School Update- May 22nd 2020

22^nd May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

I sincerely hope that you are all safe and well and that you are keeping busy, staying positive and enjoying family time together.

Following the letter from our Trust Leader that I sent on Wednesday, I wish to outline our individual school plans for reopening to some pupils in the near future.

We feel we are now in the position to re-open our school to Year 6 pupils, if the government advice permits us to do so, around Monday 8^th June, should the ‘R’ rate be low enough. The reproduction, or ‘R’ rate, is the number of people that a single infected person will go on to infect and we are awaiting an updated figure on May 28^th.

As a school, we have completed a comprehensive risk assessment, using the government guidance and support from our Trust, and I would like to reassure you that measures have been implemented to try and make our school as safe for pupils and staff as possible.

We have looked closely at our setting and feel we are in a stronger position than many other schools due to the size of our classrooms, corridors, cloakrooms and outside space, which will be critical in maintaining social distancing of 2m.

In addition, our staff are all fit, well and keen to start working with the boys and girls again.

I understand the anxiety many of you may have around your child starting back. As a father of two children, I share the concerns many of you have expressed, but feel it is the right time to move forward should it be safe to do so.

Below are a list of measures, detailing our plans for reopening:

• Pupils will start to arrive at school from 8.30 each day, maintaining the 2m distancing rule.
• Pupils will be placed into smaller groups of no more than 12 children, which the Government have termed ‘bubbles’.
• Each bubble will be assigned a specific classroom, cloakroom and toilet block and will be taught by a specific teacher.
• Each bubble will be allocated a specific playground and section of the school field to use, where they will spend their playtime and lunch time, maintaining the 2m distance at all times.
• The children will be given their own stationary, which will be kept on their desk, in their tray with their work, so they will not need to bring this from home.
• The children will require a packed lunch each day and this will be eaten outside on the school field, picnic-style if the weather permits, or in the classroom if the weather is poor.
• Any children entitled to free school meals can order a packed lunch from the kitchen.
• The children will be taught lessons, in the same way as previously, although there will be no paired and group activities where children will share equipment or work or where the 2m distancing rule could be compromised.
• Pupils will continue to do PE outside and due to the size of classrooms, cloakrooms and adjacent bays can change for this in the usual way, so PE kit can be brought in their bag each day.
• Bubbles will be dismissed from school in a staggered way, every 5 minutes from 3pm to avoid congestion.
• There will be no Trailblazer for pupils at present.
• Children will have access to hand sanitiser on arrival to school and throughout the day and children unable to use this will be reminded to wash their hands thoroughly.
• Tissues will continue to be available in classrooms.

As you will see from the photographs of classrooms below, non-essential furniture and equipment has been removed from teaching areas to enable thorough cleaning at the end of each day.

The school is working closely with our trust, the Embark Federation, and our family of schools to ensure that our planning is comprehensive and a full risk assessment can be viewed by clicking the link below. Embark Federation are liaising with the Department for Education closely to ensure that any plans made are in line with Government guidance which keeps updating on a daily basis and we are amending our plans accordingly.

Please be reassured that we have done all we can to ensure we are ready for pupils and whilst I would like to see all of our Year 6 pupils back and getting down to business, I realise that it may not be possible for some of them to attend due to personal circumstances.

I will contact you as soon as I have any more information but should you have any questions about the risk assessment or your child returning to school, please do not hesitate to get in touch either by email or telephone.

Best wishes,

Rob Hull

Kilburn Junior School- COVID19 - Schools re opening - Risk Assessment

Amber Valley Community Support

Covid-19 Support in Amber Valley

 

Learning at Home During Lockdown

The teachers have been working on ways to continue to support your child whilst the school remains closed and we have developed an online learning platform using Google Classrooms which we feel will help to meet the needs of you and your child at home.

Google Classroom enables your child's teacher to schedule work each day, allows your child to submit work for marking and enables teachers to give feedback to your child on how they have done and any improvements they can make to their work.

The teachers will set daily tasks for the children to complete, but to begin with you will need to do the following:

1. Visit Google Classrooms using the web link or alternatively download the app onto your phone or tablet. 
2. You will need to use an existing Google account or set up a new one to sign in. You will be prompted to do so when you visit Google Classrooms.
3. Use the code kmdsvnd to join the school.
4. You will find your child’s individual class underneath ‘classwork’.

