The staff will phone you between the times below. If the times or dates do not work for you, please drop Michele an email and we will organise different times, over the next couple of weeks. Please bear with us as we still have four members of staff shielding. We look forward to speaking to you; I hope you have a great weekend (hopefully some sunshine!!!!). Regards, Rose

Parent Consultations week of 15th March 2021

Tuesday 16th 3pm- 4pm Mariam and Charlene

Thursday 18th 3 - 5pm Maggie

Jude

Andrea

Mariam

Charlene

Parent Consultations week of 22nd March 2021

Thursday 25th 3 - 5pm Maggie

Jude

Andrea

Mariam

Charlene

Parent Consultations week of 29th March 2021

Monday 29th 3pm- 5pm Joy, Maggie, Mariam

Jackie and Jude

I know we can’t offer to babysit the kids, arrange a day out or invite them round for dinner, but there are other ways to reach out

By Baroness Floella Benjamin

February 4, 2021 1:49 am

Many parents feel they have no one to ask for help, or that they would be judge if they admitted they were struggling .

A survey out this week revealed parental loneliness continues to rise during the pandemic from 38 per cent before the emergence of Coronavirus to 55 per cent in the latest lockdown.

This comes as no surprise to me, but what did make me raise an eyebrow was that half of parents with children under five say they have no one to ask for help.

As the coronavirus crisis persists, families will continue to find things tough – financially, socially and emotionally. Many parents or carers of really little ones have never felt more isolated.

My children, Alvina and Aston, are adults now, so I’m lucky I don’t have the worry of trying to juggle home-schooling with working, washing, cooking, cleaning and coming up with ways to entertain young children. It must be exhausting. No wonder so many have hit crisis point.

What really saddens me, though, is that one in three parents fears they would be judged if they asked for help. I get it. No one wants to feel inadequate or like they a burden to anyone else. But I am a big believer in it taking a village to raise a child. I had lots of support from family and friends when my children were growing up. So I can empathise with how difficult it must be parenting in lockdown without playgroups, parent’s clubs, coffee mornings or friends just popping in for a chat. These informal support networks are vital when you have young children.

It is vital that we give parents the support they need, as when families hit crisis point it is often the children that suffer.

The good news is that there is help out there. Charities across the UK are on hand to make sure that people in crisis have someone to talk to. NSPCC has a helpline, Action for Children has a Parent Talk advice service, and Home-Start has a network of trained volunteers helping families with young children.

It is reassuring to know that such services exist, but I strongly believe we all have a part to play in making sure parents and carers don’t get to crisis point in the first place. I know we can’t offer to babysit the kids, arrange a day out or invite them round for dinner, but there are other ways to help.

Save the Children, Barnardos, Kids Matter and Home-Start are among 17 leading charities joining forces to support a campaign encouraging people to do a #LittleGoodDeed, inviting us all to reach out and help parents of babies and toddlers that might be struggling. Sometimes a friendly phone call is all it takes to let someone know they are not alone. A note through a door; dropping a cake on the doorstop or organising a surprise takeaway delivery can go a long way to giving parents a boost and reminding them they have someone to talk to. It is vital that we give parents the support they need, as when families hit crisis point it is often the children that suffer.re

rus: after almost a year of locking down and distancing, here’s how children see the present

For the last 40 years I have campaigned on behalf of children. For 20 years I lobbied three past Prime Ministers to have a Minister for Children to oversee the interests of children and young people, until we eventually got one in 2003. This Government talks about the need to ‘build back better’ after the Covid-19 pandemic. So I hope this will increase a greater focus on the needs of our youngest, and a growing awareness of the impact these first years have on later life chances.

A cabinet-level ministerial portfolio for Early Years is what I’m calling for, so we can achieve a greater streamlining of policy and services at national and local government levels. In the meantime, I will be getting involved by doing a #LittleGoodDeed as often as I can. No matter what our circumstances, we can and must be in this together, because, as I always say childhood lasts a lifetime.

