Dear Year 6 Parents and Carers

Re: Cancellation of Planned Open Evening – September 23rd September

Due to a rapid increase, over the weekend, in positive Covid-19 cases within our school community, we have been advised by Public Health to cancel our upcoming public events and trips.

Unfortunately, this includes the Open Evening scheduled for Thursday 23rd September. We are disappointed that we cannot run this key event, however, we want to ensure we take all steps as advised by Public Health in order to safeguard our students, their families and the broader community.

We will keep you updated with any changes to the advice from Public Health.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Hoare
Head

Covid-19 Advice from the Director of Public Health for Somerset

Dear Parent / Carer, We have been advised by Public Health England (PHE) that there have been confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the school.

Please be reassured that for most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness. Regardless of severity, for many parents and carers this remains a concerning time. This letter is to inform you of the confirmed cases and provide advice on how to support your child. We are constantly working with Public Health Specialists at both the County Council and PHE to monitor this situation and provide you with updates.

Following current guidance, the school continues to ensure confirmed cases of COVID-19 complete self-isolation at home.

To prevent avoidable spread in school, all pupils, households and staff are asked to do twice weekly Lateral Flow Device (LFD) testing. Positive test results should be reported to the school (as previously) and be followed-up with a PCR test.

There is no disruption to your child’s education, the school remains open, and your child should continue to attend as normal, unless they are displaying any symptoms or have tested positive.

Somerset County Council’s Public Health Team (SCCPH) and PHE have conducted a risk assessment. There is evidence of established transmission within this setting. In order to keep the school community safe, we have been advised to put in place the following measures:

• Promote social distancing and reduce crowding. We are moving to online assemblies for the time being.
• Reduce intergroup mixing, by returning to year group areas on the field and allocated blocks for each year group in poor weather.
• Further reduce crowding by reinstating a satellite food servery, which will be cash only. This will be in addition to the main canteen which will continue to use the established online payment method.
• Reduce mixing of staff by holding meetings remotely where possible.
• Students, and staff are asked to wear face coverings when moving around inside buildings. If staff or students wish to wear a face covering in classrooms in addition, we will support their decision.
• Limit residential education visits, open days, transition/taster days, parental attendance, live performances, sporting events or similar.

SCCPH and PHE will keep these measures under review.

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID-19

However mild the symptoms, please book a PCR test for the person with symptoms (even if they have already taken an LFD test). Symptoms of COVID-19 are:

• A new, continuous cough, and/or
• A temperature, and/or
• A loss of, or change to, sense of test and/or smell.

You can book a test here Testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) - NHS (www.nhs.uk) or by calling 119.

If the test result is negative, your child can return to school once they are well and have been fever free for at least 24 hours (without the support of paracetamol of Calpol). If the test result is positive, your child must self-isolate for 10 days (from when symptoms started, or from the date of the test). Members of your household who have been fully vaccinated (at least 14 days earlier) are medically exempt from vaccination or under the age of 18 years 6 months, instead of self-isolating, are now advised to take a free PCR test. They should continue to take precautions to protect others until the result is received. If the result is negative, they can resume normal activities. If the result is positive, they must isolate for 10 days. This starts either from the test date, or onset of symptoms, which ever came first.

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111. For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

Those who are clinically extremely vulnerable should minimise their contact with other people in the household during this period, regardless of whether others have symptoms or not.

Further information is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

How to stop COVID-19 spreading

There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19.

• Wash your hands with soap and water often – for at least 20 seconds
• Use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
• Wash your hands as soon as you get home
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
• Bin used tissues immediately and wash your hands afterwards
• Ventilate indoor spaces as well as possible – let the fresh air in, even if for a short period a day
• Participate in twice weekly LFD testing following national guidelines (recommended for 11 years and over). We encourage you to log your results here: www.gov.uk/log-test-site-covid19-results

For further information, please visit www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19

Yours sincerely

Peter Hoare
Headteacher

Alison Bell
Consultant in Public Health,
Somerset County Council

Dear Parents and Carers

Due to a rapid increase, over the weekend, in positive Covid-19 cases within our school community, we have been advised by Public Health to cancel our upcoming public events and trips. These include:

• London Music Trip – Tuesday 21st September
• Open evening – Thursday 23rd September
• Year 11 Raising Achievement evening – Monday 27th September
• Year 10 Welcome to KS4 evening – Tuesday 28th September
• Year 7 Pinkery trips planned for September and October
• Duke of Edinburgh trip planned for week beginning 27th September

We are disappointed to have to cancel these key events and trips, however, we want to ensure we take all steps as advised by Public Health in order to safeguard our students, their families and the broader community.

