This page provides the latest information we have regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19).  

We hope everyone is OK and staying safe.

Thursday 31st March 2022

I’m sure that you will have heard that regulations will be changing as of tomorrow so I thought it might be sensible to explain where this places us as a school.

• Free tests will no longer be available to most of us and there will be no expectation for anyone to test.
  The government has gone as far as saying “testing is no longer recommended in any education setting”.

• Children who are unwell and have a high temperature should remain at home.

• They can return to school when their temperature is no longer high and, obviously, when they are well enough to do so.

• If any children do take a test at any point, and test positive, they are now advised to stay at home for three days.

March 2022:

I hope you’re all well – especially as all of a sudden it seems we’ve got a bit of a covid outbreak in school.

Most of the cases are in Years One and Two and involve both staff and children.

This said there are a few cases in the rest of school too.

Given all of this I thought it might be a good to let you know what our position is in school at the moment, following the removal of any legal restrictions by the government recently.

In the first instance if children are ill they should be at home as they would be with any other disease – whether infectious or not.

If you have tests you may well want to test your children and this is probably a sensible thing to do wherever this is possible.

Unfortunately tests are no longer being sent out to school so we no longer have the stock to support this.

In our opinion, a five day period of isolation, although not longer a legal requirement, seems a sensible period of absence at this time.

This five day period should be counted from the day symptoms presented themselves or from the point where a positive test result was obtained.

We hope that you will agree that this is a reasonable stance and a balanced way of trying to limit the spread of covid.

There is no longer any requirement for other members of a family to either test or isolate.

If your child is well and you would like work to be sent home please get in touch.

If children are symptom free they are free to return to school.

There is no legal requirement for negative testing, however, wherever possible, it would seems sensible to do this before returning children to school.

I hope that all of this is clear and that you agree that, at this time, it is a sensible way forward to start treating covid like any other infectious disease and try and protect vulnerable people as best we can.

Richard (Headteacher Bradworthy Academy)

December 2021:

With rates so high in our local area we have been thinking about our Christms Performances - which will be taking place.
We'll be putting on extra shows so that everyone can attend and so that we can keep audiences at a sensible level.

We are once again asking that any who is coming into school wears a mask.

Please download the letter at the bottom of this page for full information. 

Autumn 2021:

School has returned to normal after the lifting of covid restrictions.

School bubbles no longer exist, and in the event that anyone catches COVID-19 those who have been in contact with them will no longer be sent home to isolate for ten days. This applies to everyone under sixteen years of age and everyone who has been double vaccinated.

Without exception the person with COVID-19 will still be required to isolate for ten days.

Tuesday 6th July 2021

We are anticipating that all restrictions relating to covid will be lifted on Monday 19^th July in time for the last week of term which is brilliant news.

This said we are in a routine in school now and won’t be making any sweeping changes to the way we are organising our school day ahead of the children’s return in September – simply because it doesn’t seem worth the effort needed to do this for just a few days.

This said the following restrictions will be lifted on 19^th July:

• You will not have to wear a mask on school premises, however you are obviously free to do so if you wish.
• You will be free to spend as long as you like chatting to each other by the school gates.
• You will be free to enter school, although please appreciate that our staff will be very busy organising end of year activities.
• You will be able to attend our Sports Days, Leaver’s Assembly (if you’re attached to one of our lovely Year Six children in someway) and Summer BBQ as already explained.

From this point onwards school bubbles will no longer exist, and in the event that anyone catches covid those who have been in contact with them will no longer be sent home to isolate for ten days.

An exception to this will be anyone who is contacted by “Track and Trace” and told to isolate, however this exception will be lifted for under eighteens from 16^th August.

Children in the same class will, however, go back into a “bubble” and will not have contact with children across the school as a precaution for ten days.

The school will make tests available for the parents

Without exception the person with covid will still be required to isolate for ten days.

Complete normality in September ??? Lets all hope so !

Monday 8th March 2021:

Lateral Flow Testing

About 1 in 3 people with coronavirus do not have symptoms but can still pass it on to others. Regular testing of people without symptoms is important to help stop the virus spreading and protect your loved ones. As lockdown restrictions gradually ease this is something that you may like to consider so we can play our part in helping to protect each other.