Find out more at LittleGoodDeed.org.uk. Lady Benjamin is a patron of Home-Start Westminster

Hello Parents and Carers! Planning for Week 3 25th Jan – 29th Jan

· We are moving to another classic Fairy Tale for the next 2 weeks ‘ The Billy Goats Gruff’! The planning shows you some of the activities we are planning on Nursery Floor in the coming week. We’ll extend our ideas next week.

· We have an activity pack ready for you to be collected at Nursery – we’ll also put up some activity sheets on the website and on our Twitter and Instagram pages.

· You will also get another call from your Key Person. If your child isn’t attending Nursery, we will be asking you about the progress you see in your child and how your feel they are working towards their Targets… because in a few weeks, we’ll be wanting to start setting new Targets!

· We are continuing to post videos up on Instagram and Twitter each day – keep visiting

Stay safe and well everyone !

 

29th January

Dear Parents and Carers,

Please see the following planning for Billy Goats Gruff Wk 2 for 1st to 5th Feb. If you would like a hard copy of the new activity sheets and games please call Anna to arrange pick up. We also have the activity packs with Week 1 BBG waiting here!

Your key person will be calling to talk to you if you need anything further.

Take care and Stay Safe,

Wendy and the DG Team

EPCS WEBINAR LAUNCH:

The Educational Psychology Consultation Service has developed a series of webinars for all Bi-Borough schools and settings focusing on supporting social and emotional wellbeing– see details and YouTube links below. These webinars provide a short (up to 30 mins) introduction to each area and have been developed for all staff working in early years, school and youth sector settings. The webinars can also be shared with parents and carers. Your link EP can offer a wide range of follow up online workshops e.g. drop in sessions for staff or parents and carers / Q&A sessions / further training etc.

 

Building Resilience

Do you and those you work with need a bit of time for self-care? This short webinar looks at the ways to build resilience within yourself and leaves viewers with practical ideas for your self-care toolkit. It explores what resilience is; explores optimism and thinking traps we can find ourselves in and finally gives a range of strategies the viewer can take with them into their daily lives. This webinar will leave you feeling relaxed, hopeful and ready for anything!

Building Resilience - YouTube

 

Supporting Social and Emotional Development in the Early Years in the Covid-19 pandemic

Children in the EY may not be able to remember life before COVID-19, and staff working with these children have the task of supporting their well-being and social development in extra-ordinarily difficult times. This short webinar explores how the pandemic continues to impact on transitions, and why this is important for young children. It provides practitioners with information about young children's wellbeing, and how best to support it in these difficult times. It offers opportunities to reflect on practice with a reminder for practitioners to focus on their own wellbeing too.

Supporting Social and Emotional Development in the Early Years During the Covid-19 Pandemic. - YouTube

 

Helping Children to understand and manage their feelings

This short webinar aims to help parents and teachers learn how to use an “emotion coaching” approach with children. This technique aims to help children to understand their own feelings and emotions; to empathise and read the emotions and social cues of others; to control impulses, self-sooth and self-regulate; to motivate themselves and cope with life’s ‘ups and downs’; to better understand how they can express their emotions in healthy and appropriate ways.

Helping children to manage and understand their feelings. - YouTube

 

 

The YouTube links above will also soon be accessible via our Services2Schools webpage Bi Borough Educational Psychology Consultation Service | Services to Schools | Bi-Borough Children's Services (services2schools.org.uk)

 

Wednesday 6th January

Dear parents/carers

Firstly I would like to apologise as I would have liked for this letter to have been shared yesterday. However, I spent most of the day in meetings with the local authority, teaching unions and other headteachers regarding the move to opening for critical workers and vulnerable children.

This decision was not taken lightly and I would like to share why and how I made my decision.

What we currently know

· The two weeks leading up to the 30th December infection rates went up by 70%

· 3 out of 10 hospital beds are now occupied by COIVD patients.

· 1 in 50 people in England have the virus, this is even higher in London

· We are in lockdown and adults are asked to stay at home to save lives.

· We have a new variant. Imperial College London says the variant increases the rate of infections by up to 0.7.

· Infections rates and deaths are steadily rising.

· Despite the continue rise in infections and death rates, we have not hit the peak of this pandemic.

