Dear Parents / Carers

I am writing to let you know that this morning a positive Covid-19 test result has been confirmed from a nursery staff member at Harlands. I have spoken with the member of staff and they have mild symptoms and are doing well.

I have this morning spoken with Public Health England (PHE) and the Department for Education to confirm the steps that we need to take as a school.

The member of staff started showing symptoms on Thursday 29th October and their result came through as positive on Saturday 31st October.

The infectious period is 48 Hours before first sign of symptoms (Tuesday 27th). The member of staff has not been in school since Friday 23rd October and has not been in physical contact with any other staff or children since then.

Therefore, school will be open as usual on Monday 2nd November for staff training and we will welcome back all children on Tuesday 3rd November.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID-19.

If your child develops any of the following symptoms, they should remain at home and arrange for a COVID test. All other household members also need to self-isolate as per the guidance.

1. New and continuous cough (coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

2. High temperature (hot to touch on chest or back)

3. Loss of, or change to sense of smell or taste

The NHS website gives details about how to check for the main coronavirus symptoms. You can use NHS 111 online if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next.

If your child receives a positive test result, please notify covid@harlandsprimary.org immediately.

I hope that you are all well and have had an enjoyable half term.

Richard Blakeley

Headteacher

Dear Parents / Carers

I would like to say a huge thank you to all parents (and teachers) who have fully embraced technology this term with the use of Microsoft Teams for our Parents' evening. The vast majority of these meetings took place without any technical difficulties. If you were unable to make an appointment please liaise with the school office to arrange this after the half term.

Fundraising

Special well done to Neeva in Year 3 for her amazing fundraising efforts. Neeva has currently raised £2776.00 for the Little Princess Trust by having her hair cut short to give to children who have lost hair through cancer treatment. If you would like to support Neeva in her efforts you can donate via this link. Her hair cut is on Tuesday 27th October so she will be coming into school with a very different look!

Birthday Treats

I realise that children like to give out sweet treats when it is their birthday to other classmates but from next term we will no longer be allowing this. This has become a health and safety issue as parents aren’t always aware of the allergies of other children in the class and it also doesn’t help us endorse the healthy school image.

Children in Need

This year we will be taking part in the BBC Children in Need fundraising and the girls in Year 5 will be organising this. More information will follow.

Thank you

Thank you to all the parents who helped to tidy up the front of school last weekend it has made a real difference to how the school looks. Some of the children will now be involved in a planting project at the front of school to brighten up this area.

INSET Day

A reminder that the school is closed to pupils on Monday 2^nd November for a staff training day. We will welcome the children back on Tuesday 3^rd November continuing the staggered start and finish times that were in place this term.

Thank you to all the children, parents and staff this term. It hasn’t been an easy term for us as we learn to live with COVID but a real testament to the hard work of all involved that we have been able to keep the children safe from this. I hope that you are all able to have a relaxing half term and look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 3^rd November.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Dear Parents / Carers,

This seems to be the longest term on record! I realise it hasn’t been easy for all the children coming back to different rules and routines. We were hoping when we first came back that the changes we had put in place for staggered starts etc. would just be until this half term. Obviously this isn’t the case and we will need to continue them through now until Christmas. We have looked at changing them, however, they have such a knock on effect with lunches and going home time it’s just not going to be possible.

Harvest

Thank you to all of you who have donated food to help support the work of the Uckfield Foodbank this year. We had a very interesting assembly on Monday which helped the children to understand what the foodbank does and how we can help other people.

Children have been creating Harvest art work and a selection of this can be found on the school website under the Curriculum Tab

Science Day

The children had a very enjoyable Science Day on Tuesday this week where they carried out many investigations on fruit and discovered some amazing and interesting facts. There was a real buzz around the school with children asking lots of investigative questions.

Parent’s Evening

Next week our virtual parent’s evenings will take place via Microsoft Teams. If you have already booked your appointment you should have been sent a code in an email. There will be a reminder sent 24 hours before the meeting is due to take place. If you haven’t received an email with a link please contact the school office who will be able to arrange this for you.

If you haven’t used Microsoft Teams before you might find this video helpful Using Microsoft Teams There is also some helpful bits of information here as well.

Ideally these meetings are really useful for the teacher to talk just to adults, although we realise this may not always be possible. It may be a good idea for parents to use headphones to avoid children listening into conversations.

If you have no other option but for your child listen in to the conversation please could you make the staff member aware of this.

INSET Day

A reminder for your diaries of the INSET Day on Monday 2^nd November, with the school reopening to children after the half term break on Tuesday 3^rd November.

