Please click here for information regarding Children in need day this Friday 13th November.
Covid Update
Dear Parent/Carer,
I am writing with a little update regarding Covid-19 and where we currently stand as a school. At the moment, we currently have one live Covid Case in School, Mrs Lythe our Business Manager, this was shared with parents on Thursday last week. However, at the time of writing, we shared that nobody else was impacted as a result. Since then, after seeking further guidance from Public Health, it was confirmed that I (Miss Laing) was classed as being in contact with Mrs Lythe on Tuesday 3rd November, therefore, since Thursday evening, I have isolated and I am undertaking my role as Headteacher from home, with Miss Whitehead, Mrs Fox, Mr Longley and Mr Tucker running things in school.
In addition, Mrs Wilcox decided that as a precautionary measure, she would feel better isolating for 14 days and is therefore undertaking her role as Senior Admin Assistant from home too. This was not a recommendation from Public Health, but ultimately staff voice is important as we have a duty of care to maintain staff health and well-being, therefore, I fully respected Mrs Wilcox’s decision to isolate and as a result we will both return on Wednesday 18th November.
In summary, Mrs Wilcox, Mrs Lythe and myself are all undertaking our roles from home and Mrs Atkinson is manning the office. Please may we ask that you refrain from contacting the office as much possible and contact your child’s class teacher if you have any questions during this time.
Lates….
Mrs Atkinson is also struggling to juggle the number of pupils arriving late in a morning with her being on her own, please may we ask that you arrive on time in the morning so that your child can go into class with their peers and saves Mrs Atkinson a job. Thank you in advance.
Further staff isolation…
Just this morning, Mrs Elmer has been asked to isolate as someone in her household is awaiting a test result. The guidance states that if this is positive, Mrs Elmer will be required to isolate, but if it is negative, Mrs Elmer can return to work. Until then, Miss Hart and our Trainee Teacher, Miss Clarke will look after Crew Elmer today and Mrs Elmer will ‘dial in’ to keep in contact with the class and will teach ‘live’ tomorrow. We will keep parents in the loop as soon as we have further information from Mrs Elmer.
Staffing, shielding and bubbles
In addition to staff isolating as outlined above, we have also had to make some staffing changes due to staff being asked to shield due to them being in the extremely clinically vulnerable category. This has unfortunately affected the Y3 classes as Mrs Lowe has been asked to shield at this time. We thought that we had this covered with Miss Hart and Mrs Elmer and Mrs Clarke would have been ok in Crew Elmer, but as a result of Mrs Elmer’s absence, we are now coming up with another plan in order to ensure that things can run smoothly in Year 3 in Mrs Lowe’s absence. We look forward to having Mrs Lowe back with us as soon as it’s proven safe to do so.
We will continue to keep parents in the loop as much as we possibly can during the next few weeks and will do everything in which we can in order to continue to educate the children of Carcroft whilst keeping everyone safe and well.
Thank you for your continued support,
Kirsty Laing
Headteacher
Reminder: Monday 9 November is an inset day, therefore school will be closed to all pupils. School will reopen Tuesday 10 November.
🔴 🟢 🔵 🟡 I N S I D E 🔹 O U T 🟡 🔵 🟢 🔴
Here’s our first display of the year! The children have produced some quality work using the film Inside Out as a stimulus. Great work everyone!
Please click the link regarding a covid case within the school admin office. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EY-52m1YaIgCOiyu8nEZS21qVw2kEATVcq9qwb2LXP8/edit?usp=sharing
Dear Parents/Carers,
During this academic year, we are having to look slightly differently at fundraising in order to help us to be able to ‘top up’ our school fund pot. This pot is used to purchase all of the things in which we do to enhance our curriculum such as the rewards including the attendance McDonalds and chocolate bars which children take home. We have also started to reward children for their Reading too and we like to reward children for their impeccable behaviour through the use of the HoWL-Opoly wheel. In addition, we have also been rewarding chidlren for their beautiful work with milkshake and cake each week which we all love.
However, this can become quite costly and unfortunately, the school budget does not cover these little added extras plus other bits and pieces throughout the year. We are really wanting to purchase new library books for children to be able to take home but at the minute, we do not have the funds for this.
This year, we have spent much more out of our school budget on staffing in order to provide smaller class sizes for the children’s return after Covid-19 but this does have a knock on effect in what we have left to spend on the enhancement of our curriculum. Therefore, we were hoping to be able to work with parents to continue to fundraise to support the school with little bits each half term.
In Autumn 1, we did the Halloween Dress up as we could not do the disco as a fundraiser. We asked for a voluntary contribution of £1 and will 309 pupils on roll, I hoped we would be close to the £300 mark…
Sadly, we only received £30 which means that only 30 people brought in their contribution despite nearly everyone coming in non-uniform. I am wondering if anyone simply forgot to bring this in (we know life is manic right now), if this is the case, please could you send this in with your child this week and we can add this to the pot. We understand that some parents/carers may have been made redundant etc and things may be a little challenging at present but we had hoped that most could look to find a spare £1 to support us, as collectively, this can make a big difference.
