New ‘Food Club’ at The Joseph Lappin Centre, Mill Lane L13 5TF (next door to St Oswald’s Catholic Primary School, junior buildingl) every Tuesday 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.

The ‘social supermarket’ has been set up to help the most in need in Old Swan (low waged / unemployed / disabled / pension credits / vulnerable) and replaces the emergency food hamper delivery service provided during the pandemic.   Choose 10 items for £3.50 (cash only).   Bring address ID to register.

Thank you to The National Lottery Community Coronavirus Fund and Old Swan Ward Councillors for supporting this initiative. Money each week from shoppers is reinvested and buys more stock for next week.

When visiting the Centre, please keep 2m social distance, wear a mask and sanitise your hands before entering the building.

Any questions contact communitydevelopment@josephlappincentre.co.uk

or call07563 831 223 (during office hours).

Joseph Lappin Centre – Food Club letter

Dear Parents/Carers,

If your child is sent home from school with suspected COVID symptoms (or if anybody else in the household has suspected COVID symptoms), they will not be allowed back into school before the isolation period ends unless we have seen a negative COVID test result.

What do I do if I have a negative COVID result?

office@st-oswalds.liverpool.sch.uk

Once you have a negative result, please email a copy of this to office@st-oswalds.liverpool.sch.uk or alternatively, you can show this to a member of our admin staff in either office. Please do not bring your child back into school unless you have done one of the above.

What do I do if I have a positive COVID result?

positivecovid@stoswaldsschool.com

If you recieve a positive result, it is extremely important that you emal positivecovid@stoswaldsschool.com straight away regardeless of the time or day. This will then enable senior leaders to communicate this with the school community appropriately and put the relevant procedures in place to keep everybody safe. Please do not email this account for any other reason.

Thank you for your continued support and co-operation.

Mrs M Walsh
Headteacher

Dear Parents,

I am writing to alert you to the worrying situation in Liverpool, where COVID-19 positive cases have been increasing rapidly and significantly in the last week. The total number of confirmed cases in the last 7 days is 303, an increase of 212 cases on the previous week.

Schools have put in place several important measures to help reduce the number children becoming infected.  These measures are based on the best available evidence and guidance, and are fully endorsed by Liverpool City Council and the Public Health department:

We ask you continue to support schools by:

• Getting your child tested if they develop COVID-19 symptoms: high temperature, a new continuous cough, loss or change to smell or taste
• Ensure your child isolates for 14 days if they have had contact with someone who has tested positive. Isolation means they must not leave the house except in an emergency. Remember you should get your child tested if they do develop symptoms. But even if the test is negative – they must still carry on isolating for 14 days if they have had contact with a positive person.
• Wear face coverings over your mouth and nose when you pick up or drop off your children at the school gate plus when social distancing is not possible outdoors and indoors. By law, you must now wear them in most indoor settings including public transport, shops, post-offices, banks, beauty salons, visitor attractions and entertainment venues, libraries, community centres, places of worship and public areas in hotels
• Even when wearing a face covering you still need to social distance at the school at all times including drop off and pick up. You must stay 2 metres away from other adults and children.
• Where instructed stagger drop off and pick up times
• Wash your and your child’s hands with soap and water after pick up from school as soon as possible. Use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water not available.
• Your child should limit group contact with friends over the weekend and when not in school.

This is an ever changing situation. As new information comes out we may need to change the guidance at short notice. Thank you for your continued support.

Stay safe,

School COVID alert letter

Flu Vaccination letter & Form

Dear Parent or Carer,

As we start our new school year you will notice there are many changes in how we are operating as a school.  We are following government guidance and putting in several controls to minimise the risk of transmission of Covid-19.  You can see a full copy of our Covid-19 risk assessment on our website. We will regularly review our risk assessment as guidance from the government is updated.

Whilst the government have indicated that the prevalence of coronavirus (COVID-19) has decreased the NHS Test and Trace system is up and running is important that our whole school community work together to protect each other.

We have organised our school to keep children in clear and consistent ‘bubbles’. This will help us as a school to limit the number of contacts children have with different people whilst still delivering an effective curriculum.  We have considered the age of our children and their curriculum needs as well as the logistics of our school site in order to determine the size of our ‘bubbles’. Every school will have had to do this, and each school will determine the best way to do this for their school community.

