Sunday 26th April 19:55pm
FSM vouchers are ready to collect as they were last week. The pick up times are:
Monday 9:30 until 12:00 = Surname's of children A to G
Monday afternoon 1:00 until 3:30 = Surname's of children H to M
Tuesday 9:30 until 12:00 = Surname's of children N to S
Tuesday 1:00 until 3:30 = Surname's of children T to Z
This week's vouchers are for ASDA. The following week will be the last week they are picked up from school and will be then valid for TESCO. Parents will then register for their own vouchers online and collect them for their own children. They can be ordered up to 4 weeks at a time (£60 per child). The school will let you know when you are eligible to do this.
Tuesday 21st April 2:51 pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 5
Total number of staff = 5
[Mr Proctor, Mr Hollinshead, Miss Yates, Miss Mortimer, Miss Middleton]
The majority of vouchers have been collected from school yesterday and today, however we still have a few unclaimed. If your child is eligible for free school meals then the voucher can be collected between now and Friday.
We are hoping that there will be a full set of vouchers for next week provided by the DFE, but as yet we have received 82 of the 88 needed.
Looking ahead to WC: 11th April parents will need to apply for these themselves to give families more chance of receiving these on time. In order to do this you will need to make sure that the school has an accurate upto date email address otherwise you will not receive them. When parents are able to order their own, they will be able to order up to 4 weeks for each child. ie: up to £60 per child. This is something the school has not been able to do up until know due to DFE restrictions.
Online learning resources:
The government has now set out online learning resources. This information will be available on this website tomorrow.
Monday 20th April 10:40am
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 4
Total number of staff = 5
[Mr Proctor, Mr Hollinshead, Miss Yates, Miss Mortimer, Miss Middleton]
The vouchers are ready to collect as described in the Friday's message.
Monday 9:30 until 12:00 = Surname's of children A to G
Monday afternoon 1:00 until 3:30 = Surname's of children H to M
Tuesday 9:30 until 12:00 = Surname's of children N to S
Tuesday 1:00 until 3:30 = Surname's of children T to Z
On the Parents, Letters, COVID page we have put on some activities which have been recommended for children's physical activities.
Friday 17th April 6:35pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 3
Total number of staff = 4
[Mr Proctor, Mrs McLeod, Mrs Ainsworth, Miss Ali]
FSM update:
FSM Collection: [Available from Monday]
We have worked around the clock to ensure that we have vouchers for next week. The good news is.... we do!
We have 86 vouchers each worth £15 per pupil for those pupils eligible for FSM. These will be available for collection on Monday and Tuesday next week. In order to ensure there is social distancing we have made the decision to stagger the collection of these vouchers on the surname of children (not the parent's surname).
So with that in mind...
Collection times next week from the school office:
Monday 9:30 until 12:00 = Surname's of children A to G
Monday afternoon 1:00 until 3:30 = Surname's of children H to M
Tuesday 9:30 until 12:00 = Surname's of children N to S
Tuesday 1:00 until 3:30 = Surname's of children T to Z
The vouchers are valid for until the 7th May 2020 and can be used at the ASDA store in Accrington.
A reminder that the vouchers are for children's meals and are not allowed to be used for cigarettes or alcohol. A text will be sent to all parents of children who are eligible.
Again, apologies for the delay, but we really have been working with the DFE morning until night to ensure that they are ready for next week and have only arrived today.
Thursday 16th April 11:29am
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 1
Total number of staff = 4
[Mr Proctor, Mrs McLeod, Mrs Ainsworth, Miss Ali]
FSM update:
FSM Collection: [Not yet available]
We are starting to make better progress with the DFE and the processing of FSM and are hoping that all orders will be ready for collection from school on Monday for those pupils eligible for FSM.
We have a total of 86 FSM orders to process. The only delay currently is that we are simply waiting for these vouchers to be emailed to school so that parents can collect them on Monday/Tuesday. A I do apologise for the wait for these to come through, but we are simply just waiting for the DFE to email them to us now. As soon as they are ready for collection from school I will inform you via 1) This website 2) text.
Please make sure the school office has your email address, child's name and that it is accurate.
