Meadow High School Parent Portal - Weekly Bulletin - Issue 22

Dear Families

Welcome back after the half-term break. I hope you survived the storms unscathed!

I wanted to update you on a few things in this week's bulletin.

Covid

As I am sure you are aware, all restrictions regarding Covid have now been lifted and we have moved into the 'living with Covid' plan. From the 24th of February 2022 this means:

People who test positive for COVID will no longer be bound by law to self-isolate.
However, the current advice is that adults and children who test positive for Covid following a test are advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people. After 5 days, they may choose to take a Lateral Flow Test followed by another the next day. If they are negative, and they do not have a temperature, they can safely return to their normal routine. Those who test positive should avoid contact with anyone in an at risk group, including if they live in the same household.
Vaccinated contacts of people who have tested positive will no longer be asked to do daily lateral flow tests for seven days.
Contact tracing will end.
Support payments for people who would have previously self-isolated with COVID will end.
Businesses (schools) will no longer be legally required to tell staff to self-isolate if they have COVID

However pupils and staff in SEN settings are still being requested to test twice weekly, hopefully this means that tests will continue to be provided free of charge at least in the short term.

I expect you may feel, like many of us, both relieved that there is a relaxation in the law, but anxious about what this means for us and our loved ones regarding becoming infected with Covid. As a school, we will continue to advise staff and pupils who have the virus to self-isolate, but we cannot insist on this.

We will still be encouraging good hand hygiene and we request that if pupils have cough and cold symptoms that they stay at home till they are well as LFT (Lateral Flow Tests) should not be used where symptoms are present. Any pupils who are in school and have a cough or cold we may ask them (with their agreement) to wear a face mask

Website

We are completing a lot of work on our website at the moment to make sure what we are actually doing in school matches what is said there. You may notice a new curriculum tab (currently under construction) where you can see what we plan to teach your child. This is called the curriculum 'Intent'.

How we teach, 'Implementation', will be explained by the different Faculty / Subject areas.

The 'Impact' of all of this should then be seen via our Evidence for Learning reports that are shared with families.

We are also working on streamlining the website and this work has been ongoing for some time. We are aware there is a lot of useful information, but it's sometimes hard to find what you are looking for.

If you haven't visited the website in a while, please take a look: www.meadowhighschool.org

Farewell

Following a restructure of our Welfare Team, Debby Gleed-Young, our Home Liaison Officer, has decided to take voluntary redundancy and will be leaving us at the end of this term.

I'm sure those of you that have been supported by Debby will join me in thanking her for her service and wish her every success in the next chapter of her career.

Bullying

Sadly, I need to inform you that there is a small group of pupils who are bullying other pupils in school. We are working with these pupils to help them change their behaviour and, where appropriate, we are putting sanctions in place for any bullying incidents we are aware of. We are also working with the Metropolitan Police regarding this matter as this behaviour is unacceptable.

Please be aware that much of the bullying is taking place online and via social media. This is a serious crime and, as such, any pupil who participates will be at risk of Police action being taken against them.

As families, please be mindful of how your child is using their device.

Please join us in signing Katie Price's petition regarding online bullying. You can find the link below:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/575833

Best wishes to you all for the weekend.

Mrs J Rigby
Headteacher

World Book Day Week of Activities

Monday 28 February 2022 - Friday 4 March 2022

Literacy Across the Curriculum theme
‘The Future – What’s Next?’

World Book Day is approaching and, as always, we are looking to use this as an opportunity to promote core literacy skills and build links with the world beyond school. This year is special as it is the 25th anniversary of World Book Day, which is now celebrated in over 100 countries around the world!

This year the theme for us is a positive focus on looking forwards after the challenge of the last 2 years - ‘The Future – What’s Next? ’. We are encouraging our students to gain an understanding of next step plans for our school, but also explore their own plans for the future i.e. getting back to socializing and activities they have missed, but also what they want to achieve in the future including steps they need to take to make this happen.

Our library is temporarily out of bounds due to Phase 2 of the build, however we are not deterred! We will be running a range of activities throughout the week including staff sharing a favourite book with their class and a Reading Across the Curriculum challenge. This is at school and home, so please encourage your child to use their reading skills as much as possible. [See A guide to Better Reading at Home for ideas on how to support.]

