Dear Parents
We have had a busy few weeks in school and our children have been wonderful at stepping up to the challenge and really progressing with their learning. In addition to our regular curriculum, to Forest School for Blue Class and Mission Week for Orange Class, we have this week also played host to Year 6 Bikeability (road cycling skills) and to the” Life Bus” as well as holding a virtual assembly with “Surrey Young Carers.” What a busy week!
Life Bus
Due to COVID restrictions, this was not the usual bus, but rather the Life Bus workshops were delivered in the classroom, albeit with all the usual props (and the all-important Harold the Giraffe!). Children have covered age-appropriate topics ranging from “Our Amazing Bodies” to “Healthy Choices” and including work on friendships and peer pressure. The Life Bus workshops are provided by Surrey as a supplement to our PSHE and RSHE curriculum, which we will shortly be rebranding in school as “Flourish.” Our weekly lessons in school are based on the “Life to the Full” resources from Ten Ten, which parents can access here via the Parent Portal. The logon details are attached to this mailing.
Young Carers
All children participated in an assembly from Surrey Young Carers, aimed at identifying and developing empathy for children whose home lives can sometimes be more complex due to the physical, mental or emotional health of a family member. Surrey Young Carers shared with us some interesting statistics:
- 1 in 10 Primary-age children nationally fall into the category of Young Carer (That’s 3 in every class in our school!)
- Young Carers who don’t have additional support achieve on average 1 grade lower in each subject at GCSE due to the impact on their attendance, punctuality and general wellbeing.
Young Carers are not necessarily children who give physical care to others; examples given by the charity were the Young Carer who has to withhold their own emotions due to the impact of a sibling at home with a disability or a parent at home with substance misuse, or a Young Carer who is always late for school due to a parent’s bipolar diagnosis. In Primary school this emotional impact is apparently more common than the more stereotypical secondary-age Young Carer who gives physical care, washing / dressing / cooking for a family member.
At Cardinal Newman, we have 18 children identified as Young Carers at present – this probably means we have missed some who are Young Carers but have not come forward to share that information with us. Almost all of these identified children are thriving and do not require additional support in school, but where a need is identified, we work with our Home School Link Worker (HSLW) or ELSA to help our children emotionally or practically. Our HSLW usually runs a Chill Out Club through the week which can support children too. Surrey Young Carers also run weekend activities for children who are Young Carers and you can access more information about this and make a referral for your child here if you wish to: https://www.actionforcarers.org.uk/who-we-help/young-carers-under-18/
Teaching and Learning Review
This week, we have had a visit from the Xavier Teaching and Learning Lead to review the quality of education at Cardinal Newman. This is usually a regular occurrence in Xavier, although we haven’t had a visit for a little while due to COVID restrictions! We are pleased to say that the outcomes were fantastic and we are very proud of all our teachers and support staff, who work so hard with our children day in, day out! Please congratulate them when you see them!
“The quality of teaching is very strong with fantastic consistency.”
“All lessons were well paced and optimised learning.”
“All pupils are actively engaged in their learning and almost always collaborating with another child. This is working really well to enable children to verbalise their understanding and work together on more challenging skills such as problem solving.”
Xavier Teaching and Learning Review 2021
Safeguarding Audit
In school, our safeguarding is reviewed regularly by governors but we have just had our safeguarding procedures reviewed externally by the Xavier Safeguarding Lead and Quality Assured by Surrey. Again, this is the regular cycle of events now getting back to normal and once again, the outcomes for our school are excellent. Well done to our Dedicated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Mr Flower and the Safeguarding Team – Ms Hunt, Mrs Sola and Mrs O’Halloran – for working together to keep all our children safe at Cardinal Newman.
“The Headteacher and DSL team are fully committed to safeguarding and ensuring the welfare of all children. Reporting of concerns by staff using CPOMS (Child Protection Online Monitoring System) is an embedded practice.”
“All vulnerable children are tracked to ensure early identification of children who may require additional support and interventions and appropriate support is in place for those who are receiving external support and/or accessing statutory services.”
Xavier Safeguarding Audit 2021
Some Gentle Reminders:
- In the interests of safeguarding all of our children, please remember not to use your mobile phone on the school playground at pick up and drop off.
- Our Home-School Agreement with parents includes an agreement about the appropriate use of social media. In our school community, it is never OK to talk about someone else’s child or a member of staff online. If there is a problem, please speak to a member of the Senior Leadership Team who can help you to solve that problem. Equally if you have something positive to share, please let us know via the office.
- Please remember that images or recordings of children in school events are only for personal use and should never be posted on social media.
Adjustments to COVID arrangements after half-term
Just a few minor changes to the guidance means we can start to get a (little) bit more back to normal. It is important that we make things as normal as possible as safely as possible and so from Monday 7th June, the following arrangements will be in place:
Relaxed entry – From after half-term we would like to revert to our (what used to be usual!) relaxed entry from 8:40am. For new parents and those who have forgotten since March last year, this means there are no time slots for year groups and all classrooms will be open to all children from 8:40am, with an expectation that all children are in school and learning by 8:50am. This helps us to maximise the children’s learning time.
For now, we will keep the two separate one way systems in place and the use of the two separate gates, so children should arrive at the gate they have been using (KS1 playground gate for YR to Y3; car park gate for Y4 to Y6).
Parents will still be asked to drop and go, as you have been doing, rather than congregating on the playground. Thank you for your continued support with this.
As always, safety is our main concern and should this change cause unforeseen issues with social distancing, we may need to revert to the longer staggered entry.
Reduced staggered exit– We will keep the current one-way system round the school in the afternoon.
3pm Collection for Reception (and their siblings) and 3pm release for UKS2 walkers
3:05 Collection for Y1 (and their siblings)
3:10 Y2/Y3 (and their siblings)
3:15 Collection for other KS2 children
Masks – There is no longer a recommendation for adults to wear masks outdoors or where social distancing is possible indoors. Visitors to school will continue to be asked to wear a mask and sanitise hands at the moment.
Sanitising Hands – We are continuing to maintain a high level of hand hygiene for the children, but will be reducing some of the additional hand-washing sessions. Children will continue to wash their hands when they arrive at school, before eating and after using the toilet, as well as at the end of the school day. We hope parents will consider this is a sensible balance between what is necessary for infection control and what is undesirable for children’s delicate skin and loss of learning time.
Trips – COVID guidance on school trips is still quite stringent and we are doing what we can to facilitate trips for our older children in Years 4-6 within the current guidance. Unfortunately adult ratios for our younger children make it more difficult to run external trips for them within the schools guidance, but there are lots of exciting activities planned for them at school and our school calendar is looking very busy for the summer term. Lots to look forward to!
Volunteers – As you have heard, we are beginning to welcome parent volunteers back into school after half-term. DBS checks and volunteer training are underway for volunteers who have been into school previously and we will look forward to having this invaluable help in school. We will also be enlisting new volunteers for September, so if you think you would like to volunteer for the first time in school, please contact the school office for more information.
Thank you for all your support during this week. We know the children are beginning to feel the effects of the return to a busy and purposeful school life with their friends, so we wish you a happy and hopefully restful weekend!
Best wishes
Catherine Burnham
Headteacher
