Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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Mental Health and Wellbeing during school closure
Fri 27 Mar 2020Mental health and wellbeing
These are undoubtedly challenging times. Keeping people safe will increasingly include looking after mental health, especially if the current restrictions continue for a substantial length of time.
If you feel the strain is starting to take a toll, the contact details below may help:
www.nopanic.org.uk 0844-967-4848 (10am-10pm) - Assists carers of people who suffer anxiety
www.mind.org.uk 0300 123 3393 (Mon - Fri, 9am -6pm)
www.ocdaction.org.uk 0845-390-6232 (Mon - Fri, 9.30am - 5pm) www.youngminds.org.uk
0808-802-5544 (Mon - Fri 9.30am - 4pm) - Parent helpline www.nhs.uk Wellbeing - useful information
And for those of you with older children:
www.helpguide.org Help for parents/carers of troubled teens. www.familylives.org.uk Advice on different aspects of behaviour in teens.
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Scam Communication - a warning for all parents
Thu 26 Mar 2020Kent County Council have made us aware that some parents in the County have been approached via text and/or e-mail in relation to Free School Meal arrangements in light of Covid-19 (Coronavirus).
We understand parents have been asked to provide their bank details and personal information about children who are eligible, including names and dates of birth, with a promise that money will be sent to them directly.
This information is not accurate.
Further information will be available from government later in the week which will confirm it is the school who will be managing the food parcel / voucher system in consultation with a government’s identified provider. Therefore, please do not respond to any messages you receive unless they come directly from the school.
Can we also take this time to remind you to be aware of anyone who contacts you either directly or via social media offering services for your family in these difficult times. Unless you can trust them, you should not be sharing personal information related to you or your family as it may not be used in the manner you would have hoped.
Kind regards
Mrs Clarke
Academy Prncipal
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Weekly Food Parcel - Pupil Premium entitlement
Tue 24 Mar 2020Pupil Premium (Free School Meal) and Food Parcels
This is confirmation of detail for Pupils entitled to Pupil Premium (Free School Meal) whose parents have applied to KCC due to their financial situation and who are already receiving certain benefits. This detail has already been communicated directly to the parents of pupils entitled to this. This notice clarifies entitlement to Food Parcels.
A weekly food parcel is being prepared for pupils who are entitled to Pupil Premium (Free School Meals). Additional information regarding this will be will be communicated directly to the parent of the pupil.
Pupils in Reception and KS1 recieve a universal school meal, without charge, when they are in school. This is a separate benefit that is available to all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year2. It is not based on the financial situation of the parents and is not provided to all pupils when the school is closed. Pupils falling into this category will not receive a food parcel.
Should you feel you may be entitled to a Pupil Premium (Free School Meal) due to the benefits you receive you should apply immediately for the additional funding using the link: https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/kent/
If your application is successful Holy Family School will be notified and you will be entitled to a Food Parcel. The school will be in contact with you if this happens.
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School Closure: Key Workers
Fri 20 Mar 2020The government has published the list of key workers, setting out which children will be eligible to continue to attend schools from Monday.
However, the key message remains: If it is possible for children to stay at home, they should.
If you work in one of the following areas and you would still like your child to come to school on Monday, then please contact the school office by email: office@holyfamily.kent.sch.uk
Health and social care
Includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment
Education and childcare
This includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach
Key public services
This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting
Local and national government
This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies
Food and other necessary goods
This includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines)
Public safety and national security
This includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas
Transport
This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass
Utilities, communication and financial services
This includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors
Kind regards
Niall Fox Nicola Clarke
Executive Principal Academy Principal
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School Closure: Letter from Mr Fox and Mrs Clarke
Thu 19 Mar 202019th March 2020
Dear Parents
In light of yesterday’s announcement by the Prime Minister, Holy Family, like all academies and schools across the country, will be closed from the end of the day on Friday (20th March), until further notice, except for pupils whose parents are key workers, vulnerable children or children with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
The government will be issuing more guidance on who is classified as a “key worker”, so if you feel that you fall into this category, please could you advise the academy as soon as possible, to enable us to arrange the appropriate staffing levels.
