Latest News and celebrations can be found on our Twitter feed @SASFschool
Dear Families,
We understand that during this difficult time, your
employment circumstances may have changed. If this is the case, your
child may now be entitled to Free School Meals (FSM).
If you think that you may now qualify, or your child was
previously Universal FSM (i.e. they were in reception – year 2 so you’ve never
applied for FSMs), please contact Ms Mclean (admin@sasf.brent.sch.uk)
and she can apply on your behalf or use our FSM checker on the school website https://www.standrewandstfrancis.org/free-school-meals-checker/
If your application is successful, you will receive £15 in
weekly food vouchers per eligible child, by email, to spend in your local supermarket, whilst the
school is temporarily closed.
Please do not hesitate to contact Ms Mclean 020 8459 1636 or admin@sasf.brent.sch.uk with your:
-Parents Full Name
-DOB
-National Insurance Number
-Childs Name
-Class
We are here to help
Kind regards and keep safe - stay at home,
Dear Parents/Carers,
RE: Remote Teaching/Learning (Home Learning)
Following the government’s decision to extend school closures for a further 3 weeks for most pupils, this means a change to the way children learn at home. The Leadership team along with teachers have worked hard to bring you our new online learning platform ‘PurpleMash’. Login details for each student have been sent via the post and email (if you haven’t received these details please email the school with your child’s name and class name and we will send out your child PurpleMash details)
We understand that all family homes and setups vary and we are here to help by providing a rough timetable, an online set of tasks to support your child’s continued learning. Remember this is a rough guide and please balance this out with what your family can achieve each day.
The timetable details the activities/challenges that your child can complete each day. The relevant resources are included (Need help – go to our website – https://www.standrewandstfrancis.org/purplemash-help-videos-and-information/ Please support your child where possible.
To ensure your child continues learning during their time away from school, their learning environment must be free from distractions so that they can concentrate. This means no phones, no TV, no radio, no computer games.
Although your child is away from school, it is vital that your child does atleast one task each day.
Beyond Friday, 8th May, the plan for school opening/closure is unclear but we are constantly monitoring the government’s advice and will be in touch with you as soon as we have more information. Please ensure that you are regularly monitoring our website and Twitter feed (@SASFschool) for the most up-to-date information.
We are aware that this is a difficult time for many families but we are committed to continuing your child’s education.
Yours sincerely,
Troy Sharpe (Headteacher) and staff at SASF.
Welcome back to the St Andrew and St Francis Primary School community. It has been a demanding and unusual Easter for everyone. We know that some families have been greatly affected by Covid-19 and our thoughts and prayers go out to them.
Under normal circumstances, Monday 20 April would be the start of the summer term, but the government has announced an extension of the lockdown requirements for a further three weeks. There is still great uncertainty as to when and how SASF will reopen to all students.
While the school is closed, our priority will be to support the wellbeing of our students, and, at the same time, ensure students are provided with suitable learning resources (Purple Mash or homework books). We will be contacting you and your son or daughter early next week, so please look out for texts and emails. Please read our updates below and do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or concerns over the coming week. For up to date information please refer to the school website https://www.standrewandstfrancis.org/welcome/
Home learning (Starts Monday 20th April 2020)
As we ‘return to school' after the Easter break, we are continually reviewing our home learning systems. For now, we will be continuing to set work through PurpleMash (online) or home-learning books, with daily teacher contact via our online platform. Please bear with us while we investigate the best way of teaching and supporting your child’s continued learning.
Home learning information from SLT
EYFS/KS1 – Mr Gair (AHT)
Hello everyone,
I hope you had a restful and safe Easter holiday. This term, learning is going to be a little bit different. Rather than come into school and learn, we must stay at home and learn.
You should all have received your Purple Mash log-in and password. Your teachers will set work for every day that we are not in school. We expect you to complete the work that has been set so that you continue to develop and learn. As well as each day’s learning there are also lots of interesting, educational websites for you to access. Please get in touch with school if you are having any difficulties.
Remember to watch the daily Read, Write, Inc phonics sessions on YouTube (Ruth Mishkin Training) and remember to read, count and talk about the world every single day.
Everyone at school misses you very much and we cannot wait until we are all back at school together.
Take care and stay safe.