I hope that you all have a restful weekend

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Number #2020/01

Parents / Carers,

I do hope that you all had a good summer. We are so looking forward to welcoming you all back and to seeing our inspiring children again this term. We have missed seeing them greatly over the last few months and we are eagerly anticipating having them, their uniqueness and their energy back.

I thought that you would appreciate a few reminders of how the first few days will start.

Parent / Child / Teacher Meetings

We have set aside Thursday 3^rd September and Friday 4^th September for Parent / Child / Teacher meetings to take place from Nursery to Year 6. This will be a great opportunity to meet the class teacher / discuss class routines and raise any concerns that you or your child may have.

· For everyone’s safety we have created a one way system in the school.

· Reception to Year 6 enter through the main school entrance. (Nursery via Nursery Entrance)

· On arrival please can everyone use the hand sanitiser provided.

· Please can adults wear face masks to their appointments.

· Children do not need to wear school uniform or masks.

· On leaving you will be asked to leave via the classroom door. (Year 5 / 6 via Fire escape)

If you haven’t booked yet please make a booking via this link

INSET Day

The school will be closed to pupils on Monday 7^th September to allow staff training to take place.

Children return

All children return to school / breakfast club and Nursery on Tuesday 8^th September.

Breakfast Club

I am pleased to be able to let you know that Breakfast Club will restart on Tuesday September 8^th from 7:30am to make a booking please contact the school office or use the online form.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Parents / Carers,

I know that my ongoing thoughts about this being the most surreal academic year that I and we have ever faced will continue to resonate with you. The Year 2020 will go down in our school and life history.

Despite the aforementioned, I remain proud by the sheer resilience and tenacity our wonderful children, staff and parents over the last few months have shown. Thank you.

Congratulations

Congratulations to the following pupils in Year 6 who have received the following awards. It has been a difficult year to decide on the awards this year as so many children could have received them.

Arts – Molly Rowland & Sam Jenner

Sport – Kieran Venus Smith

Academic – Ethan Jenner

Citizenship – Phoebe Kedwards

Transition

Details about the transition days on Monday 20^th & Tuesday 21^st July are attached for ease of reference. We would expect children to wear school uniform for these days if at all possible. We understand this may not be possible if things don’t fit anymore.

It will be really helpful if children could bring in a plastic bag so that they can bring home any work completed in the first half of the year.

Virtual Assembly

Whole school leavers assembly was broadcast this morning via our YouTube channel at 10:00am. This will be available to watch for a week if you missed it.

School Reports

School reports were emailed out on Monday 13^th July. If you didn’t receive them please get in touch with the office. If you could acknowledge receipt of them via the following email address that would be helpful. reports@harlandsprimary.org

September 2020

We have set aside Thursday 3^rd September and Friday 4^th September for Parent / Child / Teacher meetings to take place from Nursery to Year 6. We don’t expect children to wear uniform for these meetings.

Booking can be made for these appointments via this link

A reminder that to facilitate these meetings to take place, the staff training will now take place on Monday 7^th September, with all children returning to new classes on Tuesday 8^th September.

Breakfast Club

I am pleased to be able to let you know that Breakfast Club will restart on Tuesday September 8^th from 7:30am to make a booking please contact the school office.

Thank You

I’m sure that you would like to join with me in saying a huge thank you to Mrs Flint who has been working with many different children across the school and leaving us at the end of this term. We would like to wish her all the best for the next chapter. Thank you also to Beth Aldis who has helped us out in so many classes across the school and more recently in Year 6. We wish her all the best as she embarks on her journey to become a teacher.

I hope that you all have a restful weekend and that you all enjoy some time together as a family.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Parents / Carers,

I hope that you are all managing to stay cool in this warm weather. We are expecting further advice from the government next week about the reopening of schools to all year groups in September so will hopefully know more then.

Transition

Just a reminder that we will be having transition days for pupils Reception to Year 6 on Monday 20^th July and Tuesday 21^st July. To allow us to do this the school will close to all pupils currently in on Friday 17^th July at 1:00pm. This will mean that our final leavers’ assembly for year 6 will take place that morning and will also be premiered on YouTube so that parents can watch from home. We will send out more details about which children can attend which transition session next week.

September 2020

I am still working from the assumption that all year groups will return in September and therefore plans may need to change in light of new guidance, however, we felt it is important to have plans in place, even if we later have to postpone them.

We have set aside Thursday 3^rd September and Friday 4^th September for Parent / Child / Teacher meetings to take place from Nursery to Year 6. Information about how to book a slot will also be sent out next week.

A reminder that to facilitate these meetings to take place the staff training will now take place on Monday 7^th September with all children returning to new classes on Tuesday 8^th September.

