Friday 4th December 2020

To Parents/Carers,

COVID-19 update:

I wrote to you last week to report an unconfirmed positive case at school. This has been confirmed as a positive case so all actions we took were correct. There have been no further cases and the case is now in good health. Staff and pupils who have been isolating will return to school on Wednesday 9th December.

Unfortunately, we have had situations where some families have not been following guidance and so I must remind everyone:

If anyone displays symptoms of COVID-19, no matter how mild, then they and their household must complete the appropriate self-isolation period until the person with symptoms receives a negative test result.

You must not send your child to school if anyone they live with is displaying symptoms of COVID-19.

You must not send your child to school if they are displaying symptoms of COVID-19, even if they are mild. 

If you child develops symptoms of COVID-19 in school then you will be contacted to collect your child immediately. 

If your child displays any symptom of COVID-19 and takes a test, then you must phone school to discuss the results of the test. Even if a child tests negative then public health advise that they should not return to school until they are symptom free for 48 hours. School and family will make the decision if a child is fit to return to school. This decision is not to be made by transport and families should not be contacting transport to make arrangements without schools knowledge. 

Christmas:

The festive period is always a very happy time in school and it is with real sadness that we have had to cancel our usual events. We are still trying to keep some celebrations in place and allow the children to have a positive end to the term. 

Friday 11th December will be Christmas jumper day. Your child is invited to wear a Christmas jumper to school that day. We will not be taking any donations in school.

Wednesday 16th December will be Christmas dinner. If your child normally has a school dinner then they will be eating the school prepared Christmas dinner that day. If your child does not normally have a school dinner but you would like them to have the Christmas dinner then please contact us to make arrangements for this.

On Thursday 17th December, Father Christmas will be visiting school in an appropriately socially distanced way! 

We will be doing our usual end of term talent show on Friday 18th December but classes will take part remotely and watch each other from their classes.

We are still very happy for your child to bring Christmas cards into school for their friends. In line with our COVID risk assessment, any cards that come into school will be kept in school for 3 days before being sent home. To allow time for this, the last day we can accept Christmas cards is Tuesday 15th December. 

Classes will also be doing festive activities and as part of our modern foreign languages curriculum, we will be exploring Germany in the last week. Your child’s class teacher will write to you with about any class specific events.

As you are all aware, this is my last term at Cherry Oak School and I will be leaving to take up a Head Teacher position at a new school in January. My last day at Cherry Oak School will be Friday 18th December. You will hopefully have seen the update that a new Head Teacher, Ross Ashcroft, has been appointed to start at Cherry Oak School in January. Ross is spending some time in school and we are working closely to ensure a smooth handover. 

Warm Regards

Amy Findlay, Head of School