The government also announced that children who are eligible for free school meals will continue to receive this entitlement during the closure. Academies will be able to purchase meals or vouchers for supermarkets or local shops. As soon as we receive more information on this, we will let you know.
During the closure it is vital that children continue to learn. Please ensure your child reads regularly and practices their number bonds and times tables every day. Teachers will be posting work, activities and web links on class pages so that children can still learn during the closure.
We will be in regular communication with you via text and email to keep you informed and to suggest additional ways to help with your child’s learning. ‘Latest News’ on the school website will also have copy of all communication sent home to parents.
You will still be able to contact the academy though the office will not always have a person on site so email will be the best method.
Yours sincerely
Niall Fox Nicola Clarke
Executive Principal Academy Principal
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School Closure: Letter from Clive Webster, CEO KCSP
Thu 19 Mar 2020Please see below a letter from Clive Webster, Chief Executive KCSP:
Thursday, 19th March 2020
Dear Parents and Carers Covid-19 (Coronavirus): Closure of academies
As I am sure you will now know, the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Education announced yesterday that all academies and schools are to close from the end of the day tomorrow (Friday 20th March). This announcement has been made as part of the national effort to delay the spread of Covid-19 (Coronavirus), and comes as the number of cases across the country rose, as of yesterday, to 2,626 and, tragically, the number of fatalities went up to 104, up from 71 the previous day.
We will all appreciate that such an announcement is first and foremost with the health and wellbeing of children, staff, families and whole communities in mind. We also know that such a measure comes with great inconvenience for you as parents and carers, as you do all you can to continue work, domestic and care commitments during these truly unprecedented times.
The closure will apply for most children, with arrangements being made for children of ‘key workers’ (e.g., police, NHS staff, other emergency services, certain delivery drivers) and vulnerable children, to be able to continue to attend. You will receive further detail on such arrangements from your academy’s leaders. Please be assured, everyone is continuing to do all they can to support you and your children, mindful of the very difficult constraints the current predicament presents.
Academies have already taken, and continue to take, steps to ensure your child/children can continue to learn at home, and we would ask that you continue to play your critical part in helping and supporting that learning to continue. Again, individual academies will make these arrangements clear as precise details may vary from academy to academy. Thank you in advance for all you are able to do amidst all the other commitments you will be working hard to maintain.
In some instances, staff from academies will establish ways in which they are able to keep in touch with you during what could be an indeterminant period, and in ways that are supportive and designed to not compromise the health and safety intentions of the announcement; at present, the government has decided the closure is, ‘..until further notice.’
Tests and exams (including primary SATs and secondary GCSEs) due to take place over May and June have been cancelled, a further indication of the seriousness of this current point in collective efforts to combat the spread of the virus. Further announcements are expected on this crucial point for all concerned and the Prime Minister has said arrangements will be made so that pupils, ‘get the qualifications they deserve.’ We will keep you informed accordingly. This does mean it is important that all pupils due to sit tests and exams continue to prepare in readiness to take them should a schedule for, say, July/August be announced.
As a multi-academy trust, the Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership (KCSP) will continue to support all 24 academies in the trust to do all they can to support you as parents and carers, and support the continued learning and wellbeing of your children and the staff on whom they depend. The forthcoming weeks and months represent a challenge to which, all together, we can rise, and from which emerge stronger, guided by our shared Gospel Values and Catholic determination to act, as families, neighbours and parishes, for ‘the common good’.
If, during this period of closure, you need advice, guidance or support, your academy leaders will clarify local contact details which, in the current circumstances, should prove the most helpful. However, if necessary, you can contact the KCSP Partnership Office on the following number (01622 232662), or using this email address: office@kcsp.org.uk.
Once again, thank you for all that you do for your children, families and for your academy.
Yours sincerely,
Clive Webster
Chief Executive, Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership