Philippians 4:13

Please find attached a letter from Thames Valley Police offering some guidance regarding online safety and the use of social media.

Kind regards
The Piggott School
 

Please see below a reflection from Reverend Hugh Barne to offer comfort and hope during these challenging times.

Best wishes to all of our families

The Piggott School

 

‘There is a crack, a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in’

Leonard Cohen, Anthem , 1992

I would guess that many of us are only too aware of the ‘crack in everything’ at the moment.
Almost every part of our daily lives seems to be affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. The
lockdown, the closing of school for the majority of pupils and the cancellation of GCSE and A
Level exams have turned this academic year on its head. For some these past weeks have
been devastating as other sources of anxiety, sorrow, grief and loss have changed lives
beyond recognition. I hope that in the midst of all this upheaval we’ve also seen some light
getting in through the cracks. Perhaps we’ve had more time to spend outside, or we’ve
reconnected with family and friends. Maybe lockdown has given us a moment to pause and
reflect, to reconsider what is important rather than simply rushing on to the ‘next thing’.

Many of us might be wondering where God can be found in all of this. Maybe we are asking
how God could have allowed all this to happen. As we turn to the Bible for answers, we find
its pages full of the sort of experiences we are having at the moment. One such example of
this you may recognise from Christmas services - Isaiah 9:2 ‘ The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned’.
Biblical Christian faith doesn’t crumble in circumstances like ours; instead, this is where ‘the
rubber hits the road’ and we learn to see things differently. It is in the midst of circumstances
like ours that God’s hand can be most clearly seen. Cohen, talking about the metaphor of
cracks in his 1992 single, said, ‘that’s where the light gets in, and that’s where the
resurrection is and that’s where the return, that’s where the repentance is. It is with the
confrontation, with the brokenness of things’. Up and down the country churches are finding
that new people are joining in with their virtual services, and the nationwide virtual Alpha
course is struggling to keep up with the numbers of people signing up to access their
material. Perhaps we also might find ourselves reconsidering Jesus’ claim to be the ‘light of
the world’ at times like these?

Reverend Hugh Barne

Dear Parents

In response to the Government’s advice yesterday evening we will be closing the Wargrave Piggott site this afternoon, Tuesday 24^th March 2020 until further notice.

Dear Parents

Apologies to those of you to whom this does not apply. IT are working on a distribution list just for eligible parents.

School will be open for Key Workers’ children and for vulnerable children from March 23^rd 2020 until the foreseeable future. Definitions of Key Workers and of vulnerable children are available on the Government website.

In the first week we will mainly be providing childcare, not necessarily structured education, as we put a plan together. Until we know the number of children, and their needs, we are planning for a holiday club experience in the first instance.

Coronavirus update — School Closure to Most Pupils

 

New guidance for households with symptoms

Yesterday, the Government introduced new guidance on whole household isolation in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak:

if you live alone and you have symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), however mild, stay at home for 7 days from when your symptoms started if you live with others and you or another member of the household have symptoms of coronavirus, then all household members must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in the house became ill. It is likely that people living within a household will infect each other or be infected already. Staying at home for 14 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community for anyone in the household who starts displaying symptoms, they need to stay at home for 7 days from when the symptoms appeared, regardless of what day they are on in the original 14-day isolation period.

The symptoms are:

A high temperature (37.8 degrees and above) A new, continuous cough

The full stay at home guidance for households with these symptoms can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance

The Prime Minister’s statement from Monday 16 March can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-coronavirus-16-march-2020

Temporary suspension of Ofsted inspections

Ofsted is to temporarily suspend routine inspections of schools, colleges, early years settings, children’s social care providers and local authorities to reduce the burden on staff who are providing vital services to the nation in response to coronavirus.

The current medical and scientific advice is for schools and other educational establishments to stay open. If this changes and the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser say closing schools, colleges, and early years settings is in the best interests of children and teachers the Department will take that step.

