Key worker information                                   Update 29.03.20

School Hubs

We are now providing a seven-day school and childcare support operation across ten school hubs ONLY for key workers to enable them to carry out their critical roles in the NHS or other essential service during this health emergency.

Our hub is CUMBERNAULD ACADEMY. (South Kildrum Ring Road, G67 2UF)

It will be open from Monday 30 March between the hours of 8am and 8pm and at the weekends on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 3pm, to provide crucial care for key workers and other vulnerable groups.

It is essential, to stop the spread of coronavirus, that parents and carers who are able to take care of their children at home or have a partner who is not a key worker, provide childcare. This seven-day support is being offered to key workers who absolutely require it to enable the NHS and other critical services to function.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should any child who has symptoms of coronavirus, or who lives in a household where someone has symptoms, present at school. The whole family must follow the self-isolation advice.

The service outlined below will be available at CUMBERNAULD ACADEMY Monday to Friday for children and young people at early years (from birth to age five), primary and secondary age.

 Pre-school 8am-9am

School day: 9am-3pm

After care 3pm-8pm

All children and young people will be provided with a hot meal and snack.

The service will be managed by a team of volunteer staff from Education and Families and other services across the council and will provide learning appropriate to the needs of children and young people, Monday to Friday. Children and young people will be offered a range of indoor and outdoor active play, sport and leisure activities with Active Schools, Culture and Leisure North Lanarkshire (CLNL) and third-sector partners for the after-care and weekend service.

In line with government guidance, all staff and children and young people attending the hub are exercising social distancing measures and practising good hand hygiene while enjoying a range of activities.

Appropriate risk assessments have been carried have been out at the hub and incorporate relevant adult/pupil ratios and the specific needs of children and young people.

As before, all parents/carers will need to complete a keyworker form on arrival at the hub.

Volunteer staff should attend the hub school nearest their place of work for 8.45am.

Transport

No school transport will run.

Free meals

A new payment system is being set up for pupils who receive free school meals- this includes all primary 1 to primary 3 pupils.

This commenced on Friday 27 March and will run throughout the current health crisis.

Early Years Provision

Key workers who require care for their child or children will be supported by the school hub as outlined above.

Key worker categories

Please note: these are the categories of key workers who can, if absolutely necessary, access support. The council does not make decisions, beyond council employees, about who must or must not attend work. Your employer must behave responsibly in making decisions and heed UK and Scottish Government advice.

Category 1

Includes:

• Health and care workers directly supporting COVID-19 response and associated staff
• Workers supporting life-threatening emergency work as well as critical primary and community care provision
• Staff of energy suppliers
• Staff, including teachers and early years workers, providing childcare and learning for other key workers and staff who support school buildings

Category 2

Please note that the first presumption is that staff from home will work from home

• All other health and care workers including home support and care home staff
• Emergency services staff, including police, fire and rescue, prison officers
• Military personnel
• Social workers
• Homelessness staff

Those supporting critical national infrastructure including:

• Staff keeping air, water, road and rail passenger transport operating
• Oil, gas, electricity and water and sewerage workers
• Logistics staff including drivers and transport workers
• Food and other necessary goods staff including food production, processing, distribution, sale, delivery as well as those essential to the provision of hygienic and veterinary medicines
• Staff in essential financial service provision including: banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure; IT and data infrastructure; postal services; civil nuclear, chemicals and telecommunications; payment providers; waste disposal.
• Journalists and broadcasters

Category 3

Other council and associated staff in the following categories. Please note that the first presumption is that staff who can work from home will work from home

• Strategic-level management and support staff
• Waste services staff
• Fleet services staff
• Cemeteries staff
• Property repairs and maintenance staff including frontline workers of Mears and Saltire
• Roads and lighting maintenance staff including staff of Amey
• Facility support services including cleaning, catering, school crossing patrollers and janitorial staff
• Human resources staff including payroll and employee service centre
• IT staff
• Communications staff
• Finance staff including welfare, revenue and benefits staff and municipal bank staff
• Registration staff
• Essential legal services
• Psychological services staff

Dear Parents, Carers and Pupils,

We hope you are keeping well and safe. Hopefully, the Home Learning grids have been enjoyable and given you and your family some fun tasks to do when not at school. We are all missing school and especially missing our pupils.  Please know you are all very much in our thoughts.

