Our whole school nativity, which normally would take place in our parish church, St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church, this year has been filmed and edited in school. I hope it will bring you joy. The children certainly rose to the challenge in retelling the story of Jesus' birth helping us to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.

Please click here to watch our whole school nativity.

As of today, Wednesday 2nd December 2020, Kent is placed into Tier 3 - very high alert.

Please see attached poster detailing the rules which we all need to follow to keep everyone safe.

Please click here for an important letter from the NHS Immunisation Service (Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust) regarding your child's annual nasal flu spray. The Kent and Medway School Immunisation Team will be visiting our school on Thursday 19th November 2020.

All children are invited to be vaccinated this year. Parents are required to complete an online consent form marking whether they consent or decline consent. The link is enclosed within the letter and the closing date is Monday 16th November 2020 at midnight.

Please note, any communication regarding the vaccination should be between parents and the Immunisation Service, not the school.

Public Health England have produced a letter for schools to distribute to parents which explains when a person requires a coronavirus test and what the symptoms of coronavirus are. 

The intention of the letter is to help prevent children being taken out of school unnecessarily and answer some of the questions parents may have around testing.

You can view the letter here. A copy was sent out to all families via ParentMail on the 23rd September 2020.

As mentioned in the Headteacher Newsletter, 'Meet the Teacher' information sessions this year have been pre-recorded by class teachers and are available for you to watch online at your leisure:

Foundation Stage - Being sent in a separate email

Year 1 - https://www.loom.com/share/aa9dda3cdd0b4b5fa29df581b970b41a

Year 2 - https://www.loom.com/share/3813b114eee74445943eb255c4f0bc55

Year 3 - https://www.loom.com/share/92f660ac56cd42e9b6f170681d5f31c2

Year 4 - https://www.loom.com/share/c9ef9ff927e943e7bbb6546541cbd366

Year 5 - https://www.loom.com/share/faf0e436f44a478f9eef796524c59234

Year 6 - https://www.loom.com/share/4a4a02bee6314d49b3e64b3ed375bc4a

As mentioned in the Headteacher Newsletter sent out yesterday afternoon, we are currently reviewing our Breakfast Club and Home School Transport Service. We are keen to get these both operating again as soon as possible, taking into account changes related to Covid-19. We do not have start dates as of yet. Further information will be supplied once we have ascertained demand.

If you are interested in our Breakfast Club, please email the school office with the days you'd be interested in subscribing to. Last year the entry times were 7.30am and 8.00am. These may be subject to change once the review has been completed.

In addition, we also have spaces available on both routes on our Home School Transport Service. Please contact the school office ASAP if you would like a space. The routes are currently (other roads within these areas may be considered):

London Road Estate/Rough Common - Priest Avenue, Wife of Bath Hill, Squire Avenue and Rough Common Village Hall

Spring Lane - Cumberland Avenue, Hampshire Road and Russet Road.

We understand at the moment, both of these services may help to alleviate congestion on Old Ruttington Lane in the mornings and afternoons, therefore we hope to get them operating as soon as it is safe and practically possible to do so.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO PARENTS REGARDING COVID-19

Dear Parents and Carers

We are delighted to see our school family back together, however we are very aware that Covid-19 is still very much in circulation and that numbers of cases are rising and are likely to continue to do so. We all need to do what we can to avoid an outbreak at school.

With this in mind, we would like to remind parents to look out for the following symptoms:

• Temperature/fever
• New, continuous cough – even if mild (a continuous cough means coughing for more than an hour or 3 episodes of coughing in 24 hours)
• Loss of or change in taste and/or smell

If you, your child, or anyone in the household develops any of the above symptoms it is vitally important that the whole household stays at home and that you book a test by going online and let the school know

 https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/get-a-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/

or phone 119 if you do not have access to the internet.

As soon as a negative result is received you can let the school know and your child can return.

We have already had several families do this, so far all negative, and it is crucial that we all follow these rules especially as we move into autumn when more colds and coughs start to circulate.

There are now attendance codes specially for Covid-19 which are not counted as absence from school so will not affect your child’s attendance rate.

Many thanks for your support in this – we all need to do all we can to keep everybody safe.

School Meals

Thank you to parents for pre-booking meals online via ParentMail. It is important that this is done by 9 a.m. each day to ensure your child has a meal ordered for lunchtime.

The school and our kitchen team have agreed a new menu until the end of term:

Please note, this menu may be subject to change dependent on availability of ingredients.

Please can parents look at the menu above and discuss with your child/children. There are no alternatives available unless your child has an allergy that we are aware of or is vegetarian. A packed lunch from home should be provided if a particular day’s menu does not suit your child.

A packed lunch, a bottle of water and a piece of fruit for morning break continue to be the only items children are allowed to bring on site.