· Several staff members have tested positive for COVID and the prevalence of this correlates with the rising infection rate in London.

· Several staff members have been told to shield and are not available to work.

· Nursery schools cannot socially distance and if one person tests positive then the whole nursery will have to close for a prolonged period of time.

· Teaching unions have shared SAGE data with staff that includes statistics such as:

- Teachers are 333% more likely to get COVID than the general public

- The rate of infection for 2 year olds to 11 years olds doubled in the 2 weeks from the 1st December to the 15th December

· Professor Calum Semple (SAGE virologist expert) stated - ‘It may be that a political decision has been made here that nurseries are essential. But it’s not a scientific one.”

Risk assessment

With the above information a decision was made based on reducing the risks to staff, pupils and the wider community while understanding the need to provide a sustainable service to critical workers and vulnerable pupils.

We have organised two teams, one in school with pupils who are eligible to attend and one delivering on line learning. This means that should a member of staff test positive for COVID we can bring in the second team.

I have organised access to rapid lateral flow tests so that staff can be tested in such an event and we will be working with other nursery schools so that in the event of teams having to isolate, on line lessons will still continue and critical workers children and vulnerable children will still be educated (as long as they haven’t been exposed to COVID).

What we are doing

You would have been contacted and offered a place if you fit the criteria as outlined by the government. It is absolutely essential that these children are prioritised so that the country can continue to function during this lockdown period.

It is also absolutely essential that the health and safety of staff is prioritised. By reducing contact with other people I hope to reduce the likelihood of staff contracting COVID and further serious illness.

I ask for your understanding during this time. I understand it is unprecedented times so we are trying to enhance our online offer.

Our extended offer

Mental Health videos and support

Collaboration with Westminster nurseries so that a varied and easily accessible on line offer is available.

Free school meals

The government are not providing vouchers. The school will provide weekly food parcels for pupils who are eligible for benefits related free school meals who are not attending school. You must register on parent pay if you want a food parcel. The food parcels will be available every Friday from 12:00 and you must register your interest by 2pm every Wednesday to receive a food parcel.

For example:

If you would like a food parcel for Friday 8th January you would need to register by Wednesday 6th January (2pm).

A food parcel example

· 1 loaf of bread or pack of rolls / 10-inch wraps

· 2 baking potatoes

· 1 cucumber

· 3 large tomatoes or 1 pack of cherry tomatoes

· 1 standard tin sweetcorn in water

· 5 portions of fresh fruit (e.g. apples, satsumas, bananas) or 3 portions of fresh fruit and 1 tin fruit in juice (e.g. pears, peaches, fruit cocktail)

· 2 items from the following: 1 pack sliced cooked meat (e.g. chicken, ham or vegetarian alternative) or 1 tin meat or 1 tin tuna in water or 6 eggs

· 200g block of cheese or 3 cheese portions

· 1 tin baked beans

· 1 500g pot plain low-fat yoghurt or 3 individual serving yoghurt pots

· 1 litre / 2 pints semi-skimmed milk

 

With regards,

Mr B. Commins,

Executive Headteacher,

Ms. Rose Parle and Ms. Wendy Jenkins,

Federation Deputy Head Teachers

Dorothy Gardner Centre

Mary Paterson Nursery School

Queens Park Children’s Centre

4th January 2021

Dear Parents/Carers,

 

PLEASE READ THIS LETTER TO THE END – IMPORTANT INFORMATION ENCLOSED

I hope that you are well and have had a peaceful and safe holiday so far.

Yesterday, the National Education Union met to discuss the reopening of schools in England. SAGE has advised the Government that schools should move to remote learning in order to help reduce the rate of spread of the Covid 19 virus. As a result the NEU has advised members that it is unsafe for staff to attend the workplace at present.

Therefore I have taken the difficult decision that from Wednesday 6th January the school will be open for critical workers and vulnerable children only. For all other children we will move to remote teaching from this date. The nursery will be open from 9am until 3pm. Children attending will come for their usual session whether that is FT, morning or afternoon. We ask that children are picked up and dropped off on time, as we have a limited rota of staff and for safeguarding purposes we cannot open and close the door throughout the session.