Primary School children are not being tested at this time, however tests are available to households of primary aged children.

These tests are available:

• from your employer if they are offering them
• at a local test centre
• by collecting a test kit from a test centre
• by ordering a home test kit online

If this is something you would like to do you can follow this link:

Schools and colleges testing: order coronavirus (COVID-19) rapid lateral flow home test kits - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Monday 1st March:

As you'll already know we're all going to be back next Monday on 8th March and I've got to say we're delighted here in school. I'm sure everyone else is too.

Our latest COVID letter is available to download from the bottom of this page, along with the policy document (COVID-19 Policy (5)) and some adjustments (dated October 2nd 2020).
This policy was reviewed in January 2021 and will be back in operation from 8th March.

Thursday 7th January 2021:

Our latest communication has been sent out to everyone as an email (as usual).
It's all about arrangements for home learning, and for those children who are attending school, during our latest lockdown. You can download it from further down this page if you wish.

As always, please get in touch if you need anything.

Tuesday 5th January 2021:

You may like to download our latest communication (from the bottom of this page) which was sent by email in the light of the government's decision to close schools yesterday evening (Monday 4th January).
 

Our first day of term was scheduled for Monday 11th January and from this point most children will be taking part in home-learning.
As outlined in the letter school will be only be open for vulnerable children and those of key workers. Please note that in every instance parents must request a place for their child / children so that proper levels of supervision can be provided.
Government guidance on these categories can also be downloaded below.

Guidance about Remote Learning (Home Education) can be downloaded below, however the most effective way to find out what we are doing to support children at this time can be found on their individual Class Pages.

Monday 14th December 2020:

The government has just published a new set of guidelines which concern a six day period after the children break up this Friday (18th December).

• If a child, or member of staff, develops COVID-19 symptoms more than 48 hours after the end of term (which is after Sunday 20th December) they should contact NHS Test and Trace, not school.
• If a child, or a member of staff, develops COVID-19 symptoms within 48 hours of the end of term (which is Saturday 19th or Sunday 20th December) and then tests positive school should be contacted so that we can assist NHS Track and Trace with tracking and and isolation.
  You can contact us by email in the usual way.
  If the positive test comes back after Thursday 24th December you should not contact school.
• If children are required to self isolate over the Christmas break you don't need to tell us until the first day of term on Monday 11th January.

Hopefully this all makes sense.
 

Have a good Christmas.

Friday 2nd October 2020:

As a result of a review we've made a couple of alterations to our COVI-19 Policy.
The changes are concerned with dropping children off at the start of each day and we hope they will make things safer and easier for everyone.

You can download more information below.  

Thursday 17th September, 12 Noon:

We have received the COVID-19 results that we've been waiting for and I'm delighted to say that the results have come back negative. This obviously a big relief.
This means that from today we're going to be able to get back to "whatever normal is" at this time.

If you'd like to download our latest communication you can do so from the bottom of this page.

Tuesday 15th September:

I’m writing to update you all on the COVID-19 situation in school.

As I said yesterday there hasn’t been anyone in school with any symptoms.

The testing that is taking place is precautionary.

Contrary to the information that was given yesterday we now understand that the children who went home have not been in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case.

The results of this test have yet to be received, despite the fact that 72 hours have now passed.

We decided yesterday to take a cautious approach and to keep Years Three and Five within their “class bubbles” and to ensure that they do not mix with anyone else in school, including on the school buses.

We have ensured that this has been the case again today.

Children in other school groups have not mixed with any children in Year Three or Five at any time.

We did this to ensure that we are doing everything possible to eliminate any chance, however small, of any transmission taking place.

Having taken this stance yesterday, and having had no confirmation of a negative test yet, we have decided that it is sensible to maintain our current stance for another 24 hours.

We will be cancelling tonight’s planned clubs and asking parents of children who usually travel by bus to collect their children tonight and drop off tomorrow morning.

(Where necessary we will run children in Years Three and Five to and from school in their own “bubbles”, in school minibuses).

Beyond this school will be open as normal.

I know that this is causing disruption for some of you and I can only apologise for this. We appreciate the huge amount of support that you have given us and hope that you will understand that we are trying to do our best to ensure everyone is safe.

I’d like to make a couple of extra points:

We have taken advice from the Health Authorities and there is no reason why this needs to affect anything that you are doing in your daily lives, for example attending work.

