Dealing with COVID-19
Something fun to read about learning at home
Coronavirus -(COVID-19)- Guidance
The school are continuing to follow guidelines set out by Public Health England and the daily updates we receive from the local authority. Further support and advice can be sought by visiting the following website:
Key worker children
Holywell School will remain open for children of Critical Key Workers as agreed with the Department for Education. If a place is required for your child/ren, please email the school office@holywell.kent.sch.uk
The latest Government advice for parents & carers:
Closure of educational settings: information for parents and carers
Free School Meals
We are able to provide a free packed lunch for any child on roll who needs it. These will be made by our kitchen staff and are available to collect daily (non-contact) from school. This is predominantly for those in receipt of Free School Meals, however, we know there are families who may be struggling due to COVID-19 related circumstances. We can deal with your request discreetly so please let us know. If you would like to apply for this, please let the office know. office@holywell.kent.sch.uk
We are now also able to offer Shopping Vouchers for those children in reciept of Free School Meals. Please contact our Business Manager, Mrs Snellings, if you would like to make an application for this. finance@holywell.kent.sch.uk
home learning
Extensive plans have been put in place for your children's continued education during lockdown. Your child will have had regular contact with their class teacher through ParentMail and we have recently launched online learning via Google Classrooms.
In addition to the daily learning posted on Google Classrooms, there is also a fun 'Activity of the Day' posted on Twitter (@schoolholywell) and many general activities posted on the school website. They can be found HERE and HERE.
The class pages of the school website have lots of photos of the learning taking place, both at school and at home and these can be found on the Class Pages in the Children's section.
If you are having difficulty accessing any of the online resources, please contact us and we can ask our technical 'guru' Mr Prior to give you a call back.
We also appreciate some parents and carers are finding home learning difficult, especially those with several children. Please note: The activities we send home are not intended to be completed in their entirety every day. There are some days when your child may find things harder and will need additional time to work on certain concepts and there are some times, your child may be able to work independently and complete everything. Please rest assured we ar not going to challenge the amount your child is learning so long as they are learning something meaningful and are sharing what they are learning with their class teacher on the dedicated class email accounts.
Advice on talking to children about Coronavirus
https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/
Bereavement
Sadly, there are many of us experiencing loss due to COVID-19 and this includes our children.
We have connected with two organisations, the Childhood Bereavement Network (CBN) and Cruse, to find ways to support families during this difficult time.
There are many ways we can support children and families dealing with bereavement. We can signpost to specific charities (see below), we can share resources and we can offer support and guidance by phone, email and, once school returns, in person.
There is a parent page from CBN which holds lots of information as well as the resources and charities listed below and can be found here.
Resources
Winston's Wish have produced a great set of resources to support families at home.
- See resource for speaking to children about serious illness through COVID-19 here.
- See resource for telling children someone has died through COVID-19 here.
- See resource for speaking to children who are bereaved through COVID-19 here.
Cruse have a wealth of resources on their website relating to grief and loss which can be found here. For those with slightly older children, Cruse's youth website Hope Again has some really good and age appropriate resources here.
Grief Encounter also have a range of resources which are really helpful, including how to say goodbye when you can't attend a funeral. These resources can be found here.
Charities
There are two local charities who can provide support for children at Holywell.
MEDWAY
SWALE
Alongside the local organisations, there are several national charities offering online support and guidance.
Child Bereavement UK
Tel: 0800 02 888 40
Website: www.childbereavementuk.org
Childline
Telephone: 0800 1111
Website: www.childline.org.uk
Cruse Bereavement Care
Telephone:
- Freephone National Helpline: 0808 808 1766
- Administration: 020 8939 9530
Website: www.cruse.org.uk www.hopeagain.org.uk
Grief Encounter
Telephone: 0808 802 0111
Website: www.griefencounter.org.uk
Winston's Wish
Telephone: Family Line 08088 020 021
Website: www.winstonswish.org.uk
slowing the spread of coronavirus
Make sure you and your children follow these general principles to prevent spreading any respiratory virus:
- Wash your hands often – with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or an alcohol-based sanitiser if soap and water aren’t available
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick
- If you feel unwell, stay at home and don’t attend work or school
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in a bin
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces in the home
If you’re worried about your symptoms, please call NHS 111 – don’t go directly to your GP or other healthcare environments. Department for Education Coronavirus helpline - this helpline has been set up to answer questions about the virus related to education. Staff, parents and young people can contact the helpline.
- Phone: 0800 046 8687
- Email: DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk
- Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday)
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
a safe space
Life can be tricky during complicated times like these. You will hear us talk about wanting our children to be happy and safe and that extends to their families too.
At Holywell, we would like to offer a non-contact 'SAFE SPACE' at school. There are lots of families in the UK experiencing difficulties right now which include poverty (which could be covid related or something ongoing for some time), family and/or relationship difficulties and even domestic abuse.
For this reason, it is important to be able to access the right support and we recognise this might not always be able to be done at home. This might be useful if:
- you do not have access to a computer and need to complete some online forms for funding, support or citizens advice
- you do not have a landline to make a call to a helpline
- you are not safe and need to get some support away from home.
If you would like to use this service, please email school on contact@holywell.kent.sch.uk . We will then arrange for you to visit at a mutually convenient time. If there are circumstances which mean you are not safe, please email and ask for an appointment to meet with 'ANGELA' and we will email you a meeting time to meet with 'ANGELA' to use the room in private (with support from a Safeguarding lead if you want it).
There are many organisations helping during the COVID crisis, so please click below for further information.
