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Parent Bulletin 15.10.2021

15th October 2021

This week's parent bulletin is available here:

 

Dear Parents and Carers

Curriculum Extensions Days

Next week we are holding Curriculum Extension Days on Thursday and Friday. On these days, the normal timetable is suspended and each year group has a programme of activities which allows more in-depth, or off-site learning to take place. By now, you should have received information about your child’s activities, which alternate over the two days as follows:

Year 7: Colchester Zoo / Extended Maths Day

Year 8: Geography field trip to Walton-on-the-Naze / Modern Foreign Language film-making

Year 9: Orienteering at Hinchingbrooke Country Park / Music and Drama day

Year 10:  Core Religious Education Day / Visits to Bhaktivedanta Manor (Hindu) or the Peterborough Cathedral (Christian) and Singh Sabha Gurdwara Sahib Ji (Sikh place of worship)

Year 11:  Extended English / Relationships, Sex and Health Education Day

Covid Case Rates and Testing

We continue to have high levels of Covid infection in school although these are beginning to lower.  A number of staff are significantly unwell with this and other viruses and obtaining good quality supply staff remains challenging. Please help us to keep school running normally by testing your children on Wednesdays and Sundays. Last week testing rates dropped to only 45% of pupils. If your child is going on a coach trip, it is essential that they test on Sunday and Wednesday, to prevent cross-infection, just before the holiday, on the coach journeys.  

Please see the message to parents on testing and vaccination from the Secretaries of State for Education and Health & Social Care: joint letter to parents  This includes an updated FAQs section.

School Catering

We’ve been advised that our school caterers are having some supply issues. Lunch service is unaffected but you may wish to supply your child with a breaktime snack, since choices may be limited next week. 

Support for Free School Meals

The Local Authority are again issuing supermarket vouchers for children who have free school meals, to cover the October half term period. These will be sent to you by email.  If you have any queries about your vouchers, please contact fsm@catrust.co.uk - this email will be monitored over the Autumn half-term break. Please see the LA letter and FAQ document attached, which also have details on how to apply for free school meals.

Overdrawn Food Accounts

We are no longer allowed to run up any overdrafts on pupil catering accounts. If your child is overdrawn, you will be contacted and advised that they will not be provided with any further food at lunchtime until the account is cleared. Pupils who have a balance of zero on their account will be allowed the minimum sandwich offer, and contact made home. The balance on your child’s account can be viewed on your ParentPay account. If you are having difficulty in providing lunchtime food for your child, please contact your child’s Year team, in confidence, so that a way forward can be found.

I hope you can all enjoy a very good weekend.

 

Yours sincerely

Claire Coates

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