Latest News | Cherry Oak School

Free School meals National Department for Education Scheme - Information for Parents

Fri 03 Apr 2020 Julie Fardell

National Free School Voucher Scheme

The National Free School Meal Voucher Scheme is now in the process of being set up, once we have collated parent emails for those pupils who are eligible by benefit-related free school meals, parents will start to receive weekly E-Codes which will be sent to their chosen email address they provided to school.

When you receive your 16 digit E-Code, you will need to access www.freeschoolmeals.co.uk to choose your preferred supermarket E-Gift card which will be worth £15.00. You will not be able to use the E-Code directly with retailers, it must be exchanged for an E-Gift card.

Parent & Carer FAQ’s

How do I use my E-code to select a supermarket E-Gift Card?

Copy the code from your email
Go to www.freeschoolmeals.co.uk
Enter the 16 digit E-Code (you can enter more than one if you have more than one to redeem)
Select your preferred supermarket
Enter the amount and add to basket
Checkout and enter the email address you would like the E-Gift card sent to
Your E-Gift card will be processed and sent (please allow up to 3 hours for it to be delivered to your inbox)

What Supermarkets can I pick from?

Morrisons
Tesco
Sainsbury’s
Asda
Waitrose (John Lewis)
M&S Food

How do I know what the value of the E-Code is?

The value will be stated in the email sent to you by school. This has been set at £15.00 per week for one child. If you have two children attending school you may receive one E-Code at £30.00 or two E-Codes at £15.00

Do I have to use the full value of the E-Code when choosing my E-Gift card?

Yes, your balance will be visible on the webpage

Can I choose to redeem my E-Code at more than one supermarket?

Yes you can mix and match different supermarket retailers within the same order provided that the total you have chosen for each is equal to the value of the E-Code you have entered. For example, a £15.00 E-Code, you could choose £10.00 Tesco and £5.00 Sainsbury’s
Simply enter the value you would like to order on each supermarket E-Gift card and your balance will update automatically

How long do I have to redeem the E-Code? And what happens if my E-Code has expired?

Your E-Code will expire after 1 month
If your E-Code has expired, it will be cancelled and the money associated is then returned to the Department of Education

What can I purchase in-store with the E-Gift Card?

The E-Gift card is issued to you in respect of the Free School Meal benefit and will only be accepted for the purchase of food and groceries

How do I use a supermarket E-Gift card?

A supermarket E-Gift card is a digital voucher. It contains a link to a barcode which can be presented at the till in-store on a smartphone screen or printed piece of paper
Some E-Gift cards can be used to purchase online groceries please see the table below:

My School has ordered an E-Code for me, but is hasn’t come through to my email?

Check your Junk / Spam / Clutter mail
If this still hasn’t arrived within 3 hours, please contact us via enquiries@cherryoak.bham.sch.uk
We can cancel the previously sent E-Code and resend to your correct email address

I have ordered an E-Gift Card and it hasn’t come through to my Email?

Check your Junk / Spam / Clutter mail
You will receive two emails – one will be a confirmation order and the second email will be the E-Code. If your order confirmation email has arrived, then your E-Card is in a queue and is on its way.
If you have received neither emails, it is possible that you have entered your email address incorrectly at checkout. If you think this maybe the case, please contact freeschoolmealsparentscarers@edenred.com

I am not able to get to the supermarket?

You can forward the supermarket E-Gift card to someone else to purchase goods on your behalf if you are unable to get to the supermarket. The E-Gift card email contains a link to a barcode which can be presented at the till in-store.

Free School Meals Vouchers Update

Tue 31 Mar 2020 Amy Findlay Head of School

We have had information today that the government scheme to give eligible pupils free school meal vouchers will be launching this week. If your child is entitled to a free school meal, their class teacher will be phoning you to talk through how you would like to receive the voucher. The most ideal method is for you to receive the voucher electronically by email. This will then give you flexibility on where you can spend the voucher and will enable you to receive the voucher straight away. Please see the guidance for further details including which supermarkets are included in the scheme.

Amy Findlay Head of School

Update - Government free school meal voucher scheme

Thu 26 Mar 2020 Amy Findlay Head of School

You have probably heard that the government has promised that all children who are eligible for a free school meal when they are in school will be receiving vouchers to support parents with buying their food. We are still waiting on the official government scheme to come into operation. We know that some schools have already started using different systems to give parents vouchers. However, we feel the best thing for our families is to ensure we use the official scheme so that we don't cause you any unnecessary stress or problems at this difficult time. By using the scheme you will have more flexibility on where the vouchers can be spent. Please be patient whilst we wait on official guidance to ensure you get what you are entitled to in the most efficient way.