We appreciate that this is a new way of working- it's new to us too, and that things may not run as smoothly as we'd hoped, especially during the initial stages of its use, but if you have any problems at all, please email me at courage@kilburn-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk.   I will be available over the weekend to assist you with any issues you might experience logging on to the classroom.

Best wishes,

R.Gordon

 

Read all about it!

 

Team Discovery have been working hard at home, writing newspaper articles about our current situation. They have done a brilliant job!

Trick Shot Challenge Montage!

The wait is over!

Well done to all of the children (and adults) who sent in clips of themselves taking part in the Kilburn Junior Trick Shot Challenge.

It was great to see so many creative and skillful trick shots you all came up with and hope you all enjoyed taking part.

Hope you enjoy the little montage of clips I've put together for you all and keep a look out for more challenges in the near future.

Mr W

KJS Keepy Uppy Challenge!

While the weather is still glorious, why not have a go at the KJS keepy uppy challenge?  All you have to do is post us a video of you performing as many keep ups as you can using any ball, balloon or even a rolled up ball of socks!  You can use your feet, head or hands.  It's entirely up to you.  It'll even count towards your KJS Sports badge too.  

We can't wait to see your video so make sure you post them to us by email info@kilburn-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk or you can tweet them to us instead https://twitter.com/kilburnjuniors

Have fun!

Fearne's creations

Fearne is still busy creating, even whilst she is at home. Keep it up Fearne!

 

Lola's home learning

Lola has been very busy completing her home learning booklet, to a very high standard! Well done Lola.

Team Discovery's home learning

 

I have had many more photos emailed to me from Team Discovery this morning, it is fantastic to see what you have been doing at home.

Maisy has created a giant rainbow for her window. Annabelle has been completing all of her work and more! Logan and his sister have had lots of fun with their Roman Day and being very creative with their drawings and designing projects.

Google Classroom

Good morning.  I hope you and your families are all well during the unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in. 

I would like to to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for using the home-school booklets to support your child whilst our school is closed.  We understand that this has been a challenging time and as such each member of staff is incredibly grateful for your continued support.  It is heart-warming to have been sent so many photographs of our children engaging in different activities and enjoying themselves at home too.

Feedback from many of you suggests that your child has completed their booklet and you are now ready for further support from your child’s teacher. 

Since last Monday, the teachers have been working on ways that we can continue to support your child whilst the school remains closed.  As a result, we have developed an online learning platform using Google Classrooms which we feel will help to meet the needs of you and your child at home. Here’s what you need to do:

1. You need to visit Google Classrooms using the web link or alternatively you can download the app onto your phone or tablet. 
2. You will need to use an existing Google account or set up a new one to sign in. You will be prompted to do so when you visit Google Classrooms.
3. Use the code kmdsvnd to join the school.
4. You will find your child’s individual class underneath ‘classwork’.

Most of the content won’t go live until Monday 6^th April but please sign up before the weekend so your child’s teacher can assign the tasks correctly. 

If you have any problems at all, please email me at courage@kilburn-jun.derbyshire.sch.uk.   I will be available over the weekend to assist you with any issues you might experience logging on to the classroom.

We have planned to use the Easter holidays as a trial period for the classroom.  Each class teacher has set a number of Easter based activities for your child, as well as other activities that you can try at home.  As you can appreciate, the staff themselves have been on quite a steep learning curve over the last week or so and we would value your input going forward so we can make it as effective as possible.  Please leave comments for your child’s teacher regarding:

• The quantity of work.
• What you feel would help to support you and your child further.
• Additional content that you would like to see provided for your child.
• Any questions that you have.

Your child’s teacher will respond to your comments as soon as possible. 

After the Easter holidays, we are looking to deliver more in the way of resources that you and your child can complete online. Your comments will be valuable in order to help us achieve this.

Stay safe everybody and I look forward to seeing you register over the coming days,

Richard Gordon.

Lower School Answers

Here are some of the answers to help you with the Year 3 and Year 4 booklets if you need them.  

Download Roman reading comprehension answers

Download Year 3 Mrs Fox Comprehension answers

Download Year 3 written arithmetic answers

Home learning

 

Well done to Eddie and friend for keeping up with his home learning. It's great to receive photos of what you are doing at home. Please keep sending them in.

Letters to the nursing home

Team Discovery have been worried about the residents of Kilburn Care Home. They have written letters to let them know we are thinking about them and to tell some funny jokes.