Please see the message below from Durham University:

We are back running sport and activity camps from Monday 21st to Friday 25th February at our state of the art Sports and Wellbeing Park. The camps are available to all 5-11 year olds and can be booked on a day to day basis. Costs are £15 per day (09.30am-4.30pm) with a small charge for wraparound care from 08.30am and until 5.30pm each day.

Click here to see a short video about what happens at our Holiday Camps.

To book a place for your child, please click here.

 

Please see the message below from Durham County Council:

FAO parents of Y5 & Y6 children

Please see the information below from Durham Music Service:

Durham Music Training Choir poster PDF January 2022

Please see the information below from the Department for Education:

Changes to the self-isolation period for those who test positive for COVID-19

From Monday 17 January, people who are self-isolating with COVID-19 will have the option to reduce their isolation period after 5 full days if they test negative with a lateral flow device (LFD) test on both day 5 and day 6 and they do not have a temperature. For example, if they test negative on the morning of day 5 and the morning of day 6, they can return to their education or childcare setting immediately on day 6.

The first test must be taken no earlier than day 5 of the self-isolation period, and the second must be taken the following day. All test results should be reported to NHS Test and Trace.

If the result of either of their tests is positive, they should continue to self-isolate until they get negative results from two LFD tests on consecutive days or until they have completed 10 full days of self-isolation, whichever is earliest.

Anyone who is unable to take LFD tests or anyone who continues to have a temperature will need to complete the full 10 day period of self-isolation.

Further information on self-isolation for those with COVID-19 is available.

Dear Parents/Carers

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas break.

With the children returning to school on Wednesday 5 January 2022, I wanted to provide an update in light of the current circumstances in relation to coronavirus.

As you will no doubt be aware, daily case numbers are now significantly higher than they were at the end of last term and there is continued uncertainty as to how the situation will develop as we head into this new term. Therefore, we feel we need to put in place some additional measures to reduce the possibility of transmission in school and minimise the risk of infection for everyone. Our approach is to create infant (Class 1 and Class 2) and junior (Class 3 and Class 4) bubbles which could then be streamlined into individual class bubbles should the need for further restrictions arise. Please see the information that follows for an overview of these additional measures.

Drop off and pick up

Class/ Year group	Teacher	Start time	Finish time
Class 1 (YR)	Miss Morgan	8:45-8:55am	3:05pm
Class 2 (Y1/2)	Miss Forth	8:45-8:55am	3:05pm
Class 3 (Y3/4)	Mrs Bradwell	8:45-8:55am	3:15pm
Class 4 (Y5/6)	Mrs Mowbray/Miss Dodds	8:45-8:55am	3:15pm

Drop off

• The current arrangements for drop off will continue with children able to arrive at any time between 8:45am and 8:55am.
• Parents may accompany children in Classes 1 and 2 to the near side gate where the children will be met by a member of staff and guided towards their classroom.
• Children in Classes 3 and 4 will be directed across the car park and round the building to the far side gate in order to access their classrooms. We request that parents of children in Classes 3 and 4 drop their children at the pedestrian gate in order to reduce congestion on site.
• For health and safety reasons, please can you ensure that any older children travelling to school unaccompanied do not arrive on the premises before 8:45am.

Pick up

• The near side gate will be opened at 3:05pm.
• The children being collected will remain in their classrooms.
• Parents will be able to walk round to the playground at the rear of the building and collect their children directly from their classrooms at the designated time (3:05pm or 3:15pm).
• If more than one child is being collected, please collect the younger child/children first.
• If you have children in different classes with different pick up times, please pick up at the later time.

Playtimes and lunchtimes

These will be staggered to ensure that there is no mixing between the infant and junior children at these times.

Breakfast club

Breakfast club will start again on Wednesday 5 January 2021 at 8:00am. The children will be seated in infant and junior groups during this time.

Contacting school

In the interests of the safety of everyone concerned, we request that parents only contact school by telephone or email in the first instance. Parents/family members needing to come to the main entrance for a specific prearranged reason will be expected to remain in the porch area and wear a face covering unless exempt.

Take care and stay safe.

Mr W. Kirtley (Headteacher)

What to do if there is a case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in your household?

It is strongly advised to increase testing when there is a positive COVID-19 case in your household:

•     PCR testing for all adults and pupils if they are a close contact of a positive case in their household*.

•     Daily LFT testing at home for 7 days for any adult and also for all children aged 5 years and over who are exempt from isolation and continue to attend school. The testing of primary age pupils is at parental discretion. Testing should start from the day the household member has symptoms or if they don’t have symptoms from when they tested positive*.

*Note:  People who have tested positive with a PCR test within the last 90 days should not be encouraged to test unless they develop new symptoms

Children under 5 years are exempt from self-isolation and do not need to take part in daily LFD testing of close contacts.