Drop off’s and Pickups

A reminder about timings for pickups and drop offs.

See Below...

Key Worker Children

Thank you to all the parents who have booked in via the online form. We have now switched this form off and should you wish to make a change a booking this will need to be made through the school office.

Many thanks as always for your continued support.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Parents / Carers,

Well done to everyone who took part in this year’s sports day week we had over 2300 submissions of results to add up and add to the totals. The winning house team this year is Tigers. Fantastic effort for all who took part. Final Results

Moving Forward

Now we have been given the green light to bring back other year groups before the summer from the government we have been thinking about how we can do this. Unfortunately, we have used up most of the space around the school as we have split each returning class into two classrooms. Our Key Worker group continues to expand and so allowing other year groups to return isn’t currently possible with out sending home children who have already returned.

Transition

Our thoughts have then turned to transition. We wanted all children to benefit from some transition experience before the end of the summer term and, to allow us to achieve this, we will be moving the end of term for all children currently in school to Friday 17^th July at 1:00pm. This will mean that our final leavers’ assembly for year 6 will take place that morning and will also be premiered on YouTube so that parents can watch from home.

This will allow us two days the following week to facilitate the return of children from all year groups for a two hour session to say goodbye to their current class teacher and also meet their new class teacher. Children will be invited in groups of 15 and this will be organised in alphabetical order of the child’s surname. More detail to follow nearer the time. Please see attached a plan of which day classes will be in. This has been organised to allow cleaning in between groups in line with the government guidelines.

September 2020

I am working from the assumption that all year groups will return in September and therefore plans may need to change in light of new guidance, however, we felt it is important to have plans in place, even if we later have to postpone them.

We are aware that in September there will be many anxious parents and children and therefore we would like to offer all parents and children the opportunity to come and meet with their new class teacher. To allow us time to organise this successfully we have set aside Thursday 3^rd September and Friday 4^th September for this to happen. We will create a booking system similar to parents evening to sign up for a slot. This will be an important opportunity to share concerns and pass on valuable information. In September we traditionally have an INSET day on the first day back. We will therefore move this so that the staff training will take place on Monday 7^th September with all children returning to new classes on Tuesday 8^th September.

Children in Nursery in September

I am working from the assumption that we will be open in September for all pupils but realise that this might need to change. In September, we would then like all parents of children who have confirmed places to attend a parent / child / teacher meeting. These meetings will be held on Thursday 3^rd and Friday 4^th of September and booking information will follow.

The Nursery will be closed to children on Monday 7^th to allow for whole school staff training. There will then be a two-week period of settling in sessions starting Tuesday 8^th (at the child’s pace) to allow children to become familiar with the environment and to ensure staff can meet the needs of all the children. This can be discussed further at the September meetings. All children that have confirmed places should be back by week of 21^st September.

At the end of this term a scrapbook will be sent out to your child. In this book it would be great if you can include photos of family and important people in your child’s life, toys they like to play with and things they like to do. We can then look at these together at the first meeting planned. If you have any queries about your child's booking for September please e-mail nursery@harlands.e-sussex.sch.uk

Year 6, Year 1 and Reception

I have continued to be impressed with the way these children have come back to school and have followed the guidance and advice of teachers. As the arriving at school procedures have become increasingly efficient, we are changing the arrival time for Reception slightly, with gates closing at 9.20am from Monday 22^nd June.

Key Worker Children

Thank you to all the parents who have booked in via the online form. It is really important to make sure you let us know when your children will be in school. This booking form will be turned off on Friday 26^th June and further changes will need to be made through the school office.

Many thanks as always for your continued support.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Number #10

Parents / Carers,

This week has been another interesting week in the life of Harlands and in education as a whole! It has been great to see more families and children at the school. There are obviously various things to update you on this week.

Phased return of Year 6

It has been great to welcome back Year 6 children this week. We have had around 18 children return and so have been able to teach the children in two different bubbles with 9 in each. The children have been great in the way they have adapted, listening and responded to new ways of working. Miss Knott will now need to adapt the online learning as we begin to focus on more transitional learning projects and leavers’ projects, which will be available both online and in school. They will be working towards a virtual leavers’ celebration, which we are very excited about. This is all part of the important process for preparing children for their next steps.

Phased return of Year 1

It has been great to welcome back Year 1 children this Wednesday. We have had around 18 children return and so have been able to teach the children in two different bubbles with 9 in each. We are really proud of the way the children have been so mature in the way that they have returned to school and want to thank parents who have clearly explained and prepared their children for this as, it makes the transition back so much more successful. We will continue to provide online learning for those unable to return.