We anticipate that this closure will last up until the 18th January, when the evidence will be reviewed.

 

Vulnerable Children

We will contact those families of children as identified as ‘vulnerable’ on Monday 4th January to notify you.

 

Children of Critical Workers

If parents fall into one of the following categories, and in the case of two parent families -both parents, they are identified as a child of a ‘Critical worker’ and your child can attend school from Wednesday 6th January 2021. Please contact the school office to let us know if your child falls into the Critical worker category by 12:00 on Tuesday 5th of January. If we do not hear from you I will assume that you do not require a place for your child. Critical workers are defined as follows:

Critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

Critical workers

Parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined in the following sections.

 

Health and social care

This includes, but is not limited to, doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributors of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.

 

Education and childcare

This includes:

• childcare

• support and teaching staff

• social workers

• specialist education professionals who must remain active during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response to deliver this approach

 

Key public services

This includes:

• those essential to the running of the justice system

• religious staff

• charities and workers delivering key frontline services

• those responsible for the management of the deceased

• journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting

 

Local and national government

This only includes:

• those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the coronavirus (COVID-19) response

• or delivering essential public services, such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arm's length bodies

 

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food:

• production

• processing

• distribution

• sale and delivery

• as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods

 

Public safety and national security

This includes:

• police and support staff

• Ministry of Defence civilians

• contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak)

• fire and rescue service employees (including support staff)

• National Crime Agency staff

• those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas

 

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

 

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes:

• staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure)

• the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage)

• information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the coronavirus (COVID-19) response

• key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services)

• postal services and delivery

• payments providers

• waste disposal sectors

 

 

If you have questions regarding your eligibility under the above criteria, you will be able to contact the school from Monday 4th January.

Free school meals

The government are not providing vouchers for free school meal children. The school will be providing a packed lunch that can be picked up from outside the school office from 1pm. If you are eligible for free school meals you will need to email Michele on Wednesday 6th January 2021 to let us know that we should prepare a lunch.

When collecting a lunch please make sure that you adhere to social distancing rules.

 

Remote Learning

From Wednesday 6th January we will be providing remote learning via our twitter page @qpfed and our Instagram page @qpfederation. Where you will find stories, games, cooking and many more activities by our staff team.

Thank you in advance for your ongoing support and cooperation. I wish we were all returning as usual to school, but if we continue to work together in partnership, I hope that we can keep the community safe for all.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Commins

Executive Headteacher

Due to COVID-19 restrictions our coffee mornings this year are online.

Look out for the text reminders and emails with the link to join us.

Coming up: Sleep

Help your SEND child thrive

Early Years Curriculum Focus

Autmn Term 2020-2021

This term we have managed to organise 3 coffee mornings using TEAMS.

Thank you to everyone who bore with us and a huge well done to Sarah, who navigated the complex technical difficulties and made it happen.

19th November 2020

Applying for Primary Schools- with input from Douglas Shaw the Bi-borough Admissions team manager and Westminster IASS talking through the process and support available.

Please do contact if a member of the Federation team if you have further questions, or if you would like to have a chat.

3rd December 2020

Toilet Training with advice from the Health Visitor Team and Helen Chin-Fatt Deputy Head Queens Park Family Hub

“The most important point is to remember that very child is different and may be physically and psychologically ready for toilet training at different times”

Please do speak to your child’s Family Worker or Key Person if you are starting toilet training as it is important to have a consistent approach between Nursery and home. We can help you to develop a plan for your child.

10th December 2020

An Introduction To Local Services for SENDWe had representatives from a range of local service who introduced themselves and talked about their role and how to access their services. These were: Family Lives, Parent Child+ programme, Make It Happen- Westminster Parent Participation Group, Westminster IASS, and the Westminster Local Offer.

19th November 2020- Applying for Primary Schools

Douglas Shaw, who is the admissions manager for the bi-borough (Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea), joined us to outline the application process, in particular how to use the online application service, key dates and things to consider when choosing schools. He shared some helpful slides which are attached. Douglas mentioned that last year 98% of the applications were submitted online, however if you are struggling with the website you can phone them and they will send you a paper form instead. The contact details are on the slides.