Process for collection
The process for collection of the vouchers will be that parents will be asked to come to school, sending one parent to collect, keeping social distancing rules. We will aim to stagger the collection points throughout Monday and Tuesday (alphabetical order). EG: Surnames A-G (Monday morning), (H-M) Monday afternoon, (N-S) Tuesday Morning, (T-Z) Tuesday afternoon. Please wait for your confirmation text or website announcement before coming to school for collection, as we still have not received any as yet from the DFE.
Wednesday 15th April 1:35pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 5
Total number of staff = 4
FSM Vouchers:
We have been trying to process the vouchers for parents, but it has become apparent that the DFE Voucher system's site cannot handle the pure volume of schools trying to order the gift vouchers and as such their site continually crashes or takes an age for the page to update.
At this moment in time I cannot guarantee that the vouchers will be ready for next week either.
We will persist with the scheme for the moment , but looking towards the week commencing 27th April parents will have more chance of receiving their voucher (upto 4 weeks worth [£60] per pupil) by providing school with their email address. There has been a text message sent to parents today asking for email addresses so that we can enter these directly in to the system.
All schools nationally are in the same position and are in a national database queue.
Tuesday 14th April 10:00am
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 3
Total number of staff = 4
FSM vouchers: We are actively trying to speed up the process to access the vouchers for our families, but there seems to be a delay with the company that are supplying the vouchers. We will continue to try today.
Monday (Bank Holiday Monday) 2:54pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 2
Total number of staff = 4
Voucher system:
The latest information on the voucher system for FSM children is still pending. The school is still awaiting processing of this scheme from the distributor.
Recipe: We have uploaded a recipe of the day which you may want to use with your children. (Letters/Covid section of the website).
Flag Day:
We have uploaded a project for world Flag day in the Parents/Letters/Covid section of the website which I thought would be a useful initiative for parents and families.
Off the Shelf RE activities
If you click on the link below there are lots of ideas to be creative.
The idea is that the children can choose any picture they find interesting to look at and discuss. They follow this by reading one of the two suggested Bible stories/text. They can then explore the story, it’s meaning and impact through a variety of activities that are of course ‘Questful’!
The resources contain activities that are suitable for children in Yr1 – Yr6 The children can decide which activity suits them best. This hopefully makes the resource all age/family friendly and therefore can be enjoyed by siblings together:
https://www.bdeducation.org.uk/schools/teacher/collective-worship/offtheshelfreresources/
Serial Mash Reading resource for home learning
One resource in particular which is now available to us is Serial Mash. This is a reading resource which is based around a book. The book is split into chapters which has 4-6 activities.
Furthermore, Purple Mash also have a 'Remote Learning section' where activities have been set. A pre-made resource you can direct your children to as it is within Purple Mash.
Be a Home Hero:
Uploaded today....Discussion activities on Coronavirus (Parents/Letters/COVID)
Easter Activities: (NEW)
· If following links online, parents should monitor that children are sticking to that page only and are keeping safe online(eg. some of the texts are You Tube links) [PARENTS/LETTERS/COVID]
Friday 3rd April 2020 10:04am
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 2
Total number of staff = 5
School will be open as usual for Critical Worker Families over the Easter Holidays.
Support over the Easter Holidays
I have placed on the [Parent] [Letters] [Covid19] section of our website information to support any family who is going to be struggling over the Easter Holidays. There is support out there to help. Please read the information provided. There is a simple form to complete but then support can be accessed. We have also received notification from the Critical Families who need school for next week. A FSM will be arranged for these families who are already eligible.
Vouchers
The voucher system which the Government is currently organising is expected to be made available for 20th April. I shall try to find more information today then post on this page.
Thursday 2nd April 2020 4pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 3
Total number of staff = 6
Greg James is giving away the first Kid Normal book as an audio book for FREE on Amazon.
Click here:
I am hoping to place more information on here today regarding a new Reading resource we have been made aware of and also upload some new home learning photos as I received some more over night. I am currently trying to find more information regarding FSM and how the voucher system is going to operate. Again I will place on here as soon as I know. I hope you are all well.
