Headteacher's Update - 3rd April 2020

Birkrig, Skelmersdale, Lancashire WN8 9BN. Telephone: 01695 724730.

www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk Headteacher: Mr IJ McDonald

Headteacher Update for Parents/Carers - 03/04/20 Dear Parents/Carers, Introduction I hope you are staying safe with your families during this difficult time. I think it is fair to say that I never expected that I would ever be the Headteacher of a school under conditions such as these and I can only say a HUGE thank you to virtually every family at Bishop Martin for your kind words of support for what we are doing as a school to try to continue supporting you and your child’s learning from home.

The Government has not provided us with a date when we will be returning to school so I can inform you all with 99% certainty, that we will NOT be returning to school as normal after the scheduled Easter holidays (week beginning 20/04/20). We must therefore continue to plan for this current situation to be in place for some time. Please read the information below carefully. I know there is a lot to take in but I’m trying to keep you all as fully up to date as possible!

Communication The school office did a huge amount of work before we finished on 20/03/20 to get up to date emails/mobile numbers from all of you to help improve communication. Our drive to go paperless over the Spring Term actually set us up really well to keep effective communication up with you all in this situation!

We will continue to use the email/parenting app systems as the preferred methods of keeping in touch with you all so if you have a query/wish to inform us of something then please email us. The school office is open 9am-3pm Monday-Friday for parents to ring school if they wish but access to the school site is restricted as we follow Government advice to encourage as many people as possible to stay at home at this time.

Home Learning Support The teachers and I continue to work on the principle that while not perfect, the best model of keeping you well informed with learning content and ideas for what to do at home with your children is through online communication. The main systems we are using for this are:  

The school Twitter Feed (updated daily with ideas and links of fun activities to do with your children so please follow us @SkemBishopM) The Home Learning section of the school website (updated regularly with new content) https://www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk/class-pages-2019-2020



Your individual child’s class page (your child’s class teacher is still maintaining this section and will be putting the areas of learning they would be covering during the summer term on there over the Easter period) https://www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk/class-pages-2019-2020

We will not be posting online/sending any ‘school work’ home over the next two weeks (the traditional Easter Break). We will be regularly posting Easter activity ideas onto the school Twitter feed though so keep checking in!

If any families are struggling with accessing the online content in any way please email or ring the school and the office team will do their best to help you.

Easter We have been instructed by the Government that we should stay open and provide school provision for vulnerable/Critical Worker families over the Easter period (and this includes Good Friday/Easter Monday). The school will therefore be staffed over the next two weeks but I would remind everyone this provision is ONLY for families who qualify as Critical Workers or fall under the Government defined ‘Vulnerable’ category.

Free School Meals Families eligible for Free School Meals have received food parcels from the Local Authority last week and this week and I am really grateful for the patience you showed us as we have worked flat out to get these parcels out to you!

There is no provision for FSM families over the next two weeks. I apologise about this but as FSM provision is only available during term time, the next week anything will be available is the week beginning 20/04/20 (the week we would have been returning to school after Easter).

From 20/04/20, all FSM families will be moved onto the Government’s new e-voucher system. The basic principle is that if you have been receiving a food parcel last week and this week, will receive a 16 digit code, via email, that you can download to your phone or print off then redeem off your food shopping at Asda. The voucher will be for £15 per week per child.

This is another new system set up by the Government and myself and the office will be setting all FSM families up during the Easter period. The school office will be open 9am-3pm the week beginning 20/04/20 for you to call us if you struggle to access the e-code or redeem the voucher.

There is a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ document for parents/carers which is attached to this email. I have also posted it on the ‘News’ and ‘Useful Links’ section of the school website: https://www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk/news/2020-04-02-dfe-freeschoolmeals-parentcarerfaqs https://www.bishopmartin.lancs.sch.uk/parents/useful-links

And Finally‌ I know that is A LOT of information to be passing but I am trying to keep you all as up to date as possible. Please read everything a couple of times and if you are unsure of anything I have put please email/ring the school.

Thank you everyone for your support at this difficult time. We are still here, doing our best to support you all and I just couldn’t be more proud to be the Headteacher of Bishop Martin.

Yours sincerely

Mr McDonald