Glenealy School Newsletter
18th March 2021
Message from Phil
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
It has been fantastic to have so many students back at school this week. The school has been a hive of activity and the students and staff have adapted extremely well to the new schedule and systems.
Whilst we appreciate that it has been an incredibly stressful time for all members of our community I am really pleased to say that the response from our community has been one of solidarity and care. The number of students attending school has been steadily increasing throughout the week as negative test results pour in.
Thank you to everyone for being so rigorous with the extensive mandatory testing across the community and for sharing your negative test results with us promptly so we can get students back to school safely. Thank you also for your understanding and patience as these results have taken a few days to return for some. The safety of our students, staff and parents continues to be a priority and we are confident that the health and safety protocols we continue to have in place will help to keep everyone in our community safe.
The recording of the daily temperatures for all students attending school has been going well. Please continue to do this as soon as possible in the morning.
Please can you also continue to be cautious and vigilant about illness, and do not send your child to school if they have any of the symptoms below. Any children who come into school with any potential Covid - 19 symptoms will be sent home (unless attendance has been approved by the school nurse and the SLT).
We do understand that children are suffering from environmental allergies at this time of year but without a doctor’s note and an accompanying negative Covid test result, we cannot allow them to be present in school at this time.
Children's COVID-19 symptoms
While children and adults experience similar symptoms of COVID-19, children's symptoms tend to be mild and cold-like. Most children recover within one to two weeks. Possible symptoms can include:
Fever or chills
Nasal congestion or runny nose
Cough
Sore throat
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Headache
Muscle aches or body aches
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
Poor feeding or poor appetite
New loss of taste or smell
Stomach pain
General malaise
If any child displays or reports any of the symptoms above whilst at school, we will ask for them to be collected as soon as possible. Please consider the safety of our community and do not send your child back to school until they have fully recovered. If your child is experiencing any of the symptoms for a prolonged period Covid testing is recommended.
A further reminder that children need to be fever free for 48 hours before returning to school.
Drop off and Pick up
This week’s drop off and pick up system has been working extremely well and the timings have been very successful. Just to recap the ‘Drop Off’ and ‘Pick Up’ times and protocol:
Faust Drama Workshops at Glenealy
Last week our Year 6 students had the amazing opportunity to take part in a variety of drama workshops led by the team from Faust Youth Theatre. This week our Year 3 and 4 classes also had the opportunity to explore drama as a creative tool to develop their writing skills too.
The workshops that our students have participated in, via Zoom in The Centre, covered interactive storytelling, creative poetry and comic illustration. These were all great experiences that will act as prompts and leaping off points for the students' enquiry work.
One of our Year 6 Students Jaedyn Handley from 6A had this to say:
This workshop experience will help us during the Exhibition because they helped us to tune into different and challenging ways to express ourselves. The best part was that we learnt how to express ourselves through poetry, drama and illustrations.
It was a privilege to have such talented workshop leaders working with us, albeit virtually, and we look forward to Faust continuing to provide opportunities for other Glenealy students throughout the year to develop their learning through creative performing arts skills.
Books for Birthdays
Final day of school for Term 2 arrangements
Friday 26th March will be the last day of Term 2 and school will close at 12:00pm. This means that the pick up times will be slightly earlier than usual. Your class teacher will share these in their weekly schedule which will be sent out tomorrow and I will send a reminder in next week’s Newsletter.
And finally…
As we enter our second round of testing at school, I would like to thank all of our staff for their ongoing commitment to our school. The Glenealy community has been incredibly resilient this week facing a huge number of personal challenges. I am incredibly proud of the way in which we have supported each other to ensure that the majority of our students have been able to benefit from face to face teaching this week. We will continue to work as hard as we can to provide learning in school whilst maintaining the stringent health and safety protocols that have evolved to ensure the safety of everyone in our community.
Have a great weekend, enjoy this fantastic weather (in a socially responsible way of course) and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact myself or Mrs Jennine Harding.
With best wishes
Phil
Dates for your Diary
Thursday 25th and Friday 26th March
Hearing Screening
Friday 26th March
End of Term 2- school closes at 12:00 pm
Monday 12th April
Start of Term 3
Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th April
Vision Screening
Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd April
School photographs