M Proctor
Wednesday 1st April 2020 2:48pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 6
Total number of staff = 6
TIGTAG
We have received an email from TIGTAG explaining that parents and children can access from home. If you follow the links below you should be able to obtain use the resources. These will allow fast access to Tigtag and Tigtag Junior without the need to log in. No one will be able to view the list of teachers or admin panel just the videos and learning materials etc.
Tigtag World
https://www.tigtagworld.co.uk/hi/U347F1GBN7HI?next=/
Tigtag Junior
| https://www.tigtagjunior.com/hi/U347F1GBN7HI?next=/ |
Free School Meals:
We have received information today on how to set up an e-code voucher system which is intended to start after the Easter Holidays. It would seem that the school would bulk buy the e-codes then make them available for parents to collect from school, since many of our families do not have email addresses. Once the system for collection becomes clearer I shall let parents know. Hopefully this will happen before Friday afternoon. There are a range of supermarkets available, but it would appear Asda or Tesco are the closest ones to our school. Vouchers will not be able to be exchanged for cigarettes or alcohol.
Tuesday 31st March 2020 3:31pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Total number of pupils in school today= 5
Total number of staff = 6
Free School Meals (FSM) can be picked up from the Library before 2pm today. Last Day for Collection!
LCC have contacted schools today to state that parents will be going on to a voucher system soon for FSM and will be allocated a voucher e-code which can be used in a selection of supermarkets. Further info on this tomorrow.
I have placed a child friendly information pack under the [PARENTS], [Letters] section [COVID 19] for parents to talk to their children about the virus. Of course to begin with, children will think being off school is a great idea, until the realisation creeps in that they have to stay inside and cannot just go out to play like normal. They will also be worried about what they hear on the news and through adults talking to one another. This booklet may help you talk things through so that they have a good understanding but are also less worried... Hope this helps.
Some photos of home learning have been sent to me for displaying on the website, which are now under the Letters heading too. Please state that you give permission also for sharing if you wish them to go on here. Thank you. They look great by the way, with Lego, paintings and sports (Boxing!!) going on at home.. Wow you are all amazing. Well done to those children who sent photos in..
Lynne Mortimer is continuing to contact parents who need support and help from school. She has been amazing this week and has also supported one or two families with drop off parcels for FSM children who simply could not leave the house.
Keep safe everyone... you are all doing an amazing job keeping your children occupied through this difficult time!
Washing hands
Useful information regarding how to wash hands. [It is not important for the water to be warm, but it should be running water]. Follow the link below for further information.
M Proctor
Monday 30th March 2020 12:10pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Free School Meals
PICK UP Accrington Library - St James' St, Accrington BB5 1NQ
On Monday 30 March families eligible for free schools meals can pick-up a pack for each child between 12 noon and 2pm at the pick-up point for their network.
The venues will also open on Tuesday 31st March from 11am – 2pm if families have not been able to collect on Monday.
This message has also been sent via text.
We have been made aware that people are sending out fraudulent emails asking for your bank details if you are entitled to free school meals whilst schools are closed.
We would never ask for your bank details in this way.
If you receive one of these emails please do not respond. Please pass this information on to other parents.
Total Number of pupils in school today = 8
Total number of staff = 6
At this time, more than ever, we need to stay connected and support each other.
Please send in your home-learning photos (if you would like me to place on the school website) and captions to:
head@st-john-augustine.lancs.sch.uk
Stay safe, stay home & stay awesome!
Friday 27th March 2020 3:00pm
Key Message: Work from home, Protect the NHS, Save lives.
Today we have 5 staff in school for 6 children.
If Critical Worker families on our list need to take up a place over the original Easter holidays, then please bring a note into school to state that is what you would require, whilst remembering this is only for essential reasons.
Lancashire is looking at providing a central hub system to be able to distribute FSM to our families. This is the same for all local schools.
Today's activities included the PE with Joe this morning, colouring and also creating rainbows for "There is always hope".
I shall try to obtain further resources for you this afternoon to do with the children. I hope you found yesterday's useful.
I have started a new page (under parents, Letters, COVID19 Home learning) for extra resources as well. Please don't feel pressured into doing all of these activities. They are on suggestions.
RE resources
Fischy Music (www.fischy.com) are broadcasting an online assembly live every Monday at 11am on www.youtube.com/fischymusic. You can catch up with the one they did on 23rd March on their web site.
