Corona Virus Update Page

Coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms in children

Children and young people aged 18 and under can get coronavirus (COVID-19), but it's usually a mild illness and most get better in a few days.

COVID-19 Updated isolation guidance April 2022

New COVID guidance came into place on Friday 1st April, about periods of isolation. The updated guidance advises the following:

• adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have
  a high temperature
• children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend
• adults with a positive COVID-19 test result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days, which is when they are most infectious. For children and young people aged 18 and under, the advice will be 3 days

The highlighted text is a key part of the new guidance which effectively means there is no directed, or formal, period of isolation anymore. From now on if your child does get COVID they would typically isolate for 3 days and then return to school, if well enough, and absent of a high temperature.

Please click on the link to find out where parents can collect home test kits.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff

Government guidance for Self Isolating 

With our Year 5 bubble currently self isolating we thought it may be helpful to share the link below with updated guidance from the Government regarding self isolating:

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

National Children's Art week -week 1 The Natural World

Well done to everyone who has taken part this week. Your images of the Natural World are amazing and really remind us what a wonderful world God created for us. Certificates are on the way to all those who have taken part! next week's the theme is 'Connecting across the generations'. Take a look at the website for some inspiration of what you could do. I can't wait to see your masterpeices!

CHILDCARE FOR PARENTS WHO FALL INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

KEY WORKERS (NHS workers, Social care services, 'critical workers', police and delivery drivers)

CHILDREN WITH EHCP'S

VULNERABLE FAMILIES WITH ALLOCATED SOCIAL WORKER 

Following the announcement of school closures by the Government earlier this evening school will only remain open for the children of parents who work in the above sectors.  In order for school to plan and staff accordingly please confirm the need for childcare by emailing head@stedward.bham.sch.uk by midday on Thursday 19th March 2020.   Please state the following in the email: Profession, employer and hours in which childcare is required for.  Please note that childcare provision is being looked at, based upon numbers of children that fall within the above categories. We will be contacting families regarding ways in which we can help to ensure that you are able to continue to carry out your important work.

SCHOOL MEALS

Any parents wanting to know more about this provision please email head@stedward.bham.sch.uk  

CATHOLIC CHURCH SUSPENDS MASS WITH A CONGREGATION

This will mean that the following masses will only be available to view via the webcam in church please follow this link: https://www.mcnmedia.tv/camera/st-edwards-church-selly-park-birmingham

Weekly Mass times:

Mon 9.00am 

Tues 7.00pm

Wed 9.00am
Thu 9.00am

Fri 9.00am 

Sat 9.00am & 6.00pm

Sun 10.15am & 6.00pm 

Free Access to Reading Books

‘Here is a link to Collins Big Cat books that you may want to share with all primary schools.

It gives you, as parents, access to a large volume of eBooks that are all book banded.

Key stage 1 and progress books (for SEND) are available to access.

https://connect.collins.co.uk/school/Portal.aspx

Please click onto the TEACHER sign in with the following details:

Username: parents@harpercollins.co.uk

Password: Parents20!

Easter Creations

Well done to all of those who spent the time and created an 'Easter creation' to celebrate this special time in the liturgical year. Even though we couldn't celebrate and remember this special time as we normally would, our creations show that it was still very much in our minds.

A Real Super Star!

News Flash! 

For an update on Millie and her face mask project have a read in The Times newspaper! She appeared in this national newspaper on the 5th May. Here is the link: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/static/covid-community-heroes-nhs-britain-lockdown-volunteers/  

Millie in Year 6 has been extremely busy and set up her own Corona Virus face mask making project with her mum. Have a look at www.milliesmasks.co.uk and you will be amazed by her outstanding contribution in the fight against the virus! They are donating some of the money raised to charities and also to the NHS. She has been interviewed on Radio 5 and has also appeared in The Telegraph newspaper. Millie, you are a real inspiration! Well done!

Stars of the Week

Even though the children are not here with us in school, we have still been incredibly impressed by their fabulous work ethic and commitment to learning and developing their many skills and talents.  To celebrate their achievements every week one child from each class will be chosen as 'Star of the Week' with their certificate emailed to them on a Friday.                                                                                                                   

J2 Stars

The teachers have been so impressed with all of the work they have seen and been told about so far that we wanted to find a way to keep rewarding you! On the BGFL platform you will find an app J2Stars, this is similar to Track it Light where you can earn points for certain skills like working hard. The teachers can add and edit these to suit certain tasks. When we return to school these points can be combined with Track it so that you can still be working towards your certificates. Aswell, as emailing the teachers about the wonderful things you are doing, they would love to see photos or attachments of work you have completed. They can put these on the website to share with others and inspire them!

Keep up the hard work, how many points will you earn this week?

