school and as always we will do our best to help. Please continue to distance on dropping off and picking up times, keep your children with you to avoid cross bubble exposure and we suggest the wearing of face masks for adults.

 

I will continue to update you with any further information or advice weekly or as necessary

Take Care

 

Sarah Houseman