Barlaston First School

Weekly Newsletter

17 November 2023

Let your light shine through family, friendship and faith

“Enabling our whole school community to flourish and let their light shine, preparing them for their role as gentle and humble agents for change in the world we share.”

Sickness

We have ended this week with several children off school with tummy bugs. Below is an extract of NHS official advice to schools on this issue

Vomiting and diarrhoea

Children with diarrhoea or vomiting should stay away from school until they have not been sick or had diarrhoea for at least 2 days (48 hours).

This is the link to the relevant page.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

We will adhere to this advice without exception.  Nobody in school is qualified to be able to diagnose the cause of sickness or diarrhoea and  therefore, to be fair to all of the other children in school and their families, all children presenting with these symptoms must be collected from school and not return for a period of at least 48hours from the last episode.

If you feel that the above does not apply in your particular case please provide documentation from a GP / Consultant to confirm this. In the absence of such documentation the above guidance will apply.

All staff are aware of this guidance,  and the expectation that it will be followed.

If you have any questions about the above please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Breakfast and After-School Club

From Monday Year 1 children will come to the main school building for Breakfast Club, with just Nursery and Reception now using the Nursery Building.

Numbers in after-school club are rising dramatically.  This is fantastic news but does bring with it some issues.  On one evening this week we had 15 children booked in to the club, with 31 actually turning up.  This requires 2 more staff and more catering, at no notice, which is clearly an unsustainable position.  Please make sure that you contact us to advise that you wish your child to be in the after-school provision and whether they will be stopping for tea to allow us to staff the club according to the legal requirements.

Please also advise us if you are running late so that we are aware of this.

Next week we will send out to all users of breakfast or after-school clubs a registration form for you to provide details including of all adults who may pick your child up, and for you to provide a password if the adult picking up is not someone who usually does so.

These measures are now necessary and important, as numbers in both breakfast and after-school club are growing.

Rainbow Raffle Non-Uniform Day

Wednesday is a non-uniform day and we are asking you to send in an item for your child’s class hamper.  These will then be raffled off at Family Worship on Friday 15th December.

Dormice                Green

Hedgehogs            Blue

Squirrels               Yellow

Badgers                 Orange

Deer                     Purple

Owls                      Red

Thank you very much for your continued support.

NSPCC Safety Awareness Day Friday 24thth November

This is a safeguarding awareness day.  Come wearing something green.  No donation required.  We are also going to hold a coffee afternoon next Friday (24th) from 2.10pm until the start of Family Worship at 2.50pm.  This will also be an opportunity to see some of the work the children have done on Safety throughout the week. 

Please come and join us.

Dates for the Diary

22nd November

Non – Uniform day (Rainbow Raffle)

24th November

NSPCC Staying Safe Awareness Day  - Details to follow

8th December

Dougie Mac Christmas Jumper Day

11th December

EY Nativity Performance – Details to follow

12th December

School Theatre Trip – Details to follow

15th December

Christmas Hamper Raffle Draw in Family Worship

20th December

Christmas Dinner Day

 

 

22nd December

Christingle Service in Church 9am

Christmas Party Day

School Closes for Christmas

  

Regards,

Mr J Gordon