Since the lockdown started in March, each of us will have had different experiences and we ask that everyone in our school community is respectful of each other and their individual feelings. If you are dropping off or picking your child up from school, we ask that you respect other people and comply with social distancing guidance. We ask if it is possible that you walk your child to school to reduce congestion at the school gate.

How to stop COVID-19 spreading

There are things you and your children can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19

• wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
• use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
• wash your hands as soon as you get home
• cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
• put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards

 Symptoms of COVID 19

The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:

• new continuous cough and/or
• high temperature and/or
• a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

It is important that outside of school we all follow the government guidance around Covid-19, particularly the Stay at Home guidance below and do not bring your child into school.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

If you do keep your child off school due to Covid-19 symptoms please ensure that you let us know this when you register your child’s absence.

As a school if your child is off school we will provide school work, so they can keep up their studies.

If your child presents Covid-19 symptoms in school we will take your child to a safe area in school and contact you immediately to pick them up.  Please make sure that your emergency contact details are up to date and correct.

If your child does develop symptoms, you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/check-if-you-have-coronavirus-symptoms/or by phoning 111.

It is vitally important that anyone who presents with Covid-19 symptoms get tested as soon as possible. 

If someone from within school is confirmed with Covid-19 we will get in touch with the parents and carers of any children who have been in close contact with this person.  This is likely to be children from their class or ‘bubble’ or if they have been in close contact through other groups such as after school or breakfast club.  These children will be asked to self-isolate for 14 days.   Other members of the household do not need to self-isolate, unless your child also develops symptoms.  Full details and instructions will be provided at the time.  We will also send information to our wider school community as a reminder to our families of what actions you can take to reduce the spread of the virus.

All families returning from overseas must inform school. As you know there are restrictions in place regarding travel from some foreign countries and some people returning to the UK may need to isolate for 14 days as soon as they arrive, depending on where they have travelled from.

Any pupils returning from countries that are subject to restrictions should not return to school for 14 days and should isolate at home. This is a vitally important measure to help control and contain COVID-19.

The list of countries requiring isolation for 14 days is constantly changing so please regularly check the latest version here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors

These arrangements will not affect attendance and there will be no fines for non-attendance.

I would like to close by reminding all of us that we have a role to play to ensure that our children and school community remain safe.

Thank you for your continued support and patience.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs M Walsh
Headteacher

Covid Back to School Letter [PDF]

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to the new term, I hope that you all had a lovely break with your children and you are refreshed and ready for the new academic year. A special welcome to all those parents who are new to the School, I hope that your children will have a very happy time and love coming to St Oswald’s.

It may have been a long time since some children were in full time school but, the children came in today and it’s like they have never been away. They are truly fabulous.

Thank you for the cooperation with the new systems of dropping off and picking up, these are essential to prevent too many adults gathering around school. Please try to stick with your allocated times, this would be greatly appreciated.

After the change in government guidance to schools about face covering, school will now be asking all adults to wear masks when on school premises, including our outside spaces. School staff will be allowed to wear face coverings’ when meeting other adults around the buildings and on the yards. Staff will not be wearing masks around the children, and children do not need masks in school.

As stated previously, we are limiting the number of belongings that children bring in from home to avoid cross contamination, so we have asked that PE kits come into school on a Monday and are left in school until Friday when it can go home to be washed. Packed lunches should be brought to school in disposable bags or disposable containers. Stationary resources will be provided for all children, but if you wish to bring in your own it should only be essentials that would fit in their tray and left in school for the whole week like your PE kit. Water bottles should be brought in each day and taken home each night to be cleaned. Can I also make a plea that school bags be as small as possible, we struggle to accommodate large bags and they are not necessary.

Just a few other things to make the term start smoothly, can I ask that all uniforms are clearly labelled with your child’s name as lost property, as you can imagine with so many children, this can be a big problem. Additionally school footwear must be plain black with no stripes, ticks etc. Children who have no school shoes will be asked to wear black pumps. Children’s hair, whether boys or girls must be tied back if long, this is for hygiene reasons and prevents the spread of head lice.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to a happy and successful year for us all.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs M Walsh
Headteacher

New Term Letter [PDF]