We will be reintroducing ‘enhanced’ control measures. These will include:

• Requesting staff and students who can wear face coverings to do so, when moving in communal areas within buildings. Current advice from Public Health is that this is not necessary within classrooms.
• Reintroducing year group bubbles and limiting mixing between year groups.
• Limiting visitors on site to essential visits only. All meetings will need to be booked through school reception, please do not arrive without an appointment.
• We are reviewing our lunch service arrangements to minimise mixing and will write to you detailing changes once they are finalised.

A message for parents and carers of students isolating:

We would like to remind our families of online learning, available for any pupil who is self-isolating. Work will be set using Microsoft TEAMS. We will try to replicate learning in school as closely as possible. Therefore, pupils will be set work for each lesson they miss, on the day they miss it. We would encourage them to follow their timetable as closely as possible. Routine is important. One of the great advantages of TEAMs is that it makes communication efficient and straightforward. Please do get in touch if you have any queries or concerns. It is worth highlighting that our staff will be teaching a full timetable in school and so will not be able to offer support ‘live’.

Can we also remind you that class charts runs alongside TEAMs and allows parents to monitor work being set.

Where do we get help?

For technical support (including log in details):

teamssupport@heathfieldcommunityschool.co.uk

For information, as well as tips, instructional videos and contact details, please visit or school website : Remote Curriculum | Heathfield Community School

Myself and the Senior Leadership Team met with colleagues from Public Health this afternoon and a further letter will be circulated summarising recommended actions. We will of course keep you updated with any changes to the advice we receive.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Hoare
Head

I am delighted to make the inaugural “News from the Oak Tree” newsletter available for download here. This is our fortnightly newsletter which will hopefully enhance communication between school and home.

Constructive feedback greatly appreciated. Please e-mail:

askheathfield@heathfieldcommunityschool.co.uk

Lot’s more to follow in two weeks’ time.

Ian Grant
Deputy Head

We look forward to welcoming you all to our Open Evening on Thursday 23rd September.

More details to follow.

Year 7 WEALS APOLOGY

Our changing rooms have been refurbished over the holidays but they are not ready to use this Friday 10th Sept, so please can the students just bring their trainers to change into for this lesson. We will plan an appropriate lesson and sorry for the delay to them using their whole new kit.

PE department.

Calling all Heathfield Football Fans

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The class of Heathfield 2021 are celebrating after receiving their GCSE results.

Headteacher Peter Hoare said “ the results achieved by this year group are thoroughly deserved especially considering the amount of disruption they have experienced over the last 18 months. They have shown great determination, resilience and good humor throughout and supported each other through difficult times. They are a credit to their families and the community. I would also like to thank parents, all staff and governors for their strong support and understanding throughout very challenging times. The way the whole community has worked together, often reacting to last minute changes has been exceptional. I would also like to thank their year Head, Helena Nicholls and her team of tutors for supporting and guiding the year group throughout the last 5 years. The year group worked hard and involved themselves fully in the life of the school. We all wish them the very best for the future.“

Dear Year 6s,

If you're feeling at all apprehensive about testing upon starting in September, hopefully the video below will reassure you.

A HUGE welcome to the class of 2021!

We have a page of resources that may be useful as well.

As part of our commitment to providing appropriate online safety guidance & training to parents, staff & pupils we have recently partnered with “National Online Safety” to provide e-learning courses for FREE to parents.

If you are interested in taking a FREE CPD certified course please use the link below to register: https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/heathfield-community-school

Courses include:

• Online Bullying
• Online Identity
• Online Relationships
• Privacy & Security
• Social Media
• Mental Health
• Legislation

Grafitti Workshops in North Taunton

15 places available for 11-18 year-olds genuinely interested in Grafitti Art.