Also Heartsmart are doing a daily broadcast along with activities, some are pencil and paper activities with instructions on screen, go to www.heartsmart.family for all the information.
This book is a child friendly story which explain the situation with COVID19
https://www.flipsnack.com/CSKidsBooks/what-s-going-on.html
For those of you who like a bit of structure in your lives; here's what various celebrities are offering you and your children for free daily to help with their education while schools are closed:
9.00am - PE with Joe Wicks https://youtu.be/6v-a_dpwhro
10.00am - Maths with Carol Vorderman www.themathsfactor.com
11.00am - English with David Walliams https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/
12.00pm - Lunch (cooking with Jamie Oliver) https://www.jamieoliver.com/features/category/get-kids-cooking/
1.00pm - Music with Myleene Klass https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQh2wgJ5tOrixYBn6jFXsXQ
1.30pm - Dance class live https://twitter.com/diversedancemix/status/1241098264373592065
2.00pm - Live Q&A with Steve Backshallhttps://twitter.com/SteveBackshall/status/1243107937163325440 3.00pm - The Great Indoors - https://www.scouts.org.uk/the-great-indoors/ 4.00pm - Home Economics with Theo Michaels (Mon/Wed/Fri) https://www.instagram.com/theocooks
Thursday 26th March 2020 2:30 pm
Key Message: Work from home = save lives.
Today we have 7 staff in school for 6 children. (one less than yesterday).
New activity for home learning:
Journey Around the World. Please visit the Parents section [Letters] [COVID19] [Journey around the World]. This is a novel way of finding lots of exciting things out about places around the world including real life webcams of animals.
Adult supervision is recommended for online usage.
Activities today:
Joe Wicks fitness with pupils and staff, playing games outside, Lego building, Reading sessions and art activities. Children are working at safe distances and have been encouraged to wash their hands frequently.
Free School Meals:
We have been contacted today by LCC to state that the delivery date for next week is still to be confirmed. I will place the date on this website as soon as that comes through.
Easter Holidays:
We are going to remain open during the Easter holidays with skeleton staff to purely support our parents who have registered as a critical worker. We have 10 parents on our list. Our school will provide a safe place for children whose parents to continue to go to work.
Learning times:
Suggested times for your child to work at home: I have received an query asking how long is recommended for their child to work at home. We would recommend perhaps 2 hours in the morning and maybe anywhere between 1 and 2 hours in the afternoon, focusing on Reading, basic Maths skills, Physical activity and using our suggested materials which were sent home.
Lunches: All children are now asked to bring a packed lunch at lunch time.
Support: Lynn Mortimer (FSW) will continue to make contact with our vulnerable families throughout the week to check they are ok during this outbreak.
Picking children up from school.
If critical workers or parents of vulnerable children are able to pick children up earlier from school that would further help reduce the risk in school.
Wednesday 25th March 2020 10:50am
Today we have 7 staff in school for 9 children. (one less than yesterday).
Activities today:
Joe Wicks fitness, Dancing, Purple Mash, Lego building, Reading sessions and art activities. Children are working at safe distances and have been encouraged to wash their hands frequently.
Lunches:
In order to protect our catering staff, we are asking children to bring a packed lunch tomorrow, since there were only 3 requests today for hot meals. This will help keep our catering staff at home where it is safer.
Free School Meals
We still have 10 meals which have not been collected. It has become apparent LCC did not provide the 5 ready meals as we thought. So we have had to spread these out the best we can. The next delivery is expected on Monday (Hopefully).
Picking children up from school.
If critical workers or parents of vulnerable children are able to pick children up earlier from school that would further help reduce the risk in school.
Two more of the classrooms in school have been deep cleaned and shut down , so as you can imagine most of the school now is out of use.
I hope everyone is finding the home learning packs useful and they are serving their purpose. Looking ahead with this, we are intending to put further resources on the school website for ideas.
Other than that there is not a great deal to report on in school... everything here is very quiet.
Stay safe everyone.
Tuesday 24th March 2020 2pm
Firstly, I would like to thank people for their supportive messages we have received during this difficult time. This has been very much appreciated.
