Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you all had a relaxing half term.

As you know, the Government have put the country into a temporary lock down again, due to increasing numbers of transmission.

Telford and Wrekin is unfortunately a hot spot and therefore we need to be extremely careful, in the hope we again keep Covid 19 away from our school.

It is vitally important that you do not send your child into school if they are displaying any symptoms of Covid 19 –

• High temperature
• Continuous cough
• Sudden loss of taste/smell

Please also help us by only sending one adult to drop off and/or collect children from school and maintain social distancing at all times. We will be continuing with our one way system and ask that you are patient where we seem to have an unavoidable bottle neck near Mr Banfield and Miss Clay’s classrooms.

We are keeping the flexible start and end times in place to help ease congestion –

Drop off – between 8.30 am and 9 am (we would like Year 6 in as early as possible though please, especially if they walk in by themselves).

Pick up – between 3pm and 3.10pm

Waiting that extra 5 minutes does make a difference by way of how busy the site is.

Public Health England state ‘that staff are more likely to catch the virus from each other or from elsewhere rather than from pupils.’  Pupils are deemed to be low risk when considering transmission. As a result of this, I am reviewing our procedure for staff in school to ensure the best possible safety for not only your children, but also our staff teams.

Communication is key in our battle to keep this virus away. Please do email or call the school to update us of any symptoms or concerns you have. Please note, no parents are allowed on site for whatever reason, as this is deemed a high risk to everyone.

Thankyou for your patience and understanding during this ongoing challenging time.

MIss Cook

Headteacher

We have been very lucky to avoid a positive case of Coronavirus at our school. Many schools locally have had to shut down ‘bubbles’ linked to positive cases.  We thank you for you support over this tricky period. Staff have worked tirelessly in making sure we do all we can to keep your children safe.

October Half Term

The school is closed over October half term; however, emails will be checked daily. We ask that you still inform school if you or a family member develops symptoms, self isolates or takes a test.

Test Results

Once you have received your results, please email school on newdale.primary@taw.org.uk. giving us details of date of test, copy of the result, up to date contact details, including your home and mobile telephone numbers.

Positive test results are also passed to the National Test & Trace service, who will soon after notification, attempt to call you for a case review.  This process can take a couple of days therefore it is important that you inform school as soon as possible.

Once you receive a positive result, you must stay at home for 10 days from when the symptoms started.  All other members of the household must stay at home and isolate for 14 days. Always check Government guidance.

 Coronavirus further update

With the arrival of winter and an increase in the number of cases of coronavirus in our area, it is more important than ever that we all take steps to reduce the spread of infection in the community.

 Coronavirus Symptoms:

A high temperature of 37.8 or above

A new continuous cough

Sudden loss of taste or smell

 Child Displaying Symptoms

You must ALL stay at home, isolate and book a test for your child. Please contact school to inform us your child is absent.  A member of staff in the office will take all relevant details.  Once you have received your results, please email school on newdale.primary@taw.org.uk we will then contact you to inform you when your child can return to school.

Another member of your household displays symptoms

You must ALL stay at home, isolate and book a test for the member of the household with symptoms. Please contact school to inform us of your child’s absence.  Once you have received your results, please email school on newdale.primary@taw.org.uk we will then contact you to inform you when your child can return to school.

A member of your household has been asked to isolate due to contact with a positive case

Only the person who has been in contact needs to isolate for 14 days. They should ideally social distance from others in the house. Children in the household are able to return to school.

Child displays symptoms during the school day

Your child will be brought down to the isolation room meeting with the TA (along with any siblings in the school).  You will be contacted to collect your child immediately; when you arrive at school, you will be asked to phone the office and meet your child and TA at the meeting room which is at the back of the school hall. We will advise you to book a test.

We would like to remind you to be extra careful and socially distance around the school site when dropping off and collecting your child/children. If possible, only one adult per family so that we reduce the numbers around school.  The one-way system has been working really well and will continue to be in place after half term until further notice.

In order to continue protecting our school after half term, we are respectfully asking parents not to drop off forgotten items i.e. lunch boxes, book bags, Forest School kits etc. Please check the website frequently to keep updated with class information. If you have any issues, you need to call the school office 01952 387720 for advice, as the main school door will be locked in order to keep our school site safe.

Regards,

Miss Cook

Headteacher

We would appreciate your views to help plan the rest of this year, so we can continue to improve further. Please complete and return the survey via your child’s communication book by Thursday 22nd October. For each question, please tick the score from 1 (not very happy) to 5 (very happy) and add any comments you would like (comments are not essential, but can be most useful). We will then include the survey’s findings in future planning.

All returned surveys will be entered into a prize draw to win one of three £50 ASDA vouchers.