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Woodfield Newsletter

Friday 3rd December 2021

Dear Parents/ Carers,

Covid
Unfortunately this week, some staff and pupils have tested positive for Covid. We continue to urge all staff and students to participate in twice weekly LFD testing following national guidelines (recommended for 11 years and over). You can order test kits form the Government website, or contact your child's form tutor to arrange for you child to bring home kits from our stock at Woodfield. If you do record a positive result from a Lateral Flow test, the government guidance is to order a confirmatory PCR test

Christmas Jumper Day 2021
Christmas Jumper Day is back again this year to help raise money for Save The Children, a charity that helps children all over the world. We will be taking part in Christmas Jumper day on Friday December 10th. All pupils and staff are encouraged to wear their festive clothing next Friday, and bring along a donation for Save the Children. Full details will be sent out via SMS and 

Local Election Day - Thursday 5th May 2022
We've been notified that the school will be used as a Polling Station on that day, so no pupils will be in attendance on that day. Details of alternative provision will follow in due course.

Relationship & Sex Education curriculum - Parent Session - 7th December
The Relationship & Sex Education curriculum (RSE) lessons will be taught next term.  The RSE curriculum focuses on personal wellbeing and development through a comprehensive Relationship, Health, Hygiene and Safety focus and depending on your child's level of understanding some sexual information. The aim of the lessons is for pupils to have body awareness and to understand the emotional & social aspects of growing up, understanding of consent and abuse, individualised to their needs and level of understanding. 

They will be around the individual needs of our pupils. The content of the lessons has been selected by the teachers and in discussions with the pupils about what they would like to learn and to suit the pupil’s level of awareness and the talks they have been having with their peers.

A virtual parent session will be taking place on Tuesday 7th December at 10.45am where Mrs. Joan Moore, PSHE Lead will give a presentation on what will be covered for each key stage. If you require a detail outline of what you child will be learning, you will need to discuss this with their class teacher. 

At this point may we please remind you of the parental right to withdraw as outlined by the government:

 In secondary education from September 2020:  Parents will not be able to withdraw their child from any aspect of Relationships Education or Health Education.  Parents will be able to withdraw their child (following discussion with the school) from any or all aspects of Sex Education, other than those which are part of the science curriculum, up to and until three terms before the age of 16.  After that point, the guidance states that ‘if the child wishes to receive sex education rather than be withdrawn, the school should make arrangements to provide the child with sex education during one of those terms.’  Where pupils are withdrawn from sex education, schools should document the process and will have to ‘ensure that the pupil receives appropriate, purposeful education during the period of withdrawal.’

Details on how to withdraw from the Sex education part of the curriculum will be sent out after the virtual parent session. 

However, we wish to work with our parental community and understand that we are a special needs school and would encourage dialogue between the parents and the school before we make any decisions for students who are three terms short of their 16th birthday.

If you would like to discuss this further before the meeting, please feel free to contact Patsy. 


Sufra Food Bank
Woodfield is also a referrer to Sufra Foodbank. A charity that provides support to vulnerable families in need of additional help. They provide essential food and toiletries to families experiencing an acute crisis. The size of their food parcels depends on the size of the family that needs support but typically last between 5 to 7 days.  They also offer other support such as:

  • Community kitchen - hot meals being delivered to those without cooking facilities as well as the elderly and isolated.
  • Advice services & refugee support
  • NHS Emergency Food Aid Service - food packs for patients
  • Community garden
Last year Sufra delivered 600 meals across NW London to families and individuals in need. Their volunteers were incredible ambassadors, dressed in Christmas jumpers and hats and very often stopping to chat with guests, ensuring that those experiencing isolation were not alone on Christmas Day. This year Sufra will again be offering a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, crackers and presents for children will be delivered to referred guests experiencing financial difficulties or social isolation.