Phased Return of Reception Class

Staff have been extremely busy this week preparing the environment and making this as safe as possible for the children. We emailed out yesterday to Reception parents all the details and we look forward to welcoming back those who are able to return on Monday 8^th June. If you didn’t receive these, all letters relating to school can be found under the COVID tab on the website. Work to support home learning will continue to be published on the school website.

Ducklings Nursery

We have only been able to open up our Nursery to very few children as we have to prioritise Key Worker children. This has been to ensure that we are following guidelines and not mixing children using all the space we have. If you haven’t been phoned then we haven’t found space for your child currently. If the situation changes then we will of course let you know. Work to support home learning will continue to be published on the school website.

Year Groups 2, 3, 4 & 5

Work for these year groups will continue online. As more staff are required in school now, there may be some changes to the work set and to the direct support given. Teachers will not be available as often to support online.

Key Worker Children

Now that we have welcomed back other year groups the Key Worker service is only for Years 2, 3, 4 & 5 children. Bookings can now only be completed via contacting the school office or nursery by telephone or via email. We really need to know by Friday lunchtime if you wish to add or change these so that we can organise staffing. All bookings made already still stand.

Virtual Sports Day - Week

Miss Pooley has been working hard on adapting sports day this year. We are hoping that we will be able to share more information with you next week about the activities and how to take part in the children’s and parent’s activities and earn house points for your house. You might want to dust of those running shoes!

Online Chat

Our online chat facility will be scaled back next week as well as more staff are in school. Office staff will now man this during office hours.

Share your learning

We are really enjoying seeing all of the things that you have been up to at home. To share them with us please send them to share@harlandsprimary.org or see further details or use the hashtag #harlandsathome. Any work sent to this email address will also be shared on our social media which includes, twitter, facebook, youtube & instagram.

Goodbye

It is with some sadness that I have to let you know Mrs Crawford will be leaving us at the end of next week. Mrs Crawford currently works as a Teaching Assistant in Year 5 and has helped many different aged children across the school for 16 years! I am sure you will join with me in wishing her all the best for the future.

Finally

I hope that you and your children can all have a relaxing weekend and that the weather remains good so that you can have those social distancing BBQ’s with your 6 friends.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that you are all well.

I wanted to share with you the plans that we have in place for a phased return. It is worth pointing out that school will be a very different place for all of us and you can help our children by explaining some of this to them.

No parents will be fined if you decide to keep your children off and online learning will continue in the same way it has since Easter. No work will be set or marked over the half term week for any children and teachers won't be responding to emails.

No decision has been made to officially start the return process and we don't expect a final decision to be made until Thursday 28th May. If this is postponed our phased return plans will be rolled forward.

Reception, Year 1 & Year 6

I have attached individual plans for Year Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 but thought you would want to see them all to try and understand what, as a school, we are setting out. Each cohort is phased back gradually starting with Year 6 in the first phase; Year 1 in the second phase from Wednesday 3rd and Reception Class beginning the week after (Monday 8th June). This will allow us time to adapt to the needs of the children.

We have decided to close the school to all children except key workers at 1:00pm on Fridays to allow extra time for cleaning of the school and allow staff to plan and prepare for the following week.

I realise that these plans may help you to make up your mind or may confuse even more. Some of you may wish to change what you have already sent back and that is fine. We will always try our best to accommodate your needs and will take your last entry on the form. We would like all parents in Year 1, Reception and Year 6, who haven’t already done so (or may wish to change their entry), to complete this form by Thursday 21st May midday to allow us time to plan.

Reception

I am sure you will join with me in congratulating Mr and Mrs Pontefract on the exciting news that they are expecting a second child later this year. For that reason, Mrs Pontefract will continue to work from home providing online learning and tapestry support.

Ducklings Nursery

We still haven't had the guidance promised from the government about the mixing of groups of children. We expect that we will have to limit numbers and prioritise Key Workers and school leavers. Therefore at this stage we only feel that we can open the Nursery to Key Worker children from 1st June. We believe that is about 6 children. When we have more information about what spaces we can safely offer we will be in touch.

Key Workers

We are aware that there may be changes to Key Workers eligibility. We are asking all school and nursery parents who are existing keyworkers or newly eligible to please fill out the attached form to access a place from June 1^st. On the 1^st of June drop off for Key Worker children in Years 2,3,4,5 will be at the year 3/4 entrance gate to the right of the main path. Nursery Key worker children will need to enter the school via the Nursery side gate accessed through the staff car park.

Drop off and pick up

When dropping off and picking up your child you will need to follow the social distancing guidelines marked out at the various pick up points. Pickups should be limited to one parent to avoid unnecessary contact wherever possible. Please be quick to vacate the area to avoid any congestion.

School Office

Office staff will now be back in but please don't come to the office without making an appointment first. If you wish to speak with the office or pass on a message please phone, email or use the online chat.

I realise there is a lot of information here and if you would like to talk further please contact the school office via telephone, email or online chat.

I hope that you all can have some enjoyable time as a family over the half term.

Parents / Carers,

This week has been the most testing for us at the school so far. Following the announcement on Sunday evening we set about planning for children to return to school. Monday evening we received further information and as a consequence had to change and develop our plans further. I was hoping that we would be able to share these with you today however, last night we received further guidance on how schools should plan to reopen. We are still awaiting the government's specific plans and guidance for early years which are as yet to be published. Therefore, I don't feel able to share our plans with you until these have been aligned with age related guidance. That said, we have taken the decision to close the school completely to all children including key worker children during the May half term week from Monday 25th May until Friday 29th May.

Guidance we have received to date is linked below in case you are interested or concerned. The guidance outlines the approaches that we will be implementing.

Monday 11th May - Actions for education and childcare settings to prepare for wider opening on 1st June

Monday 11th May - What parents and carers need to know about schools colleges and other educational settings.

Monday 11th May - Opening schools and educational settings for more pupils from the 1st June

Tuesday 12th May - Implementing protective measures in education and childcare settings

Thursday 14th May - Planning Guide for Primary Schools

Most of you will be wondering if the school is safe to start sending children back. I do not have the scientific knowledge to answer this question and therefore have to rely on the knowledge of others who are providing us with advice. What I can tell you, is that as far as I am aware no one in our school community (staff or children) have tested positive for the coronavirus. Some families and staff have been tested but all have come back negative.

From the 1st of June we will start a phased return of the key year groups outlined in the advice above (Year 6, Year 1 & Reception and some of the Nursery) This phased return will be over the first two weeks to allow us time to prepare, adapt and revise plans in order that we can do our best to keep children safe. We are at this time of writing unable to give you an official start date but hope to be able to share this with you next Tuesday / Wednesday.

Phased return of Year 1, Year 6 and Reception Class

I know that there will be some of you in those year groups that will be pleased and want your children to come back asap. We are being advised to encourage all eligible pupils to attend; however, there will also be some of you who will make the decision to keep your child at home. We have confirmation that no parent will be fined if you decide to keep your child at home. We will do our best to keep up the online learning for these year groups as, for some of you, you will be wanting to continue to shield your own family and we want to be able to continue to support you in this. So that we have an idea of how many children are likely to return I would ask that all parents of children in Year 1, Year Reception and Year 6 complete this online form for each child. This will help us to organise staffing, rooms and provision. School will obviously be very different to how your children left it.

Phased return of Ducklings Nursery

We are working through the advice for this cohort and we are waiting for confirmation as to whether different children can attend on different days. It is more likely that we will only be able to offer places to some of the children. We believe that we will need to limit the number of children we allow back and if this is the case we will prioritise the school leaver children.

For all other Year Groups Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 & Year 5

Work for these year groups will continue online as before.

Key Worker Children Next Week

We will be continuing with Key Worker provision to book for next week please fill out this form for each child.

Key Worker Children

When the phased return begins children whose classes are back in school will be taught in their classrooms and you will have filled out this form above for each child. We are aware that there may be an increase in key workers as more people return to work so if your child is in Nursery, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 or Year 5 please fill out this form for each child. As before, this cover is only for Key Worker children where no other option for childcare is available. The best advice to stay safe is to stay at home.

Monday Assembly

The next assembly is on Monday 18th May at 10:00am. At this assembly I will share some of the learning from last week, share messages and share the Harlands Heart Challenge

Online Chat

Staff will be available next week if you or your child want to chat through any learning or just to say hello.

Share your learning

We are really enjoying seeing all of the things that you have been up to at home. To share them with us please send them to share@harlandsprimary.org or see further details or use the hashtag #harlandsathome. Any work sent to this email address will also be shared on our social media which includes, twitter, facebook, youtube & instagram.

Finally

I am sure that you are able to work out that any plans for this phased return will no doubt have to be flexible and may need to change at short notice based on how we are managing to keep children safe. We will provide more information in the coming days about the practicalities and the start dates for the different cohorts.

Thank you as always for your continued understanding.

Richard Blakeley

Week 6 - Friday 1st May

Parents / Carers,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the brilliant staff at Harlands who are continuing to work incredibly hard during this difficult time to ensure the school continues to run, work is planned and supported and the school is open to Key Worker children. Many of our staff are also trying to juggle homeschooling with their own children too, which, let me reassure you, is much harder than teaching other people's children.