The full announcement made by Gavin Williamson can be viewed here:

https://youtu.be/UkW7QcTsBcY https://www.gov.uk/government/news/routine-ofsted-inspections-suspended-in-response-to-coronavirus

Updated guidance on recording school pupil absences

No school will be penalised for the impact on school attendance of coronavirus (COVID-19). Please record absences as follows:

Where a pupil cannot attend school due to illness, as would normally happen, the pupil should be recorded as absent in the attendance register and the school will authorise the absence. Code I (Illness) should be used in this instance. Where a pupil is in self-isolation, in accordance with latest information and advice from Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England, the pupil should be recorded as unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances in the attendance register. Code Y (Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances) should be used in this instance. Where a pupil does not attend school and is not self-isolating, the pupil will be marked as absent. We back headteachers’ judgement and to be pragmatic – having spoken to parents – on whether to authorise such absence, taking into account individual circumstances. We expect, in particular, headteachers will authorise absence where a pupil is not able to attend because of an underlying health condition that means they, or a family member in their household, are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Handwashing advice

The most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves is to wash their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Public Health England recommends that in addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.

Watch this short NHS film for guidance:

https://youtu.be/bQCP7waTRWU

Department for Education coronavirus helpline

The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday), 10am to 4pm (Saturday to Sunday)

Please note, we are currently experiencing high volumes of calls. We appreciate your patience at this time and apologise for any wait that you may experience. To ensure that we answer your calls as quickly as possible, we have now extended our opening hours to cover weekends and are increasing the number of call handlers available to answer your calls.

If you work in a school, please have your unique reference number (URN or UK PRN) available when calling the hotline.

Where to find the latest information

Updates on COVID-19:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Guidance for educational settings:

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

Guidance for social or community care and residential settings:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-social-or-community-care-and-residential-settings-on-covid-19

Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

Educational resources:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101-coronavirus-/resources https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools

Latest Department for Education information:

https://twitter.com/educationgovuk https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk/

Please keep your GIAS school contacts up to date

If you work in a school, please take this opportunity to review your contact information in Get Information About Schools (GIAS).

To update your record, please go to the GIAS home page, “Sign in” using your “DfE Sign-in” credentials and select GIAS from your available services here:

https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/

Government announces move from Contain to Delay phase

Yesterday, the Government announced that we are moving from the Contain phase of the coronavirus action plan and into the Delay phase, in response to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Full details of each stage in the government action plan can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-action-plan

To support the delay of the spread of the virus, the Department for Health and Social Care has asked anyone who shows certain symptoms to stay at home for 7 days, regardless of whether they have travelled to affected areas. This means people should stay at home and avoid all but essential contact with others for 7 days from the point of displaying mild symptoms, to slow the spread of infection.

The symptoms are:

A high temperature (37.8 degrees and above) A new, continuous cough

You do not need to call NHS 111 to stay at home. If your symptoms worsen during your stay at home period or are no better after 7 days contact NHS 111 online at 111.nhs.uk. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.

Current advice remains in place: no education or children’s social care setting should close in response to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case unless advised to do so by Public Health England.

The Chief Medical Officer has advised that the impact of closing schools on both children’s education and on the workforce will be substantial, but the benefit to public health may not be. Decisions on future advice to schools will be taken based on the latest and best scientific evidence, which at this stage suggests children are a lower risk group.

COVID-19 travel guidance for the education sector

The Government has issued new travel guidance for the education sector. This advises against all overseas education trips for children under 18. This does not apply to domestic trips, or overseas trips which are already underway.

The full guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19/covid-19-travel-guidance-for-the-education-sector

Handwashing advice

The most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves is to wash their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Public Health England recommends that in addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.

Watch this short NHS film for guidance:

https://youtu.be/bQCP7waTRWU

Educational resources

The e-Bug project is led by Public Health England and has a dedicated webpage for learning resources on hand washing and respiratory hygiene.

Resources are currently available for KS1, KS2 and KS3 and can be used in various settings including schools:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools

Department for Education coronavirus helpline

The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday), 10am to 4pm (Saturday to Sunday)

Please note, we are currently experiencing high volumes of calls and apologise for any wait that you may experience. To ensure that we answer your calls as quickly as possible we have now extended our opening hours to cover weekends.

If you work in a school, please have your unique reference number (URN or UK PRN) available when calling the hotline.

Where to find the latest information

Updates on COVID-19:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Guidance for educational settings:

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

Guidance for social or community care and residential settings:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-social-or-community-care-and-residential-settings-on-covid-19

Travel advice for those travelling and living overseas:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

Educational resources:

https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/101-coronavirus-/resources https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools

Latest Department for Education information:

https://twitter.com/educationgovuk https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk/

Please keep your GIAS contacts up to date

If you work in a school, please take this opportunity to review your contact information in Get Information About Schools (GIAS).

To update your record, please go to the GIAS home page, “Sign in” using your “DfE Sign-in” credentials and select GIAS from your available services here:

https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/