Today we have just 10 pupils in school with 7 staff. Everyone is being encouraged to wash their hands frequently and social distancing is enforced to adhere to the national guidelines.
If any parent who still has children in school and is able to collect earlier than 3:15pm then please ring the school office. Every little bit helps us to keep safe as it means we can start reducing the number of staff in school. Thank you.
Free School Meal Packs
The FSM parcels have now arrived at school (1:55pm) and will be available for collection from 2:15pm until 3:10pm. Packs contain fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, a pack of cereal bars and a ready meal. Please be patient with us as our staff have to pack these bags for you.
Please read the allergen advice on the packets before consuming. There may also be a risk of cross contamination during the packing process.
Packs can be collected from the hall entrance.
New resources:
Audio Books
David Walliams is releasing free audio books at 11am.
Please visit www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses or google "World of David Walliams" then look for free 11am audio books.
Cleaning:
The school is on partial closure today as various classrooms are being cleaned then shut down for use.
The two continuous key messages are:
Washing hands frequently
Keep to social distancing (at least 2m apart)
Monday 23rd March 2pm
Thank you to our parents who have supported the Government's request to keep your children at home. Today we only had 14 pupils in school.
The next stage is for the school to close down specific areas of the school for deep cleaning and these will be gradually shut off throughout school, leaving only limited areas in school. Staff and pupils are maintaining 2m distancing and are being advised to wash their hands frequently.
We are currently looking at how we can maintain staffing in school over the next few weeks and with that in mind we are going to produce a rota for staff to be in school.
Free School Meals
Firstly to apologise that the meals were not ready today for the 12pm. Lancashire have been struggling to get packs out to families due to the number of schools in Lancashire. Secondly, the operation for pick up has changed. There will now be one pick up each week. Please see information for parents (from LCC) under PARENT (COVID) (Letters) on this website. Today's drop off from LCC was cancelled and we have now heard that this will be tomorrow.
Sunday 22nd March 2020
I would like to say a big thank you for everyone's support during this really challenging time. As I am sure that you already appreciate, the timing of the news from the Government put schools under immense pressure to organize, learning packs and determine who was still eligible to attend school on Monday, particularly when guidance on Friday was ever changing. I would like to keep all parents informed on a daily basis (by 3pm) as to the situation with school and how this affects your child. If there is information further that you require, please contact myself via the office and I will try to find the answers to your questions.
For pupils in Year 6: If Friday was indeed their last day in school, I shall ensure that there will be arrangements made as soon as school returns to normal, for end of year celebrations etc, even if this means that this is from September onwards. I understand that children and their parents will be concerned that they have had their last day in school, but I shall endeavour to make sure that this is not the case.
Key Message: The severity of the pandemic, appears to be much more serious than it was first anticipated. Therefore, I urge all parents, to keep their children at home wherever possible in order to protect each other, particularly people with underlying health conditions and the elderly. Social distancing and hand washing are two of the most important elements in preventing the spread of the virus.
Tomorrow, Monday 23rd March:
Vulnerable Pupils
Children who have been identified as being 'vulnerable' have already been contacted via telephone and letter and must attend school on Monday. However, it is possible that some of these children will be contacted further to say that they no longer fit the latest DFE definition and may be asked to stay at home from Tuesday onwards.
Critical Workers
At this point, we are allowing all pupils who have been self identified by their parents, as being classed as 'Critical Workers'. However, their companies and supervisors will be contacted on Monday and where parents are not classed as Critical Workers, then pupils must stay at home from Tuesday onwards.
School Uniform:
Pupils who are attending school will be expected to wear school uniform so that if they are found outside of the school premise on their way home will be able to be identified by the emergency services.
School dinners
School dinners will be offered to all children who are attending school and to children eligible for free school meals.
For next week this will mean:
This offer will be available until the Government introduce an alternative option.
School Day
Within school we will try our very best to keep the children at a distance from each other when participating in their activities.
Picking up and dropping off at school
Please do not allow elderly or vulnerable people to pick up or collect children from school as this will pose a risk to themselves and goes against government advice.
Total number of staff absent at the moment: 5
This is likely to escalate if staff are subjected to the virus or demonstrate any of the symptoms. Reducing the number of pupils in school can help to keep staff in school.