St Anne's Catholic School St Anne's Catholic School

Parent Update 12th October 2020

12th October 2020

Dear Parent,

I hope this update finds you and your loved ones all well. The term is continuing well, with attendance still high at 95% for the year to date. As I write, today's attendance for year 7 is 98%, which is very impressive.

Happy Debrabant Day!

The 13th October is the day when LSU schools across the UK, Ireland and Tanzania celebrate the founder of La Sainte Union (LSU) order. Tomorrow, we will be joining with these schools remotely, with all students having the chance to watch a video made by the various schools to help us get to know each other a bit better. A selection of students will get the chance to meet and chat with some of the sisters of the LSU on Zoom, as well as speak to students from other LSU schools. It's more important than ever for our community to remember we are part of something long-term, successful and bigger than ourselves. We would love for you to pray the LSU prayer as a family tomorrow:

LSU Prayer

God of Love and Compassion,

As an LSU school, may we grow in loving

union with you and each other.

Guided by your presence, may we take your

love to all people and cherish our planet, our common home.

Modifications to our school are working!

You will be aware from messages to parents that we have had three cases of members of our community testing positive since the beginning of term; one member of staff three weeks ago, and two pupils from the same family testing positive two weeks ago. Despite the South-East having one of the lowest prevalences for the virus in the country, it is inevitable that there will be cases identified in members of school communities in the region. We have been really impressed that there have been no further members of the community developing symptoms as a result of contact with those three cases. This suggests that the measures we have in place are working in avoiding the virus passing between members of the school community. I'd like to thank everyone for their continued adherence to the rules; it's clearly making a difference.

Telling us about absence

There are inevitably students who will rightly self-isolate as they have symptoms and are awaiting testing. Thank you to all those that have taken mild symptoms seriously and ensured that they have got tested before coming back to school. You can let us know about an absence by calling the school number 02380 328200 and pressing 2 for years 7-11 and pressing 1 for sixth form. Alternatively, you can email attendance@st-annes.uk.com to keep us up-to-date, ensuring that you leave your child's name and tutor group.

We have created a helpful "What if" guide about attendance which is on our website, and is also attached to this message for you to refer to. It explains what you should do if:

your child develops symptoms and they are awaiting a test result,
they test positive for coronavirus,
someone else in their household develops symptoms and they are awaiting a test,
someone else in their household tests positive,
they are identified as a "close contact" by NHS Test and Trace,
they have travelled back from somewhere that requires a time of quarantine, and
they have received advice to shield.

Arrival times in the morning

You will know that the current rules are that children can arrive onsite from 8:00. We have had some parents ask if students can arrive earlier. We would ask this not to be the case unless there is a real need. If so, please contact your daughter's head of year to request they arrive to school from 07:45.

Building Fund

Annually, we ask parents who would like to support the school to pay into our Building Fund. It is a voluntary payments by parents, and shows on all Scopay accounts. As a school which owns its own buildings and land, we gain the flexibility to decide what our priorities are in terms of maintenance, but are not able to access funding from the local authority. As such, any maintenance costs come from our own annual budgets, and any kind donations from parents. Thank you for those who support us in this way, however we totally understand that not all parents will be able to support the fund and it is not a mandatory payment.

Bringing items in to Reception

Our receptionist has started to have parents arrive without warning and expecting her to take items that children have forgotten such as PE kits and headphones. The regular handling of such items increases the risk to our staff. To keep our receptionists safe, we will be instructing them not to accept forgotten items brought in by parents unless they are required to keep children safe, such as medication. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Police and Crime Commissioner’s Youth Commission

We have received a request to share the attached poster from the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire. Applications are open for young people between the ages of 14-25 to join the Youth Commission and help shape the future of policing in the region. More information can be found at: https://www.hampshire-pcc.gov.uk/get-involved/youth-commission/join and the application form can be found at: https://www.surveygizmo.eu/s3/90247924/Youth-Commission-member-application-2020. The deadline is the end of October.

God Bless

James Rouse

Headteacher

Attendance_guidance_for_St_Anne's_parents_2020.docx