News

Returning to school in September

Dear Parent/Carer

I hope that you all remain well.

As you will be aware, the school has been assessing the risk of opening up to more pupils, using the advice available from the Local Authority and the Government. Our current plans mean that we are likely to have 38 pupils from 8 June 2020, accounting for approximately 22% of our school population.  You may have read in the media over the past few days that there is some disagreement in the science community about when it would be best for schools to expand numbers.  If your child has been offered a place from Monday, 8 June, and you have any concerns, please do contact the school.

Due to the fact that each ‘Kingdom’ needs three classrooms to achieve any social distancing, it is unlikely that we will be able to open further Kingdoms this term.

For those children in school, their experience looks quite different. Obviously there are fewer children in each class, and some of the soft furnishing and equipment have been removed from rooms to reduce contamination risk.  As stated previously, the school day is now slightly shorter Mondays to Thursdays and children will finish at 12.30 pm on Fridays to allow for a deep clean.

Norse Catering, with whom we have our catering contract, is no longer able to provide a snack trolley at break times. If you wish for your child to receive a snack, please provide one for them each day, or let the school know if this is difficult for you to do.  For the next four weeks, Norse is providing packed lunches, instead of hot meals.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind parents that there is no expectation for pupils to wear school uniform. However, we request that pupils wear clean clothes each day to help prevent contamination.

We have been asked about transport arrangements for those pupils who have been offered a place. The school contacts the Travel and Transport Department at Norfolk County Council to arrange transport, so, there is no need for parents to do so as well.

Prior to half term we have been making preparations for September. I am pleased to announce the following appointments have been made:

• Carolyn Ellis-Gage – Head Teacher
• John Habershon – Deputy Head Teacher
• Fiona Webster-Lee – Assistant Head Teacher
• Iain Mills – Senior Teacher, member of the Senior Leadership Team
• Clare Savory – Senior Teacher, member of the Senior Leadership Team
• Lucy Kent – Senior Teacher, Head of Primary (appointed from 1 June 2020).

We have also appointed five new teachers and we are about to embark on interviews for more teaching assistants. I am working with Mrs Ellis-Gage to ensure a smooth transition for her into Headship at the school.If you wish to contact the school this term, please either use the office@parkside.norfolk.sch.uk email address or telephone to speak to the following:

• John Habershon – Maple, Sparrow, Blackbird, Jay, Willow
• Fiona Webster-Lee – Beech, Holly, Rowan, Robin, Sycamore
• Lucy Kent/Carolyn Ellis-Gage – Primary School.

We are now beginning to formulate plans for new people coming into the school in September and our leavers. We will give further details as they are confirmed. We are able to let you know that after considerable thought we have decided to postpone the Leavers’ Prom until a time when it is deemed to be safer to gather in groups.

We are also planning what our curriculum will look like when everyone is able to return. We are looking at a ‘Recovery Curriculum’, which will focus on supporting pupils’ social and emotional needs.

May I once again thank everyone for being flexible and supporting the school in its risk assessment of the situation. The staff continue to be committed and to provide the best education for all under the circumstances.

Yours faithfully

ROBERT HOLDERNESS, Head Teacher

CAROLYN ELLIS-GAGE (Mrs), Head Teacher Designate

 

Dear parents / carers,

Thank you very much for your responses to the consultation in relation to your child / children returning to school. We are now in a position to share our action plan that has been devised in consultation with Governors and with reference to the Department for Education and Union guidance and our own risk assessments pertinent to Parkside’s situation.

It is our intention to focus the next phase of provision in school on returning primary phase pupils. We also plan to provide our school leavers (year 11 and 12) with an opportunity for some transition out of the school.

We currently have four “Kingdoms” open in the school. We intend on opening a fifth Kingdom from June 8^th and will contact those Primary parents whose children to whom we can offer a place. Unfortunately, our risk assessment shows that it is unsafe to offer all places requested by parents from the consultation.

Online / remote learning will continue. Those pupils who are currently attending can continue to come to school. The new Kingdom will take the number of pupils on site to 38 from 25, including the additional Key Worker pupils.

We will contact parents of year 11s after half term to discuss their leaving arrangements.

I have attached / enclosed a copy of our latest action plan, written from our school Risk Assessment for your information. You will notice that we will be changing the school day times from Monday 1^st June to finish 15 minutes earlier on Monday – Thursday to allow class teams to prepare resources for cleaning. We will finish at 12.30 on a Friday to allow for a more thorough clean of the school each week. If any Key workers will find this difficult, please contact the school so that we can support you. Please also note that since we are asking parents to send their pupil in with fresh clothes each day, we will not expect pupils to wear school uniform at this time.

May I also request that families let the school know if a family member is showing symptoms or had a positive test, as we will need this information when reviewing our daily risk assessments.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

 

Bob Holderness,

Head Teacher

Carolyn Ellis-Gage

Head Teacher Designate

These documents are to be read on conjunction with the main School Covid 19 Risk Assessment:

Covid19 Pandemic Action Plan

Sites Risk Assessment return to school from 1 June 2020

 

Ref   RH/KE

21 May 2020

Dear Parent/Carer

Thank you very much for your responses to the consultation in relation to your child/children returning to school. We are now in a position to share our action plan that has been devised in consultation with Governors and with reference to the Department for Education and Union guidance and our own risk assessments pertinent to Parkside’s situation.