I would also like to thank all the Harlands families for their supportive comments and gestures during the last few weeks. It has been really appreciated by all the staff.

Key Workers - Cover for Weeks Beginning 11th & 18th May

To book a school place for your child please can you fill out the following form. This will help us plan cover. Apologies, but, please fill this out for each individual child. As before, this cover is only for Key Worker children where no other option for childcare is available. The best advice to stay safe is to stay at home.

Work for next week Nursery, Reception, Year 1 & Year 2

This will be published on the school website ready for Monday 4th May.

Reception Class

Thank you to all the parents who have engaged with Tapestry and have been busy uploading all of the children's achievements. If you haven't activated and started yet you should have received an email with a link in it. Please get in touch if you have any issues at all.

Ducklings Nursery

Thank you to all the parents who have filled out the online permission forms for using Tapestry. We hope that we will have all responses back in today and can then start to send you out login details.

Year 3, 4, 5 & 6

Thank you to all the parents who have provided us with feedback on Google Classrooms. What is clear is that some children / parents love the structure whilst others don't. My advice to you all is if the structure works for you use it, if it doesn't don't

The most important thing to remember is that you and your family take each day as it comes and that if there are days when it is a real struggle and children are finding it really hard to engage with their learning, make sure you stop doing the school work and all do something fun instead.

Online Safety

The government have updated information for parents and carers to include a section on keeping children safe online. It provides links to online resources that will help support parents and carers in keeping their children safe online. Full details can be found in section 6.3 of the guidance for parents and carers on the closure of educational settings: Best advice is to keep an eye on what your children are viewing online and who they are communicating with.

Monday Assembly

The next assembly is on Monday 4th May at 10:00am. At this assembly I will share some of the learning from last week. It has been great to see so many responses to the Photo Challenge this week. We will also try and share some of the other things that you have been doing at home, share messages and set the next week’s challenge. To connect to the youtube channel please click here.

Online Chat

Staff will be available next week if you or your child want to chat through any learning or just to say hello. There are always two staff members available to help during school hours.

Share your learning

We love seeing all of the things that you have been up to at home. To share them with us please send them to share@harlandsprimary.org or see further details or use the hashtag #harlandsathome. Any work sent to this email address will also be shared on our social media which includes, twitter, facebook, youtube & instagram.

Photo Challenge

This is coming together nicely and there is still a chance to join in. Don't worry about the coloured background as it is working out easier to add filters ourselves. If we could have any photos by the end of Saturday then we will be able to add them to the banner. If they don't we can share them on the website but won't be able to include them in the banner. Please send photos to share@harlandsprimary.org Here is a small preview, the actual banner will be 3 meters long and will have words expressing gratitude from all in the Harlands community.

Finally

The most important thing to remember is that we all need to get through this very unusual and challenging time together. I completely understand that you as parents could be juggling full time jobs and teaching your children. You could be managing learning for more than one child in different year groups and reassuring them on the current situation.

These strange and uncertain times can take their toll on the best of days and just managing to get through one day without the family having battles is a huge achievement (Not sure we have managed it yet in our house). I do not want to add to your stress levels and want to let you know that we are here to help and support you all.

I would like to say how amazing you all are and how proud we are of everything you and your children are achieving at this time.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Parents / Carers,

If, like me, you have tried to have a break from homeschooling over the last two weeks, I'm sure you will be ready for some more structure in helping your children as we start term 5 on Monday. I would like to extend a special welcome to the new family that is joining Harlands school this term with children in Year 2 and Reception.

Work after Easter for Nursery, Reception, Year 1 & Year 2

This will be published ready for Monday 20th April.

Work after Easter for Year 3, 4, 5 & 6

Teachers will be using google classroom after Easter and will be setting work there for your children to complete. All usernames and passwords have been sent out so if you haven't received yours or you ever need an password reset please email password@harlandsprimary.org If you require a paper pack please contact the office and we will see what we can arrange.

Key Workers after Easter

To book a school place for your child after Easter (From Monday 20th April) please can you fill out the following form. This will help us plan cover. Apologies, but, please fill this out for each individual child. As before, this cover is only for Key Worker children where no other option for childcare is available. The best advice to stay safe is to stay at home.

Monday Assembly

I will continue to make this a regular time feature Monday at 10:00am. The next assembly is on Monday 20th April at 10:00am. At this assembly I will share some of the learning from last week that you have been doing at home, share messages and set the next week’s challenge. To connect to the youtube channel please click here.

Online Chat

Staff will be available next week if you or your child want to chat through any learning or just to say hello.. There are always two staff members available to help during school hours.