             Chase the Rainbow

Thank you for all your wonderful pictures of rainbows.  

Support and Advice

Birmingham City Council are providing a number of advice, information and support services for parents/carers of children with special educational needs.  Further details can be found in the documents below.

Daily lessons on BBC Bitesize from Monday 20th April 

These are six different 20 minute shows, each designed to target a specific age group, from ages 5 to 14. Coverage includes lessons for each year group and key stage for Maths, Science and English.  Content for other subjects such as History, Geography, Music and Art will also be covered.

HOME LEARNING

You will find access to home learning resources by following the link to our Phase Pages below.  Please note, it will be the Phase pages that will be updated regularly, not the individual class pages.

BGFL Passwords

It has come to our attention that some passwords were missing from the children's BGFL logins.  Those in school today (Friday 20th March) have been issued with these.  If your child is missing their password and is not in school today, you can still retrieve it by emailing their teacher on one of the following emails:

yearrec@stedward.bham.sch.uk

year1@stedward.bham.sch.uk

year2@stedward.bham.sch.uk

year3@stedward.bham.sch.uk

year4@stedward.bham.sch.uk

year5@stedward.bham.sch.uk

year6@stedward.bham.sch.uk

START THE DAY RIGHT!
WAKE UP SHAKE UP LIVE EVERY MORNING 

Axel Scheffler has illustrated a digital book for primary school age children, free for anyone to read on screen or print out, about the coronavirus and the measures taken to control it.  The book has had expert input: Professor Graham Medley of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine acted as a consultant, and the company also had advice from two head teachers and a child psychologist.

The book aims to answer key questions in simple language appropriate for 5 to 9 year olds:

• What is the coronavirus?
• How do you catch the coronavirus?
• What happens if you catch the coronavirus?
• Why are people worried about catching the coronavirus?
• Is there a cure for the coronavirus?
• Why are some places we normally go to closed?
• What can I do to help?
• What’s going to happen next?

 Please follow the link for an audio version of the book.

https://nosycrow.com/blog/actor-hugh-bonneville-to-voice-audio-for-nosy-crows-coronavirus-book-for-children/

Start somewhere

As a parent, there are always conversations you'd prefer not to have with your children. And when something as out-of-the-blue and unknown as the coronavirus strikes, it's hard to know where to begin. Especially as it's clear that the scientists still don't have the answers.

But children need you to talk to them. They're relying on you for information and, more importantly, support.

Open the conversation as soon as possible. It doesn't matter if you don't get far. They'll know it's OK to come back to it when something worries them - when someone they know starts feeling poorly, for example. 

It doesn't matter either that you don't have all the answers, as long as you reassure them that people across the world are doing amazing things - coming together, staying apart - to try to combat the virus. And you are following all the advice and doing all you can for them.

Be prepared to listen

There's information everywhere. Your children have access to the knowledge and opinions of the rest of the world via the internet. It can be difficult to distinguish truth from misinformation. Listen to what your children have picked up.

The tech platforms are making a big effort to take down false stories about coronavirus - but they can't control private messaging. So it's still possible for children to have access to information that may worry them but simply isn't true.

Of course, it's a good thing that there's so much expert knowledge available. We can all listen to different scientists and compare countries' responses, and we can see what seems to be working in real-time.

That doesn't mean you have to sift through all this and work out the answers: you'd need a degree in microbiology for that.

What children mainly want to hear from their parents is that they're on their side. Make sure they know that you and all the people who care about them are doing what they came to protect them, and look after each other.

If they think they’re not being listened to, kids turn off. So your job is mainly (at least initially) to hear what they have to say.  Let them know you’re ready to engage with their opinions and concerns.

Trust yourself

As a parent, you’re one of the leading experts on your child.

Reassure them that children are much less affected by the virus than older people. They may be worried about people they know - grandparents, or people with underlying conditions. They may have asthma or other complicating conditions themselves. Make sure you know what the advice is, so you can promise them that everything is being done. Reassure them that everything will be done to protect and look after children.

Use the opportunity to start good habits of hand-washing, which will stand them in good stead long after this is all over. For younger children, you can make a game of it, singing songs while they wash.

Involve older children in planning for self-isolation. What food do you need? What films and games and activities will keep you occupied if schools have to close?

It’s easy to feel you don't know enough to be authoritative. It's fine to be honest about your own uncertainties, as long as you are calming and positive. Reassure them that this will pass, and we will all pick up the pieces - and, yes, they will have to go back to school.

You know how to be a parent – that's skill enough to be going on with.

The advice published on Parent Info is provided by independent experts in their field and not necessarily the views of Parent Zone or NCA-CEOP.

If you have any education-related coronavirus concerns, please contact the DfE helpline on: 0800 046 8687

Email: coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk