Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Gilbert's Update - Free School Meals

  Tue 23 Jun 2020

  Dear Parents/ Carers,

   

  Following on from the letter from the Chair of the Trust, you will have read that Gilbert's will not be open for any of our children during the Summer Holidays. 

   

  As part of our lockdown provision, we have continued to open during all the holidays to provide packed lunches for our Free School Meal children. This will now NOT happen. 

   

  To ensure that we are supporting our free school meal children, we have liaised with the Trust and our catering provider and we will be providing the Government Free School Meal vouchers for the Summer Holidays only.

   

  If your child is eligible for these vouchers, Mrs Houlding in the school office will be in touch to discuss the next steps. 

   

  Thank you,

   

  Joanne Mappin 

   

• Letter from the Chair of the Cavendish Learning Trust

  Tue 23 Jun 2020

  Dear Parent / Carer,                                                                                             

   

  Re:  Update regarding the academies within the Cavendish Learning Trust.

   

  I hope that this letter finds you and your families well and that you have been able to keep safe during this very difficult period.

   

  The academies within the Cavendish Learning Trust have worked extremely hard through the lock down period to follow the guidance given by the Government, in order to support identified key worker children in school alongside other children whilst they have not been able to attend school.

   

  We have recently re-opened all of our academies to the wider designated year groups and the Trustees have been meeting weekly to ensure that all of the preparation and planning has been completed in line with the guidance given.  I am extremely proud of the way that all staff across the Trust have pulled together to get the schools ready for the wider reopening.

   

  Unfortunately, some of the children will not return before the summer break and whilst this is disappointing for them, I know that the staff within the schools are continuing to review the provision in place for these children, so that they can still learn remotely.  This will continue to be monitored by the Trustees.

   

  We need to ensure that our schools are ready to open in September. We need our staff to be fully refreshed, as there will no doubt continue to be many new challenges to be faced. It is important they have a good break. We are working closely with the local authority and are happy to make our buildings available to any groups who wish to provide summer experiences for our children. 

   

  I am sure you will agree with us that our staff deserve their holiday, so that we can start in September in good spirits.

   

  Yours sincerely

   

  Barbara Walsh

  Chair of the Trust Board 

• Flu Immunisation Sessions - October 2020

  Mon 22 Jun 2020 J Houlding

  Dear Parents / Carers

   

  For the School year starting September 2020 we will be continuing with the e-consent for the Flu Programme. This year we are vaccinating children in Reception, Year 1,2,3,4,5 and 6. 

  When completing the e-consent please state the year group your child will be in at the beginning of the school year September 2020 NOT their current year group.

   

  Please visit http://bit.do/frbeL to complete the consent form. The option to consent or decline the vaccination is at the end of the questionnaire so please complete even if you do not want you child to have the vaccination.

   

  Your unique code for Gilbert Heathcote Nursery and Infant School is DD145520

   

  For more information about the vaccination and the date we are due into your school please visit our website:

  http://www.derbyshireschoolnurses.org.uk/parents/immunisations

  If you experience any problems please call the School Age Immunisation Team:

   

  Repton: 01283 707178

  Clay Cross: 01246 252953

   

  Or email us DCHST.immunisationteam@nhs.net

   

• Gilberts Update - Government Plans cancelled for ALL return

  Wed 10 Jun 2020

  Dear Parents / Carers,

   

  I hope that you are all well and continuing to all stay safe.

   

  As you know we partially returned to school on Monday with some of our Nursery, Reception and Year 1 children. This is going well and the ‘bubbles’ of children are adapting brilliantly to the changes we have introduced.  It is the grown-ups at Gilberts who have found it the most difficult, myself included!

   

  For the majority of our children who are continuing to stay at home, thank you.  We are continuing  to support you all with our Gilbert’s @home programme. The only change to this is that the whole week will be posted instead of one day at a time.   

   

  I am sure most of you will have also heard yesterday that the Government have changed their plans for all Primary School children to return to school  for one month before the summer holidays. 

   

  We can only assume that they have realised that this would have been impossible, as most schools do not have enough classrooms or staff .

   

  We are now waiting for further information regarding alternative plans and will of course keep you updated, as and when, further information becomes available.

   

  Thank you for your continued support,

   

  Joanne  Mappin

• Gilberts Return - Update

  Wed 03 Jun 2020

  Dear Parents / Carers,

   

  Thank you for your patience as we continue to ready our school for the return of some children.

   

  Parents who responded YES to our survey (Update 27^th May) have now received a text to confirm their child’s place for next week.

   

  For those who responded NO, thank you so much for doing so. 

   

  For those who did not respond, this was collated as a NO for our returning numbers (Update 27^th May). If you wish for your child to return, please contact the school to discuss this. We will do our upmost to facilitate your request but we may have to prioritise as per the DFE guidance in staffing, legal ratios and room requirements.

   

  As I have stated previously, a return to school will not be the normal Gilbert’s we are used to and we will not operate in our normal way either. 

   

  We will not be opening everyday and children’s start and end times will be staggered to support social distancing.

   

  To support this, we have created a ‘Parent’s Guide to Returning’ which hopefully answers many of your questions. It also gives you the staff for your child’s year group bubble and the start and finish times too.

   

  This Guide can be found in the 'Parents' section of our website and under the 'Support during Covid-19 Section'  

   

  This guide has a lot of information, so please take the time to read it.  If you have any other queries, please get in touch.

   

  Thank you,

   

  Joanne Mappin