The vouchers will only be given to children who are entitled to free school meals because their family circumstances mean they meet the eligibility criteria. All children in Early Years and Key Stage one receive a 'Universal Infant Free School Meal' no matter what their circumstances. This is not the same thing as 'Free School Meals' and will not result in you receiving vouchers unless you meet the eligibility criteria.

The government scheme for vouchers will be using the information that we provided in the last census in January 2020. Only children whose family had provided school with proof of their eligibility for free school meals were recorded as been entitled to a free school meal. Unfortunately if you had not provided that evidence to school or did not meet the eligibility criteria then you child will not have been recorded as being entitled to free school meals.

Please look at this document if you are unsure whether your child is eligible for free school meals:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/266587/free-school-meals-and-poverty.pdf

We will let you know when the scheme is ready and how you will be receiving the vouchers.

Amy Findlay Head of School

Cherry Oak School Will Remain Closed Until At Least Monday 20th April

Wed 25 Mar 2020 Amy Findlay Head of School

Thank you for your continued support and patience throughout this difficult time.

I wanted to let you know that Cherry Oak School will remain closed until Monday 20th April at the earliest. I am currently not in a position to update you on plans beyond this date as the situation is continually changing.

This decision has not been taken lightly and is key to ensuring we are all following government guidance to stay in our own homes unless it is completely necessary.

We understand the pressures that you are all under in these circumstances and we want to do all we can to support you. In order to support you our staff are busy working from home and will be continually updating the website and providing resources for you. As part of our support and to ensure we can continue our legal duty to safeguard all of our pupils at Cherry Oak School, your child's class teacher or a member of the senior management/leadership team will be phoning you at least twice a week. It is important that you support us to maintain this contact. When someone calls the call will come up as 'no caller id'. Unfortunately we are not able to give you a number to phone back on. If you are not able to answer then a voicemail will be left asking you to email to arrange an alternative time. Your child's teacher's email address is on our keeping in touch page.

Again, I want to reinforce the message I gave yesterday:

Stay at home

Protect the NHS

Save Lives

Take care and continue to stay safe.

Amy Findlay Head of School

Cherry Oak School Closed March 25th

Tue 24 Mar 2020 Amy Findlay Head of School

Cherry Oak School will remain closed tomorrow, Wednesday 25th March 2020.

You will no doubt have heard the news that movement outside of your home is significantly restricted and we are working to ensure that all of our pupils and staff can follow this advice. At the beginning of the week we were offering full time childcare places to parents and carers who work as critical workers and our most vulnerable pupils and had hoped to operate part time provision to those that needed it. However, we now feel we can not safely risk assess this. Thank you to the parents who were expecting a childcare place and have now been able to make alternative arrangements. I firmly believe that every child who can be safely cared for at home should be. I can not stress enough that these are extraordinary times that require extraordinary measures. The days, weeks and months ahead will be tricky and we need everyone to play their part. We are all having to make difficult decisions and disrupt our normal everyday lives.

Stay at home

Protect the NHS

Save Lives

Amy Findlay Head of School

Special School Nursing Service

Tue 24 Mar 2020

Please click on the links below to find for information regadring the Special School Nursing Service:

Cherry Oak School Closed March 24th

Mon 23 Mar 2020 Amy Findlay Head of School

Following the announcement made this evening by the Prime Minister Cherry Oak School will be CLOSED to ALL pupils tomorrow 24th March 2020.

We will post further information tomorrow.

Coronavirus Information in 23 languages

Fri 20 Mar 2020 Julie Fardell

Click on the link to find information on Coronavirus in 23 community languages.

https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/coronavirus-information/

Childcare Provision Timetable 23rd March - 3rd April

Fri 20 Mar 2020 Amy Findlay Head of School

Acorn Class will be open to pupils on

Mon 23rd March, Thu 26th March & Wed 1st April

Bluebells Class will be open to pupils on

Mon 23rd March, Thu 26th March & Wed 1st April

Clover Class will be open to pupils on

Tue 24th March, Fri 27th March, Thu 2nd April

Elm Class will be open to pupils on

Wed 25th March, Mon 30th March, Fri 3rd April

Fern Class will be open to pupils on

Tue 24th March, Fri 27th March, Thu 2nd April

Maple Class will be open to pupils on

Wed 25th March, Mon 30th March, Thu 2nd April

Pine Class will be open to pupils on

Thu 26th March, Tue 31st March, Fri 3rd April

Rowan Class will be open to pupils on

Tue 24th Mar, Mon 30th March, Wed 1st April

Sycamore Class will be open to pupils on

Wed 25th March, Tue 31st March, Fri 3rd April

Willow Class will be open to pupils on

Mon 23rd March , Fri 27th March, Tue 31st March

Childcare Provision at Cherry Oak School

Fri 20 Mar 2020 Amy Findlay Head of School

Friday 20th March 2020

To Parents/Carers

Once again I would like to thank you all for all your support and understanding during this difficult time for us all. The situation has been made more difficult by schools not receiving all the clear guidance that they need and we have had to work with the information we are given whilst continually risk assessing what is right for our pupils, families and staff.

