Keep up to date with all the news happening in the school at the moment. Articles are added during the week. Parents are encouraged to check regularly. Our weekly newsletter, emailed directly to parents, summarises content for the week.

• Merry Christmas

  Fri 17 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  My staff and I, would like to wish you all a

  Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

   

  Things haven't always gone to plan this year, we have had classes with high COVID cases and have at times struggled with staff shortages. However, the overwhelming response from you when things have needed to be adapted, rescheduled or cancelled has been so heartwarming. You have shown appreciation for the fact that we try to do our very best for the children at all times.

  We are grateful for the steadfast support you have given us and look forward to a more settled 2022.

  We look forward to seeing you all on 5th January.

   

  Merry Christmas 

  Miss Ramsay

• Whole School Class Story Time

  Tue 14 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  All pupils throughput the school participate in class story everyday. This is when the teachers read the children a story. 

   

  This approach to the teaching of reading is to ensure all children have the opportunity to develop a love of story and extend their imagination through a range of texts. 
  
  The teachers of children from Year 2 onwards are invited to bring in their own personal copy of the book. We have found that children are more motivated to engage in the story if they have their own copy and having their own copy will help build up their own personal library. 

   

  In preparation for January, the titles of the book the teachers from Years 2-6 will read to their class are as follows;

  Year 2- The Boy Who Grew Dragons by Andy Shepherd Year 3- The Grunts on the Run by Philip Ardagh

  Year 4- The BFG by Roald Dahl

  Year 5- Clockwork by Phillip Pullman

  Year 6- Umbrella by Anna Fargher

   

  The list may provide ideas for last minute stocking fillers! 

   

  If your child is on the pupil premium register  we will provide your child with a copy of the class text free of charge. Please speak to your child's class teacher if you do not receive a pupil premium grant for your child but will be unable to provide the book due to financial reasons.

• Santa Dash

  Tue 14 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  On Friday the 10th December Burnside Primary School joined other primary and secondary schools across the country in the School Games Virtual Santa Dash. 
  With many of our usual festive activities not able to go ahead, it was great for us to be able to dress up and listen to some festive tunes whilst dashing around the yard.

  All participants rose up to the challenge, we hope they enjoyed it as much as our teachers did!'

  

• Latest COVID information from the government

  Mon 13 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  From tomorrow ( Tuesday 14th December ) the guidance is changing again.

   

  The new rules are:

  • people who are fully vaccinated and identified as a contact of someone with COVID 19 - whether Omicrom or not, should take an NHS rapid lateral flow test every day for 7 days to help slow the spread of COVID 19.
  • Unvaccinated adults must continue to self isolate for 10 days if they are a contact of someone with COVID 19.

  This follows a significant rise of Omicrom cases in the UK and this variant is expected to become the dominant strain by mid December 

   

  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/daily-rapid-testing-for-covid-19-contacts-launches-this-week. 

• Reading PLUS

  Mon 13 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  In September we introduced Reading PLUS for pupils in Key Stage 2. The children have 20- 30 minute daily session in school and I am delighted many also enhance this by practising at home.

   

  Our investment in the system is already proving to be extremely beneficial in supporting individual progress and attainment by skillfully ensuring the complexity and speed of the texts is perfectly matched to the children's comprehension abilities and moving them on at the correct pace. 

   

  If you aren't already using reading PLUS at home I urge you to do so. If you need assistance in logging on please contact the school office. Similarly if access to a device is a problem please contact the school office and we will be able to assist you. 

• Spring Term Assessments

  Mon 13 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  At the start of the spring term ( January - February )  your child’s class teacher will continue to assess your child’s attainment and progress in against the national curriculum for their age group.  These informal assessments are based on your child's classwork and assist us in identifying next steps in learning.

   

  Our new O Track data system is  used to collate and analyse information.  

   

  In Nursery and Reception your child's class teacher will continue to be checking your child's progress against the prime areas of learning for the Early Years.

   

  Sharing your child's progress

  We will hold teacher/parent consultation after the Spring Half term via School Cloud. Dates will be shared after Christmas and taking on feedback from staff and parents a slightly longer time will be allocated. 

   

• Super Phonics Learning

  Mon 13 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  Super Phonics Learning

  Many of our  pupils in Year 2 have met the standard for the phonics screening check, usually taken at the end of Year 1:

  • 85% pupils reached the pass mark* of 32+ out of 40 marks

  We are delighted with these results for our pupils. This reflects the work of every adult in school who has worked with this group of pupils from Reception, through Year 1 and into Year 2. It is also a credit to children and their parents for all of the practice at home, including during two periods of school closure.

   

  Phonics is very important to us. Learning to read by matching letters to sounds is a key milestone in a child's learning at primary school. Rightly, our ambition and expectations for our pupils is very high. We aim for our pupils to achieve high marks, not just meeting but smashing the threshold pass of 32 marks. 

