St Joseph's Academy – East Ayrshire

Dear Parent/Carer,

As you may have heard, Mr. Swinney has announced a potential change to the circumstances in August. Please note, the plans shared by the Scottish Government are conditional on scientific evidence.

Much of our communication refers solely to the blended model, and is either on the way to you via post or will be sent tomorrow. It is still necessary to share the plans we released this week in case the scientific evidence in August necessitates the use of a blended model.

Dear Parent/Carer,

I am frustrated somewhat by the length of the communication I currently need to issue. Unfortunately, the complexity of the various aspects of re-opening necessitate lengthier correspondence than I would like. I thank you in advance for your patience.

Thank you for completing the return on sibling groups. We had issued two forms, the first in relation to primary age siblings and the second in relation to sibling groups within our school. While there was a clear willingness across our Education Group to consider arrangements across primary and secondary, the reality of coinciding the models used in six different schools only served to prove that it is not possible to devise a workable solution from P1 to S6. There were too many different combinations across family groups and schools to create any sort of meaningful plan across sectors.  This is the case nationally and is not an issue unique to us or East Ayrshire Council.

The remainder of this message is specifically in relation to sibling groups where all siblings will attend St. Joseph’s Academy as of August.

Please note the following:

• We sincerely appreciate the information shared with us, as it has helped ensure that we can facilitate our planned model
• We disregarded any returns that did not relate to sibling groups within St. Joseph’s only, as the form was specifically around planning for siblings who will all attend St. Joseph’s Academy next session
• If you completed the form and indicated that a parent/carer will be at home across the full week, then we will not make further contact with you and will presume that young people will attend on their set days only
• If you completed the form and indicated that a parent/carer will be at home on specific days which coincide with when pupils will be at home, then we will not make contact in relation to those days (e.g. you are at home on a Tuesday, and have an S4 pupil and an S2 pupil, the S2 pupil would attend school as planned and the S4 pupil would remain at home with their parent/carer).
• If the school model already ensures that all young people from your household will attend on the same days, then we will not make further contact with you and will presume that young people will only attend on their set days

We will make contact with families where no adult is set to be at home and siblings are set to be split between school and home on any given day of the week. We hope to have called by Wednesday and will clarify arrangements then. If you have completed the form and have not heard from the school by Wednesday, please make contact either by emailing Mr Kane or by filling in the contact us form on our website.

We are also aware of the childcare pressure that re-opening will bring, both for staff working in schools and parents/carers. Unfortunately, childcare is outwith the scope of the school, and while we will pass on any emerging guidance at national or local level, we cannot offer in school childcare on days where every child from the same household is scheduled to be at home. In addition to this being outwith our scope, it is also the case that families with only one child at our school cannot be treated any more or less favourably than those with more than one child. If no children from a household are scheduled to be in school then it will not be possible for them to come to school on those days.

Childcare hubs will continue over summer, and it is my understanding that during summer, the Scottish Government will release clarity on childcare and key-worker status for August. East Ayrshire Council, having considered any such guidance, would then publish clarity on the location, access protocol, and form of any childcare provision on offer.

At the moment, employers are still advised to encourage home working, and the Scottish Government have asked for employers to demonstrate flexibility come August. It is clear the that the national picture keeps changing, and we know that any advice released over summer may alter individual family circumstances. As a fair starting point, both for families and the school, any arrangements in place now will stand for the first two weeks of term. If your circumstances change over summer, we will offer a follow up form during the first week of the new term and take things from there in week three onward.

Kind Regards

Mr Kane

Dear Parent/Carer,

Please click on the image shown below to access information on our re-opening plan.

Dear Parents/ Carers and Pupils

As we progress further in our school renewal discussions, we are keen to seek the views of our parents, carers and pupils to help guide our next steps and indeed to review experience during lockdown. The results of this survey will also be fed back to your own schools individually to aid further discussion as we move forward, and will also be collated at council level.  We would very much appreciate your time in completing this survey. If, as a parent or carer, your children attend more than one school, please feel free to answer for each school.  Links as noted below:-

Parental survey:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKWcF6bVSsANAmvUItgCuaeBUNUdNM0REQUdSNEVGODVXSk40NFpWWlhFMy4u

Pupil survey:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=oyzTzM4Wj0KVQTctawUZKWcF6bVSsANAmvUItgCuaeBUQk05ODNWUDFQV1E2VUpEUUNEWkNCMko4RS4u

Dear Parents/Carers and Young People,

Following a meeting today with the professional associations at council level, we are now in a position to advise of the return dates for all schools in EAC. Teachers will return on Tuesday 11th August for an in-service day and pupils will return on Wednesday 12th August. Clearly, not all pupils will return physically to school on that day and we will advise you as soon as possible around physical attendance patterns for our young people. We hope that you will find this information helpful at this time, and we will issue further information about remaining term dates for 20/21 in due course.

East Ayrshire Council

Dear Parent/Carer,

This form should be completed by all families with siblings attending our school next session. We appreciate that some families already replied to the form used to track siblings attending primary schools. However, we need you to complete this form too as the two returns are being used for different purposes.

Thank you for your patience as we navigate the very challenging landscape of gradual re-opening as of August.

Dear Parents/Carers and Pupils,

Please access letters issued today by Linda McAulay-Griffiths by clicking on the images shown below. School level updates will follow, but likely not before the last week of term given the volume of planning involved and the need to wait on decisions taken locally and nationally.

Kind Regards

Mr Kane

Letter to Parents/Carers

Letter to Pupils

Dear Parent/Carer,

Please complete this form if you will have children attending both our school and one of our associated primary schools in August. We cannot guarantee attendance at both schools on the same day but we can try to plan for maximising attendance at both schools on the same day where possible and if known to us ASAP.

Kind Regards

Mr Kane

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Dear Parents/Carers and Pupils,

Please note that social distancing will be in place at each location.

Please find details of Monday’s jotter collection/S6 iPad drop off below. If you have yet to fill in the original form, you should use St. Joseph’s Academy, St. Joseph’s Church, Mount Carmel Church, Darvel, Galston, St. John’s Church or Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Patrick’s Church at the given times. Anyone changing location at this stage should also use one of the above locations. In some cases, there are health reasons that necessitate delivery and/or numbers are so low that delivery to doors is more practical in some areas. This is not an invitation to request delivery. We will not deliver unless there are reasons why your original return does not stand, and those reasons must be related to health or transport problems.

Apologies if the above seems blunt, but I must protect staff and your families as much as possible from direct contact and door to door delivery.  Where staff are delivering to doors, they will place the jotters outside doors, knock the door and leave. If no one is home, jotters will be left outside for your collection upon arrival home.  If you are returning an iPad and staff are collecting from your home, please leave the iPad and charger on the doorstep for collection. Continue Reading →