NB. If you would like to express an interest in attending one of the sessions we will be running on reading at home later this term, please complete the slip below to help us plan effectively. (reply slip is on the letter attached below)

Non-uniform/Dress-Up Day will be on World Book Day, which is Thursday 3rd March 2022. Students will be able to come to school dressed as either a character from a favourite story [book, film or television series] or a person from a non-fiction book including a job that interests them.

Your child will be coming home with a World Book Day token, please help them to use this. For further information please use this link https://www.worldbookday.com/about-us/what-is-world-book-day/

or phone and have a chat with our librarians, they will be happy to help.

Mrs. Sugden, Mrs Heggie Mrs. Wilkes & Mrs. Bingham
English & EAL & Reading Intervention MHS Librarians
Communication

PDF - World Book Day letter and reply slip (sent home this week)

PDF - A Guide to Better Reading at home (a translatable version of this leaflet can be found here on the school website).

COST OF LIVING CRISIS
USEFUL INFORMATION FROM CONTACT (charity who support families with disabled children)

Information has been provided by Hillingdon Parent Carer Forum

Dear parents/carers,

A note from Contact - the charity for families with disabled children, who support and bring families together and help them take action for others. We hope you find this useful.

Families with disabled children will be amongst the hardest hit by the ‘cost of living’ crisis: many experience higher energy bills and household costs while also spending their own savings on vital support for their family. Our research shows a third have been plunged into debt during the pandemic.

Though the government has proposed a package of measures aimed at offsetting some of the rise in energy costs and soaring inflation from April, for many families this will not go far enough — and thousands remain understandably anxious about the future.

To help, Contact has put together a handy checklist of six steps that every parent carer should take now to ensure they are in the best possible position to cope with rising costs.

Use the Benefits Calculator on our website to check if you’re claiming everything you’re eligible for. It takes just 10 minutes.
Try our Grants Search to see if you’re eligible for charitable financial support to fund vital equipment, white goods, home adaptations and other essentials. You may also find that you’re entitled to local welfare assistance schemes, budgeting loans and council tax discounts.
Get help with your fuel and water bills. There are a number of schemes and grants across the UK to help you limit your water payments and stay warm in cold months.
Take a look at our tips to save on energy bills. While many suppliers offer schemes to help with fuel costs, reduced tariffs are increasingly hard to find amid this year’s energy price crisis. Changing small everyday habits could significantly help cut back on your family’s usage.
Check what help you could get for education, health, transport, housing and leisure costs. This covers a variety of expenses: school meals and uniforms, transport to school or hospital, prescription charges, NHS treatments, bus and rail travel, parking, driving lessons, home adaptations and much more.
Keep our Money Matters guide saved somewhere, such as in your browser’s bookmarks. This way, you can easily refer back to it when you need advice on benefits, grants, loans, discounts and other sources of financial support. We have a guide covering England and Wales and a separate one for Scotland families.

Best wishes,

Hillingdon PCF

On behalf of the steering Committee

World Book Day Week of Activities

Monday 28 February 2022 - Friday 4 March 2022

Literacy Across the Curriculum theme ‘The Future – What’s Next?’

Calendar, Lunches & Letters Home

UPCOMING EVENTS

SPRING TERM:

LETTERS HOME

SCHOOL LUNCHES

Week - Monday 28 February 2022 - Friday 4 March 2022

Week 2

NEW MENU - Spring & Summer 2022

E-Safety

News & Events in the Community

COST OF LIVING CRISIS USEFUL INFORMATION FROM CONTACT (charity who support families with disabled children)

Hillingdon's SEND Advisory Service (SAS),

Job Vacancies

All job vacancies are advertised on Crinklerecruitment.com.

Please visit this link for more information and to make all applications.

CVs are not accepted.

WELFARE ADMIN OFFICER

WELFARE LEAD

LEAD OF SCIENCE

School Website: www.meadowhighschool.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeadowHighSch

Youtube: meadowhighschoolhello

Email: meadow@meadowhighschool.org

Telephone: 01895 443310

Literacy Across the Curriculum theme
‘The Future – What’s Next?’

COST OF LIVING CRISIS
USEFUL INFORMATION FROM CONTACT (charity who support families with disabled children)