20 November 2020

News

20th November 2020

NEWSLETTER

Friday 20th November 2020

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

The weeks are going by quickly and we are busily preparing for the Christmas tree and decorations to be up on Monday 1st December. Mr Davies is kindly donating a Christmas tree from his garden and will be cutting it down next weekend.

Thank you to the Fundraising Team and Mrs Gordge for ordering the raffle tickets and to you all for the prizes you kindly sent in. I am delighted with the tickets that have been sold already and would really appreciate it if you can try and sell as many as possible to raise much needed school funds.

The closer we get to Christmas the more I cannot emphasise enough the importance of following the guidance that we have in place as a school and the guidance that has been set out by our Government.

We are following the guidance to ensure that our school stays open and to stop any positive cases of COVID 19 at St George’s. There have been cases in neighbouring schools and the thought of having to close class bubbles or groups and families having to isolate over Christmas concerns me greatly.

We all need to continue to work together to ensure that everyone stays safe and well.

I have included some of the guidance again on the back of this newsletter to remind you if your child or a member of your family develops symptoms.

School Website

The home page of our school website has had a revamp. We are delighted with it and we will always aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. Can I please remind parents that we have the translate option so that when you click on one of my newsletters it can be translated to many languages.

School Video

Thank you for the many kind and positive comments about our new St George’s video. This can be viewed on the home page of our website. We are absolutely thrilled with it and feel that it captures the loving and caring environment that the children and community experience.

Amenities

One other area of responsibility I would like to make clear to parents is the financial responsibility of Governors of Voluntary Aided schools such as our own. While all schools may receive Capital Grants for building works, Voluntary Aided schools receive only 90% of these grants and for the grant to be spent the Governors of the school have to raise the other 10%. We do this by building up a ‘Governors Fund’. The Governors raise the money for this fund in two ways. One is profits made from lettings and hire of school facilities which we have been unable to do as a result of the pandemic. The other is through parent contributions, which has historically gone by the name of the ‘Amenities Fund’. Whilst this is a voluntary contribution of £10 per family per term, if you are able  to give to the school you can make this payment by bank transfer to St George’s Catholic School, quoting reference A followed by your surname, e.g; A Smith.

Lloyds Banks

Sort-Code: 30-98-45

Account Number: 02887152

Alternatively, if you would prefer to pay by cheque or cash this would also be acceptable and any payments greatly appreciated at this most difficult time.

 

What to do if your child or anyone in your household develops symptoms of COVID 19

 

  • HIGH TEMPERATURE - this means they feel hot to touch on their chest or back.
  • A NEW CONTINUOUS COUGH - this means coughing a lot, for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours.
  • A LOSS OR CHANGE IN THEIR SENSE OF SMELL OR TASTE - this means they cannot smell or taste anything or things smell or taste different to normal.

 

Action needed

 

DO NOT BRING YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL - CONTACT THE SCHOOL IMMEDIATELY

 

  • The whole household must start self-isolating for 14 days immediately - this includes all siblings
  • Get a test for your child - Other members of the household who do not have any symptoms do not need a test

 

DO NOT BRING YOUR CHILD OR THEIR SIBLINGS TO SCHOOL WHILE WAITING FOR TEST RESULTS. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOUSE WHILE WAITING FOR TEST RESULTS.

 

Please go to our COVID section of our website and click on the ‘What to do Advice for Parents and Carers’ for detailed information and a reminder of the processes we need to follow.