Dear Parents,

 

I hope you are all keeping safe and feeling well.

 

I just wanted to clarify that should you qualify as a critical worker or a vulnerable family, you can ring us at any time to book your child into school should you need to. Conversely, if you feel they would be safer at home, you can keep them at home. The latest guidance from the DfE states:

Parents and carers who are critical workers should keep their children at home if they can.

 

A quote from Dr William Welfare, Covid response director at PHE on Friday:  

 'approximately one in three people who have coronavirus have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it. To protect our loved ones it is essential we all stay at home where possible. This will reduce new infections and ease the pressure on the NHS and save lives.' 

 

Schools have already had positive cases with their bubbles of vulnerable children and children of critical workers so you do need to be aware that having your children in school may mean they will have to isolate for 10 days should a case be reported. Obviously if this did happen I would let you know immediately. Even if your child is not in school, but you have a positive case within your household, please do let us know as it helps us build a picture of what is happening in our school community although these cases are not officially reported. 

 

We have rising numbers of children attending in year R and year 3. We can accommodate anyone who needs a place in these year groups but you do need to be aware that these numbers do increase the likelihood of a case being reported in those year groups.  

 

However, on the positive side, yet again the children are adhering to the expectations within school very well.

 

The staff have been organised so that in each year group, one teacher is teaching in school, whilst the other sets and marks the home learning. The work in school and the home learning are following the same curriculum so the children are accessing new learning whether at home or in school.

 

If there is no work posted on line by a child, or there has been no communication with the family, we will be ringing to check you are all well. If no contact is made within a week, our Parent Support Advisor will make a house call to check all is well and see if there is any further support needed. Please do not hesitate to ring in if you need help or guidance. When staff ring you regarding home learning, or for a welfare call, it may be from their own phone and show as 'No caller ID' so please answer!

 

Once again we will be providing supermarket vouchers to those pupils who are eligible for free school meals.  We will be ordering the vouchers through Wonde, the same company we used to distribute vouchers for the Christmas holiday.  We select those eligible for vouchers through our Management Information System (SIMs) and once a voucher is assigned, parents will instantly get a text and /or email message asking them to select their supermarket of choice.  As the school is paying for these vouchers there may be a delay of a few days while the order and payments are processed, but once this is done the vouchers will be sent directly to parents.  It is therefore very important that we have your latest mobile and email details on our system.

If you are not sure if we have your most up-to-date details please go to the email update form on our website:

https://www.southview-jun.hants.sch.uk/infant-and-nursery-school/

https://www.southview-jun.hants.sch.uk/junior-school-2/

Each voucher will be worth £15 per week per child. They will be sent out every 2 weeks.  These are only for children who are registered as eligible for FSM and not currently in school. If your child is only attending part time we will look at these cases individually to decide on the value of the voucher to which you are entitled.

If your circumstances have recently changed and you feel you may now be eligible to claim FSM please visit our FSM page to check the criteria and apply:

https://www.southview-jun.hants.sch.uk/apply-for-free-school-meals/

Once this is done please use the ‘Notification of entitlement to Free School Meals’ online form to update us.

For further guidance on Wonde vouchers please visit the FAQs on their website.

http://help.wonde.com/en/articles/3843162-faqs-for-parents-supermarket-voucher

 

And finally…..

Coming soon …….. The South View Federation School App !!!

 

We are excited to announce that, to improve communication with our entire school community, we will be launching a smartphone app which is free to download and works with iPhones and Android phones.

As a school, we believe it is essential to work in partnership with parents and carers and part of this is achieved by ensuring that you receive clear, relevant and regular communications. 

Benefits of the app for Parents and Carers will be: 

• The app is secure; you set up a PIN/ Touch ID to access on your phone
• The app is powered by our school website which means that when you download it, you will have a single place to receive and access important messages along with calendar events, newsletters, latest news and all information pages within the school website. 
• It will reduce need to go searching for letters at the bottom of school bags
• Messages appear in your inbox; you will receive secure individual and group messages as well as whole school notices 
• We can be certain that you have received the message
• And …..there are no character limits!!!

The main benefits of the app for the school will be that we will be able to reduce costs, as unlike texts, messages we send are free of charge, and it will reduce our admin time by keeping all communication tools within one place.

As you can see there is lots to be excited about!!

 

As always, stay safe and if you need advice or support - just call us.

 

With my very best wishes,

Mrs Sheila Pape

Executive Headteacher