After consultation with staff and following a review of our school risk assessment we have concluded that due to safety concerns associated with opening school to all pupils, we have taken the decision that school will only be open to the children of key workers and vulnerable children from tomorrow, Tuesday 5th January, with all other pupils remaining at home and moving to remote learning. We hope that this will only be a temporary measure and that all children will be able to return from 18^th January however the situation will be under constant review and we will keep you informed.

This has been a difficult step for us to take and we have carefully considered a wide range of factors using all of the information available to us. Due to the enhanced measures required by school to mitigate the new risks associated with the new strain of Coronavirus we do not feel that it is currently safe to open school to all pupils however we can implement enhanced measures to accommodate vulnerable children and those of key workers.

For key worker children we will use the list we had during the first lockdown unless we are informed otherwise.  In order to keep children as safe as possible we would ask that key worker children only attend school on the days which parents are required to work. If you have not previously accessed key worker provision and need to access it now, please inform the school office by 12pm today so that we can plan for each year group.  Parents of vulnerable children will be contacted directly by us today.  We will be maintaining all current class bubble arrangements and will be operating the usual staggered start and end times.  Breakfast club and after school club will operate as normal for any vulnerable or key worker children who require it with the same costs and timings.

We fully appreciate that this decision may cause complications for some families and please be assured that we are responding as best as we can to the rapidly changing and challenging circumstances and that safeguarding the health and welfare of pupils, staff and the whole school community is our top priority.

To continue pupils learning during this period, we will be providing paper learning packs for all children for this week and these will be available to collect from school from 10am tomorrow. We will place the packs under the blue canopy outside the main entrance and they will be split by year group, please collect one pack for each child from the appropriate year group and please observe usual social distancing measures when collecting your packs.  Pupils will be expected to complete the work at home on a daily basis.  Vulnerable and key worker children will receive their packs when they attend school tomorrow and will complete their work in school.

From next week we will be moving to online learning using Google Classrooms and we will be sending out further information about this and how we will support pupils to access this learning platform. We appreciate that parents will have many questions regarding this and we would be grateful if you could please wait for us to provide more detailed information before contacting school.

We are so grateful for your support and understanding during what is a difficult and uncertain time for everyone and we will keep you informed of any updates or changes as and when they happen.

We know how much our children enjoy their computing lessons so we thought we’d share some optional activities that could be enjoyed at home.

No screen time needed for the following!*

Early Years
Story Sequencing
Using a well-known story or song, children learn how important it is to put a sequence of events in the right order – the first step in understanding algorithms.

story_sequencing_activity

KS1

Human Robot
Transforming into robots and programming each other’s movements is at the heart of this fun and educational activity.

human_robot_activity6fb9fddbdcfc6c779083ff0100ba3f46 human_robot_supporting_worksheets

Creating Patterns
Children spot and create patterns

creating_patterns_activity creating_patterns_supporting_worksheets

House Patterns
By drawing their own house, exploring and identifying similarities between features of other houses, children start to understand patterns

house_patterns_supporting_worksheet house_patterns_activity

KS2
Hand Jive Sequence
Using a sequence of hand jives, children break down actions into smaller parts – just as problems are broken down to create computer programs like video games
Suitable for KS1 and KS2

hand_jive_activity hand_jive_supporting_worksheets

Pizza Party
Computing in the kitchen? Children will love making their own pizzas while learning to create and debug (fix) the recipe.

pizza_party_activity pizza_party_supporting_worksheets

Dance Moves
Children will make up a dance routine and create the instructions for a partner to follow.

dance_moves_activity dance_moves_supporting_worksheets

Going Wild
Children programme their homemade bee to move towards flowers by creating a short sequence of instructions (an algorithm).

going_wild_activity going_wild_supporting_worksheets

*All resources downloaded from https://www.barefootcomputing.org/homelearning

Technology required for the following!

EYFS
Can you work on those mouse skills to dress Lecky?

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html

Or maybe make your own Scary Spud?

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html

KS1
If you are able to download, these are some apps we enjoy in KS1 and they’re free- available on Apple or Android.

A wealth of resources for KS1 covering all areas of the computing National Curriculum can be found here https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zyhbwmn Perhaps watch a video and complete some of the activities?

KS2
A wealth of resources for KS2 covering all areas of the computing National Curriculum can be found here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zvnrq6f Maybe you could watch a video and complete some of the activities?
We always enjoy creating new projects using Scratch. If you follow this link and you can choose a tutorial. Can make your own animation?
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=all
Our older children have just started to learn about Kodu- why not follow one of the many tutorials? Perhaps you can create your own game?  https://worlds.kodugamelab.com/search?query=Tutorial

The health, safety and wellbeing of our pupils, staff and the whole school community are of utmost importance to us and we want to reassure you that we are following all of the latest guidance from Public Health England and the Department for Education (DfE) and will keep you up to date on any new developments.

Where to find the latest information
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response

Handwashing advice
The most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves is to wash their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Public Health England recommends that in addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.

Watch this short NHS film for guidance:

The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:
Phone: 0800 046 8687
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday), 10am to 4pm (Saturday to Sunday)

Latest Department for Education information:
Tweets by educationgovuk
https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk/

Do you have a child who has their 3rd birthday between 01/09/16 and 31/08/17?

We have spaces in our Nursery for 3 year old children to start in September 2020 and are offering a number of flexible options for both the 15 hour free entitlement and also the 30 hour entitlement. We are also giving the option to purchase additional hours, between 9.00am and 3.00pm for childcare and lunches. (please see the attached options)

Please contact the school office on 01388 746426 or email ststephensceparents@durhamlearning.net for further details or an application form. Visits to see our Nursery are welcome and can be arranged through the school office.

Congratulations to Riley and Lexi who were voted in as our Head Boy and Head Girl for this year. We know they will be excellent ambassadors for our school.