Ordering or collecting LFD home testing kits

We would recommend you have a supply of LFD testing kits at home in the event you need to use them. You can order home testing kits to be delivered to your home here www.gov.uk/order-coronavirus-rapid-lateral-flow-tests

Or you can collect LFD testing kits at Community Collect sites across the County. To find your nearest collection point please enter your post code here maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk

If you pick up tests from a pharmacy, you may be asked for a ‘collect code’ this helps the NHS match your details to the tests. To get a ‘collect code’ please visit  test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/collect-lateral-flow-kits

Please register the result of your home test at www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result

COVID-19 and Pregnancy

The government has urged pregnant women to come forward for vaccination. Below is the link to a recent government briefing and a summary of key points.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/unvaccinated-mothers-urge-pregnant-women-to-get-jabbed

• Vaccines continue to provide tens of thousands of pregnant women and their babies with vital protection from the virus.
• In the UK since April 2021, around 84,000 pregnant women have received one dose and over 80,000 have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
• The vaccines are safe for pregnant women and have no impact on fertility.
• Nearly 1 in 5 COVID-19 patients who are most critically ill are pregnant women who have not been vaccinated.
• Of those pregnant women in hospital with symptomatic COVID-19, 98% are unvaccinated, and no fully vaccinated pregnant women were admitted to intensive care with COVID-19 in England between February and the end of September 2021.
• Around 1 in 5 women who are hospitalised with the virus need to be delivered preterm to help them recover and 1 in 5 of their babies need care in the neonatal unit.

UKHSA_12073_COVID-19_pregnancy_poster

Please see the message below from Durham County Council:

Whether it’s finding fun things for children to do, paying for extra childcare, or even just all that extra food they seem to eat, the school holidays can be a struggle for many families. Covid-19 has meant that many people’s incomes have been reduced and children and young people are keen to get out and spend time with their friends.

This Christmas our Fun and Food programme is providing fun activities with healthy food for children and young people. Activities are provided by range of partners including schools, voluntary and community sector groups and sport and leisure services.

For information on Fun and Food activities during the Christmas holidays check out www.durham.gov.uk/FunAndFood

We will be adding activities to the list throughout the holidays so please keep checking back to find out more about the fabulous opportunities in our community.

St Peter’s Church (Byers Green) is holding a Christmas Tree Festival on 10, 11 & 12 December 2021.

Our children have each made a decoration for our school tree which is situated to the right hand side as you enter the church.

Everyone is welcome to visit free of charge but any donations to the upkeep of the church would be gratefully received. There will be a raffle and refreshments will be available. Each child will receive a small treat at the end of their visit.

Tickets will be sold separately for a special prize – a Stihl balance bike worth around £100 (see picture below).  These tickets are also available from school (£5 per ticket).

 

Dear Parents/Carers

I am writing in response to our consideration of the update we shared with you last Thursday https://www.byersgreen.durham.sch.uk/coronavirus-update-02-12-21/.

After carefully reviewing the information in relation to our own individual situation, we have decided not to introduce any additional measures in school at this time. We will, of course, continue to give close attention to ventilation, cleaning and respiratory and hand hygiene. As always, we will remain vigilant and will not hesitate to reintroduce the measures which we had in place during the previous academic year (e.g. staggered starts and finishes, staggered playtimes and lunchtimes or class bubbles) should these become necessary at some point in the future.

It is with regret that we have made the difficult decision to cancel the trip to the Gala Theatre to see the annual pantomime which was due to take place next Wednesday afternoon. With the ongoing uncertainty about the impact of the Omicron variant and the majority of adults yet to receive a booster jab, we feel that it is better to adopt a cautious approach to any situations which could potentially put our children, staff and wider school community at greater risk of infection, especially so close to the Christmas holidays.

As mentioned previously, we will ensure that a full refund is provided to anyone who has already paid for pantomime tickets. Please bear with us over the next few days as we organise this.

The following events will take place in school next week:

CHRISTMAS MOVIE AFTERNOON – WEDNESDAY 15 DECEMBER Each class will have the opportunity to watch a Christmas movie and enjoy some sweet treats.

CHRISTMAS DINNER AND CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY – THURSDAY 16 DECEMBER The children and staff will be able to enjoy the traditional Christmas dinner on Thursday 16 December. If your child normally has packed lunch but would like a Christmas dinner, please let Mrs Blenkiron know as soon as possible. To add to the festive feeling, children and staff are invited to wear Christmas-themed clothing on this day.

CHRISTMAS PARTIES – FRIDAY 17 DECEMBER The children will be able to come to school dressed in their party clothes on this day. The parties will take place in classrooms with a range of fun games and activities – refreshments will also be provided.

School will close for the Christmas holiday on Friday 17 December 2021 at 3.15pm. We return on Wednesday 5 January 2022.

Take care and stay safe.

Mr W. Kirtley (Headteacher)

Please see the letter below from the Spennymoor Foodbank:

Spennymoor Foodbank letter