I have shared with Mrs Lythe that due to us not being able to do our Easter and Summer Fayre, we are needing to think of other fundraising ideas which are Covid safe. We would welcome any ideas from parents at home. Please feel free to add any ideas onto this post.
I want to be able to continue to provide our children with the little added extras plus purchasing some lovely new library books for children to take home.
Look forward to working in partnership.
Miss Laing
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome back. We hope you all had a lovely break, despite these very strange times. Times will continue to be very strange, but your child’s education is very important to us, as is their health and well-being. With this in mind, we are going to do everything in which we can in order to make school a safe haven for pupils during these times, where they can spend time with their friends and staff within their crews whilst making their learning fun and engaging, supporting them to be the best version of themselves.
I have put together a newsletter with some key information on for this half term. It is quite long, as I have tried to cover quite a few things, but I know that many parents are keen to receive regular updates in particular ways in which they can help at home.
Our main focus for the vast majority of reading for this half term is the following:
Keep safe everyone.
Miss Laing
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome back after what has hopefully been a good half term given the current situation. We understand given the government’s announcement over the weekend that many of you will be left feeling worried and uncomfortable in your children attending school. We would like to reassure you that we’re working relentlessly to ensure your children are kept safe whilst in school. If you have any concerns then please call the school office and the team will be happy to help.
In line with the ever changing guidance we’ve reviewed our risk assessment and have made some changes which will come into effect on Tuesday 3rd November.
- All parents / carers to wear face masks to be worn on and around school premises at all times
- Only 1 parent / carer to bring your child(ren) to school to limit the amount of people on the school grounds
- Children MUST come on time; there are a large number of children coming in late resulting in office staff having to walk them around internal corridors, this is exposing our staff and your children to people outside of their bubble. See below table of Crew start times.
We have been made aware that there are groups from different households walking to school together which is against government guidance therefore we ask that you refrain from walking together and also from socialising together in particular on school grounds or outside school premises.
We continue to ask you to follow the government’s guidance on HANDS – FACE – SPACE, and respectfully ask that you adhere to the above points.
Planned Training Day
Don’t forget that Monday 9th November is a planned training day.
Additional Training Day
We would also like to inform you that there will also be a training day on Thursday 19th November. Given the current circumstances and our teachers not being able to cross bubbles this date has been brought forward to allow our teachers to plan for the spring term.
Start and Finish Times
| Crew | Start | Finish | Entrance/Exit | |
| Mon-Thurs | Friday | |||
| Nicholson | 8.30 | 3.15 | 1.45 | Side gate FS |
| Godley | 8.25 | 3.10 | 1.40 | |
| Wilson | 8.25 | 3.10 | 1.40 | Car park gate into Y1 |
| Welburn | 8.30 | 3.15 | 1.45 | |
| Thiede | 8.25 | 3.10 | 1.40 | Big gate side of school/walk nearest classroom |
| Flaherty | 8.30 | 3.15 | 1.45 | |
| Shields | 8.25 | 3.10 | 1.40 | Next to entrance/use down stairs toilets and sinks |
| Longley | 8.30 | 3.15 | 1.45 | |
| Boswell | 8.25 | 3.10 | 1.40 | Car park gate into Y1/use sinks upstairs and disabled |
| Elmer | 8.30 | 3.15 | 1.45 | |
| Marsh | 8.20 | 3.05 | 1.40 | Side gate FS/own door |
| Gerrard | 8.25 | 3.10 | 1.40 | Big gate side of school/walk down the middle |
| Kent | 8.30 | 3.15 | 1.45 | |
| Mcloughlin | 8.25 | 3.10 | 1.40 | Big gate side of school/walk down side nearest wall |
| Fox | 8.30 | 3.15 | 1.45 | |
Thanks
Mrs Lythe
During our Yellow Day on Friday 9th our children created a colourful hand print with words to describe themselves.
Haven’t they done an amazing job
Now see if you can spot your hand kids
Dear Parent/Carer,
I have been informed that a pupil in Mr Boswell’s bubble has unfortunately tested positive for Coronavirus. The advice from Public Health England is that anybody who has been in close contact with the affected child during the considered infectious period of 2 days before the onset of symptoms should isolate for 14 days.
Mr Boswell’s bubble have now started self isolation as they have been classed as being in direct prolonged contact with the confirmed case by Public Health England. Those directly affected by this case have been contacted separately to inform them of the need to self isolate. Those children will be returning to school Tuesday 3rd November.
If you want any further information please contact me on [email protected] I will reply as and when I can. If urgent please mark your email as *urgent*.
If your child starts to display symptoms please contact me as soon as possible.
Thank you
Mrs Lythe
School Business Manager