I’d like to point out that the family whose children went home yesterday were acting within the advice they were given by the hospital over the weekend and removed their children when advised they should do so on Monday morning.

Can I make it clear that children should not come into school if anyone in their household has symptoms of COVID-19. Children must remain at home for fourteen days or until the person with symptoms has had a negative test result.

If anyone has any thoughts or concerns please email me, or the school office, or failing this please ring.

Thanks for reading all of this.

I really hope we will be back to normal soon.

Richard (Headteacher Bradworthy Academy)

Monday 14th September:

There have been no children in school who have shown any symptoms of COVID-19.
This said two children went home today because they may have been in contact with someone who has tested positive.

We have taken advice and have been told that there is no reason for anyone in school to isolate at this point.
This said we have decided to take precautionary measure to ensure that children in the same Class as the children who went home do not mix with other children in school.

You can download a letter about this below.

We'll give more information as soon as we have it.

Wednesday 9th September:

We've made a small alteration to our COVID-19 Policy today.

The arrival of children in KS2 has proved somewhat chaotic over the last week and we have concluded that a solution to this will be to allow children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 to arrive early if they wish - arriving from 8.40am and going straight to their classes, rather than at the times previously given.
Please ensure that all Year 5 and 6 children are in school by 8.50am and that all Year 3 and 4 children are in by 9.00am.

Arrangements for younger children will remain unchanged. 

A newsletter can be downloaded from the "Newsletter" section of our website. It gives information about our before and after school provision (which is already up-and-running) and school clubs which will start on the week beginning Monday 14th September.  

Saturday 29th August:

You can download our latest COVID-19 Policy from this page ( COVID-19 Policy (5).doc ). It deals with the return of all children in September 2020.

We've reached a point where our return to school is less than a week away (on Thursday 3rd September) and I really hope that everyone is looking forward to the new school year. Hopefully the fact that almost all of the children had the chance to be in school before the end of last term means that nerves are being outweighed by excitement.
 

All of our staff are genuinely looking forward to getting back to something approaching normal and I'm sure well have a great school year together.

I'm afraid it's quite a long document (because there's quite a lot to cover) however the intention is that it provides the children with as near a normal school experience as we possibly can. 

The biggest difference to normal school life will be the "bubbles" that the children will be operating in, however I pretty certain that they won't even notice that they are being kept separate from children in other "bubbles".

Please take note of the staggered start and finish times to the school day. Wherever possible please do everything that you can to make sure your child arrives on time. If you've got children in different "bubbles" they can arrive together as long as they enter the school as describe din the policy.

We will be operating a limited before and after school provision and some school clubs. If your are thinking that your child / children may make use of these please read these section carefully. Please note that the need to "deep clean" school on a weekly basis mean that there will be no after school service, or clubs, on Friday evenings.

If you've got any queries please feel free to get in touch.

Monday 27th July:

Our latest information about COVID-19 can be downloaded below (Newsletter 24th July).

Basically we will be open to all children everyday from the start of the new school year in September - and we sincerely hope this wont change !!!
School will be "very normal" in September, however we'll let you have specific details about how we'll be operating before the children come back.

For the first time in a long time this is a letter which has also got information about other aspects of school life too - which is a big step forward !!!

Monday 29th June, 8.00pm:

Hopefully you have received a letter and policy document which deals with the return of children in Years Two, Three, Four and Five, for a couple of days before the end of the Summer Term.

You can down load both of these documents below.

Friday 5th June, 6pm: 

Hopefully the email below has reached everyone.  If you have not received it, please let us know so we can add your email address to our systems.  

Hello everyone,

I hope this email finds you all safe and well.   As we reach the end of our first week back in school, I wanted to briefly touch base. 

 

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has been supporting the children in completing their home learning.  Our class teachers are receiving wonderful emails from the children and our families, and we would like to encourage you to keep making contact throughout these unusual times!

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch with Keyworker Provision  requests via the info@bradworthy.devon.sch.uk address this week.  Please can any requests for the week beginning 15th June be sent in by 3:30pm next Thursday (11th June), so that we have time to organise staffing and arrangements for the week ahead.   I would also like to thank you for your help in ensuring we are able to keep the numbers in these groups as low as possible – as you know, our models for working in school rely on maintaining space for the children and our staff, and we really appreciate your cooperation with this. 

