Latest News | Bishops Waltham Infant School

Key worker List

Fri 20 Mar 2020

The national picture is changing very rapidly. We are working to reopen the school on Monday for the children of keyworkers, children with a social worker or those on an EHCP. I still feel very strongly that while the risk remains lower for children they can still become ill and can carry the virus to other vulnerable people including school staff. For this reason I would ask you to exhaust all other options before bringing them to school. Wherever possible social distancing should now be in place for your families.

Please remember, schools have been closed to stop the spread of the virus... this will only work if the children are kept home.

Below is the link to the key worker list. Read advice carefully then email us ASAP with the name of your child, your job role, whether 1/2 key workers and let us know whether you are intending to send your child to school on Monday. We will get back to you later in the day regarding what we can offer.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

Update 19/3/2020

Thu 19 Mar 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

For many of us, tomorrow will be the last we see of each other for a while. We would all like to thank you for your support and good wishes you have given us through this difficult time. Tomorrow, we will continue to try to give our children one more day of normality. A day before their childhood is chipped away a little. Maybe a day before someone in their family is very poorly. There will be no 'difference' in our day for our little ones, as we would like them to be our children, enjoying school for one more day with their friends.

From Monday our website will be full of us reading to the children, blogging, and websites to help with learning. Anyone who has had a peek, may have already seen some our stories already! Hopefully your children will find our familiar voices comforting over the next few weeks/months. We will be sending home an exercise book and pencil. On Morning, will have reading books that parents are welcome to keep in our foyer.

We are still awaiting the government's list of key workers. Once this is in place, we would like any parent who fits the criteria to contact us directly, with your name and work address, child's name and what times/days you require over the next four weeks. Between us, we will then work with you to ensure you can continue to do the incredible jobs you do to help all of us.

I know many of you support each other outside of school. Please continue to do this. For everyone's mental health and well being you will need to have someone to reach out to. Everyone who is socially isolated will have a bad day. You will not be alone. We sent an email about help from the Parish Council earlier in the week. Please use it if you need it. I hope we are all kind to each other in these trying times.

As a mummy, I know our children will forever be known as the children who had this happen in their time at school. I worry about their well being and what effect this will have on them, no matter what age. I hope we can all continue to be strong for them during this very strange time.

I will continue to keep you updated as I know anything.

Best Wishes

Ginene Riches

Corona Virus Update Thursday 19th March 2020

Thu 19 Mar 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

For many of us, tomorrow will be the last we see of each other for a while. We would all like to thank you for your support and good wishes you have given us through this difficult time. Tomorrow, we will continue to try to give our children one more day of normality. A day before their childhood is chipped away a little. Maybe a day before someone in their family is very poorly. There will be no 'difference' in our day for our little ones, as we would like them to be our children, enjoying school for one more day with their friends.

From Monday our website will be full of us reading to the children, blogging, and websites to help with learning. Anyone who has had a peek, may have already seen some our stories already! Hopefully your children will find our familiar voices comforting over the next few weeks/months. We will be sending home an exercise book and pencil. On Morning, will have reading books that parents are welcome to keep in our foyer.

We are still awaiting the government's list of key workers. Once this is in place, we would like any parent who fits the criteria to contact us directly, with your name and work address, child's name and what times/days you require over the next four weeks. Between us, we will then work with you to ensure you can continue to do the incredible jobs you do to help all of us.

I know many of you support each other outside of school. Please continue to do this. For everyone's mental health and well being you will need to have someone to reach out to. Everyone who is socially isolated will have a bad day. You will not be alone. We sent an email about help from the Parish Council earlier in the week. Please use it if you need it. I hope we are all kind to each other in these trying times.

As a mummy, I know our children will forever be known as the children who had this happen in their time at school. I worry about their well being and what effect this will have on them, no matter what age. I hope we can all continue to be strong for them during this very strange time.

I will continue to keep you updated as I know anything.

Best Wishes

Ginene Riches

Corona Virus Update Wednesday 18th March 2020

Wed 18 Mar 2020

Following the Prime Minister’s briefing this afternoon, we are hoping to seek further clarification regarding the implications for our school tomorrow. We will keep you fully updated once we have received this from our Local Education Authority. Thank you all for your continued support during this unprecedented time.

Best wishes

Ginene Riches

Corona update - Monday Evening 16-3-2020

Mon 16 Mar 2020

Latest update
Dear Parents and Carers I apologise for the lateness of this update. In light of the Prime Minister’s address today, there are a few things we need to urgently let you know.

