Latest News
Latest School News Updates
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September Return to School Letter
Thu 23 Jul 2020Dear Parents & Carers,
As we look ahead to the start of the autumn term, I hope you find this letter useful in understanding how the school is currently planning to operate in September. In it, you will find details of our response to the Covid-19 epidemic and how this impacts on schools in general. We have made a thorough risk assessment based on the current situation, but the information in this letter will remain under review each week during the summer holidays if, and when guidance changes. We will provide further updates each time any changes are made.
Key Dates:
1st September - INSET Day
2nd September - INSET Day
3rd September - Back to school for all children
25th September – Extra INSET Day
This is what we expect to happen at Haggonfields Primary School in September:
Any plans are in line with current government guidance and may be subject to change at short notice.
- Timings: All children must return to school on Thursday 3rd September 2020. For your convenience, we do not intend to stagger start and end times for individual classes. The current plans are subject to alteration at short notice, but we will try our best to avoid doing so. Gates and doors to classrooms will be open from 8:45am to allow a steady flow of children to enter. The school day starts in class at 9.00am promptly. School will finish at 3:30pm.
- One Way System: We will operate a one-way system for arrivals and collections and this will be strictly enforced. Staff will be around to ensure you know exactly where to go and what to do. Parents & carers should drop their children off at the barrier and leave the site as soon as possible. The same applies in reverse for collections. Cygnus Class will have a separate entry point on the barrier to the right hand side of the building. Years 1- 6 will enter through a separate entry point on the barrier to the left hand side of the building.
- Access to the school site: Entry and exit to the playground and school site will be restricted to children only. Parents & carers cannot enter the school building and will need to drop their children off at the gates. We ask parents to be mindful of social distancing when waiting at the gates. Please observe social distancing when dropping off and collecting children; this includes leaving site immediately. Please avoid standing and chatting to other parents if at all possible.
- Bubbles: The children will be taught in their usual classrooms. Due to site restrictions, two larger bubbles will be made up by combining year groups:
Bubble 1 – Cygnus Class-Reception and Nursery
Bubble 2 – Columba Class, Delphinus Class and Aquila Class
Each bubble will have separate play areas, break and lunch arrangements. Staff will be assigned to one Bubble, wherever possible.
- Lunch arrangements: Our school kitchen will initially be unable to serve hot lunches at the start of term. This will continue to be reviewed. However, we will be providing packed lunches:
- As part of the Universal Free School Meals provision, Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 children will be provided with a packed lunch.
- If you are entitled to means-tested/benefit-related Free School Meals provision, your child will be provided with a packed lunch.
- Please contact the office if you wish to pay for a school packed lunch.
- If you wish to provide your own lunch, it will need to be packed in a disposable bag rather than a lunch box.
- Enrichment activities: We will try to re-instate a small number of clubs, but it is likely they will be specific to each class and not open to all children. The number of children will be limited. Any activities will be socially distanced. Off-site visits are unlikely to happen until January 2021. School swimming for Year 4, 5 and 6 is expected to start in September in line with current guidance. Sports Coach tuition is expected to recommence in September and sports sessions will be socially distanced
- Assemblies: There will be no whole school assemblies until January. This will take place in bubbles instead. Our Friday celebration assembly will take place virtually via Teams. Larger gatherings such as class assemblies, Christmas and other productions are unlikely to go ahead under the current guidance
- School uniform: uniform will return and be in line with our school policy
- Classroom provision: We anticipate all staff being able to return to work in September, therefore children will access provision with their class teacher in their own classrooms. Where possible, each bubble will access their own toilets. Where this is not possible, toilets will be cleaned at lunchtime as well as at the end of each day. Classrooms will be ventilated with use of windows and doors. Children will be seated facing forwards wherever possible The government advice is to limit the amount of equipment brought into school by children to just essentials e.g. disposable lunch bag, coats and PE kits. Please can we refrain from bringing book bags, pencil cases or large bags.