It is our intention to focus the next phase of provision in school on returning primary phase pupils. We also plan to provide our school leavers (Year 11 and 12) with an opportunity for some transition out of the school.

We currently have four “Kingdoms” open in the school. We intend on opening a fifth Kingdom from 8 June 2020 and will contact those Primary parents whose children to whom we can offer a place. Unfortunately, our risk assessment shows that it is unsafe to offer all places requested by parents from the consultation.  Online/remote learning will continue.  Those pupils who are currently attending can continue to come to school.  The new Kingdom will take the number of pupils on site to 38 from 25, including the additional Key Worker pupils.

We will contact parents of Year 11s after half term to discuss their leaving arrangements.

I have enclosed a copy of our latest action plan, written from our school Risk Assessment for your information. You will notice that we will be changing the school day times from Monday, 1 June, to finish 15 minutes earlier on Monday – Thursday to allow class teams to prepare resources for cleaning.  We will finish at 12.30 pm on a Friday to allow for a more thorough clean of the school each week.  If any Key Workers will find this difficult, please contact the school so that we can support you.  Please also note that since we are asking parents to send their pupil in with fresh clothes each day, we will not expect pupils to wear school uniform at this time.

May I also request that families let the school know if a family member is showing symptoms or had a positive test, as we will need this information when reviewing our daily risk assessments.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Yours faithfully

ROBERT HOLDERNESS                                      CAROLYN ELLIS-GAGE (Mrs)

Head Teacher                                                          Head Teacher Designate

Enc

 

200521 HT Covid19 Pandemic Action Plan

13 May 2020

Dear Parent/Carer

Following the Government statement regarding some pupils beginning to come back into school from 1 June 2020, the Leadership Team at Parkside are starting to make plans about how to manage safely this gradual transition of more pupils. We welcome your input to whether or not you would like your child to attend school for the final half term.  You do NOT have to send your child into school, it is your choice and there will be no fine or attendance meetings/letters if you choose not to send your child in.

Whilst the Government has specified certain year groups for mainstream provision, they have asked Special Schools to make their own judgements around pupils returning, not focusing on certain year groups but instead on pupil needs and how they can be best managed. This will be done through risk assessments linked to safe practice with social distancing where possible, hygiene and levels of staffing required.  We currently have approximately 25 pupils in school each day. We may be able to increase the provision in the final month before the summer holidays to a maximum of 50 pupils.  This may be on a part-time basis depending on our risk assessment.  We are not realistically looking to have a full school back this academic year.

As I am sure you can imagine, social distancing is difficult in a special school. However, we have made sure our pupils are only mixing in small groups of no more than 8 per grouping, with 4 – 6 adults per group.  We have followed guidelines on not sharing equipment where possible, staggering break times and giving each group their own outside area and exclusive use of two classrooms.  Lunches are eaten in classes so pupils do not mix.  The teaching team your child has may be different to the team they had before the pandemic but they will have the same adults each day wherever possible.  There are first aiders, safeguarding leads and pastoral support additionally available on site.  We have an excellent cleaning team working very hard each day to clean the areas used and deep clean each Friday.

If we have lots of pupils wanting to return we will use our knowledge of pupil needs and their family situation in line with the schools own risk assessments in order to prioritise places.

There will be no change in provision for pupils that are already accessing school.

Please email the school office at office@parkside.norfolk.sch.uk  with your response or complete the form below by Monday, 18 May 2020, at the latest.  If we have no response by then we will assume you do not want a school place next half term.

Yours faithfully

Bob Holderness                Carolyn Ellis-Gage (Mrs)

Head Teacher                      Head Teacher Designate

 

 

 

RETURN TO PARKSIDE SCHOOL BY MONDAY, 18 MAY 2020

 

Child Name: …………………………………………….	Class: …………………………………………………….
Yes I do want my child to be considered for a place in school June/July 2020
No I do not want my child to be considered for a place June/July 2020
Reason for choice: …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

 

 

Signed: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Name: …………………………………………………………………….………………………………… (please print)

Date: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

11 May 2020

Dear Parent/Carer

School Update – COVID-19

Now that the Prime Minister has announced the continuation of lockdown, albeit with some concessions, I felt this was an appropriate time to write to you all to let you know where the school stands.

We have been waiting to hear from the Government, their decisions for schools, and in light of the latest announcement, will most likely be looking to increase our number of pupils in school from June. We will, however, be following advice from the Local Authority along with our own bespoke risk assessment to ensure we keep all our staff and pupils as safe as we can.

As I am sure you are aware, our pupils struggle with social distancing and we will need to assess the different needs of pupils in school at one time, together with the level of training of staff to meet these specific needs. I would like to reassure you that we will be moving slowly, continuing to listen to latest advice from the Local Authority and Central Government and carry out our own risk assessment at the time.

Following half term we will be returning to normal arrangements for payment of school meals for pupils.

We have been incredibly grateful to Soul Church in Norwich who have asked us to identify families who would benefit from periodic food parcels and who provided the first of these last week. If anybody has had a change of circumstance we may not be aware of, and feels they would benefit from this, please contact the school.

I hope everyone is remaining safe at this unusual time.

Yours faithfully

 

R Holderness

Head Teacher

Please see latest guidance for COVID 19 School closure arrangements for safeguarding and child protection: