Half-term FSM vouchers

Kent County Council has announced vouchers for food are available during half-term for families whose children are eligible for benefits related free school meals, so that no Kent child goes hungry.

A dedicated helpline has been set up. Families who apply will receive one supermarket voucher of £15 per child.

Anyone eligible for free school meals who needs extra financial support to help feed their children can now visit www.kent.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals or call the dedicated helpline on 03000 41 24 24. Families have until next Monday 2^nd November 5pm to apply.

Meanwhile, the KentTogether helpline remains open for any other Kent resident who needs support with food, collection of medication and prescriptions and other urgent needs during the pandemic, 24 hours a day. You can get help by visiting www.kent.gov.uk/kenttogether  or calling 03000 41 92 92.

Welcome back to school everyone!

We are now fully open and protective measures are in place to ensure a safe return for all of our children. These are in line with the government guidance and our risk assessment. 

Drop off and Collection

• Please do not arrive earlier or later than your child’s allocated time. The only exception is for siblings. Siblings can be dropped off at the time your youngest child starts and collected at the time your oldest child finishes. However, parents may choose to drop off and collect siblings separately.

• Please do not pull over into the school drive to drop children off.

• Please keep to the one-way system on the drive and maintain social distancing.

• Please don’t congregate anywhere on the school drive.

• Unfortunately, parents cannot come onto the school site. This includes the office. Please phone or email the office with any queries. We do need to keep the queue moving at drop off and collection times so staff are unable to hold conversations at the gate. Please email or phone the office if you would like to arrange a telephone appointment.

Illness/coronavirus symptoms

Children must not be sent to school if they, or if anyone in your household, has coronavirus symptoms.  If a child presents with any COVID-19 symptoms during the school day, they will be isolated and a parent will be called to collect their child immediately.  Parents will need to arrange a test and inform the school of the result as soon as possible.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/get-an-antigen-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/

Uniform/PE

Children must wear school uniform and shoes, unless it is their PE day. No jewellery is to be worn and long hair must be tied back.

 On PE days, children must come to school in PE kit (black/navy shorts or black jogging bottoms and a white T-shirt plus trainers).

Lunch

All KS1 children are eligible for Universal Free School Meals (packed lunch).  However, parents may prefer to provide their own packed lunch.

Key Stage 2 children who are not eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) must bring a packed lunch.

Key Stage 2 children who are eligible for FSM will be provided with a packed lunch.

Attendance

This following is taken directly from the government guidance:

School attendance will therefore be mandatory again from the beginning of the autumn term. This means from that point, the usual rules on school attendance will apply.

Items that can be brought to school

Children can only bring a named water bottle, book bag and lunch box to school.  Children must have a water bottle as the water fountains have been turned off for hygiene reasons. Key Stage 1 children cannot bring rucksacks to school.

KS1 children will be provided with fruit for break time from Monday 7^th September. KS2 children can bring a piece of fruit for break time.

Only children in Yr 6, whose parents have given written permission for their child to walk home alone, can bring a mobile phone (which will be switched off and handed in to Mrs. Gardiner). Children cannot bring anything else to school- including pencil cases.

Reading books

Teachers will begin to send reading books home during the week beginning 7^th September. When reading books are returned to school, they will be stored for 72 hours before being used again.

Masks

The current government guidance is that primary children should not wear masks in school: ‘because misuse may inadvertently increase the risk of transmission’.  If children wear masks on the journey to school, parents will need to remove them at the drop off point and take them home.

Hand sanitiser

Key Stage 2 classrooms all have a hand sanitiser dispenser as these classrooms do not contain sinks. If your child is allergic to hand sanitiser, please email the office to let us know.

Returning from holiday

If your family has been on holiday to a country on the government’s quarantine list and you are therefore isolating for 14 days, please email office@charlton.kent.sch.uk to let us know. We will also need to know the date of your return to the UK.

Important links

COVID-19 Testing guidance

Guidance on coronavirus testing, including who is eligible for a test and how to get tested:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested

NHS advice and how to ask for a test:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/ask-for-a-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/

Updated government guidance on social distancing

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing/staying-alert-and-safe-social-distancing

What happens if someone becomes unwell at an educational or childcare setting?
 If anyone in the school becomes unwell with a new and persistent cough or a high temperature, or has a loss of, or change in, their normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia), they must be sent home and advised to follow ‘stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection’, which sets out that they should self-isolate for at least 10 days and should arrange to have a test to see if they have coronavirus (COVID-19).

If they have tested positive whilst not experiencing symptoms but develop symptoms during the isolation period, they should restart the 10 day isolation period from the day they develop symptoms.

This only applies to those who begin their isolation on or after 30 July.

Other members of their household (including any siblings) should self-isolate for 14 days from when the symptomatic person first had symptoms.

If a child is awaiting collection, they should be moved, if possible, to a room where they can be isolated behind a closed door, depending on the age and needs of the child, with appropriate adult supervision if required. Ideally, a window should be opened for ventilation. If it is not possible to isolate them, move them to an area which is at least 2 metres away from other people.

If they need to go to the bathroom while waiting to be collected, they should use a separate bathroom if possible. The bathroom must be cleaned and disinfected using standard cleaning products before being used by anyone else.

PPE must be worn by staff caring for the child while they await collection if a distance of 2 metres cannot be maintained (such as for a very young child or a child with complex needs). More information on PPE use can be found in the safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) guidance.

 Taken from the latest government guidance (August 2020)

Communication

We will continue to update parents with any new information we receive via SchoolComms (as well as school website updates) so it is vital that the office has your most up to date contact details.

Unfortunately, parents are unable to come into school at this time.

Please phone or email the office with any queries: office@charlton.kent.sch.uk

Well-being and mental health

Please click on the following link for advice on mental health from Public Health England:

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/

Please also the document below:

Government/NHS guidance on Coronavirus

Please click on the following links for the latest information from Public Health England:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-guidance

Please click on the following link for the NHS Covid-19 advice:

https://111.nhs.uk/service/covid-19

BBC Newsround has some useful child appropriate articles you may wish to share with your child:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51698180