From next week, schools will not continue to run as educational establishments.

The government has advised that parents and carers keep their children at home however they have also asked us to provide care for the most vulnerable. As you are aware, all the children that attend Cherry Oak School have an EHCP and so are considered ‘vulnerable’.

We are currently in the fortunate position at Cherry Oak that we will be able to offer some form of childcare to our pupils for the next 10 school days up to and including Friday 3rd April. In the current circumstances we have decided to cancel our staff training day so we can be open as childcare providers. Our childcare provision will operate in normal school hours from 8.50 am to 3.10 pm. We will run this provision whilst it is safe to do so. We will update you if further guidance or our risk assessments result in us having to alter or withdraw this provision.

Due to the current low staffing levels that we have, we are not able to offer full time childcare places to all of our children. We have spoken to the majority of our families and many of you have already informed us that you feel you will be the ones to look after them. We are providing all parents with education resources so that we can continue delivering, as far as we can, the education part of their EHCP. For our most vulnerable children who have complex social and health care needs we are offering them a full time childcare place. We are also offering full time childcare places to children who have a parent who has been classed as a ‘key worker’. If your child falls into one of these categories then we have personally contacted you today. If you have not been contacted you can presume that it is our understanding that your child does not fall into this category. If you feel this is an error on our part please contact us immediately to discuss this.

For the rest of our pupils who do not fall into this category we are able to offer a part time place at our childcare provision on a rota. Due to limited staffing, it is essential that children only come into school on their allocated day. We will not be able to accept children unless it is their allocated day. Pupils are invited in on the following days:

MONDAY 23/03/2020	TUESDAY 24/03/2020	WEDNESDAY 25/03/2020	THURSDAY 26/03/2020	FRIDAY 27/03/2020
Acorns	Fern	Elm	Pine	Willow
Bluebells	Clover	Maple	Acorns	Fern
Willow	Rowan	Sycamore	Bluebells	Clover

MONDAY 30/03/2020	TUESDAY 31/03/2020	WEDNESDAY 1/4/2020	THURSDAY 2/4/2020	FRIDAY 3/4/2020
Rowan	Sycamore	Acorns	Fern	Elm
Elm	Pine	Bluebells	Clover	Pine
Maple	Willow	Rowan	Maple	Sycamore

This plan has allowed us to offer all children 3 days over the next 2 weeks at normal school hours. Please see the breakdown of the rota to ensure you are clear on which days your child can come.

At this point in time, transport is still offering a service. We have notified transport of our arrangements so transport will be in place on the days your child is being offered a childcare place if they usually access transport. Please be patient with transport as it is likely that the routes and timings will run differently. On the morning of a day your child can access a childcare place please be ready for the bus. We are currently unable to give you any details on timing.

The guidance for self-isolating will take priority over children coming to school to access their childcare place. If you have already informed us you are self-isolating you must continue with this until you have reached the required days. Any child who presents with symptoms of COVID-19 must self-isolate for 7 days and if anyone in the household presents with symptoms of COVID-19 then the whole family must self-isolate for 14 days. Any child who presents with symptoms of COVID-19 in school must be collected by parents immediately.

We will continue to ask all non-essential visitors to stay away from school and there will be no planned meetings with parents taking place. I previously informed you that although parents evening would not be taking place that teachers would phone parents. Due to the current staffing levels, teachers will not be able to phone parents. If you have an urgent concern regarding your child’s progress that you wish to discuss with the school please make an arrangement with the school office to speak to a member of staff.

We are still waiting on guidance of the arrangements that will be put in place for children that are entitled to a free school meal and will not be accessing a full time childcare place. In the meantime, if your child is entitled to a free school meal and is not accessing a full time childcare place then please phone school directly if you would like to make arrangements to collect this.

Please continue to monitor the school website for updates and ensure you are using the website to access the education resources we have provided.

Finally, I feel it is incredibly important to thank all of the amazing staff at Cherry Oak who are continuing to come to work in these challenging times. It is a true reflection of their dedication to our pupils and families.

Warm Regards

Amy Findlay

Head of School