Further update for parents 03.01.21

3.1.21  

Dear Parents, following my message to you on 1^st January I want to update you further.

Staff will be in school tomorrow to prepare scheduled work for their classes which will be delivered remotely via Seesaw. All teachers will prepare individual packs for the children in their class and as soon as these have been completed they will be batched into family groups. We will then notify you via text so they can be collected tomorrow. Please don’t call to the school until you receive the text message.

Families whose children receive free school meals will receive a payment from the Education Authority for the week ahead.

The school will be open from Tuesday to Friday 8th January for supervised learning. This is to support children of keyworkers and those who are considered vulnerable. It should only be considered if no other alternative for child care is available and it will operate for the duration of the school day and to facilitate key workers who need to get to their place of work. P1 and P2 will finish at 2pm and the rest of the classed will finish at 3pm.

In order for us to plan for this please email the school at info@faughanvale.derry.ni.sch.uk by tomorrow, Monday 4^th January no later than 12pm noon. In your email please indicate which children need supervision and on which days. Children who attend should wear their school uniform.

The definitions below will help you decide if you fall into the key categories:

Definition of key workers (only one parent needs to be a keyworker):

Health and Social Care.  This includes doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, home carers and staff required to maintain our health and social care sector;

Education and childcare.  This includes pre-school and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who will remain active during the Covid-19 response;

Public safety and national security.  This includes civilians and officers in the police (including key contractors), Fire and Rescue Service, prison service and other national security roles;

Transport.  This will include those keeping air, water, road and rail transport modes operating during the Covid-19 response;

Utilities, and Communication.  This includes staff needed for oil, gas, electricity and water (including sewage) and primary industry supplies to continue during the Covid-19 response, as well as key staff in telecommunications, post and delivery, banking and waste disposal;

Financial Services - This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure);

Food and other necessary goods.  This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution and sale, as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (e.g. hygiene, medical, etc.);

Retail. This includes those workers who have been working throughout the pandemic in food retail, for example, and will now extend to those working in other retail businesses permitted to operate by the Executive from June 2020;

Other workers essential to delivering key public services such as the National Crime Agency; and

Key national and local government including those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the Covid-19 response.

Definition of a vulnerable child:

• A child who has an assigned social worker because he or she is a child in need, in need of protection (or on the child protection register) or is a looked after child.
• A child in need includes young carers, children with disabilities, and children living in families where there is domestic abuse, substance abuse, and / or mental health difficulties.
• A child who is receiving support from, or has been referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
• A child who has a statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN), a child who is accessing EOTAS, or a child who normally accesses Education Nurture Units.
• A child who is ‘on-the-edge’ of receiving support from children’s social services.
• A child who is in need, including in need of protection, but whose need is not known to statutory services.
• A child who is not known to statutory or voluntary and community support services but who is vulnerable because their family is under increased pressure due to Covid-19 related circumstances.
• A young person who was previously a looked after child, whether or not they are receiving support from statutory services.
• A child who has been placed for adoption.
• Asylum seeking and refugee children and children whose parents have no recourse to public funds.

Full guidance from the Department of Education can be found here

https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/news/weir-announces-changes-schools-reopening-arrangements  

Many thanks for your continued patience and support at this time. We as a staff will do our utmost to support you and your children during this period of remote learning.

Kind regards,

Mrs Anne McGroarty