Hello my lovelies,

We hope you are all keeping well during these times when many schools have closed and we have to stay at home for long periods of time. Life may feel very different at the moment; you are spending more time at home than in school and you cannot meet your friends or play out- remember that little word that Miss Meese taught us in Assembly, about not being able to do things 'yet!' Well, hold onto that thought, because whilst we cannot meet our friends or play outside...not YET, hopefully we will be able to soon.

We are missing all your lovely, smiley faces; school is extremely quiet without you all in it; hopefully we can all be back together very soon, our wonderful OLSK family; when this nasty virus goes away. 

We hope you are enjoying all the activities on the Home Learning page of the school website; staff are constantly updating it for you; please keep learning...remember my rhyme....The more you learn, the more you know, the more you know, the more you grow! 

Keep following us on Twitter too; let us know what you are up to; send us some pictures of what you are doing. #loveolsk 

We are keeping you all in our prayers. Stay at home! Stay Safe!

God Bless, love from Mrs F xxxxxxxxxxx

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to extend the gratitude of the DES to all those working in our Diocesan schools at this difficult time as you offer support to our children and young people, their families and our wider parish communities. Schools are now closed for many of our pupils for the considerable future, but we do wish to thank you for what you have done to assist them in continuing their learning at home and offering the practical and pastoral support that they will need in the days and weeks ahead.

We are particularly grateful for the way in which you have cooperated with the government’s request to find ways of offering educational provision to the children of key workers and vulnerable children beginning this coming week. This provision is obviously going to be important to those who must assist in supporting the sick and the needy at this very difficult time and the maintenance of key services. I know that for many of you, this has meant additional challenges with detailed plans and preparations being made. It has demanded the willingness and support for so many to serve the common good of Catholic education and our wider community at this critical time. This is also a sure and certain sign that as a Catholic community we are always willing to put the gospel in action to care for the needs of our neighbour.

T

he DES will remain operative whilst schools are closed. Adam Hardy and the staff can be contacted by email and phone. They will do their best to assist you at this time. Please remember to inform the DES of any critical incidents that take place over the next few weeks concerning your school.

There will be a dedicated page on the DES website to provide you with updated news from the DfE, the Catholic Education Service and the Bishops Conference of England and Wales on responding to the Covid-19 situation. The page will also contain any key information about DES work with our schools that may be impacted by the Covid-19 situation. Additionally, the Catholic Education Team at the DES are putting together a resource page for use in schools and at home. This will also feature some prayer and spirituality resources to use at this time. Please keep an eye on this page as it continues to develop.

https://www.bdes.org.uk/des-support-for-schools-through-the-coronavirus-outbreak.html

Finally, at this time it is important to pray for all those who have become ill, for those working to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus, those who are assisting the sick and for the safety and well being of our children and families and those who are most vulnerable in our society.

Sincerely yours in Our Lord,

Fr Jonathan Veasey

Lead Trustee for Catholic Education

URGENT - Government update

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement this evening, we would like to confirm the following restrictions that have been put in place to keep us all safe –

LEAVE HOME ONLY FOR –

    •    Shopping for basic necessities

    •    One form of exercise a day

    •    Any medical need/care for vulnerable person

    •    Travelling to and from work, only if absolutely necessary and unable to work from home

At this present time, we will continue to open the doors of Our Lady & St. kenelm to care for the children of the most critical keyworkers previously identified by the Government.

However, we have a duty of care to both the children and staff in our school communities and need to keep them safe. Therefore, we ask you to think carefully about your need to send your child to school. Please only bring your child if absolutely necessary – if you can work from home you must keep your child with you.
 

We understand that it can be difficult to work from home and take care of your children, but please understand we need to ensure that we are all doing what is desperately needed to fight this terrible virus.

We are keeping you all in our prayers.

St. Kenelm – Pray for us.

Kind Regards from, 

Mrs Finnegan, all the staff & the Governing Board 

To parents who have children with underlying health issues,

This guidance is for everyone. It advises on social distancing measures we should all be taking to reduce social interaction between people in order to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19). It is intended for use in situations where people are living in their own homes, with or without additional support from friends, family and carers. If you live in a residential care setting guidance is available.

We are advising those who are at increased risk of severe illness from coronavirus (COVID-19) to be particularly stringent in following social distancing measures.