For those who are more vulnerable and unable to cook using the contents of a food parcel, Sufra also has a ready meal service available. This service is particularly for guests who have mobility issues/lack cooking facilities and are unable to purchase their own food.

If you know of anyone who may benefit from the assistance Sufra provides, please contact Patsy to discuss. This is a confidential service, no records regarding any conversations are held by the school, and any referral will be treated with absolute privacy within the school. 

Alternate Covid-19 vaccination methods
For pupils who missed the on-site vaccination date, there is an alternate way to book via the NHS using this link. Please contact The Nurses Team at The Village School (0300 3030610) if you require further information.

Emergency Contact
In addition to parent/carer details, we must have at least two other persons as emergency contacts for all our pupils. These people could be grand parents, a sibling aged over 18, aunts, uncles etc.
 
It is vital that we are able to get hold of a contact person in the case of a pupil emergency or illness.  In the past we have had issues in contacting parents or guardians, which not only creates concern for the school but also makes pupils anxious.

Clothing - Label your child's clothing and equipment
Please ensure that your child's clothing and equipment (lunch box, drink bottle etc)is clearly labelled with their full name. This makes it so much easier to return items of clothing and equipment that have a name clearly marked on them. We have already collected some unlabelled clothing left in the playground, and with the return of cooler weather, coats, scarves and hats will be needed. 

Sew on and iron on labels can be purchased form the internet, or marking the label already on the clothing with an indelible marker makes it much easier to return items to their owners. A clearly written first name on equipment is of enormous assistance in getting clothing and equipment returned to their owners expeditiously.

Attendance
I am sure you are all very pleased that we are welcoming all pupils back into school this term. Even with the events that have unfolded with the COVID 19 pandemic, we believe that being in school is the best place for pupils to be receiving the best education. We are therefore aiming to have an attendance rate above the national average. We think it is very important that all our pupils benefit from being in school for as many days of learning as possible to ensure they make progress and achieve the results they should. If a school can improve its attendance by 1%, this can result in a 5-6% improvement in attainment. We are asking you to support the school by ensuring your child achieves excellent attendance.  

Here are some ways in which you can help our school achieve excellent attendance. 

  • Support your child to have attendance of 95% or above. 

Attendance 

Days absence 

Weeks absence 

Lessons missed 

95% 

10 days 

2 weeks 

29 lessons 

90% 

20 days 

4 weeks 

58 lessons 

85% 

30 days 

6 weeks 

87 lessons 

  • Please note the term dates, which have been shared with you and are on the school website. Avoid any requests to the school to take your child on term time leave. If you feel you have exceptional circumstances for your child to be absent during term time, you can make a request to me in advance by completing a term time leave application. However, permission may not be given, and my decision is final. You can request an application form from the school officer or download it from the school’s website and return it to the Parent Liaison Officer. You do not have the right to take your child out for term time leave. All unauthorised term time leave will be referred to your local Education Welfare Service which may result in you being fined. 
  • We expect independent traveller pupils & parents who bring their child to arrive at school on time (before 8.35am). Pupils arriving after the register has closed will be marked in the register as having an unauthorized absence - late. The school attendance policy states the time that the attendance registers close in the morning.  
  • If your child is unwell, please contact the school office on 0300 30 30 610, before school starts (i.e., before 8.30am). Please be specific when detailing your child’s illness and update the school daily of your child’s progress and intention to return to school. We do not expect pupils to come to school when they are sick, but those with regular sickness absence will be expected to provide medical evidence before we authorise further absences. If your child is showing symptoms of COVID 19 then you need to follow the procedures in the guidance provided by Public Health England. 
  • Please try and avoid medical and dental appointments during school time. All students leaving school for a medical or dental appointment must show an appointment card/letter before being allowed to leave school.  
  • If you or your child is having difficulties that impact on their attendance, please make an appointment with our Parent Liaison Officer (Patsy Hudson) to discuss additional support. It is important that you and your child communicate any concerns with the school so that we can remove any barriers to learning and achieve 100% attendance.  

