Important Update - COVID-19 (30.12.20)

Good evening Clockhouse 

As I am sure you are aware, this evening the Secretary of State for Education made a statement in which he said that schools in some areas will not be reopening next week due to the increased infection rate. It is with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that Havering and therefore Clockhouse has been named as one of the areas where it is deemed rates are too high to reopen schools. This is certainly not the start of the year that we wanted but it is a necessity to ensure the safety of the children, staff and community.

I have now read the guidance in full which clearly states that schools remain closed until at least 18^th January by which time the situation will be reviewed. Next week school will only reopen for face-to-face contact with those children’s whose parents are deemed to be critical workers or children who are deemed to be vulnerable. All other children will be learning remotely and we will be in touch about this in due course, once we have had time to plan.

As I am sure you are aware, the Government’s definition of a ‘critical worker’ and a ‘vulnerable child’ is, as in March, extensive and, unless we plan carefully, we may not be able to support families and workers that require this help the most whilst also providing education for those at home. Please be aware that in order to provide an education for all pupils we will only have a small workforce able to actually be in school. Therefore please think about the below carefully.

As previously, we must emphasise that if your work is critical to the Covid-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors AND you cannot keep your child safe at home, then your children will be prioritised for educational provision. Many parents working in these critical sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. Every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.

Please be aware that, again, we will be asking for evidence which shows that you are a key worker e.g. your identification card and that you are the only person in your household who can look after your child / children. We may also need to get in touch with you via telephone to gain some extra clarification.

Please complete the information below and as far as is possible return this to school by 1pm tomorrow (Thursday) so that we can plan. Please return the information to office@clockhouse.havering.sch.uk

Your child’s / children’s names:
Year groups:
Class(es)
Your job role:
Best number to contact you on:
Your spouse’s / partner’s role (if you are not a single parent family):
Will you need supervision for your child next week? Yes/No?
Days that supervision will be needed next week:
My child / children will need lunch provided by the school – Yes / No
If No, will you potentially need supervision in future weeks? Yes / No?
Any other information you feel we need to know:

We understand many of you are shift workers but please can we ask that you try your best to let us know what care you will need next week.

Please be aware that sadly we will not be able to provide any extracurricular clubs and, it is with regret that we are not able to offer Wrap Around Care.

There is further information and guidance regarding what constitutes a Critical Worker or what deems a child to be vulnerable. This can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision#critical-workers

I would urge you to read this information carefully before responding to this email.

It is important to reassure you that we will continue to make school as safe as possible for children. The fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.

As always thank you for your on-going support, respect and understanding at such a difficult time. Again I would like to urge that, where at all possible, children should stay at home to prevent the spread of the virus anymore. In order for us to remain open for our critical workers, I also have to ensure staff remain fit and healthy so would ask you to consider this carefully before responding. Further details about arrangements for next week for the whole school community will be sent in due course.

Thank you as always for your continued support.
Kind regards
Jo Savidge

Tying a tie in Year 6

As part of our life skills curriculum, this term Year 6 were learning how to tie a tie. They had lots of fun learning this skill and hopefully the children are now showing this at home! Please send us any pictures!

The Best Clockhouse Christmas Ever!

We really do hope the children enjoyed the lead up to Christmas and, considering the latest announcement, as a staff we are so pleased we put so much effort into make it the best Clockhouse Christmas ever! Here are the final few pictures!

Any feedback gratefully received.

Decorating the playground!

Our outdoor Christmas Tree

Happy Christmas to our Community

SLT ready to serve Christmas lunch

The Nursery looking very festive with their amazing Winstons

Father Christmas comes to town

Bella wins a PS5 following the OCA raffle

December Newsletter

Please be aware of the December Newsletter which can be found below as well as a link to a PDF version.

December Newsletter

Our Christmas Wreaths

We thought you would like to see our amazing wreaths. 

This year, as part of making this the best Clockhouse Christmas Ever, each class took part in a wreath competition. It was such a hard decision to choose the best one as you can see from the fabulous entries below. 

We are, however, delighted to announce, after careful consideration, that the Greenland wreath, which is the first one that you can see, are the winners of the competition. Well done to everyone and to our winners!

 

Our 3 R's winners

As you know, each half term the children choose a Core Award winner for their class. This is an award which was devised by the children to recognise those children who consistently demonstrate meeting the 3 R's of Ready, Respectful and Responsible.

All the children below were chosen by their class this half term for continually demonstrating that they are 

Ready, Respectful and Responsible

Wales – Kristina D

Scotland – Isla Rae W

Northern Ireland – Cassie Y

France – Lily Mai J

Italy – Jack B

Spain – Oliver L

USA – Amelia R

Canada – Mariyah K

Mexico – Jacob W

Peru – Annabelle L

Argentina – Aaron P

Brazil – Holly D and Emily S

Uganda – Fabian S and Olivia W

South Africa – Jessica P

Kenya – Ronnie C

China – Jacob L

Japan – Charlotte T

India – Mia A

Australia – Lula K-G

New Zealand – Megan H

Fiji – Harry T

Greenland - Jack D-F 

Well done everyone, a great achievement for great Clockhouse citizens!

Important Covid Update - 17th December 2020. Please read!

Dear Parents / Carers

As we come to the end of a very different, difficult but none the less successful term, I write to outline the plans regarding Covid over the Christmas holiday and for the return to school. Please read the below carefully as it is important!

You only need to inform the school of a child receiving a positive test if the symptoms appeared within 48 hours of them last being in school. Please inform us using Class Dojo or by emailing office@clockhouse.havering.sch.uk. A member of the team will then contact you. We will then follow the necessary steps in terms of contact tracing. As a school we are required to contact trace up until Christmas Eve, therefore please do keep an eye on the Dojo and please do answer calls that come from an unknown number as it could be us! If we inform you that your child has come into close contact with a positive test case before the end of term, they must self-isolate your child up to the date that we give you.

If the symptoms appear after 48 hours of the last being in school, you should follow the contact tracing instructions provided by the NHS Test and Trace. You can also inform the school using the above channels but there would be no further action for us to take.

As you are aware, even though it is Christmas it is still vital that you of arrange for your child to be tested as soon as symptoms appear and that the household isolate until results are received. We would strongly advise that you do NOT order a home test, but that you book an appointment at a local test center as you will receive the results far quicker.

As you may be aware all school staff have been asked to take two Covid tests over the Christmas break, one at the beginning and one at the end of the holiday to support the fight against the virus and identify people who are asymptomatic. As a school we fully support this. You may already be aware that with asymptomatic testing you are not required to isolate whilst you await results, obviously this is up to individual staff. However, at the Headteacher of our school, I truly believe we have worked so hard to keep everyone as safe as possible and do not feel comfortable with the idea of bringing staff and children back into school without knowing staffs results. We have therefore made the difficult decision to move an Inset Day later in the year to Tuesday 5^th January. This means that the children will not return to school until Wednesday 6^th January. We understand this may be difficult for you, but I already anticipate increased disruption to education in January but this is another control measure we can put in place to further control and reduce the risk to all.

I apologies for any inconvenience caused but hope that you can support our decision. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

As always, thank you for you on-going support. It is such a tough time for us all, in so many different ways but we are in it together and will get thought it together.

Happy Christmas Clockhouse, here’s hoping we will not be in touch over the holiday!

Looking forward to a better 2021.

Kind regards

Mrs Savidge

Wonderful Winter Performances

A big well done to all the children who zoomed their Winter Performances to other classes today.

The children did so well performing and really enjoyed watching children from across the school - they were such a good audience! Even the Governors joined us and had a great time!

Well done everyone!