Douglas showed us the Westminster Primary School Admissions brochure which has information on all the Primary schools in Westminster (this is attached). He mentioned that every borough produces one of these so look online for the Kensington & Chelsea or Brent admissions brochure too if you are close to the borough border. You can select schools from a different borough to the one you live in.

 

Go to our 'Latest News Documents' page to view the slides.

 

Mahalia Smith also joined us from Westminster Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS). If your child has any special educational needs and you would like information about starting school you can get lots of information on their website or call and make an appointment to have a chat. The email is http://www.westminsteriass.co.uk and the number is 0207 641 5355. She suggested helping your child get ready for school in advance, for example by talking to them, taking them on a walk to the school, getting into routines such as bed-time, getting used to the uniform before starting. She suggested investigating the school's transition and settling in policies, for example do they produce a welcome pack? do they do home visits?

If your child already has an Education, Health and Care Plan which is finalised, the school placement will be done separately through Westminster SEN department. If your child requires an EHCP but it is not yet finalised you will need to apply to school through the normal process (as outlined by Douglas in the slides) and then you will have the option of selecting a more specialist or specific school later when the EHCP is finalised by the Westminster SEN department. In the meantime, though you should apply for and accept a school placement through the normal process.

We are very aware that it is not possible to visit schools at the moment and that this would normally be our first piece of advice to you. It is important to try to get a feel for schools and which school will be right for your child. Ideas for gathering information about schools are:

• thinking about what are the priorities for you and your child​

• talking to other parents with older children at schools

• exploring school websites - do they have a video?

• calling the school and asking questions

• walking to the school- trying out the journey, having a look from the outside

• making an appointment to have a chat with your child's family worker/ key person or a member of the Nursery team

• You might want to consider things like the size of the school, the ethos and priorities of the school (their vision), how play-based the Early Years curriculum is, what enrichment opportunities they offer (forest school, trips etc.), how they support children with additional needs (read their SEN Information Report), what community events they have, and so on.

3rd December 2020- Toilet Training

Health Visitors Joy and Adetola talked about the ERIC website an evidence-based approach to toilet training that the health visitor team use when advising families.

They emphasised that every child is different and may be physically and psychologically ready for toilet training at different times. They talked about the importance of looking for the signs that your child is ready, then involving your child in developing their skills of independence and self-awareness around toileting. Reading books, talking and showing your child by example are good ways to do this.They recommended staying calm and using praise.

See the Potty-training website (ERIC) link:

https://www.eric.org.uk/Pages/Category/potty-training

Here , as promised, is a video of the children and adults enjoying singing together. Thank you for giving us permission to put this on the website, have a lovely, safe Christmas, keep well and we will see you in 2021. Happy holidays, Rose

DG Xmas Party Singalong!

Here are just 3 of our songs we have enjoyed singing. More will go up in 2021! We all had fun on Party Day.

We hope it’s not too long before our parents can join us in our end of term singalongs

Happy Holidays all!

Dorothy Gardner Centre

Mary Paterson Nursery School

Queens Park Children’s Centre

Dear parents/carers,

Yesterday, the government announced that schools could close on Thursday 17th December instead of 18th December. The reason for this is because schools have been asked to support with Covid-19 track and trace for 6 days after closure. This would mean that school staff would have to be available to support track and trace up until the 24th December. It could also mean that we are asking families to self-isolate on Christmas Eve.

For this reason, we have accepted the government’s invitation and the last day of term will be Thursday 17th December.

I understand that this may cause some inconvenience and it was not an easy decision to make but I feel it is important that we reduce the risk of families and school staff having to isolate over the break. This has been an incredibly challenging year and everyone deserves time with their families and loved ones.

To continue to support with track and trace, can I ask that from the 18th December to the 23rd December that if a child tests positive for Covid-19 that you text the test results to 07881047221. Please do not call the school as the office will not be open.

This phone number should also be used if a child tests positive at a weekend.

Please see individual school letters with school specific arrangements.

Yours sincerely

Mr Commins

Executive Headteacher