LETTER FROM THE HEADTEACHER

Dear Parents and Carers, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the sunshine. Harvest Festival:

Last Wednesday, Revd Jeremy and Revd Annette led a lovely Harvest Service with Year 3 & 4 in church, with the rest of the school joining remotely from their classrooms. It was great to hear readings and prayers from both school the church. Thank you for your kind donations for North Oxford Food Hub. These have been collected and were very well received as the Food Hub is in urgent need of donations.

Mini Marathon and Oxford Half:

It’s been great to see children taking part and enjoying the

Mini Marathon at lunchtimes. A reminder of the times can

be found further down in this letter. On Sunday Mr McKay

is taking a group of keen runners to compete in the schools’

challenge as part of the Oxford Half Marathon on Sunday.

Good luck everyone!

OX5 2022 at Blenheim Palace, in support of Oxford Children’s Hospital:

For those of you inspired by the Mini Marathon, a reminder to save the date for next

year’s OX5 Run which will take place on Sunday 20th March 2022. We are already looking

forward to entering a much bigger team than last year and raising an amazing sum of

money for this great cause.

11 October 2021 Edition: 7

Covid control measures: Thank you for your ongoing support with our Covid control measures. We appreciate your cooperation in arranging for a PCR test if your child develops any Covid symptoms. We continue to operate certain control measures but will no longer have to restrict children to only mixing in year group bubbles and the rules regarding self-isolation of close contacts will change for children under the age of 18.

Control measures will still be in place to support the Public Health advice. These include:

Maintaining the regular washing or sanitising of hands

The ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach to respiratory hygiene

Enhanced cleaning during the school day

Keeping occupied areas well ventilated eg classrooms

If a child has symptoms of COVID-19

Anyone (pupil, staff or other adults) who develops COVID-19 symptoms or has a positive test should not attend school and

should follow the public health advice on when to self-isolate:

high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)

new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual

loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

The guidance is clear that if anyone in the school develops symptoms, however mild, they should be sent home and asked to seek a PCR test and self-isolate until they receive a negative test result.

Tracing close contacts and isolation From September, close contacts of a positive case will be identified by NHS Test and Trace, not by the school. Close contacts of a positive case in school do not need to self-isolate unless contacted by NHS Test and Trace. This will mean that fewer children will need to self-isolate in the future.

Positive individuals are advised to work with NHS Test and Trace to identify close contacts of the child or adult. Other adults in the household who have received both vaccinations and children under the age of 18 years and 6 months will not need to self-isolate if someone in their household tests positive.

All test results should be emailed to covid@woodstock.oxon.sch.uk.

NHS guidance on when to self-isolate: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation- and-treatment/when-to-self-isolate-and-what-to-do/

COVID-19 infection stay at home guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at- home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Thank you in advance for your ongoing support.

Yours sincerely,

Christian McGuinness

Headteacher

COLLECTIVE WORSHIP WEEKLY THEME

This week in Collective Worship we will be thinking about respect. Key themes to be explored are self-respect, respect for

parents and carers, respect for those in authority, respect for others, and respect for the world.

‘So, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.’ Matthew 7:12

Our hymn this week will be Thank You Lord for This Fine Day

LEARNING WITH YOUR CHILD

This week saw the celebration of National Poetry Day. Poetry is a lovely genre of reading but

one that many children lose touch with once they pass through the nursery rhyme phase. See

if you can find and share some poetry this week, there are lots of poems about seasons that are

wonderful to share and reflect on the language chosen by the poet.

ECO TIP

Remember to turn off the tap while brushing your teeth - a running tap wastes over 6 litres per minute.

HEALTH TIP OF THE WEEK - Be smart about fat

Healthy fats are an important part of our diet. They help us get and stay full. They also benefit our brains, improving memory and lifting mood. The key is to make sure your children are eating the right fats. Healthy fats are unsaturated fats. These can be found in olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, and oily fish such as salmon and sardines.

STREET TAG As the dark nights begin to creep in it is important to stay as active as possible and getting out in the fresh air with your

family can really help your mental health and wellbeing. During the Street Tag experience, participants record their

distance walked, ran, or cycled by scanning virtual tags with their smartphone at various locations, watching their

total distance accumulate to climb up on the schools leaderboard, creatin g competition, being physically active,

connecting with green spaces, an opportunity to rediscovering their area, and earning prizes. You will need to

download the app and register to play but this takes seconds, and you can join

the school team by using the QR code below. There is a useful youtube video to

help with the signing up process if you need it. Have fun and stay safe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcU17-GAsSg

Woodstock CE Primary School - Shipton Road, Woodstock OX20 1LL

Telephone - 01993 812209

Email - office@woodstock.oxon.sch.uk Website - www.woodstock.oxon.sch.uk Headteacher - Christian McGuinness