 

It’s wonderful to have the school kitchen up and running again, and Janet has done an amazing job in organising a simplified menu which is working really well.  Please can any orders for school meals be sent in by Monday morning to allow us to plan ahead?  Orders can be emailed in to the office, or the form can be downloaded from our Lunch Menu page on our website, and dropped in the box outside the office on a Monday morning.

https://www.bradworthyacademy.co.uk/lunch-menus/

 

Thank you again, for all of your ongoing support. 

Stay safe,

Becki Turner

Thursday 28th May, 7.30pm:

I've just emailed the parents of children who are returning to school on 1st June.
This has been uploaded here and can be downloaded via the link which is further down this page.

A dinner menu is available from our website on our "Lunch Menus" or "Forms" pages, which can be found under the "Parents" tab at the top of each page. 

Friday 22nd May, 10.00pm:

Hello Everyone,

I hope that everyone is still safe and well.

When you are replying to this email please make sure that you use my email address ( richardstp@btinternet.com ). If you just click reply I won't get your email.

I've had response to my last email from about sixty families and I would like to say how grateful I am to you for this.
I haven't replied to you individually, however we have taken your views into account in putting together the policy which is attached to this email and which was agreed by our governors today.

I hope that our plans will go someway to addressing everyone's issues with government guidance and I would like to think that we have found a way forward which will provide social distance and safety, whilst also making sure that the environment which returning children experience is much closer to the way school normally operates.

We will not be following government guidelines in some areas however this will not effect safety.

I would remind you that at this point only children in Reception, Year One and Year Six have the opportunity to return to school.

Can I emphasise that in our view you, as parents, are free to decide whether or not you wish to send your children back to school. There is no circumstance where any action will be taken against parents who choose to keep their children at home.

I know that this is a big decision because my daughter and I are currently grappling with whether or not to send Oscar (my grandson) back to nursey.

We will support your decision whatever it may be.

Please download our policy and read it.

We would welcome any views you may have.

We would ask that all parents with children in Reception, Year One and Year Six get in touch by Tuesday evening to confirm whether or not they will be sending their children into school on 1st June.
If we don't hear from you by email we will ring on Wednesday morning to find out what you are intending to do.

This is especially important if your child travels to school on a school bus as this will need to be organised as soon as possible.

If the government decides that it is not appropriate for children to return on 1st June we will delay opening for children in Reception, Year One and Year Six.

Please note that vulnerable children, and those of key workers, will be able to continue to attend school after half term in the same way as they have done in previous weeks.

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this and absorb it.

I know that there is a lot to think about, a lot of difficult decisions to make and far too many emails to read, however I hope that you will agree that it is important to keep parents fully informed and to take account your views in every way that we can.

Please continue to stay safe and well.

Richard (Headteacher Bradworthy Academy)

Saturday 16th May, 5.30pm:

As always I hope everyone is OK.
I've just sent out an e-mail to everyone asking that they get in touch to let me know what they think about the government's plan to send children in Reception, Year One and Year Six back to school in June.
I've up-loaded this e-mail as a letter to this page.

Wednesday May 6th, 10.00am:

I hope everyone is managing to stay both safe and sane!

As you know I've been e-mailing each week to find out what chid care needs you have for children of key workers and vulnerable children so that we can make sure appropriate staffing is available. I've just sent this weeks e-mail out.

I'm afraid that I don't have any firm information about what is going to happen in schools in the future. 
If you would like to read what I think might happen please download the latest letter from this page.

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch with Class Teachers over the last week.
We think that it is important to stay in touch so please continue to do this.

Wednesday April 15th, 8.00pm:

Once again I hope everyone is OK.
I've sent out another e-mail today which you can up-load as a letter at the bottom of this page (Coronavirus 15th April 2020).

If you are planning on sending your children into school next week because you are a key worker without any other options for child-care you must let us know in advance. Please don't assume we will be open and simply expect to be able to drop your children off without notice.

We are fully committed to looking after the children of key workers, however we need advance notice of what is required so that we can make safe provision.

If you haven't been in touch with your child's / children's teacher(s) please do so.
if we don't hear from you we'll be in touch to make sure everything is OK.