KS2 – Mr Low (AHT)
Dear parents/carers,
I hope you are safe and well. The school term begins on Monday, April 20th. Even though social distancing measures are in place, it is vital that your child continues their education, and they are expected to participate fully in the fun work, challenges and activities that have been prepared for them. By now, you will have received login details for http://www.purplemash.com. Please ensure that your child logs in to this website on the morning of Monday, April 20th, to begin their school work for the summer term. We will contact the parents of those children who are not logging in and taking part in their learning. Yours sincerely, Mr Low - Assistant Headteacher, KS2.
Safeguarding – (Ms Collins - Deputy head)
During these unprecedented times, it is vitally important that we continue to safeguard the well-being of our families and the wider community. If you have any concerns about a child, please contact Brent Family Front Door on: 020 8937 4300 (option 1). If you are calling outside normal office hours (9am - 5pm) please call their emergency duty team on: 020 8863 5250. Equally, if you and your family are struggling financially or emotional during this difficult time, please visit https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-community/coronavirus/emergency-support/ where you will find information varying from emergency food support and domestic violence to private tenant support and bereavement. Please remember, Brent Social Care’s main focus is supporting its families as and when they my need it. You may also contact the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (Miss Collins) at dsl@sasf.brent.sch.uk
Children will inevitably be spending more time on the internet/mobile phones during lock down therefore it is equally important to safeguard your child’s online safety. Whilst they are the platform for excellent learning resources, they can also provide children access to age inappropriate information or leave them susceptible to cyber bullying. The NSPCA has provided excellent resources online for parents, to support and advice you (https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/).
Inclusion – (Ms Dodd-Noble - AHT)
If your child is struggling with their work please ensure you contact their teacher, they will be able to provide you with ideas and resources that will help scaffold their learning. You may find your child is finding it difficult to focus on a task: a useful strategy is to challenge your child to complete a small amount of the task in a short time, then enable them to have a small break or a sticker on a reward chart to motivate them. If your child is struggling with writing, ensure they are saying their sentence out loud: you can then record this on your phone to help them remember it, then play it whilst they write it down. Short tasks, small successes and positive reinforcement will be a real support for your child to be successful.
Stay positive and stay safe
Brent Community Information Service
Brent Council has developed a COVID-19 portal on its Community Information page online to act as a single point of information for service updates and resources for families, children and young people. Any relevant updates from specific services will be added here as they become available. Please visit https://www.brent.gov.uk/coronavirus/ to access more information.
Tips for staying well
The mental health charity Mind (for Brent, Wandsworth and Westminster) has produced a helpful newsletter for families with tips on staying well during the Coronavirus outbreak. Please click here to see a copy.
Protecting against online radicalisation
Please click here for information and support for parents/carers on the topic of online radicalisation, which is especially important during this time. The guidance has been produced by a number of charities and Counter Terrorism Policing.
I would lastly like to thank all our key/critical workers who are working hard on the frontline of the coronavirus crisis. Your efforts are appreciated by all.
Regards
Mr T Sharpe
Headteacher
Dear Parent/Carers,
SASF will be closed to all families over the Easter period.
School will resume for Key-Worker and Vulnerable pupils as the Easter break-Monday 20th April 2020.
Have a restful Easter period ad keep safe
Kind Regards
Mr T Sharpe
Key Worker update
Dear Parents/Carers
From Monday 23rd March, 2020 the school will be closed and children are expected to continue their education at home, completing their daily home learning. However, there is an exception in place for key workers’ children - although if possible, these children should also remain at home.
The government has now provided a more comprehensive list of roles that are deemed to be critical during this delay phase of the fight against coronavirus:
Health and social care - doctor, nurse, midwife, paramedic, social worker, care worker, other frontline health and social care staff (paid or volunteer), producer or distributor of medicine or personal protective equipment
Education and childcare - teaching or nursery staff, social worker, and specialist education professional who needs to continuing working during COVID-19 crisis
Key public services - staff in the justice system, religious staff, worker delivering key frontline services, responsible for management of the deceased, or a journalist or broadcaster providing public service broadcasting
Local and national government - staff responsible for delivering essential public services (e.g. delivering benefits)
Food production and delivery - staff involved in production, processing, delivery and sale of food and other key goods (e.g. hygienic and veterinary medicines)
National security - police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilian, contractor, and armed forces personnel, fire rescue service employees (and support staff), National Crime Agency staff, border security staff, prison and probation staff
Transport - staff working to keep air, water, road, and rail transport running during the crisis (both freight and passenger)
Financial services - essential staff in financial services (including banks, building societies, and financial market infrastructure)
Communication - staff working network operations, field engineering, call centres, IT and data infrastructure, or 999 and 111
Utilities - staff in the oil, gas, electricity, and water sectors (including sewerage worker), civil nuclear and chemicals, waste disposal, postal service, or payment providers
You can find this full list of roles on the GOV.UK website.
