Keep up to date with all the news happening in the school at the moment. Articles are added during the week. Parents are encouraged to check regularly. Our weekly bulletin, emailed directly to parents, summarises content for the week.

• Learning at home - thank you

  Mon 25 Jan 2021 Peter Dunmall

  607 pupils are learning at home. Nearly every child is joining video calls each day and completing their work. Our thanks go to every parent who is supporting their child at home.

   

  Last week, 94% of pupils joined 4 or more video calls. These sessions are important because:

  • pupils keep in touch with a teacher. Children told us they missed this most during the March lockdown.
  • teachers talk to pupils about their learning. Teachers know what pupils can already do by checking their completed tasks. These sessions help fix any errors and misunderstanding. Some pupils might be challenged to move on to something more difficult.

   

  Parents have mixed views about learning at home. Most appreciate the work of teachers. Some families have found routines that work well for their household with children being increasingly independent and responsible. Other parents juggle their own work and supporting their children at home. Whatever your circumstances, we appreciate everything you are doing.

   

  We continue to listen to views of teachers, parents and pupils. Learning at home is new to all of us. Teachers work together, within and across age-groups, to learn from one another and improve. Leaders review, evaluate and set next steps. We continue to adjust and tweak our arrangements to make things better. We might not get it perfect for every family and the way they are working at home.

   

  Let us adjust the things that we do, based on biggest need we hear from pupils, parents and teachers. We balance the government's expectations, findings from Ofsted and other education researchers, with views and experience.

   

  We do not know when school will re-open to all pupils. Please keep going, carry on doing the best that you can:

  • prioritising reading, writing and maths;
  • working for 3-4 hours each day, doing as much as you can;
  • taking time for a break, to look-after yourself and your well-being;
  • knowing that we appreciate and admire everything that you are doing at home.

• Snow

  Sun 24 Jan 2021 Peter Dunmall

  Heavy snow is falling and forecast to fall for much of today before clearing overnight and on Monday. Travel disruption may affect staff and pupils who are working in school.

   

  School remains open to pupils in Nursery, children of key-workers and those who are vulnerable:

  • staff who are working in school are asked to make their best effort to travel to school, including leaving earlier or adjusting their usual route;
  • we might need to be flexible, swapping staff who work at home with those who cannot travel to work. Please be prepared to have a different teacher tomorrow;
  • in the unlikely event that no teacher is available to cover a class working in school, the class will close and learn at home using Microsoft Teams. We will tell you of any change by 8am (earlier if possible), by email;
  • pupils should travel to school as safely as they can, making use of our 8.30-9am 'soft-start'.

   

  For all other pupils, learning at home:

  • learning using Microsoft Teams continues;
  • please be ready to be flexible, you may have a different teacher;
  • take a break and enjoy being in the snow, if you can.

  

• Confirmed case of COVID-19 in school, Year 4, Group 1 (Mr Bloomfield's class)

  Sat 23 Jan 2021 Clare Haines

  We have been advised by Public Health England of a confirmed case of COVID-19 within Mr Bloomfield's class class bubble. A pupil has tested positive. We wish them well. 

   

  Year 4, group 1 is closed to all pupils who are in this class bubble. Children will return to school on Friday 29 January.

   

  We will switch to remote learning at home for children in this class from Monday afternoon.

   

  Close contacts have been identified and contacted by email today. This includes:

  • children in the class
  • all staff members who work in the class

   

  These pupils and members of staff will now self-isolate at home for up to 10 days before returning to their usual activities. It is important that we all play our part in reducing the spread of infection in our school and community.

   

  We know that you may find this worrying but we are continuing to monitor the situation. We are working with Public Health England, following their requirements for schools and have informed the local authority.

• PTFA Meeting - Monday 1 February 2021

  Fri 22 Jan 2021
  Although 2021 hasn't started as most parents might have hoped, the PTFA is still here to help bring Fielding parents together.  Normally the PTFA holds its first meeting of the Spring Term on 11 January but with the upheaval of homeschooling we didn't feel it was reasonable to stage the session.  Instead, we will be holding the meeting on Monday 1 February at 10am and 8.30pm.  The morning session - via Zoom - will be an insightful chance to hear/talk to Mr Dunmall on the areas where the PTFA can support the school, but also discuss the PTFA plans in relation to the £28,000 target we have set ourselves.  The evening session will transfer those views and opinions from the morning session, but also further the discussion. We realise this can be a stressful time as parents juggle work and homeschooling, however Fielding has a wonderful history of coming together to support each other.  You can register to join the meeting 10am (HERE http://bit.ly/3iyP7TC) or 8.30pm (HERE http://bit.ly/360aN60) Thank you once again for the continued support you have given to PTFA fundraising. 

