Latest News

Herne Bay Hockey Club Charity Shield and Fun Day

Thu 16 Jun 2022 Alison Blackwell

Please find below details for a Fun Day.

Warn and Inform

Sun 07 Nov 2021 A Blackwell

Advice to All Parents - warn and inform

Dear Parents,

Sorry to need to message you all on a Sunday.

Following our Lateral Flow Testing which is being completed by all staff I am writing to inform you that we have received a positive COVID-19 result within the staff here at Graveney Primary School. They have completed a PCR test today and we will notify you of the results as soon as these are received.

We know that you may find this concerning but we are continuing to monitor the situation and are working closely with Public Health England. This letter is to inform you of the current situation and provide advice on how to support your child. Please be reassured that for most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

We wish Mr Murray a speedy recovery, he will continue to be setting the work for the pupils and this will be delivered using remote learning through TEAMs as well as being taught in school by a supply teacher.

The school will remain open and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well. We encourage household members that are aged 11 and over to continue with twice weekly LFD testing to help identify cases promptly.

Once again, I remind all our community that if you develop symptoms at any time, even if these are mild, self-isolate immediately, arrange to have a COVID-19 PCR test and follow the guidance for people with COVID-19 symptoms.

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from the nhs.uk website at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/. If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111.

How to stop coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with coronavirus (COVID-19):

get vaccinated
wash your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitiser regularly throughout the day
cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

meet people outside and avoid crowded areas
open doors and windows to let in fresh air if meeting people inside
wear a face covering if aged 11 and over when it's hard to stay away from other people – particularly indoors or in crowded places
participate in twice weekly LFD testing following national guidelines (recommended for 11 years and over). We encourage you to log your results here: https://www.gov.uk/log-test-site-covid19-results

Further Information

Further information is available at

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

Yours sincerely

Alison Blackwell

Headteacher

Staff Update

Fri 25 Jun 2021 Alison Blackwell

Staff Update

As we approach the end of this year, I would like to update you on the staffing for September 2021.

Our office staffing has changed with Ms Bartlett joining us earlier this term, Mrs Knibbs and Mrs Dunkin are both still in the office (even though you may not get to see them at the moment).

As a school we are keen to support and develop both our own staff and trainee teachers, this term Mr Caspell and Mr Gregory have been working in our Key Stage 2 classes supporting learning and have both now completed their teacher training, our congratulations go to both of them.

I am very pleased to announce that Mr Gregory has been appointed as our new Bumblebees class teacher.

Staffing in September will be as follows:

Scorpions – Mr Murray & Mrs Baker

Dragonflies – Mr Crick & Miss James

Bumblebees – Mr Gregory & Mrs Ingram

Ladybirds – Miss Goodsell & Miss Wright

COVID continues to restrict our ‘normal’ transition work, I would like to reassure all parents and pupils that this will still be taking place. All our teachers will be working closely this term with each other to try and ensure that our pupils are ready for the next stage of their learning journey. Special events are planned over the coming weeks for our pupils and their new teachers to get to know each other.

I regret that, Miss Dunkin who has been supporting in our classrooms for the last two years will be leaving us today. Whilst she will no longer be in the classroom, she will still be remaining on until the end of this term to provide our after-school Multi-Sports and Football clubs. I am sure you will all join me in wishing her all the best in her new adventures and every success as she completes her own learning and degree.

Yours sincerely

Alison Blackwell

Headteacher

The Abbey School Art Competition

Mon 14 Jun 2021

This week was Arts Week in school and as part of this we are taking part in The Abbey School Art Competition. The theme for the competition this year is Andy Goldsworthy so we need the children to collect and bring into school stones, pebbles, leaves, twigs, etc for Monday 21st July please so that we can create are pieces of art. The PowerPoint from The Abbey School is attached too so you can see what we will be doing.

Lunch ideas

Tue 26 Jan 2021 Alison Blackwell

Cheap eats for lockdown

Struggling for meal inspiration with the kids at home at the moment? Check out this link for some lunch ideas.

Complete with its own shopping list, each set of recipes contains 5 easy, tasty lunches for around £15. There are 3 weeks' worth of recipes, plus ideas and inspiration...

Change4Life newsletter also has extra tips and ideas to help keep your family happy and healthy at this time.

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/lunch/cheap-lockdown-lunch-ideas

Lunch menus-September 2020-WB 4th January -Week 1

Mon 07 Dec 2020

Please don't forget all lunches now need to be booked/logged on the School Gateway app.Book and pay at the same time as booking.