1. We will not be going on the trip to Hilliers tomorrow with Year R. It is not a ‘necessary trip’, so unfortunately we are going to have to cancel it. We will do our best to defer it instead to a later date, and will let you know if we have success with this.

2. Advice has now changed. If anyone has a child who started self isolating today, they will now have to stay home for 14 days, not 7 as originally advised. If you or any family member living in your house is self isolating due to the symptoms described in our corona update (13/3), then all household members will now have to self isolate for 14 days too.

3.If any family members are over 70 years of age, or have underlying health problems, please consider limiting their contact with yourselves and your children.

4. Our PTA quiz is to be postponed to a later date. Mrs Wilkinson, our chair, has made the decision tonight, which I fully support.

5. We will be stopping project outcomes to parents and will be doing them between classes until further notice.

Until directed to close, we will continue to try to make school as normal as we can for the children. We hope everyone stays as safe as they can and take care of themselves.

Best wishes

Ginene Riches

Coronavirus Update 16-3-2020

Mon 16 Mar 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

Due to lots of children talking about the Coronavirus, and some children being very worried, especially as we are now washing hands when we enter the building, including after play and lunch time, this morning we held an assembly about ‘What is a Virus?’.

We watched Dr Ranj’s explanation of a virus and the children had lots of questions. We explained to the children that children are particularly good at fighting viruses. One child asked could we die from it as it said that on the news. We explained that sometimes, when we get older or are already poorly, our bodies aren’t as good at making a virus go away. We talked about sneezing and coughing into hands/tissues and washing hands afterwards. We also talked about what teachers would do regarding learning on our website if we can’t come to school.

Currently we have 10 children self-isolating with cold like symptoms. Thank you to all the parents who are doing this.

All visitors are now required to wash their hands on entry to the building. We will continue with project outcomes, trips and our Rock Steady concert unless directed otherwise. If you do have any of the symptoms from our previous correspondence, we would like you to stay away from school. If you do enter the building, even to talk to reception, we will be requesting that you wash hands, so please consider if it is something you need to come into school about. We will continue to keep everybody updated as soon as any new guidance is released to us.

Please find the link to Dr Ranj’s virus explanation below

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O4bu5akL6-o

BWIS Corona Virus Update 13-3-2020

Fri 13 Mar 2020

Yesterday, the Prime Minister confirmed we are now in the delay stages of a pandemic. He also confirmed that schools in England will not close at this time. Individual schools CANNOT close without prior agreement or advice from Public Health England.

However, the directive stated 'If you have coronavirus symptoms however mild, either a new continuous cough or a high temperature, then you should stay at home for at least seven days to protect others and help slow the spread of the disease."

This directive has many implications for not only the children and staff in our school, but also parents, carers and grandparents. Although children are showing a better immunity to the virus at present, we still need to be vigilant. Please find below how we aim to minimise disruption in the best way we can over the next few weeks, unless directed to close.

If any child displays the above symptoms, please keep them home for 7 days. Absences will be authorised.
If a child displays the above symptoms in school, they will be sent home and not allowed back into school for 7 days.
If any staff member displays the symptoms above, they too will have to self-isolate for 7 days. Due to supply agency shortages, we will cover staff absence as best as we can in school-splitting classes between other classes and utilising the experience of our learning support team.
We may need to consider cancelling assemblies and staggering lunch/playtimes to reduce contact between children.
If you are a parent/grandparent helper, please consider whether you feel safe to be near our children, especially if you have underlying health problems.
If our school is directed/forced to close, teachers will update our website with daily activities. We will also update our website with any news under the ‘latest news’ section. Children have a learning leaflet at the start of each project, which we suggest looking at for extra ideas. We will also put links to other learning activities on our website and provide all children with an exercise book and a pencil to use.

If 50% of our staff are absent, and we are unable to cover classes effectively and safely, we will need to consider closure. This will be our last resort. We will continue to promote good hygiene in school.

We hope everyone stays well and we will continue to be transparent and update everyone with any news during this ever changing situation.

Handwashing

Tue 10 Mar 2020

Children are being reminded of the importance of washing their hands often and properly. These posters are displayed in school as a reminder.

Our Brilliant Book Day!

Thu 05 Mar 2020

What a funny day we have had today! Harry Potter, Mad Hatter and many many more fantastic characters came to school for ‘World Book Day 2020’. Thank you to everyone for participating in our special day ( and to all parents who made and provide costunes).