Share your learning

We are really enjoying seeing all of the things that you have been up to at home. To share them with us please send them to share@harlandsprimary.org or see further details or use the hashtag #harlandsathome. Any work sent to this email address will also be shared on our social media which includes, twitter, facebook, youtube & instagram.

Reception Class

Thank you to all the parents who have signed the consent to allow us to share Tapestry with you. This will be a great way in which parents can also upload and share learning for teachers to view. If you haven't completed this yet then please use the following link.

Finally, if you need help with anything at all please don't hesitate to pick up the phone, email or use the online chat so that we can work together to help and support each other.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Week 2 - Friday 3rd April

Parents / Carers,

So we have made it to the Easter Holidays. I'm guessing you would all like to know about how you can get into teaching? Just let us know and I can point you in the right direction. The school will remain open every day over Easter if parents of key workers need us. During the Easter holidays please don't worry about the learning. Instead try to enjoy your time together with your family. One of the things that my family has enjoyed doing is #Hometasking every couple of days children are sent a new challenge that they can complete at home.

Work after Easter

Work after Easter for Nursery, Reception, Year 1 & Year 2

Work and ideas you can do at home will continue to be posted to the website. This will be published ready for Monday 27th April. You can send in work in the usual way as outlined below.

Work after Easter for Year 5 & 6

Teachers will be using google classroom after Easter and teachers will be setting work on here for you to complete. The benefit of this is that work can be submitted via the classroom and teachers can comment and help you on work produced. This can be found through logging onto your school emails and then in the top right hand corner where the 9 boxes are click on Classroom. Or click the following link. If you need your password resetting don't worry just email us on password@harlandsprimary.org and we will reset this for you.

Work after Easter for Year 3 & 4

Teachers will be using google classroom after Easter and teachers will be setting work on here for you to complete. The benefit of this is that work can be submitted via the classroom and teachers can comment and help you on work produced. As you don't have accounts yet we would ask parents to talk to children about using this safely. A link to school rules can be found here. Next week I will send out emails to parents with details of pupil logins and how to access this.

Online Safety

The government have updated information for parents and carers to include a section on keeping children safe online. It provides links to online resources that will help support parents and carers in keeping their children safe online.

Full details can be found in section 6.3 of the guidance for parents and carers on the closure of educational settings:

Online Chat

If you or your child would like to chat with any teacher during the closure please use the online chat facility on the school website. There are always two staff members available to help during school hours.

Share your learning

We are really enjoying seeing all of the things that you have been up to at home. To share them with us please send them to share@harlandsprimary.org or see further details or use the hashtag #harlandsathome Any work sent to this email address will also be shared on our social media which includes, twitter, facebook, youtube & instagram.

Key Workers

So we have had around 10 children of key workers in school this week most days and staff are working on a rota to ensure that we have provision in place for the next four weeks to continue this support. If your circumstances change and your shifts increase please get in touch.

Free School Meals

If your child usually receives free school meals you should have had an email now with some voucher codes that you can use at many different supermarkets. Please let me if you haven't received them and you think you should have.

Monday Assembly

Thank you for the comments from last weeks assembly. I will try to make this a regular time every Monday at 10:00am. You can tune in on Monday 6th April at 10:00am just after your workout with Jo! At this assembly I will share some of the learning from last week that you have been doing at home. To connect to the youtube channel please click here.

Book Reviews

We have been thinking about how we can encourage children to continue to read so if you have read a book and can write a review of that book we can share that with others as well.

Please see an example of a key stage 1 template and a key stage 2 template or, why not create your own.

Many thanks

Richard Blakeley

Dear Parents / Carers

You are receiving this email because you have signup up your child for childcare at some point in the next four weeks. Please remember to minimise the risk to everyone I stress again to only use this service if you have no other option.

Check in

When coming into school please use the main entrance and your child will be signed in. All children will be required to wash their hands on arrival and regularly throughout the day. We will first confirm with you that you have no other option but to send your child.

We will need to check with you when you arrive the following as your child will be cared for by different staff to usual.

1. Emergency Contact details

2. Allergies

3. Medical details (Including any medicine)

4. Details of who will pick up your child.at the end of the day

What do bring

Much of what we plan to do in school next week will be practical, messy, creative (some outdoor) type activities. Children will therefore not be required to wear school uniform and can wear clothes that are comfortable. They should also wear trainers or similar and have with them warm waterproof clothes. It would also be helpful if they could bring in some wellies.

Lunches

Children who usually receive free school meals (Including all of Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children) will be provided with a packed lunch every day. If you are not in this category and require a school lunch please order this in the usual way. Alternatively you can bring in your own packed lunch.

