Firefighter assembly interrupted by 999!

One of the highlights of this week was a visit to Thursday’s assembly by the local firefighting team. We were really looking forward to hear from Glenn and the team about how important Bonfire Safety is, and how to stay safe in the autumn. What we didn’t expect was that the firefighters would get a call out at 8.50am right in the middle of their assembly!

Thankfully they left us their slides, and returned a bit later. We were able to learn all about the importance of staying safe around fireworks and how organised events are safer. We also reminded ourselves about the CVPS forest school fire safety rules such as the ‘respect’ position, allowing us to ‘jump back’. Firefighter Glenn explained to us all about his firefighting role and what sort of things he does to help people.

School attendance and sickness

It has been a horrendous week for school in terms of sickness and absences. We have had sickness and diarrhoea illnesses, flu type symptoms (after negative Covid PCRs) and a larger number of Covid positive cases particularly throughout Y5 and Y2. And it hasn’t just been children – as we had one day with 6 (or 20%) of our staff off school poorly too. No-one is more passionate about learning than our staff team, but with teachers off as well as admin staff and assistant teachers, we have really struggled to put up as much of the usual remote learning as we would have liked and it has been a challenge just getting through each day. We are hopeful that these seasonal infections will ease off and we hope that we can get back to normal as soon as possible. Thank you so much for supporting the school’s sickness policy and being patient with us this week.

COVID Update

Covid rates in the community continue to rise and Cramlington now tops the leader board in Northumberland. There are 995 cases per 100,000 in Cramlington West!
We have had 4 confirmed cases of Covid in Y2 and the same in Y5. Both classes are now working to the Covid Contingency plan as listed on our website.

A huge thank you to all the families who have kept children who are ‘close contacts’ of positive test outcomes at home for remote learning for the 3-5 day incubation period. It has been an absolute godsend as some have actually tested positive subsequently which has meant that we have limited the spread of this disruptive virus. We really appreciate this and know it has not always been easy.

PCR testing

The quickest way to get back to normal if your child has any of the Covid symptoms (including the main three as well as other milder ones) is to seek an appointment online at the local drive through test centre where results are coming back in some cases less than 12 hours from the test.
If you do not have a car – please ask school for one AS SOON AS YOUR CHILD IS SENT HOME. The PCRs which are home test kits take 3-5 days which means less time at school which I know is not popular with both children and their parents!

Harvest, Christmas and our very own School Song!

As explained above, the past two weeks we have found it incredibly challenging in school to sustain the usual routines and so I have taken the really difficult decision that we will not go ahead with our usual Harvest celebrations this year but instead we will collect donations after half term for the local food banks.

However we have booked our usual Christmas Carol service at St Nicholas Church in December. Tuesday the 14th December we will hold our Christmas Carol service complete with nativity for the youngest children at St Nicholas Church in Cramlington Village. We are asking that the children have one adult per family per service. Reception and Year 1 and 2 will be from 1.30 to 2.30pm and then Y3, 4, 5 and 6 from 2.30 to 3.30pm. We ask that as difficult as it will be for you to come alone (without younger siblings) that you try as much as possible to do this. Please let a member of staff know if this is likely to present a problem as we are just trying to make live versions possible as restrictions ease. As far as we know most other local schools are doing recorded versions of the usual Christmas events so we are trying to push for face to face services, but to do so responsibly in terms of minimising Covid risks.

Beccy Owen is a musician, singer, songwriter, performer, producer, musical director and sound designer and she comes to us highly recommended as a ‘Musician in residence’ next half term as part of our ‘What’s our musical story?’ topic. We can’t wait to hear from her and meet her in person straight after half term.
We hope to be able to sing our first live version of our very own school song that we are recording and composing with Beccy at our Christmas Carol Service. We are so fortunate to have commissioned her for the next half term.

Reading successes

A special mention has to go to Reception children as 81% achieved their goal to read at home at least five times this week. We are so so proud of this as it will set you all up for some really strong progress in your reading. Huge well done to everyone – extra playtime for being the highest number of ‘5 times readers’ this week in Y3 – their cheer in assembly said it all! I have to say that the most improved has definitely been the Y1 class – who struggled just three weeks ago to get more than 40% of the class reading often. They too are now 71%. Well done to our youngest children in school and especially their families who are such important factors in successful readers!

Paul’s outdoor idea

Let’s think about numbers in nature this week and how we can combine Mathematics and Art with some outdoor fun. I would like you to choose a number and make that number in a creative way using natural materials you have found in your garden or surrounding area. My favourite numbers are 17 and 56 so I would love to see those numbers. You could use conkers, acorns or maybe some rocks or pebbles. Take a photo of your creation and let me see some on the class Facebook pages.

Achievement Awards

Kindness champion – Charlotte Murray; Swimmer of the week – Sieannah Nicholson
Children achieving gold – YR (not reported last week) Theia Black, Charlie Thirlwell and Harrison Rowlandson, Y1 – Jensen Atkinson