   

  The phonics screening check is a government test for children usually at the end of Year 1. Pupils take the test one-to-one, usually with their class teacher. Whilst children learn phonics to help them with both word reading and spelling, the Phonics Screening Check only tests their skills at word reading. This is sometimes called decoding. During the Phonics Screening Check, children are asked to read (decode) 40 words. Most of these words are real words but some are pseudo-words. Pseudo-words are included to ensure that children are using their decoding skills and not just relying on their memory of words they have read before. Some children may misread these pseudo-words based on their similarity to words in their existing vocabulary, so each pseudo-word is clearly identified with an image of an alien. This means most teachers and children, refer to pseudo-words as 'alien' words.

   

  Our results mean that our pupils can access the whole curriculum, especially from Year 3 onwards. For the 2 pupils who are yet to pass, we will work intensively with them so that they are ready for Year 3.

   

  Year 2 parents, we will share your child's individual  results with you once the pass mark has been confirmed.

   

  *threshold pass mark of 32 is yet to be confirmed by the government but has been at 32 for years.

• Childcare Christmas Prize Draw - Lucky Friday 10th December

  Mon 13 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  We are delighted to announce that Mrs Williams pulled Friday 10th December out of the hat.

  This means that all bookings for childcare on Friday 10th December will be refunded. 

  We will be making another draw this Friday so watch this space!!!

• COVID-19: Plan B and looking ahead to January

  Fri 10 Dec 2021 Headteacher

  COVID-19: Plan B and looking ahead to January

   

  Following the government’s announcement to implement Plan B, for school this means:

  • Face to face education remains a priority. All pupils should continue to attend school unless they have symptoms of COVID-19 and/or a positive PCR test result.
  • Isolation. Any pupils or staff who have been identified as a close contact of a suspected or confirmed case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 are required to self-isolate and take a PCR test. 
  • Face coverings. Primary age pupils do not need to wear a face covering. Staff and adults in school continue to wear a face covering in communal areas.
  • Childcare continues. These activities provide necessary childcare for working parents and promote the well-being of pupils.
  • Residential Visit to continue. These activities enrich our curriculum and give extra opportunities for our pupils. We may make small changes to reduce risk of infection transmission.
  • Special needs provision. Therapists and wider children’s services professionals continue to be welcome in school. We may make small changes to reduce the risk of infection transmission.

   

  Looking ahead to January and beyond, the government has told us to review our contingency arrangements.

   

  Face to face education in school remains the priority with a full offer (as above) to our pupils. There is uncertainty about the impact of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

   

  We may be advised by public health experts to close part or all of the school. This could be a class, an age group or the whole school.

   

  We face risks and challenges to remain open to all pupils because members of staff may become ill, show symptoms of COVID-19 or be forced to self-isolate as a result of being a close contact of someone who has the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Already, this term, we have reached times where every available member of staff has been teaching to keep classes in school. We appreciate parents’ understanding and flexibility of our staff as our arrangements change rapidly.

   

  We will use all available staff and agency staff to keep classes open. We are not able to move teaching assistants who work with pupils with special educational needs and an Education, Health and Care Plan to cover classes. This limits our flexibility.

   

  We will switch to remote education  for individual classes, age groups or the whole school, only as a result of government or public health instruction; or if we are unable to cover a teacher’s absence. This will be for as short amount of time as possible.

   

  Parents might want to be prepared for any disruption to face to face education of pupils in school by:

  • checking the school APP and website regularly.
  • being ready to care for children during the school week, including at short notice.

• Northumberland County Council Letter to Parents

  Wed 08 Dec 2021 Northumberland County Council

   

  8 th December 2021

  Dear Parents and Carers

  We wanted to write to you to thank you for all you have done to support our schools since their return in October. It has been a difficult time for children, young people and their families, but it is thanks to your continued support that our schools have been able to continue providing muchneeded learning.

  Unfortunately, the pandemic is not over and the rate of positive cases in school age children remains high, meaning schools need to maintain the measures put in place after half-term.

  Recently a new variant of the virus has been identified which has resulted in the Government reintroducing some additional measures within our communities and in Middle, Secondary and High schools. Symptoms and testing To further help reduce transmission within our communities it remains critical that anyone showing symptoms gets a PCR test and isolates. The symptoms to look out for are: • a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)

  • a 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)

  • a 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

  If your child is showing any of the above symptoms, or you are unsure please do book a PCR test for them. This will provide you with some reassurance, but also further protect your family and those you or your child are in contact with should you receive a positive result.

  Please also continue to follow the basic guidance such as regularly washing hands, giving people space and opening windows and doors for better ventilation in buildings.

   

  Guidance to schools

  Due to the new variant of the virus and increased cases across Northumberland we are advising schools to think about the measures they have in place for school events such as parents’ evenings, assemblies, Christmas parties and performances.

  We are advising schools to not invite external visitors, including parents and carers into schools for these occasions. We understand this is disappointing, but our schools have a duty to protect all children and staff as a priority.

  We are supporting schools in ensuring measures are in place to ensure the safety of pupils and staff. We want your children to enjoy the last few weeks of term and for you as a family to be able to enjoy your Christmas break and spend time with loved ones, but to do so we must all take the necessary steps to protect ourselves and others. Once again, we thank you for your continued support.

   

  Yours sincerely

  Audrey Kingham

  Director of Education & Skills Interim Executive Director for Public Health and Community Service