You will be working in the centre on designs on paper then painting the well of North Taunton Youth Club and the shelter in Lyngford Park.

Click here for further information.

HAF Programme

Free holiday provision for all free school meal eligible children aged 5-14 years old.

The Department of Education announced that the holiday, activity and food (HAF) programme will run across the whole of England in 2021. Funds have been made available to every local authority in England to arrange free holiday provision, including healthy food and enriching activities for free school meal eligible children. Click here for further information.

Dear Parent / Guardian

If your son/daughter has chosen to do GCSE PE or Sport Studies from September 2021, as part of the requirements for this course, it is essential that they choose to participate in extra-curricular activities at the school. We would like to insist they attend at least one lunchtime club throughout the school year, which will provide them with the coaching and practise time they need to maximise their practical grade. We would, of course, encourage them to do more than this if they can. By signing below, you are acknowledging that you are aware of this and will support this requirement. However, if you can foresee any problems with this, please contact us in the near future to discuss the matter.

We expect full participation in lessons in all activities and the correct kit for all lessons. If there is a short term or long term problem with either, please can you contact your child’s teacher as soon as the matter arises.

The correct kit is the same PE kit as before : Girls – black and amber polo, black Heathfield shorts/skorts. Boys – black and amber polo, black Heathfield shorts and Heathfield football socks/white socks (for indoor or summer activities). However, your child does have the opportunity to purchase a high quality polo shirt, made by O’Neills for Heathfield. This top looks very smart and has the Heathfield logo with HEATHFIELD SPORT printed on the front. Styles are available to view online, and we also have samples for the pupils to look at and try on in the PE office if necessary.

The shirts come in sizes: XX Small, X Small, Small, Medium, Large or X Large. The cost of the shirt is £20 (with printing). Please state your child’s name on an envelope and return reply slips with payment by Friday 9th July to ensure time for delivery before September. There are some available in school to try sizes or pictures available here.

If you have any specific requirements or questions with regards to sizes or payment please get in touch asap so we can arrange a solution in time for the order, and do not hesitate to contact either of us if you have any concerns.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Pattemore - Head of Physical Education

Click here to download the order form

On Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd of July Heathfield held Careers Enrichment days for Year 10s.

Day One included virtual presentations from Taunton and Bridgwater College and Richard Huish College about the different pathways and options for students when they leave year 11. They also did workshops on how to write a good CV and how to perform well at interview.

Day Two involved students doing different workshops based upon their interests. These included virtual presentations on the NHS, Armed Forces, IT, Construction, Finance and Engineering, Law, and also information on Apprenticeships and the opportunities for young people. We also welcomed into school some staff from Morrisons where some students worked on CVs and interviews, some staff from MAGNA who talked to students about different manual careers, and also two Police Officers from Hinkley to talk about careers in the Police force- # Hinkley CNC. Some students also had the opportunity to visit the SPACE to learn about Level 3 Extended Diploma in Performing and Production Arts.

Students also listened to a number of staff talk about their career stories and advice for the future so they are prepared for thinking about their next steps in Year 11. Students had a rich experience and Heathfield is grateful for the support from local businesses and employers. 

You may be aware that the school has been in lockdown for a period of time this morning. School had locked down to manage and support a distressed vulnerable female student who has just started at the school. All students have been kept safe, and there was no risk to them. Police were called to the school, and staff have coordinated with them, resulting in the student being escorted off site.

We realise that any lockdown can be distressing for students and will explain as much to them as we can. We have extended lunchtime to ensure that all students can have a break. During period 4 (last lesson today) students will be briefed and supported around what has happened If you have any concerns about your child after you have spoken to them tonight, please contact the tutor or year head in the first instance and we will be able to offer support.

Please click here to download the letter.

PSHE is a key element of all Heathfield pupils’ education. On Tuesday the 29th of June, Year 9 attended a talk, followed by a workshop given by the charity ‘stand against violence’. SAV are an organisation set up in memory of Lloyd Fouracre, a teenager murdered in Taunton by young men, under the influence of alcohol. Lloyds’ brother Adam (an ex Heathfield pupil) has worked tirelessly since this tragic event to educate young people, around the dangers of excessive drinking and aggressive behaviour.