• Remote learning week 3- your views needed

  Thu 21 Jan 2021 Clare Haines

  Thank you to all those who completed our remote learning survey in week 1. Following your feedback we made a number of improvements, see our news article:

  • Your views and the changes we will make

  We would like your views on these changes to help us to make further tweaks where needed. please complete our short survey, posted in class teams on Microsoft Teams this morning and also linked here.

   

  We will make further improvements where we can. We are talking to teachers about emerging strengths and things to improve based on our view. Pupil and parent views will help us. However, we must work to government rules.

  The government expects schools to:

  • have a digital platform, such as G-Suite or Microsoft Education. We are using Microsoft Education, including Teams.
  • provide at least some of our remote learning by video lessons – school-led videos or other providers by Oak National Academy. We are doing both.
  • provide at least 4 hours of learning a day at key stage 2 and 3 hours at key stage 1, across curriculum subjects. 
  • set work that is meaningful and ambitious in a number of different subjects. 
  • check that pupils are doing the work, at least weekly, and tell parents as soon as we have a concern. 
  • gauge how well pupils are progressing and give feedback to pupils. 

   

• PTFA raises £758 for Ealing Foodbank with Reindeer Poop II

  Wed 20 Jan 2021

  Following the success of the Reindeer Poop Bingo game at the end of last term, the PTFA decided it would utilise the 660 painted squares on the school field to re-run the event, but this time to raise some much needed funds for Ealing Foodbank during this crucial period.  Ealing Foodbank is one of the school's nominated charities.

   

  The event took place on 29 December at Fielding with live streaming via Facebook Live as we followed Torston and Stig (Reindeer) over a two hours period while eagerly awaiting their poops.  Although we didn't manage to sell the same number of squares through local social media channels, the event still raised £758 for Ealing Foodbank - not bad going with only seven days to mobilise everything - which also included Christmas/Boxing Day in between!

   

  Commenting on the event, Janet from Ealing Foodbank said "we watched the online streaming in the office cheering on the reindeer - it was perhaps one of the more surreal things we've ever done at the foodbank!"

   

  Thank you to those parents who got involved and for the fielding parent who won first prize and went on to donate the money to Ealing Food Bank also.

   

  The next PTFA meeting will be held online on Monday 1 February at 10am and 8.30pm.

   

   

• Launching our virtual worry box for children

  Wed 20 Jan 2021 Clare Haines

  Children are used to having a worry box in class or an adult on hand to talk to while in school. 

  Things are a little bit different at the moment with many children are at home, they may have worries or concerns and not know who to share them with. 

  From today children can share their worries with an adult in school by sending an email to our virtual worry box to let us know who they would like to talk to

  worrybox@fielding.ealing.sch.uk 

  Children can talk to us about worries they might have including:

  • things that have happened to them or someone else
  • not knowing where to go when feeling scared
  • missing school 
  • what will happen in the future
  • coping with mental health.

  Children can also contact Childline from 7:30am-3:30am every day, either online, by calling 0800 1111 or by sending a message from their website.

  

• Art In The Garden

  Tue 19 Jan 2021 Ellie Lock
  The Autumn mosaics and Christmas wreaths your children made in the garden last term were awesome. So we're continuing to harness their artistic talent by creating a Garden Gallery. Year 5 have already been inspired to create natural works of art which we're displaying on the Kitchen Garden website. If you'd like to join them, click here.

  

• Half-term holiday club for children of key-workers and those who are vulnerable

  Mon 18 Jan 2021

  Bookings are open now for children of keyworkers and those who are vulnerable to attend February holiday club.

  Please book day(s) needed by Monday 8th February, midday so that we can plan our protective 'bubbles' and staffing to match your childcare needs.

  Holiday club at half-term will be organised by year group 'bubbles' to keep everyone in school as safe as possible. Children will be able to spend time playing with friends from their age group. Bookings are open in MyChildAtSchool (MCAS) on your desktop by mobile app. Please do be careful when booking sessions, as we are unable to cancel, swap days or refund once holiday club bookings are made.  Payment must be made in full by Friday 12th February 2021

• Childcare and Specialist Club Update

  Mon 18 Jan 2021 Karen Esprit

  Temporary changes to childcare and specialist club bookings, effective from Tuesday 5th January.

  Disruption to childcare as a result of COVID-19, forcing us to close.

  We will:

  •  Swap pending childcare session on request to equivalent value
  • Carry forward unused pre-payment in cashbooks to pay for future childcare and clubs
  • Refund card payments on request, processed within 90 days

  Disruption to Specialist Clubs as a result of COVID-19, forcing us to close

  We will:

  • Delay start and/or make up missed sessions of booked specialist club
  • Make any swap to any other childcare session on request to equivalent value
  • Refund card payments on request, processed within 90 days

  To make changes to bookings please email childcare@fielding.ealing.sch.uk