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Queensmead Primary Academy

Academy Re-opening Information.

Please read this news article for important information about the re-opening of our Academy.

Dear Parents/Carers,

We are very much looking forward to next Tuesday when we re-open to pupils to begin the Autumn term. We have been working hard this week in school to prepare everything ready for a smooth and safe start to the year.

You are aware of some of the changes to school procedures and this letter is to give you a quick reminder of some of those as well as to give you additional information so that the term can start smoothly. In addition, another update will be sent next week alongside the regular newsletter on Friday.

Please follow this link to view the Operation Procedures and Risk Assessments on our website: https://www.queensmeadacademy.org/covid-19

Dropping off

The one way system into school has been marked out to comply with social distancing requirements.

The upper gate on Hamelin Rd (nearest to the leisure centre) will be open from 8.45am until 9.10am. Pupils in Y1-Y6 will enter through this gate and join their class/teacher in the main playground.

Years 1,2,3 will be lining up on the first football pitch with Years 4,5,6 on the central section of the playground.

Parents must remain behind the yellow/white floor markings on the paths. If you are a parent of a Y1,2,3 child you may wish to enter by the Hamelin Rd entrance rather than the Winstanley Drive entrance. For the first day, pupils will join their previous class teacher who will be waiting to greet them.

Parents can accompany their child (where necessary) through the gate and then follow the one-way markings round to exit by the other Hamelin Rd gate. To avoid congestion, members of staff will regulate numbers of parents coming through the gate – we thank you in advance for your patience if you have to queue. With this in mind we would encourage you to allow your child to come through the gates on their own, particularly if they are in the older year groups. To reduce congestion we would ask that only one parent accompanies a child into school.

The gate on Winstanley Drive will be open for both entrance and exit-please follow the markings to ensure social distancing.

For both entrances, there are markings to indicate where you are able to walk as well as where you must not pass- staff will be on hand to help with this.

Unfortunately, the leisure centre gate will not be open for the foreseeable future.

EYFS pupils will be informed of their arrival time/gate separately.

Late Arrivals

The school day starts at 8.55am and all pupils are expected to be in school at this time.

Both gates will be locked promptly at 9.10am. Please do arrive well before this point as we are unable to admit late arrivals after this point.

Picking up – end of the day

Pupils in Y5 and Y6 who are allowed to walk home alone will be dismissed by staff via the Hamelin Rd exit gate at 3.10pm. The entrance gate on Hamelin Rd will then be opened to parents to collect all other pupils.

The Winstanley Drive gate will not be open at the end of the day.

To collect your child, enter through the gate (observing social distancing) and walk up through the playground where your child will be in their class line with their teacher. The teacher will then dismiss your child to join you- please ensure that you contact the office if someone other than a parent is collecting your child. Leave via the one-way system through the Hamelin Rd exit gate- again, we thank you in advance for your patience if you have to queue to collect your child and ask that once collected you move swiftly through the one-way system. It is essential that you collect your child on time as we have no capacity for after-school care.

Picking up for medical appointments

As always, please ensure that routine medical appointments are made outside of school hours. There may be times when you will need to collect your child from school to attend an essential medical appointment. In this case, please contact the school office to make arrangements for collection.

Before/After School Care and clubs

For the time being we are unable to offer any form of before/after school care or clubs. There will be no Morning Club or Breakfast club until further notice.

Illness/ Accidents during the school day

As always, the school office will contact you if your child is unwell- please ensure that they have your up-to-date contact details (new forms will be issued shortly)

Lunches

Week beginning: 1st September – no hot lunch service.

We are encouraging pupils to bring a packed lunch for this week. Pupils in receipt of free school meals will be provided with a packed lunch. Paid packed lunches can be ordered from school in the usual way – your child will need to specify this during the dinner register. From Monday 7th September, a reduced-menu hot meal service will be offered with payment being made via Parent Pay – see below.

Please send your child with a full water bottle each day. We are not able to re-fill these during the day.

Parent Pay

You will be aware that Queensmead is going cashless- this will be from the start of term.

On Tuesday 1st September your child will bring a letter home with instructions and your unique password and log-in details. It is essential that you create your account by Friday 4th September. You will then use Parent Pay to pay for trips, school dinners, After/Before School clubs etc.

Uniform

The QPA uniform supplier has now changed. We will no longer be selling uniform from the office. Please see the website for more details https://www.queensmeadacademy.org/uniform

For the time being we ask that you send your child to school dressed in their PE kit on the day that your child has PE. You will be informed of which day during the first week back.

Safety and Well-being

As detailed in the previous letter:

We are very aware that many pupils will not have attended school for a considerable amount of time – we are committed to making sure that they (and you!) feel safe, reassured and prepared for their return. As a staff we have worked hard to adapt the curriculum and classroom activities to reflect this and have prepared classrooms, undergone training and made arrangements to place safety at the forefront of everything.

All of the arrangements made are in line with Government guidance and the Trust’s Health and Safety Directorate. 

As part of well-being measures the first day will be spent with their previous class teacher.

I would like to share some of the safety measures that have been put in place in response to Government guidance and make you aware that your child’s experience in school will be different from when they were last here.

As you can imagine, it would be very difficult to share all of the logistics and adaptations but I have detailed some key aspects below- for more details see the website.

  •     Children will be expected to maintain social distancing throughout their day using such measures as floor markings/ one-way systems and designated areas to enable a ‘bubble’ grouping.
  • Children will be in a ‘bubble’ with their year group and have a fixed desk and equipment which will not be shared with other pupils.
  •     Children will only be able to mix with others in their bubble including in the playground and at lunchtime whilst following social distancing measures.
  • No equipment (including pencil cases/bikes/scooters/balls etc) is permitted onto the Academy site.

We are very much looking forward to seeing everyone and welcoming you back to school and hope that you feel reassured about the extensive measures we have implemented to adhere to safety measures and directives.

For further information from the City Council , please also follow this link https://www.leicester.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-and-colleges/returning-to-school-for-the-autumn-term/

 In addition, the BBC have updated this resource to offer further information

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize?scrlybrkr=7748bb88

Take care and see you next week.

Kind regards

Mrs L Latham

Principal