The Digital School has created two guides which will support parents/carers and children/young people on digital learning.

The guides have been attached below.

Parents and Carers

Children and Young People

Dear parent/carer,

As you will be aware from previous communications, North Lanarkshire Council is fully committed to delivering 1140 hours of early learning and childcare to children and families by the end of September 2020.

This is in line with the planned national expansion programme for early learning and childcare, and follows on from our own phasing arrangements, which has substantially switched on the 1140 hours provision throughout the area last year.

As you will be aware, for the foreseeable future, as part of the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 recovery rout map, the present national, statutory entitlement for children is 600 hours per session. However, North Lanarkshire Council understands how important the expansion of this provision is to our communities and recognises the significant benefits to families receiving these additional hours, as well as to our local economy.

It should also be noted that we are one of only very few large councils across the country to have taken this important step of delivering the 1140 hours of childcare as part of the recovery programme.

In light of this, it is my great pleasure to confirm that Woodlands Primary School Nursery Clas is delighted to be in a position to offer your child the following place from Tuesday 29th of September.

Days Times Weeks
Monday to Friday 8.55am until 3.00pm Term Time

We are all very aware of the current circumstances and the daily challenges from COVID-19 and we hope you will understand the need to put contingency arrangements in place, should the facility be affected. This may include individuals or groups having to self-isolate for a period or to follow advice from NHS Lanarkshire which delivers the national Test and Protect programme.

The arrangements take into account that we may face challenges should a number of staff require to self-isolate and are therefore not available to work. In the event of this happening, we will ensure that families continue to receive the statutory entitlement of 600hrs, but will endeavour to continue to offer 1140hrs to parents and carers with essential childcare needs until we are in a position to return to normal service delivery of 1140hrs at the earliest point.

It is vitally important we continue to work in close partnership and to provide an approach that best supports the needs of all our children and families. We value your continuous support.

Kindest regards,

Nicola Ferguson
Head Teacher

Please remember that Woodlands Primary School and Nursery is closed to pupils on Thursday 24th (In-service Day), Friday 25th and Monday 28th for the September Weekend.

Both the School and nursery will reopen on Tuesday 29th September.

Well done to this week’s Star Pupils. Great effort with behaviour and learning across the week.

Great effort from this week’s Cool Class Cup winners. Well done Primary 3B. Keep it up!

Teach Your Monster to Read is FREE to download from Wednesday! The App helps support phonics and reading through a series of literacy games.

Once the App is downloaded it’s free to play and can be used on multiple devices.

The FREE download can be found in the App Store, Amazon Apps or Google Play from tomorrow 16th September until Tuesday 22nd September.

Today was our first online assembly using Microsoft Teams.

As part of our assembly our Primary 7 JRSO told Primary 6s that we are looking for a new Primary 6 JRSO.  Application forms were given out today and need to be returned for Friday 18th September.

Well done to our first Star Pupils for 2020-21 school year. What an amazing start.

Well done to our first Cool Class Cup winners! Primary 6/7B.

Open Letter to parents from Professor Jason Leitch
National Clinical Director, Scottish Government

To all parents and carers,

Common Cold and COVID-19 Symptoms

I understand these last few months have often been challenging, particularly for parents and carers. Now that schools and nurseries have returned I am writing to provide some advice where a child or young person in your care presents with symptoms of the common cold or similar bugs during this pandemic.

Following the return of schools after a prolonged break, it is common for colds and similar viral infections to circulate. In many cases, children will be well enough to attend school and continue their learning with little or no interruption to their education. In other cases, for instance where they have quite a heavy cold, they may need to take a day or two off to recover.

This is not the case for children and young people with potential COVID-19 symptoms, they are required to self-isolate and seek a test through nhsinform.scot or by calling 0800 028 2816.

In order to ensure your children do not miss out on their education, it is important to be clear about how COVID-19 symptoms differ from those of other infections that we normally see circulating at this time of year.

COVID-19 Symptoms
It is important that all of us – including those who make up the community around a school – are vigilant for the symptoms of COVID-19 and understand what actions we should take if someone develops them, either at school or at home.
The main symptoms to be aware of are:
- new continuous cough
- fever/high temperature
- loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste.

If a young person or a child in your care develops any of the above symptoms, they should self-isolate and you should book them a test as soon as possible at NHSinform.scot/test-andprotect, or by calling 0800 028 2816.

We recommend testing only for those with a continuous cough, fever, or loss of or change in the sense of taste or smell. The UK senior clinicians continue to keep the symptoms for case definition under review and will continue to use evidence to adjust these if it becomes necessary.

It is essential that people who have COVID-19 symptoms, or who share a household with someone who has symptoms, do not attend school, nursery or other childcare settings, and must self-isolate along with all members of their household. If the test is negative, self-isolation can end for everyone. If the test is positive, Test and Protect will give you further advice.

Cold-like symptoms
If, however, your child does not have symptoms of COVID-19 but has other cold-like symptoms, such as a runny nose, they do not need to be tested and they and you do not need to self-isolate. Your child can go to school if fit to do so.

The Scottish Government appreciates the huge effort being made by parents, carers and school staff to ensure the risk of COVID-19 is minimised and to support children’s education.

For further advice please visit the Parent Club website or NHS Inform.

Professor Jason Leitch
National Clinical Director
Scottish Government