If you fall into one on these categories, and are unable to keep your child at home, please contact the school office for further information.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Troy Sharpe
Headteacher
Key Worker update
Dear Parents/Carers
From Monday 23rd March, 2020 the school will be closed and children are expected to continue their education at home, completing their daily home learning. However, there is an exception in place for key workers’ children - although if possible, these children should also remain at home.
The government has now provided a more comprehensive list of roles that are deemed to be critical during this delay phase of the fight against coronavirus:
Health and social care - doctor, nurse, midwife, paramedic, social worker, care worker, other frontline health and social care staff (paid or volunteer), producer or distributor of medicine or personal protective equipment
Education and childcare - teaching or nursery staff, social worker, and specialist education professional who needs to continuing working during COVID-19 crisis
Key public services - staff in the justice system, religious staff, worker delivering key frontline services, responsible for management of the deceased, or a journalist or broadcaster providing public service broadcasting
Local and national government - staff responsible for delivering essential public services (e.g. delivering benefits)
Food production and delivery - staff involved in production, processing, delivery and sale of food and other key goods (e.g. hygienic and veterinary medicines)
National security - police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilian, contractor, and armed forces personnel, fire rescue service employees (and support staff), National Crime Agency staff, border security staff, prison and probation staff
Transport - staff working to keep air, water, road, and rail transport running during the crisis (both freight and passenger)
Financial services - essential staff in financial services (including banks, building societies, and financial market infrastructure)
Communication - staff working network operations, field engineering, call centres, IT and data infrastructure, or 999 and 111
Utilities - staff in the oil, gas, electricity, and water sectors (including sewerage worker), civil nuclear and chemicals, waste disposal, postal service, or payment providers
You can find this full list of roles on the GOV.UK website.
If you fall into one on these categories, and are unable to keep your child at home, please contact the school office for further information.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Troy Sharpe
Headteacher
Dear Parents/Carers,
Re: Coronavirus update – school closure for all (except for the children of keyworkers)
As you are aware, schools in England have been instructed by the government to close until further notice: SASF will close at 3:30pm, on Friday 20th March, 2020. However, this does not apply to children of keyworkers (e.g. NHS staff, police, delivery drivers, others in frontline services).
We are still waiting for the government to publish more information on what jobs are classified as keyworker roles. That said, if you believe that your employment falls under this category, please contact the school office as soon as possible.
From Monday, all children are expected to continue their education whilst schools are closed. Therefore, we have provided pupils with a ‘Home Learning Pack’. More details about these will be provided in a separate letter, that you will receive with the pack, including our plans for continuous provision, if this closure should extend beyond the Easter Holiday. Information and additional copies of the packs/resources will also be available on our website: News and Events – Closure – Home Learning.
The government has also identified the need to provide meals for selected children. If your child qualifies for theses, the school office will be in contact to discuss it further.
As we write this, the information provided by the government is still rather limited. We appreciate your continued patience as we deal with this ever-changing situation. For regular updates, please monitor our website and Twitter feed or contact the school office directly.
Remember: if you or your child displays any of the symptoms of coronavirus (a new persistent cough or high temperature) please use NHS 111 online or ring 111 for advice.
Thank you again for your continued support – we will endeavor to update you with new information as soon as it is provided.
Your sincerely,
Troy Sharpe
Headteacher
Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update
Dear Parents/Carers,
Following the Prime Minister’s press conference yesterday, we wanted to inform you that there are no changes for schools and the advice is business as usual. For more information please see:
Our post on Tuesday 17th March 2020:
https://www.standrewandstfrancis.org/stream/news/full/1/-//
or
Further Advice for Parents and Carers
Please see the links below for any further information.