Many thanks.

We are ready...

Sun 30 Aug 2020 Alison Blackwell

School is ready to re-open.

Following our partial re-opening in Term 6, Graveney Primary School is now ready to re-open on Tuesday 1st September. Please read the newsletter 26th August 2020 which has further information about policies and procedures which will now be in place.

Guidance is constantly being updates at this time, our procedures and plans may need to change at short notice.

If you have been on an overseas trip and need to isolate because of this; please contact Mrs Dunkin in the school office to let her know.

In the interest of keeping our community healthy and safe, if your child is unwell, please keep them at home.

Looking forward to seeing you all on Tuesday :)

Alison Blackwell

Reopen plans for 8th June 2020

Fri 22 May 2020 Alison Blackwell

21^st May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers and families,

I would like to start with a huge thank you to all members of our school community. Your kind emails and messages have supported me through the colossal task of planning our re-opening. Thank you to everyone who has also completed our first online questionnaire, your responses have enabled us to make the following decisions. I have now met (virtually) with our governors and all the staff, following many hours reading through guidance and numerous zoom meetings, together we have established our school re-opening plan.

I believe that our family friendly school, should remain that, this is an important part of Graveney Primary School. The wellbeing of our pupils and staff is our key priority and to achieve this we must support those families who need us. During this lockdown, the staff in school have continued to keep our school open for vulnerable and key worker families, our next phase will be an extension of our current provision. I would once again like to thank all the staff for their dedication to our school which has helped us keep this provision available (even during our normal school holidays).

To prevent the spread of coronavirus, our school will create as safe an environment as possible, by cleaning and using a range of measures, these protocols and procedures have been created following risk assessments and the guidance from the government and our unions. Pupils will be encouraged to maintain personal hygiene by washing their hands regularly and also keeping their own learning space clean.

Teachers will continue to provide Homelearning for all pupils who are not in school. This will remain until such time as ‘normal’ school is able to be resumed. In order for the teachers to maintain this provision, and also teach in school, we will be offering a reduced teaching week within school. Teacher’s will therefore be teaching in class on and Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

On Wednesday all teachers will have their PPA (Planning, Preparation and Assessment) time, this will give them time to prepare lessons for both their Homelearning pupils and also for their bubble. Pupils of Key workers who require our support on a Wednesday will still be able to attend school, they will be supervised by either myself or one of our HLTA’s. If you will require your children to attend on a Wednesday, please let me know as soon as possible.

Pupils who are returning will be supervised in groups (bubbles) in school. Each bubble will currently be a maximum of 9 pupils and will have 1 or 2 members of staff with them (depending on the age of the pupils and SEN provision needs). These will be across all year groups to support all our key workers. Families who have indicated to the school that they would like their child to return will be contacted by a member of our teaching team. This new provision will begin on Monday 8^th June 2020 at the earliest, this will be dependent on the latest Government advice.

I would like to re-iterate that if you have made the decision to keep your child at home during at the current time, the school understands your reasons for making this decision and we will continue to support you and your child with their learning. Our Homelearning support will continue until we are able to have all children back in school. Please do not bring your child back to school without prior confirmation from us that they have a space in one of our bubbles.

Drop off and picking up time have been staggered. These will be at the following times for age groups:

Bubble 1 – 8.50am & 3.00pm Bubble 2 – 8.55am & 3.05pm

Bubble 3 – 9.00am & 3.10pm Bubble 4 – 9.05am & 3.15pm

This is to reduce the number of pupils and parents accessing the school together.

You may have children in two different bubbles! If so please bring them in and collect them together and let us know which time slot you would prefer. Pupils should be dropped off at the school gate in the morning, all children will need to wash their hands before going into their classrooms.

At the end of the day pupils will be bought to the playground to meet you, there will be a one-way system marked out in the playground for you to collect your child and then return to the carpark, this will help us maintain social distancing.

When in school pupils should now wear their school uniform with trainers. They will be following a structured timetable which will help us to make use of all the space we have available and minimise groups mixing with each other. Each group will have a separate playtime and lunch break so that all children have much time as possible outside.

All children will need to bring a packed lunch into school until we are able to confidently provide hot dinners safely for the children. These will be eaten in their classrooms (or weather permitting outside). We will provide all pupils with an individual pack with their own learning resources. Please do not allow you child to bring in any other items from home, including their book bag, ruck sack or PE kit at this time. There will be no ‘Show and Tell’ sessions, so no toys from home are to be bought in.

This is a challenging new way of operating our school and as we progress through the pandemic, there will be many more changes ahead for us… all the team here at Graveney want the very best for you and your child. Thank you for your support as we move into the next phase of returning to ‘normal’.

During Term 6 there will be no extended school services, such as breakfast and after school clubs, this is due to the need to keep our children in small isolated groups within school. These will resume when restrictions are lifted further and it safe for us to do so.

Please continue to contact the school either by telephone or email, I regret that staff will not be available for face to face meetings at this time. Whilst we are all missing you, this remains the safest way for us the communicate with you. Please do let the school know if you have changed any of your contact details at this time.

Looking forward to the day when I am able to welcome the whole school back…

Kind regards to all of you

Alison Blackwell

Headteacher

Parent survey about re-opening

Fri 15 May 2020 Alison Blackwell

We are now planning our re-opening. Please can I ask all families to complete this survey to help us with planning our small groups.

https://forms.gle/82hJExausiJdyVAc9

Plans to reopen School

Wed 13 May 2020 Alison Blackwell

Dear Families

Following on from my message to you on Monday the guidance has been produced recommending that schools plan to reopen from 1st June 2020 (this will be on the 8th June for our school as we have a longer break). The Government's aim is for all Primary pupils to have access to school by the end of the summer term.

Currently we are supporting a small number of key worker pupils and some of our vulnerable pupils within school. With more people gradually returning to work we are already seeing an increase in the number of families of key workers needing this provision and anticipate a further increase over the coming weeks. I would like to assure you that this provision for all key workers will remain in place, the new guidelines are encouraging more children to have access to school.

The next phase of the re-opening proposes that year R, 1 and 6 groups return first, followed by schools gradually increase the numbers of pupils accessing school by year groups. The government ambition is ‘…for all primary year groups to be back to school before the summer holidays, for a month if feasible.’ This is a logistical nightmare within our small school with limited space and mixed year classes. I will be discussing my plans later this week with staff and also with our Trustees. Together we will agree on how this can be achieved at Graveney.

What can I share with you? After 7 years of headship and having taught since the late 90’s (no comments on my age please!), I have been in a privileged position of looking after your children, leading dedicated staff and communities. This has taught me two things: firstly, be truthful and secondly when it comes to children, always keep them safe.

I am being truthful here and categorically tell you there is no such thing as social distancing in a school; it does not exist and would never exist. The reason childhood illnesses spread in a school is no surprise as we are all in contact with each other. I can put two children in opposite classrooms and they will still get chicken pox because that’s how it is in a school. This virus we are led to believe is a super spreader. It is therefore essential that we keep the number of pupils in school low, with small groups our aim will be to keep both you, your children and the staff safe.

Do I want the staff and children back; of course. Many of you will be at the end of your tether at home, of course you are (this is why teachers have school holidays!). However, I am not going to sit here and write to you to say we can achieve social distancing in a school. We can make things safer, we could perhaps reduce the risk slightly, but my experience of normal illnesses in school tells me, the risk will be there.

So that leaves us in a quandary doesn’t it? How long can we go on like this for? I am struggling to find solutions. We are hearing that it is OK to put our youngest children back in a school and our oldest; at this time there is no evidence that is putting my mind at rest. There will be some of you that say “let’s just get on with it”, I respect that, but get on with what? There is not a reliable test, a vaccine, an idea about what to do next, there is just the possibility that things will be OK; that’s all we have at the moment and ‘OK’ is not good enough when it comes to the precious gift that is your child.

What is missing from this discussion is a sensible, rational debate around better solutions, such as repeating a year and coming back when we have more science to support us. Believe me, I would rather any child repeats a year than go back to school too soon and have to lose a child; why is this not in the national debate; because it will cost money! So parents, what can you do next? Well, all I can do is pass onto you the information when we have it and you can make your own decision. Parent power is quite something when it is applied nationally; perhaps you too have some great ideas that can be brought before our politicians. As I have said before, I will share plans for how we will be operating under these new guidelines with you as soon as possible but please do not hesitate to get in touch if you want to share any concerns.

If you are a parent from, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 or a key worker, I would love to hear from you regarding how you feel about your child returning. I now need to have numbers in order to plan our provision.

The guidelines on attendance clearly state that parents will not be fined for non-attendance at this time. I would like to reassure you all that your child’s space here at Graveney is secure, should you decide that home is the safest place for your child to remain, at this current time.

Thank you once again for your constant support and understanding, sending virtual hugs to all our families.

With my kindest regards

Alison Blackwell

Headteacher

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