This group includes those who are:

• aged 70 or older (regardless of medical conditions)
• under 70 with an underlying health condition listed below (ie anyone instructed to get a flu jab as an adult each year on medical grounds):
  • chronic (long-term) respiratory diseases, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema or bronchitis
  • chronic heart disease, such as heart failure
  • chronic kidney disease
  • chronic liver disease, such as hepatitis
  • chronic neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), a learning disability or cerebral palsy
  • diabetes
  • problems with your spleen – for example, sickle cell disease or if you have had your spleen removed
  • a weakened immune system as the result of conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy
  • being seriously overweight (a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or above)
• those who are pregnant

Note: there are some clinical conditions which put people at even higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. If you are in this category, next week the NHS in England will directly contact you with advice the more stringent measures you should take in order to keep yourself and others safe. For now, you should rigorously follow the social distancing advice in full, outlined below.

People falling into this group are those who may be at particular risk due to complex health problems such as:

• people who have received an organ transplant and remain on ongoing immunosuppression medication
• people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radiotherapy
• people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia who are at any stage of treatment
• people with severe chest conditions such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma (requiring hospital admissions or courses of steroid tablets)
• people with severe diseases of body systems, such as severe kidney disease (dialysis)

Thank you for your continued support in helping us to keep everyone safe including our children, parents, staff and governors.

17^th March 2020

Dear Parents/carers

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for your calmness and patience during the unprecedented times we are in.  I would also like to wish everyone good health and peace in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Further to the Government advice that we are receiving daily, I wanted to outline the actions that we are currently taking in school

• All children have been spoken to regarding the importance of regular handwashing
• Our cleaning staff have increased the level of disinfection cleaning to include door handles, door plates and handrails
• We have adopted a no handshake policy and all visitors and staff are expected to wash their hands or use sanitizer upon arrival to the school

Government Guidance can be accessed on the link below

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

The most common symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID 19) are

• A new continuous cough and /or
• High temperature (37.8 degrees and above).

If your child has either of the above symptoms, please keep them at home and do not leave the house for 7 days from when the symptoms started.  If their symptoms worsen during this time, you should call NHS 111 for further advice or if it is a medical emergency dial 999.

If you have self-isolated your child, on our school website, we have put together a list of websites that children can access at home to ensure they do not miss too much of their education.

Access to RM Unify is particularly important as they can get onto Purple Mash and save work to their own accounts using their school login details.  Please confirm with your child that they have their login details .

Once again, thank you for your continued support and we pray for ongoing health and safety for us all.

Yours sincerely,

C Finnegan (Mrs)

Head Teacher

Please be advised, as a precautionary measure, I would like to advise you on the latest changes in school

Due to current advice, the following non-essential school events have been cancelled/postponed: -

17^th March          HSA Craft evening – Cancelled.

18^th March          Y6 Confirmation meeting in school – Cancelled.

19^th March          Y3 whole school Mass – Children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.

19^th March          YR Special Person assembly – cancelled.

20^th March          OLSK Science Fair – children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.

25^th March          OLSK Dance Extravaganza – children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.  We will reschedule this event for the parents at a later date

26^th March          Y2 Mass – children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.

30^th March          KS1 Easter Bonnet parade – children /staff only, no parent/carers to attend.        

31^st March           Birmingham Science Fair – Cancelled

2^nd April                Y6 whole school Mass – children/staff only, no parents/carers to attend.

2^nd April                KS2 Passion Play – Children/staff only – no parents/carers to attend.                       

3^rd April                If we are still open on the last week of term, please note we will be finishing earlier than planned at 1:30.

All after school clubs will finish this Friday 20^th March 2020.

Today is the last swimming lesson for Years 2 & 3 until after Easter.

YR – stay and play cancelled until further notice.

Vicky from Brownies has advised that their club on a Thursday evening has been cancelled until further notice.

There will be no Stay and Play in Hatton House for under 4’s.

DPA Music Lessons – due to underlying medical condition with the teachers, the drumming and guitar lessons have been cancelled until after Easter.

If your child is away from school due to self-isolation their absence will be recorded as ‘Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances’. This will not reflect on their general attendance record.

Dolce has advised us that they have removed the self-service salad bar.  The catering staff are now serving these items from the servery