Keep up to date with the latest news headlines at Downderry...

• Phased Return

  Fri 29 May 2020

  As part of government’s roadmap to recovery we will be welcoming back children from Year 6 on Monday 1st June, in addition to the ongoing support for our vulnerable children and children of key workers.

   

  Yesterday you received a letter outlining our intent to get our children back to school safely. The letter can be found in the Parents > Letters section of the school website.

   

  Parents and Carers of these children have already been contacted to outline measures we have taken to maximise a safe return of our children, in consultation with public health guidance. Key features of this include: a deep clean and enhanced cleaning regime using disinfection as appropriate, small bubble groups of children to enable social distancing, regular hand washing, and a revised timetable and curriculum to support the mental and physical health of our children, as we all adjust to a new norm. To facilitate social distancing Children in the key worker bubble should enter and exit via the key stage 1 gate, the Year 6 bubble via key stage 2. A senior member of staff will be present to help direct your children safely.

   

  To help reduce face-to-face contact with and between Parents and Carers you can help by sending only one parent/ carer with the child at the start and end of the school day, and observing the social distancing signs that are in place. Year 6 children are invited to walk to and from school on their own but we ask that you help reinforce the message: straight to and from school! Parents and Carers will not be permitted into the school site to reduce the risk of infection.

• Planning for a phased return from 1st June

  Fri 22 May 2020

  Lewisham’s schools remain open to support the children of critical workers and vulnerable children. This support will remain in place during May half term, where families need it.

   

  The government has asked primary schools to begin to welcome back more children in phases starting with nursery, reception, Year 1 and Year 6 – from 1 June at the earliest, if Coronavirus infections decline sufficiently. The government has indicated that they will make a final decision on this date by 28 May.

   

  I know that everyone wants children to be back in schools and learning as soon as is practical, with measures in place to ensure children and adults are as safe as possible. There is no doubt that a long absence from school can exacerbate inequalities in learning as well as having a detrimental impact on children’s health and wellbeing.

  Any decision to increase numbers in school and the timing of a phased return of year groups will be based on careful planning and risk assessment, taking into account the welfare of both children and adults.

   

  This means that no one should yet assume that their child will be able to return to school on 1 June. Parents, children, teachers and staff should be reassured that we will only invite pupils back when a risk assessment has been undertaken and a full plan has been put in place. In the coming weeks, you will be advised of our plans. Mrs. Dunn will be contacting all Year 6 Parents and Carers to outline our intent for their phased return today.

   

  There will inevitably be anxieties around a phased return to school, but there is no pressure to send children back to school before they are ready. In partnership with the LA and other partners, we will build confidence through a careful and well-planned return to school, when it is safe to do so.

• Birdbox Camera

  Fri 22 May 2020

  Our Blue tit eggs have hatched! We have 7 hungry chicks and mum has been busy feeding them.

   

  You can watch the chicks grow by viewing the stream from the Birdbox camera by visiting www.downderryprimaryschool.com/the-birdbox-project/.

   

  The “School Zone” page has some exciting bird related things to make and do!

  

• Lewisham Educational Psychology Team

  Fri 22 May 2020

  EP Connect is an easy to access phone-line service for parents and carers to link with the Lewisham Educational Psychology Team. To discuss any concerns about education, learning at home, and emotional wellbeing, Call 07377 913538 or 07377 976518,

  Monday 2:00pm – 5:00pm
  Thursday 9:30am - 12:30pm

• Home Learning - Half Term

  Fri 22 May 2020

  As it is half term next week, there will be no new timetables uploaded to the individual class pages.

   

  Bug Club is available for you to continue your reading. Your teachers have made sure you have books allocated. If you have finished them all - well done! Maybe go back through some of your favourites and see how much your reading has improved!

   

  Home-Learning timetables will continue from the 1st June. We would like to suggest some optional fun activities and resources for the children to explore over half term:

   

  activelearnprimary.co.uk

  stem.org.uk

  oxfordowl.co.uk

  bbc.co.uk/bitesize

  Virtual tour with Google Street View, blog.britishmuseum.org

• Update

  Fri 15 May 2020

  This week the Government has released details of plans for schools to get ready for a phased opening from the week commencingMonday, 1st June 2020.

   

  The guidance recognises some important issues for primary schools and EY settings which will need to inform our planning. It remains important to reduce contact between people as much as possible. Some staff and children will need to continue to follow advice- that means they will need to remain at home.

   

  There are still questions to be answered centrally, unreliable reporting in press and social media and much fear and anxiety about how we get there.

   

  The guidance sets out an ambition for all primary children to have time in school before the summer if feasible. What it actually describes is a gradual, carefully planned, risk assessed increase in staff and pupil numbers, taking into account safety of adults and children at all times.

   

  We will work together on this with the support of Public Health, Schools HR, Education Safeguarding, Health and Safety, wider Council colleagues and the Trade Unions, directly addressing the risks associated with COVID-19 in the context of our school, so that sensible measures can be put in place to control those risks for our children, staff and for you- our parents and carers, whose safety remains our priority.

   

  For now our school remains closed until further notice, except for children of critical workers and vulnerable children, as part of the country’s ongoing response to coronavirus.

   

  Take care of yourselves.