We have expectations that once we have notified a parent about our concerns, they will ensure that their child’s attendance improves significantly. If a pupil continues to have poor attendance of below 85%, we will carry out a full investigation into your child’s unauthorised absences, which takes approximately 12 weeks. If there is still no improvement, we will refer you to your local authority Education Welfare Service.  

The Education Welfare Service may issue a parent with a formal warning, an Education Penalty Notice (EPN) or decide to prosecute if a child is persistently absent over a 16week period. If a parent is issued with an EPN, they will receive a £120 fine from their local council if paid within 28 days, this is reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days. Fines for unauthorized term time leave are issued to each parent for each absent child. Failure to pay the notice may result in a parent being prosecuted at a Magistrates Court for the child’s non-attendance at school for the period in the notice.  

For further information, a copy of our attendance policy is available to read in the school office or on our website and information on your local authority’s Non-School Attendance, Education Penalty Notices and Local Code of Conduct is available on their website.  

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact Patsy Hudson (phu@compasslp.co.uk) in the first instance. 

Thank you in advance for your support in this matter.  

School Money
Reminder to all parents/carers that we are a cashless school and take card payments via the School Money website or phone. Everyone should have received log in information via text by now, if you haven't then please contact Laila or Shilpa via the school office. We advise all parents to keep up with payments. You are able to pay in advance per week or per term, which ever method suits you best. If you have any questions regarding this then please feel free to contact Laila or Shilpa.

Annual Reviews of EHC Plans
Annual reviews, in the current circumstances, need to take a different form. A review meeting, even if by necessity briefer than usual, can be carried out as advised by the Coronavirus Act 2020 for the Secretary of State for Education. due to the need to assign some staff from working on annual reviews to delivering the rapid testing program, the timeframe for delivering annual reviews may be adjusted. You will be well informed of any changes.

In order to complete the Annual Reviews of EHC Plans this academic year, Woodfield School will conduct reviews, virtually or over the telephone rather than face-to-face where this can be done following the guidance on reducing transmissions of coronavirus (COVI-19). Therefore parents or carers will not be invited into school for a review meeting. 

An invitation e-letter will be sent out with more details as your child's' review approaches. (Please note that the Local Authorities have stated there is a backlog with amending ECHP’s). We will be happy to chase it up for you but just so you know ultimately it is the Local Authority who updates the EHCP. You will be entitled to a draft copy of all reports. 

Please note; we have a change in our GDPR policy as to how we send review paperwork of your child to you. We will no longer send reports to parents’ personal email accounts. As of September 2020, we will only use your child’s email set for all correspondences for Annual Reviews. This encourages access to knowledge and sharing of information in a safe and controlled way from us to you.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please email on wf-senreviews@compasslp.co.uk or contact the school and speak with the SEN Administrator who will be more than happy to support you. 

Proposed dates for reviews:
Autumn Term 2021 - Oct -Dec  (Year 14, 13 and 9)
Spring Term 2022 - Jan - April (Year 9, 13, 12, 11 and 10 )
Summer Term 20212 - May- July (Year 10, 8 and 7)

Assistance from local councils
Local councils have set up guides for residents with regard to how to access a range of assistance over this time, be it medical, financial, business or even how to volunteer to assist others.

You can view these offerings from local councils by clicking the links below.

Brent
Barnet
Harrow
Ealing
Camden
Westminster


Makaton is a language programme that is used in conjunction with speech to aid the pupils’ understanding of language and help them communicate with each other more effectively. Makaton is used across the school in lessons and break times. We would love for you to learn some signs so that you can sign with your child. See the We Talk Makaton website for more.

 

Have a good weekend


Nick Cooper

Important dates

Term dates are subject to change, parents and carers will be informed of any changes.
 

If you would like hard copies (paper) of any document on our website, please contact the school office and they will arrange this
.

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