Dear Parents and Carers

It is still important that we continue to keep ourselves and others safe. Please continue to follow all Coronavirus prevention guidelines, maintain social distancing and wear face coverings wherever possible.

School Testing

Upon return, secondary school aged children will be offered a series of three tests at their school under the supervision of a trained operator.  Testing is voluntary, and consent must be provided for your child directly to the school.

Following on site testing, children may then continue taking twice-weekly tests using a home test kit provided by their school. You will receive further information about how to participate directly from your school.

Household testing

If you’re a member of a household, childcare bubble or support bubble of a member of school staff or a pupil you can now access testing twice weekly.  Further details can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff?priority-taxon=774cee22-d896-44c1-a611-e3109cce8eae

Testing is voluntary, but we strongly encourage people to access testing available to them.

For a reminder about Coronavirus symptoms and how to get tested please see page 2.

Please stay safe and thank you for your continued support.

Yours Sincerely

Matt Ashton

Director of Public Health, Liverpool

Page 2

General Covid-19 advice

If you have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), get a PCR test as soon as possible. Stay at home until you get the result.

The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

People who are sick with coronavirus may have other flu like symptoms such as:

• body aches
• persistent headaches
• sore throat
• tiredness
• shortness of breath
• nausea or
• diarrhoea

If you don’t have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus, you don’t need to isolate until you get your result, however you do need to continue to take the usual measures to protect yourself and others from illness.

People with symptoms can get a test here:

https://liverpool.gov.uk/communities-and-safety/emergency-planning/coronavirus/how-to-get-tested/tests-for-people-with-symptoms/

People without symptoms can access our community testing sites here:

https://liverpool.gov.uk/smarttesting

Mental wellbeing

Parents needing extra care? Don’t forget about your own self-care. Discover our supportive online mental wellbeing space for adults: qwell.io

LA letter

World Book Day

Thursday 4^th March 2021

Dear Parent/ Carers,

World Book Day takes place this Thursday 4th March 2021, and we would like to invite you to join us in helping your child to make the most of this special occasion. World Book Day celebrates the joy and value of books and reading, especially for children.

The children in school are allowed to come in wearing their own clothes on that day or fancy dress if they wish.

World Book Day £1 Token

The book tokens will be given out on Monday 8^th March when all the children are back in school. Every child will receive a £1 book token allowing them to get a free £1 book or to get £1 off any book or audiobook costing £2.99 or more.

Thank you for your cooperation and support

Mrs L. Hindley.

Head of Literacy.

Parent letter World Book Day 2021

Entry and Exit Points and Times

Spring 2 2021

(Week beginning Monday 8^th March)

Entry and Exit Points and Times for Parents

Heads up for Kate – The Virtual Everest Challenge

Dear parents/carers,

As a school, we are going to be taking part in a fundraiser in memory of the Headteacher of Christ the King Primary School, Kate Griffin. The fundraiser will be raising money for Rainbows UK, a charity that supports children through bereavement. This is an organisation that has supported many of our children throughout the years.

In year group teams, we will be trying to climb the equivalent of Mount Everest by doing simple activities such as; running, dancing and climbing stairs. We will be trying to get as far as we can and seeing which year group can get the furthest. We will be completing this challenge in school, but you can join in at home as well! We will be ticking off boxes as we go on the sheet attached.

We have started a Virgin Money page here for you to sponsor us. Any donation, no matter how small will be greatly appreciated. It is for an amazing cause and your support will help RainbowsGB to continue in its vision which is quite simply “that every child and young person in every school in Great Britain, grieving a significant and often devastating loss in their lives, to be understood and supported appropriately.”

Here is the link to our donation page:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/StOswaldsCatholicPrimarySchool

Thank you for your support, and we hope you enjoy supporting this challenge!

Mrs Moscardini,

Rainbows Co Ordinator

Heads up for Kate Letter

11^th February 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you for your continued support in the fight against Coronavirus.

Although the number of infections in Liverpool has reduced, the rate of reduction is once again levelling out. The number of infections is still too high and we all need to continue to be careful and stay safe.

You may have seen some media around people in Liverpool being advised to get a PCR test if they have additional symptoms.  For clarity, we’ve outlined these additional symptoms and when people should get tested.

Anyone experiencing the main symptoms of coronavirus must stay at home and get a test as soon as possible and remain in self-isolation until they get their results back. The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• a high temperature
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot, for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours
• a loss or change to sense of smell or taste – this means you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

However, people who are sick with coronavirus may have other symptoms like the flu, including body-aches, headaches, sore throat and tiredness, shortness of breath, nausea or diarrhoea.

If you have these symptoms it is important you also consider booking yourself a PCR test.   If you don’t have the main symptoms of coronavirus, you do not need to isolate until you get your result, however you do need to continue to take the usual measures to protect yourself and others from illness.

If individuals haven’t got symptoms they shouldn’t use this route, and instead should go for asymptomatic testing in the usual way.

Advice on how to book a test

To book at test due to the above symptoms the process is the same.  Go to the following website, https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test

 When you are booking a test, if you don’t have the classic symptoms, simply say you don’t. 

 A few clicks later on the website, you can then choose the option which says: ‘My local council or health protection team has asked me (or someone I live with) to get a test, even though I do not have symptoms’. Alongside the vaccination programme, testing continues to be one of the most vital tools to help us reduce the spread of infection. 

 We have extra testing capacity in the area for the next few days so we hope you will take advantage of this while it is available.

Yours Sincerely,

Matt Ashton

Director of Public Health, Liverpool

Steve Reddy

Director of Children’s Services, Liverpool City Council

School additional symptoms Feb 2021

Dear Parents/Carers,

I wanted to write to thank you for the amazing job you have been doing supporting your
children with home learning. For some families this is particularly hard balancing different
aged children, work commitments, or just having the motivation to keep going!

Please see attached letter

Whole school letter thank you