Following an update from the Department for Education around phonics teaching we have moved to Essential Letters and Sounds, this is a phonics programme based on Letters and Sounds (2007). This new phonics programme will support your children in making quick progress to become fluent and confident readers. 

To best support us in teaching your child to read, we ask that you read the decodable text provided by the school four times across the week. Spending 10 minutes a day reading with your child will hugely support them on their journey to becoming an independent reader. 

The texts sent home are carefully matched to the teaching taking place in school. Your child will be practising what they have been taught in school with you at home. We will only ask children to read books independently when they can decode these by themselves.  

Any books that are not yet decodable for the children will be sent home as a sharing book from the school library. These books will be sent home for you to read with your child, helping us to instil a love of reading from the very beginning of their reading journey. These could be read together with your child reading the words they are able to decode or could be read to your child. 

Below you will find a useful parent presentation all about our new phonics programme. You will also find videos that will help you to support your child with pronouncing the sounds correctly. A link to Oxford Owl has also been provided. Here you can find further information about reading for pleasure, supporting readers, reading at school, eBook library and an online book shop. 

Our aim is to always keep you informed of school developments, events and news. We will contact you directly if we have any worries about your child. Please let us know of any concerns or difficulties you are experiencing. Please note that we adhere to Medway Council’s Policy on aggression or violence towards our staff and view all such incidents as unacceptable. We also have a Code of Conduct applicable to all staff, parents, children and other stakeholders of the school which includes face to face meetings, telephone calls and use of social media. This is available on our website.

All classes operate with contact books or homework diaries and these are great for quick messages, for example if there is a change in collection arrangements.

Our teachers are not usually available first thing as they are greeting and registering children or preparing for the day. Similarly, at the end of the day they may be seeing the children off so may not be immediately available. If you need to speak to a teacher, please put a note in the contact book or telephone the office to set up a meeting or a call back. We will always do our best to get back to you.  Please be patient, the office staff may not be able to give you the information you need immediately.

Please use the website – we aim to update it regularly and it is often a useful first place to check information.

Our weekly newsletter ‘Miers Court Matters’ is sent out every Friday via email and contains the latest news and dates for your diary.

If you have not already done so, please contact the office to provide them with your email address or to update your information. We use this for emails and text messages.

Good communication is the best means of pre-empting or resolving disputes, so please let us know of any difficulties directly.

Fresh milk is offered at school through a company called 'Cool Milk'. 

Milk is kept in a fridge that is supplied by them.

All enquiries and payments should be directed to the company, www.coolmilk.co.uk or 0800 389157 (freephone number from most landlines).

If your child is absent for any reason please telephone the school office as soon as possible and leave a message on our absence line.

If you have not telephoned, you will receive a text message or telephone call requesting a reason for your child's absence. Any unexplained absence has to be recorded as unauthorised. Please also let us know if your child has a medical appointment during the school day but please note that we are unable to allow children to leave school unaccompanied during the school day.

Due to Government legislation, we are unable to authorise holidays during term time unless there are special circumstances. If you have reason to need holiday leave during term time, please call into the school office for a holiday request form where you can explain your special circumstances.

If your child is sick during the school day, we will contact you to collect them. Please ensure that your emergency contact numbers are kept up-to-date. Appropriate first aid will be administered by qualified staff, where necessary.

 

Reporting absence using Studybugs

With a few quick taps or clicks, you can give your child’s school all they need to record absence due to illness. This is a better, safer way to report when your child is sick and off school. With a few quick taps or clicks, you can give your child’s school all they need to record absence due to illness.

 

Reporting your child as late

If your child is often late they will miss a vital part of the lesson and disrupt the lesson for everyone else. If this happens regularly, they will be required to the Attendance Advisory Service.

Rainbows offer an excellent breakfast club facility for anyone who has trouble managing the mornings, as well as those who just want to have a lovely breakfast!

Many parents think that arriving to school late is not important and does not affect their child's education

If your child arrives late to school by:	They will have missed this amount of days learning:
5 minutes	3 1/2 days
10 minutes	7 days
15 minutes	10 days
20 minutes	14 days
30 minutes	21 days

Frequent lateness can add up to a considerable amount of learning lost, and can seriously disadvantage your child's education.

In the event of an emergency school closure caused by bad weather or any other reason we will follow these procedures:

• We will send out an update using Opencheck (click here) which will update the Parent Comms app on your smartphone or tablet.
• Messages will be sent out by mobile text (SMS) and by email.
• We will put a message on the front page of this website.
• We will contact the local radio stations who will put the information on their websites.

IF THERE IS NO MESSAGE ON THE WEBSITE AND YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION THEN THE SCHOOL IS OPEN.

It is vital for this system to work that we have your most up-to-date contact information. The parent comms app is available from your app store on your phone or tablet and is free for you to use (you may be charged for data usage.)

If there is any change to the arrangements for collecting your child it is vital that you let us know. We will not allow your child to leave school premises with an adult we do not have your consent for. A note in the contact book is fine. If you call the office to give this information, please try to do so in time for the message to be passed on.

We are not permitted to administer any medicines to your child unless they are prescribed for your child and come into school in their packaging with the correct label. If you need us to administer prescription medicine, you will need to come to the office and complete a medication form. Children should not bring any medication in to self-administer or keep in their bags or lockers.

The children do not need to have mobile phones in school and so should not bring them into school at all. The exception to this is when older children (usually Year 6 towards the end of the year) begin to walk home alone. They will only be permitted to bring phones with your written consent and will be expected to hand them in at the beginning of the day and collect them on leaving. Please note, we do not have secure storage for the phones and so they are brought in entirely at your own risk. Phones found in school that should not be will be confiscated and only returned to the parents of the child concerned.

Information and guidance from Medway Council on Secondary Admissions are available here:

We have lots of parents asking for advice when their child is unwell, so please find below the advice from the NHS. If you have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) get a test as soon as possible. Stay at home until you get the result.

Main symptoms

The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

• A high temperature – this means that 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 that you’ve noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.

Most people with coronavirus have at least one of these symptoms.

What to do if you have symptoms

If you have any of the main symptoms of coronavirus:-

1. Get a test to check if you have coronavirus as soon as possible
2. Stay at home and do not have visitors until you get your test result – only leave your home to have a test.

Anyone you live with, and anyone in your support bubble, must also stay at home until you get your result.

Get a test to check if you have coronavirus (link: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/get-a-test-to-check-if-you-have-coronavirus/)

Use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service if:

• You’re worried about your symptoms
• You’re not sure what to do.

Use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service (Link: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19/)

Call 111 if you cannot get help online.  Do not go to places like a GP surgery, hospital or pharmacy.

Babies and children

Call 111 if you’re worried about a baby or child under 5.

If your child seems very unwell, is getting worse or you think there’s something seriously wrong, call 999.

Do not delay getting help if you’re worried.  Trust your instincts.

Positive gaming made simple, make video games a family affair and explore games off the beaten track to encourage children to adopt healthy gaming habits and develop their imagination, ambition, empathy, resilience and emotional intelligence.