From the 6th January 2021, Moneyrea Primary and Nursery School is closed.
The DE has determined, in light of growing concerns about the spread of Covid-19, that all primary schools and nurseries should temporarily close with school settings instructed ‘to provide remote learning at home to their pupils rather than face-to-face teaching in school’.
Regrettably, Moneyrea Primary and Nursery School is CLOSED until Monday 22 February.
ALL parents should now endeavour to make provision to keep their children at home. Children should NOT be in school. THE SAFEST PLACE FOR CHILDREN IS IN THEIR OWN HOMES, within their own family bubble.
EXCEPTIONAL PROVISION:
The DE has made exceptions, where no alternative provision is available for:
(a) the children of keyworkers,
(b) children who have statements of additional needs,
(c) vulnerable children.
If you can make no alternative provision and meet any of the criteria listed above, you may apply for a place for your child/children using the Microsoft Form at the end of this post.
This form must be submitted online by 8.00pm on Sunday to ensure we have appropriate supervision levels in place.
Where children have serious underlying health concerns they should NOT be in school, whether they meet the criteria or not.
Parents should also note that as teachers will be providing remote learning they will not be involved in any supervised learning in school. This supervision will be provided by our classroom assistants; it does not include active teaching.
All mitigations previously in place from September remain in force e.g. hand washing, sanitising, maintaining bubbles, wearing of face masks (adults), social distancing etc. My duty of care extends to all of our pupils and all of our staff and everyone coming onto our school campus.
Children attending school are required to wear their school uniform.
The DE has determined, as of this morning, that school meals will not be available. Parents of children entitled to Free School Meals will receive remuneration. Consequently, all children attending school must bring a packed lunch, break and drink.
REMOTE LEARNING:
All parents are asked to ensure that they are up to speed with Seesaw (Nursery – Yr6) and Google Classroom (Yr7) and regularly check messages uploaded by our teachers.
Teachers will make clear what work should be submitted via Seesaw or GC. They will not be marking or providing feedback on every piece of work set.
Teachers will provide a daily timetable of remote learning activities. It is important that all core activities are completed (reading, spelling, comprehension and maths)
Hard copies of pupils’ work and reading books will be available for collection on Friday afternoons, commencing this Friday, from the children’s classrooms between 1.00pm and 3.00pm from your eldest child’s classroom.
Please ensure reading books are returned on time as we have a limited no. of copies of each book.
Please be patient with staff as they get Remote Learning up and running.
I would respectfully ask that parents avoid swamping teachers with minor queries, this can become very time-consuming. As previously stated, teachers will endeavour to respond to important messages received before 6.00pm, but will not respond to messages or emails in the evenings or at weekends.
Should an emergency situation arise, I may be contacted at 02890 448443, on the school mobile at 07786 547311.
Parents should also be aware that we retain the services of our school counsellor should the need arise.
OUR ROLE :
Our role over the next six weeks will be to bring a degree of clarity, stability and calm by ensuring:
- parents are kept informed of developments;
- pupils have access to work packs, remote online learning and a daily timetable;
- we monitor pupil engagement with remote learning;
- we monitor pupil wellbeing;
- parents have a means of contacting teachers/school;
Whilst we are saddened by this latest closure and bewildered by the incompetence of those in high places, we remain committed to helping our pupils and their families through this next difficult phase. As I said back in March, we know that the sun will rise again and Moneyrea will return to some measure of normality.
Finally, I wish all of our families: good physical and emotional health and resilience of spirit. We are heartened to know that our school family is surrounded by the prayers of men and women of faith in our community. Look out for each other; our community still needs everyone to step up to the plate. Together, we are stronger.
R Greer