Illness

If your child becomes ill whilst in school we will isolate them from the other children and call you immediately. Please be as quick as you can to pick up your child (and any siblings) as we are working with minimum staffing levels and wish to reduce the risk of infection to other children and staff. Following the national guidelines, then all family members will need to self isolate for 14 days.

Changes

If your circumstances change and you need to work more and want to change your initial request please don't hesitate to email the office and we will do our best to accommodate you. If you no longer require anything you have booked it would also be helpful if you could email us.

Communication

Please direct all communication through the school office via email or telephone. We will communicate future updates through email should the situation change.

Thank you as ever for your continued support and understanding.

Richard Blakeley

Dear Parents / Carers

Thank you very much for your support and kind words from so many of you at this difficult time.

The Government early this morning produced a list of 'Key Workers' which can be found here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

I have updated the first form we sent out on Wednesday which can be found here. https://forms.gle/bXb917C2xyHS5bfc7 If you have already filled it out this doesn't need to be done again.

A reminder that this should only be used if it is essential and that all other childcare options have been explored. I have a duty to protect my own staff as well as their families. Remember the purpose of closing schools in the first place is limit contact with others and therefore minimise the chance of infection.

Please also fill out the second form for each child to indicate which days you will need provision in line with your working pattern. https://forms.gle/68TU3usk6CtK4MBp7

I realise that things will probably change and you may be drafted into work so if they do just email us at the school office.

Thank you again for your support.

Richard Blakeley

Headteacher

Harlands School, Nursery & Breakfast Club will close from Friday 20th March until further notice.

We are required to offer childcare for essential key workers.

For us to be able to establish the necessary staffing please complete the form using this link. A list of Key Workers will be clarified by the Government on Thursday 19th

Work for children will be provided on the school website from Monday morning.

Dear Parents/Carers,

As you are probably aware, the government’s response to the COVID-19 virus has moved from the ‘contain’ phase to one of delaying the spread of the virus. We are contacting you to inform you of what we are doing in light of this, and what we expect from all of you, to help ensure our school community keeps safe and calm.

Even as I am writing this I am aware that this is an extremely dynamic situation which I will need to continue to monitor, seek advice on and respond swiftly to as required.

We would like to reassure you that at Harlands school we are taking all of the necessary steps to protect our community and are continuing to follow official guidance from the government and East Sussex authority.

What is the current situation?

• The school remains open – in line with the current official guidance

• All school functions continue to run as normal, this includes Breakfast Club, Nursery and after school clubs

• Pupils should attend unless they feel unwell – if your child has either of the following symptoms they should remain at home for 7 days:

• a new, continuous cough – this means they are coughing repeatedly - and/or

• a high temperature - this means they feel hot to touch on their chest or back

• If your child is unwell, report this in the usual way to the school office

• We will keep you up to date with any changes to the current situation.

What we are doing to protect and support pupils and staff?

• If a child is ill at school we will contact you in the usual way

• Our cleaners follow the national guidance on infection and control procedures

• We have taught the children how to wash hands using the NHS guidelines

• Teachers are using various strategies learnt in Mental Health week to help children deal with increased levels of anxiety.

What we need you to do?

• If you have recently changed your contact details, please inform the school office as soon as possible via the office email address or phone number

• Talk to your children about the coronavirus. It is a scary time and we should make sure children feel supported. BBC Newsround has regular updates for younger children and YoungMinds has practical steps older children can take to help with anxiety

• Come and collect your child straight away, if we ask you to (we will contact you if they become ill with either a high temperature or a new, continuous cough).

What happens if the school has to close?

We will only close if we are either officially advised to do so or we do not have enough staff to run the school. In either case:

• Parents will be notified via the school website www.harlandsprimary.org of school closures and subsequent re-opening

• Work set for pupils during a school closure will be available on the class pages of the school website.

Please keep in mind that we are only sending out this information to help the school community prepare. There are currently no plans to close.

If you have any questions

Please consult the:

• School office, if you have any questions about our response to this issue

• NHS, if you want to know more about the symptoms of coronavirus. If you think you or your child may have the symptoms, use NHS 111 online if at all possible before calling 111

• Department for Education’s coronavirus helpline: 0800 046 8687, if you have any questions about the government’s response to coronavirus in relation to schools

• Government’s travel advice, if you want to know whether any upcoming trip or holiday you are taking abroad should go ahead

It is a tricky time and we know you are worried about the impact this might have on our community. It is important we keep each other safe and talk about these events to help with any anxiety.

Thank you for your continued support.

Richard Blakeley