Pupils listened to a talk about alcohol: the law, risks and how to keep yourself safe. One pupil even tried on some ‘beer goggles’ to simulate the effects of heavy drinking. Pupils then took part in a workshop. This featured several, powerful, pieces of film telling Lloyd story. Pupils were expertly guided through a reflection of lessons we can all learn from this tragic event.

Here is what pupils had to say about the day:

“It makes you think when you learn that this happened on our streets”

“We had to come up with and share ideas for how to keep ourselves safe”

“Mike (SAV trainer) was really good at making us think and share our ideas”

This evening (30/06/2021) at 7pm “Exploitation Awareness for Parents”

• Have you heard of CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation)?
• Do you know about County Lines?
• Do you know what Online Grooming and Exploitation is?

Maybe you would like to know more about all the above or some of the above. The prevention officer from TOPAZ exploitation team, Avon and Somerset Police is bringing you 60 minutes virtual awareness/guidance sessions. This is a perfect opportunity to increase your awareness.

To book onto the session visit https://bookwhen.com/hfcs

Hello,

I am going to be running the 2021 London Marathon. I was meant to run it last year but due to COVID, my run has been rearranged for October this year. This is without a doubt going to be the toughest challenge I have ever faced in my life. I have done a half marathon many years ago and felt horrendous afterwards so who knows how I'm going to be after a FULL Marathon. But it couldn’t be for a more important cause, and I’ve never been more determined.

I will be running for Team GOSH, to raise funds and awareness for Great Ormond Street Hospital. This extraordinary hospital has always depended on charitable support to give seriously ill children the best chance to fulfil their potential.

Please donate whatever you can (no amount is too small)

JustGiving Link

Thank you for your support!

Mr.Davies

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Webinars

Dear parent/carer

Somerset Educational Psychology Service have produced a two-part webinar for parents and carers in collaboration with the Somerset Parent Carer Forum (information and relevant links attached).

If you are interested in this, please click here to download the flier. You can also find the training here: Somerset children & young people : Health & Wellbeing : Mhtk A El (cypsomersethealth.org)

If you do watch any of the webinar sessions, it would help the EP service if you could also complete the evaluation form (which is also on the attached document) ACEs Post-Evaluation - Recorded webinar for Parents/Carers (office.com).

With best wishes

Nicola Patmore
Safeguarding Lead

21st June 2021

Dear Parent/Guardian

You are probably aware that there have been several positive cases of COVID identified particularly in primary settings, some of which are feeder schools which could affect our community through siblings.

Several parents have asked if we could revisit the wearing of masks in class. At the moment students and staff are encouraged to wear a mask in corridors and places where social distancing is compromised. The advice around masks is guidance only but if you feel reassured by your son/daughter wearing a mask then we would support this.

We also advise revisiting the guidance around testing using the lateral flow kits.

We would be grateful that any positive tests are reported to the school via the website.

More testing kits are available from reception if required.

Hopefully by working together we can reassure and support our community.

Yours faithfully

Pete Hoare
Head

Dear parent/carer,

I hope you will find this information available to download here, helpful. 

Please could I ask all parents and carers to remind their young people about keeping safe online by not sharing private details or images and as adults, being aware of what your child is watching or accessing online.

Nicola Patmore (safeguarding lead)

Attention all Year 7s! There is an excellent opportunity for you - Somerset Music are offering 10 free brass lessons (in pairs).

There is also the opportunity to have 1 free drum lessons; this is available to all year groups.

If you enjoy your lessons, when the offer ends you can continue lessons at a paid rate.

Here is a presentation featuring Glyn Bowen explaining a little more about the offer.

Click here to download more information on the Brass offer.
Click here to complete the form mentioned in the letter above

Click here to download further information on the Drums offer.

A Heathfield Student, Owen, has recently been awarded first prize in the Pride of Somerset Awards Volunteering Category. Owen waged war on plastic last year in a series of assemblies, and also volunterrs for the West Somerset Railway.

Owen was interviewed about his award on BBC Radio Somerset - You can listen to the interview by clicking below and skipping to 2 hours and 50 minutes.

Afternoons on BBC Radio Somerset - 11/05/2021 - BBC Sounds

Congratulations Owen!