Oak Field School
Latest News
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Letter to Families - Summer Term
Fri 24 Apr 2020Friday 24 April 2020
Dear Parent/Guardian(s)
Welcome to an unusual start to the Summer Term!
Thank you for all you are doing to keep your children and families safe and well, and to limit the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). In our phone calls, it has been really good to know that so many of the pupils (and families!) are enjoying the learning activities we have uploaded to our website, and to hear about some of the other activities the pupils have been doing. A reminder that our website address is www.oakfieldschool.org.uk , then click the Families tab (top left), then choose Learning at home from the drop-down menu.
If you don’t have any access to the internet, or to a computer, laptop or tablet device, please let us know during our next phone call.
The pupils seem especially to be enjoying our Friday morning virtual assemblies, where they can see/hear familiar faces, recognise/join in with the familiar assembly songs, and share their good work and birthdays. Do please continue to send photos and information about your child’s good work to our admin email address: admin@oakfield.nottingham.sch.uk
For those pupils on Free School Meals (FSM), we are sending out supermarket vouchers every fortnight, so that you can buy food for your child’s lunch. We have just increased the value of these vouchers to £15/week.
If your annual household income is less than £16,190, you are in receipt of child tax credit (not working tax credit), and you have not yet applied for free school meals for your child (even if your child is tube-fed), please go to our website as above, click Families, then Forms for families (at the top), then Application for free school meals. Check Section 7 (the ‘qualifying’ section), then either download, complete, and email or send the form to the address at the bottom, or phone us if you need some help with this. We will
ask you about this in our next phone call. We are very keen that every pupil who is eligible for free school meals (even if they are tube fed) has access to these, especially during the current period – this is really important to us.
In terms of schools re-opening, you will know that the Government has said that five important criteria will need to be met before this is feasible. You will also know that when schools do re-open, there is very likely to be some phased, and/or part-time, schooling in the first instance. In a school such as ours, social distancing is a challenge, but please be reassured that we are working with the Local Authority (LA) to ensure that all Health and Safety measures will be in place before your child returns, and that we are planning very carefully for this. We do of course remain open on a part-time basis for the families of critical workers, and for those families where risk assessment by the school, parent, LA, Social Care, and other professionals, as appropriate, has deemed that this is the safest course of action for the pupil at the current time.
In the meantime, I’d like to draw your attention Section 15 of the updated government guidance
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do#can-i-exercise-more-than-once-a-day-if-i-need-to-due-to-a-significant-health-condition
This indicates that if you feel your child would benefit from exercise in an open space 2-3 times a day, and you can maintain social distancing from others, your child could exercise outside the home more than once a day. This is good news!
I appreciate that this time of lockdown continues to bring many challenges for families and would like to remind you that we continue to be available to support you. Please don’t hesitate to phone us, or to email the admin email address (above) if you are struggling, and we will try to help you. The best time to contact us ‘live’ is currently on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, between 8.30am and 1pm.
I hope this is helpful to you and thank you for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Patricia Lewis (Headteacher)