Stay Safe. 

Tuesday April 7th, 3.00pm:

I hope everyone is safe and well.
These are very difficult times and I would like to ask that you to get in touch if you, or your children, are struggling with anything.

I've just up-loaded a letter, "Coronavirus 7th April 2020", which asks you to get in touch with me (at richardstp@btinternet.com) if you are intending to send your children into school next week.
 

Monday March 30th, 7.00pm:

Safeguarding is all about making sure that the children in our care are safe, being properly looked after and free from any sort of abusive behaviour or environment.
As a school we have detailed policies and procedures in place to ensure that this is the case.

At this time when schools are closed, and where we do not have the day-to-day contact with parents that we usually enjoy, there is clearly the potential for some children to be at greater risk than may normally be the case.

The purpose of this post is to reassure you all that our normal policies and procedures remain fully in place.
Our staff are trained and available wherever there is any concern.
Please feel free, as I know you always do, to get in touch over any concerns that you may have.

Contact details  are available on the "Safeguarding Page" on this web-site.

Friday March 27th, 6.00pm:

There is an e-mail circulating which says the following:

"As schools will be closing, if you are entitled to free school meals, please send your bank details and we'll make sure you're supported".

THIS IS A SCAM - DO NOT RESPOND AND DELETE IMMEDIATELY.

Tuesday March 24th, 6.00pm:

Hello Everyone, I hope you are all OK.

Hopefully your child / children are accessing the work we've posted on-line for them and have used the "Blogging Site" to get in touch with their teacher. If they haven't please try and make sure this happens tomorrow.
Thank You.

Having listened to the Prime Minister's broadcast last night, which is basically enforcing social isolation for three weeks, and bearing in mind that we have had no requests for child care over the Easter Break, we have decided to close the school for two weeks from this Friday (27th March).

I am sure that you will agree that this is the best way forward for you as parents, our children and also for our staff.

If we can support you with anything over this period please get in touch.

Monday March 23rd, 12.15pm:

Thank you for getting in touch over the weekend to let us know which children will be in this week.
Please let us know in advance if you are sending you child in so that we can make arrangements.

People are obviously heeding the governments latest advice wherever they can.
Thanks for you support.

Friday March 20th, 7.00pm:

We have had confirmation that school transport will be functioning as normal on Monday so that children who are attending school are able to get here.
Beyond Monday there may well be changes to the nature of transport provision, when we find out how many children need transport. We'll give you more information when we get it next week. 

Friday March 20th, 1.00pm:

A new newsletter has been posted (Coronavirus 20th March 2020.doc).
It contains important information about "vulnerable children" and "key workers".
If you think you, or your child, fits into one of these categories and that access to school provision will be essential for your child / children it is essential you get in touch with us, as explained in the letter, immediately.

Thursday March 19th, 6.30pm:

Please download today's letter (Coronavirus 19th March 2020.doc) to read our latest communication.

Wednesday March 18th, 8.00pm:

I'm sure you will already have heard that the government has told schools that they will be closing until further notice at the end of the school day on Friday evening (which means at 5.30pm for children using the afterschool service).

The government has directed us that after Friday, and where necessary, there will be provision for children in two groups:

•  those children who's parents are considered key workers;
•  children who are considered to be educationally vulnerable.

At this point the government has not told us what a "key worker" is, and nor are we completely clear what "educationally vulnerable means.

We will be making arrangements to support the children's learning through the Class Pages on this web-site. 

We will give you more information as soon as we have it.

Tuesday March 17th, 8.30pm:

Yesterday's newsletter has been removed.

The link below will allow you to download today's letter which explains our most up-to-date position.

We will continue to post information here as things develop.

Monday March 16th, 7.00pm:

The Government has published some key measures this evening which revises the guidance which we offered in the newsletter we sent out this afternoon.

If you have decided to self isolate your child because they have a fever or a persistent cough then the period of isolation is now 14 days (rather than the seven day period explained in our letter).

In addition to this we are now being told that if a single member of a family is showing symptoms then everyone in the household must isolate.

Children may not return to school until this 14 day isolation period is complete, even if they are feeling well. 

In respect of school closure guidance states that "schools will not be closed for the moment".

Although what "the moment" actually means is anybody's guess !