- Hygiene: Children and any essential visitors will be asked to wash their hands or use hand sanitiser on entry to the school building and at several key times throughout the day. All children will have lessons on basic hygiene to remind them of the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ / cover cough/sneeze messages. New, foot pedal, covered bins have been purchased and will be emptied regularly throughout the day; hard surfaces will be wiped down regularly with additional cleaning in place at lunchtime.
- Enquiries: Any enquiries should be via the school office by phone or email
Our plans are made with the prime concern of ensuring the health and safety of all people on the school site. They are also reflective of the need to keep disruption to parents & carers down to a minimum, but this has been a difficult task. I trust you will be supportive of the measures we have put in place in both of these regards and ask you to ensure that you comply with these at all times please.
Best wishes…and stay safe,
Mrs H-S
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Staffing
Wed 22 Jul 2020We are delighted to welcome a new teacher to the Haggonfields team! We have just appointed a new member of staff who will be joining our team in September to cover Mrs. Ginever’s maternity leave. Mrs. Bradford will be our Aquila Class and PPA teacher. She will teach Aquila Class on Wednesday afternoons and all day on Thursdays and Fridays. Mrs. Bradford is an experienced teacher and she fits in with our school ethos and values perfectly.
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Destination September!
Tue 21 Jul 2020'Destination September'
A summer catch-up programme of learning for primary pupils.
Teachers and senior leaders across the multi-academy trust have been working on a programme called ‘Destination September’. This is a resource for children to use during the summer break to ensure that they are ready for their return to school in September.
There are 3 key subjects split in to different areas of learning:
- English -Reading, spelling and grammar
- Maths - Number, calculations and fractions
- Life Skills
Each area of learning has a 'roadmap' that is split in to 'checkpoints':
- Pre-learning assessment
- Teaching video
- Assessment
- Post-learning assessment
The roadmaps have been designed to get increasingly challenging as the children go through each checkpoint.
The link to 'Destination September' can be found in the 'children' section of the website.
Is your child ready for September?
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SNMAT Letter To Parents
Tue 21 Jul 2020The following update, written by the CEO of SNMAT, has been sent out to our families on Class Dojo today. It can also be found in the 'Letters' section of the website:
Dear Parents and Carers,
I am writing to provide you with a final update of this academic year, before academies close for the summer break later this week.
You will know that all SNMAT partner academies will be fully open in the new academic year; we are very much looking forward to welcoming all pupils back. What is clear, however, is that things will not be back to normal at this stage and that parts of the school day will be different. Headteachers and senior staff have been working to ensure that the academy is as safe as it can be for children and staff. Risk assessments are either already in place, or are very close to completion.
There are a few pieces of information that I think you will find useful at this stage:
- The government’s guidance for September states that children must be grouped into ‘bubbles’. Each of these represents a group which has limited mixing with other ‘bubbles’. The size of these ‘bubbles’ depends on the context of the academy and is impacted by, for example, how many toilets there are on the academy site.
- The ‘bubbles’ method means that children’s experience of break and lunchtime will be very different to what they have been accustomed to in the past. They will only be able to play and socialise within their own ‘bubble’.
- Classrooms will look quite different in September. Desks will be set out so that children can be seated apart during their lessons, with all desks facing the same way.
- The government’s guidance is very clear that, in the event of a single, postive test for COVID-19 of a pupil or member of staff at the academy, the local Health Protection Team will be informed and they will determine the response. It is very likely that, if this happens, all pupils within the affected bubble will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days. Clearly, we very much hope that this does not happen but I am sure that you would wish to understand what the consequences of an isolated case might mean.
- In the event of a local community outbreak, the local Health Protection Team are likely to close all local schools to pupils other than those who are vulnerable and the children of critical workers. This would see us return to the way that we had to operate in April and May of this year. Once again, we very much hope that this does not come to pass.
Breaking News… Destination September is now live!!
You may remember that when I last wrote to you, I mentioned a catch-up programme of learning for primary pupils. The team of teachers who have been working on this have now completed the programme and it is now live. I would ask you all to encourage your children to make use of this resource during the summer break – it really will help them to be ready for the return in September. The programme is called ‘Destination September’. This can be accessed by clicking on the link below, or by simply visiting the SNMAT website:
https://www.snmat.org.uk/destination-september/
Finally, can I remind you that the INSET days in September are:
- 1st September
- 2nd September
- 25th September
Please take very good care of yourselves and your loved ones over the summer break. I very much look forward to the autumn term when we will start, in earnest, the journey back towards normality.
Yours faithfully,
Chris Moodie
Chief Executive Officer
Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham Multi Academy Trust (SNMAT)
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School Reports
Fri 17 Jul 2020School reports will be sent out today. If your child is in school, we will send their report home at the end of the day. Our team will be out doing 'doorstep deliveries' of reports for any child not currently in school. -
Virtual Take Five - Week Twelve
Thu 16 Jul 2020The week twelve Virtual Take Five video links are now available on our website in the 'Children' menu. The password remains the same as last week. -
NCC Public Health Update Letter
Fri 10 Jul 2020Public Health colleagues at Nottinghamshire County Council have requested that all education providers in Bassetlaw share a public health update. The full letter can be found in the 'Letters' section of our website.
The purpose of the letter is to communicate to staff, parents and families the presence of a new Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) based at Central Avenue Car Park, Worksop (S80 1EW), which will be in place from Monday 13th July to Wednesday 15th July 2020 (inclusive). The MTU is being deployed to allow easy access to tests for any residents that have symptoms of Covid-19, in response to rates being slightly higher in the district compared with the rest of the county.
We must emphasise that there is no cause for concern and that rates in Bassetlaw and Nottinghamshire as a whole are still lower than many parts of the country and continue to reduce.
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Virtual Take Five - Week Eleven
Thu 09 Jul 2020The week eleven Virtual Take Five video links are now available on our website in the 'Children' menu. The password remains the same as last week. -
School Reopening Update Letter
Wed 08 Jul 2020Dear Parents & Carers,
As promised, we have continued to review our current provision in line with the government updates. We have had a growing number of foundation stage (F1 and F2) children return to school this week. This means that our Foundation stage bubbles are at their maximum capacity and are now full. There will be no further F1 or F2 places available this term. However, for the F2 children who already have a confirmed place, we will be able to extend our provision to full day for the last two weeks of term.
From Monday 13th July, we will also welcome back the Y2 children to their Aquila Class bubble. We have already confirmed a school place for those children. This now means that our Aquila Class (Y1/2) bubble is at maximum capacity and is now full.
F1 - Cygnus Class: Mornings only 9:00am – 12:00pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
F2 - Cygnus Class: All day 9:00am – 3:00pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Y1 - Aquila Class: All day 9:15am – 3:15pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Y2 - Aquila Class: All day 9:15am – 3:15pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
As we now have a larger number of children entering the school site, it vital is that we maintain the staggered start and end times of the sessions. Children can be dropped off and collected at the school gate where they will be supervised by a member of staff. Please ensure that you keep to these times so that we can maintain social distancing guidelines.
Our school will continue to close for deep cleaning on Wednesday in order to maintain the highest standards of health and safety.
The school continues to be open for key worker provision from 8:45am -3:30pm. As throughout the closure, and in line with government guidance, this group must be prioritised. Any new key worker children places must be applied for via the application form. This is available from our office: office@hps.snmat.org.uk
As part of the Universal Free School meals provision, any F2, Year 1 or Year 2 attending school all day in the last two weeks will be provided with a packed lunch. If you wish to provide your own lunch, it will need be packed in a disposable bag rather than a lunch box.
The government recently announced that primary schools will reopen fully in September. We are really looking forward to having the children back. At the moment, all schools are planning what this may look like based on their individual circumstances. I will keep you updated as we continue to review the situation based on risk assessments, government updates and SNMAT guidance.
Best wishes…and stay safe,
Mrs H-S
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Virtual Take Five - Week Ten
Thu 02 Jul 2020The week ten Virtual Take Five video links are now available on our website in the 'Children' menu. Your class teacher will confirm this week's password via Class Dojo.