This week (30.03.20 – 3.04.20) we will be posting new learning activities.  The learning grids or projects provide work for the week.  Our aim is to keep pupils learning in a way that is manageable for children and parents and is not overwhelming. We will post the activities on our website and in ‘Microsoft Teams’ on Glow on Monday 30.03.20. Click on the Home Learning Link above to see the new challenges. We will attach instructions on how to access your ‘Microsoft Team’ below.

Microsoft Team will help us to keep in regular contact with our pupils.  It will be our virtual class giving pupils and parents an opportunity to communicate with the class teacher – asking questions and seeking information relating to school – just like being in the class.  We are excited about using ‘Microsoft Teams’ as it will help us connect again – something we have been really missing.

In using ‘Microsoft Teams’ it is important that we establish some expectations and guidelines to be followed.  This will help to ensure that we all focus on supporting each other’s learning and wellbeing.

• Microsoft Team is for asking questions or seeking information relating to tasks and learning – just like a conversation between the pupil and teacher. Unfortunately it is not a social platform for chatting with friends.  You have lots of other ways of doing this.
• Remember our RESPECT values – always use appropriate language and conversation when speaking on the chat.
• It can be used by parents to seek information when appropriate especially on behalf of younger pupils.
• Please no personal info or photographs – this is to keep everyone safe.
• No video calls – as you can imagine the teaching staff were very keen for this to be agreed!!!
• Questions will be responded to at points throughout the school working day.  We will do our very best to get back to you.  Please be mindful that staff are also working on additional school tasks throughout the day.
• We are seeking the support of parents in monitoring your child’s safe use of ‘Microsoft Team’.

In addition to the grids or projects and the support from class teachers we will also provide regular information on useful sites, apps and activities to help support learning, family time and to help ‘Bust the Boredom’.  Look out for these on our website and Teams.

Please see instructions for accessing ‘Microsoft Team’ instructions below.

Please be patient with us as a staff, this is fairly new to us and we are learning every day!  We look forward to working together in this new format and making connections again.

We are very appreciative of your support and cooperation.

The staff of Cumbernauld Primary.

Accessing Microsoft Teams

Just a little reminder that we are using the home learning grids for the moment. You can access these from the drop down menu at the top of the page.

We will be using other methods to deliver work soon but we will keep you updated on this, and give you all the relevant information when the time comes.

Stay safe and well.

Please listen to one our head teachers, Kris Thomas, explain how our schools are open to children of key workers to allow them to carry on with their essential roles at this challenging time. pic.twitter.com/o7NgWeN2zN

— NorthLanCouncil (@nlcpeople) March 22, 2020

We appreciate that these are hard and worrying times. We hope that you are keeping safe and following government guidelines.

Arrangements for Monday 23^rd March.

Your child should only attend school if you are a key worker under the strict guidelines issued by the Government and North Lanarkshire Council.

It is hoped that while schools support the vital work of key workers, that schools are safe places – this will help to protect our children, staff and families and help to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Information from NLC issued on our website:

Schools only open to children of key workers to enable them to keep doing their essential roles.
Only use school support if you need to. If you have a partner who is not a key worker, then please keep your child at home.

All entry to the school will be through the main entrance (office entrance) from 8.45am. Children will sign in and be directed by a member of staff to a class area. We will be mindful of social distancing to keep all parties as safe as possible. 

School transport will operate as normal for pupils of key workers. A member of staff will meet the children from the bus.

School Meals – Breakfast and Lunch is available for any child who is entitled to a free school meal. (Only those financially entitled, not all P1-P3 children).  Please find arrangements below:

Breakfast will be available from 8.15am – 8.45am.  Children can collect their breakfast and take away with them (children only will enter the building and be guided by staff).

Free School Lunches will be provided in the same way between 12.15pm and 1.00pm.  It would be really helpful if you could inform the school if you want a lunch.

If your child is attending school they will receive a school lunch or can bring a packed lunch if that is your preference. Breakfast Club will be available for children of key workers from 8.15am.

Please contact the school via phone or email if you will struggle to get along to collect breakfast or lunch.

Thank you for your patience and support in these uncertain times.  We will continue to keep you informed of any changes to the above arrangements.

Schools only open to children of key workers to enable them to keep doing their essential roles.
Only use school support if you need to. If you have a partner who is not a key worker, then please keep your child at home.

Key worker categories here: https://crowd.in/a1ELQZ