Planning for the heat and Covid update

School classrooms have become increasingly hot and uncomfortable this afternoon, therefore with higher temperatures predicted tomorrow, we would like to give parents the option of keeping children at home and accessing remote learning via Dojo.

School remains open for any children wanting to come to school and, as we have done today, we will ensure that the children are kept safe, cool and hydrated throughout the day. We will adapt curriculum to ensure that PE does not involve any physical exertion and playtimes and free flow play will be managed appropriately, with the children spending more time indoors.  Children are able to wear PE t-shirts and shorts if they feel more comfortable doing so.  Please ensure that you send your child to school with sun cream applied, a water bottle and a hat.

If your child is coming to school, please let you child’s teacher know by 5pm tonight via Dojo so that we can plan accordingly.

Remote learning will be uploaded by 8.50am in the morning via Dojo.

Year 6 children are expected to be in school tomorrow please at is their production. Y6 parents are also still invited to join us for the afternoon performance at 1.30pm. We will do all we can to keep the room as ventilated as possible so that the production can go ahead.  The evening performance is still going ahead at 6.00pm with the Y6 children needing to be back in school for 5.30pm please.  Y6 will spend the morning preparing for the performance so do need to be in school please.

Please also be mindful that we do have Covid cases in school in both staff and children, so if your child is displaying any Covid symptoms or has a high temperature, they should not attend school and follow the current guidance, particularly as we approach the summer holidays.  

Please be assured that we are doing all we can to ensure that the children remain as comfortable as possible during the heat wave, but we wanted to add the extra flexibility for parents to opt for remote learning where they are able to.

Covid Update for Parents - July 2022

We now have had positive cases identified in all classes bar Year 5 - this includes some staff cases.

Please be vigilant, and do not send your child to school if they have a high temperature or are feeling unwell.  

Currently, if your child tests positive they should remain absent from school for 3 days following the date of the test (test date = day 0).  Please do let us know if your child tests positive by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk.

Just to remind parents that if cases continue to rise we may need to revert to our contingency plan that MAY involve us reverting to home learning.  Should we experience high volumes of staff shortages we will of course keep you fully updated.

Take care and thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Slater

We have high cases of Covid-19 throughout school at the moment.  Please do all you can to support us in stopping the spread by following the current advice and lateral flow testing your child for 7 consecutive days if they have been in contact with a positive case.  Please continue to report any positive cases to school by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk as soon as you are notified.  This email address is monitored outside of school hours.

A number of the current cases have been identified by completing lateral flow tests as they have been in contact with a positive case, many children are not displaying any symptoms whatsoever.  We also have a number of children that are testing positive who are not displaying any of the typical Covid-19 symptoms. Reported symptoms from parents include; headeaches, sore throats, aches and pains, back pain, sickness and diarrhoea.  Please remain vigilant in spotting symptoms and get your child tested if they present unwell.  PCR tests should still be obtained for anyone experiencing any of the main three symptoms (high temperature, cough, loss of taste or smell).

From today, Monday 17 January, people who are self-isolating with COVID-19 will have the option to reduce their isolation period after 5 full days if they test negative with a lateral flow device (LFD) test on both day 5 and day 6 and they do not have a temperature. For example, if they test negative on the morning of day 5 and the morning of day 6, they can return to school immediately on day 6.

The first test must be taken no earlier than day 5 of the self-isolation period, and the second must be taken the following day, 24 hours apart. All test results should be reported to NHS Test and Trace and the confirmation email or text received should be forwarded to school by email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk . 

If the result of either of their tests is positive, they should continue to self-isolate until they get negative results from two LFD tests on consecutive days or until they have completed 10 full days of self-isolation, whichever is earliest. Anyone who is unable to take LFD tests or anyone who continues to have a temperature will need to complete the full 10 day period of self-isolation.

Please note if your child tested positive before today, up to an including Sunday 16 January, they can only end their isolation early if they receive negative lateral flow results on day 6 and day 7, returning to school from day 7 if both tests (taken 24 hours apart) are negative.

Thank you

Update on self-isolation - 5th January 2022

School is currently awaiting clarification from Lancashire with regards to self-isolating ending if negative later flow (LFD) test results are recieved on Day 6 and Day 7 of self-isolation.

The guidance states that self-isolation should only end early if:
•    close contact with other people outside your household can be limited, especially in               crowded, enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces
•    contact is limited with anyone who is at higher risk of severe illness if infected with               COVID-19

In a primary school setting it is extremely difficult to ensure that close contact can be limited and we have a number of vulnerable children/adults within school. 

Therefore, until we receive further clarification from Lancashire, the full 10-day self-isolation period is required for all children and staff please.  We understand that this will be frustrating for parents but do hope you understand this decision in line with our risk assessment, until we recieve further clarification. Thank you for supporting us to keep our school community safe.

Dear Parent,  

If you would like your child to receive the nasal flu vaccine in school please follow this link to complete an online consent form 

https://www.nhsimms.uk/FLU/information?Id=119155&Type=FLU

The vaccinations will take place at your child’s school on Monday 22nd November. The link will close on Tuesday 16th November. 

If your child has already had the Nasal Flu vaccine since September 2021 please disregard this message. If you have any problems accessing the link please telephone 0333 358 3397, option 3. 

Parents of children who are self-isolating may be able to claim a support payment from Preston City Council.

Please use this link to see if you are eligible.
https://www.preston.gov.uk/parentandchildselfisolation

Covid-19 Risk Assessment

Our risk assessment documents have been updated in line with national and LCC guidance. Copies are available here and under the policies section of our website.

Year 5 - Update on Self-Isolation

We have been advised that the person with the Covid-19 case within the Year 5 Bubble has now received a negative PCR test.

Following the advice of the DfE on behalf of Public Health England - all identified close contacts no longer need to self-isolate, and this stops immediately.

We thank you for your co-operation in self-isolating and hope you understand why this was necessary whilst we awaited the PCR test result (the test result on Friday was from a lateral flow test).  All appropriate guidance from Public Health England has been followed at all stages. 

As always, the guidance remains that if anyone develops one of the 3 main Covid-19 symptoms (new continuous cough, high temperature, loss of taste or smell), then you must arrange a PCR test and contact school immediately please.  Over the Easter break please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

If you have any queries please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk but wishing you all a safe and happy Easter holiday.  

Guidance on Self-Isolating

Please see below the guidance below on self-isolating, both for households where there is a positive case and for close contacts.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-contacts-of-people-with-possible-or-confirmed-coronavirus-covid-19-infection-who-do-not-live-with-the-person

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

**IMPORTANT PLEASE READ CAREFULLY**

Whilst we break up for Easter on Friday 26th March, we still have a responsibility to ensure that we report any positive Covid cases AFTER SCHOOL CLOSES FOR EASTER.  

Therefore if your child is experiencing any of the three main Covid symptoms (continuous cough, high temperature, loss of taste/smell) up until 9am on Monday 29 March 2021 you must inform school please by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

The advice, as per the government guidance, will be to get your child tested please, we must then request that you inform us of the test results please so that we can then take the appropriate advice.

All parents need to be aware that if school are notified of a positive case AFTER SCHOOL CLOSES FOR EASTER, that it will be necessary to inform parents of any close contacts (within that bubble) and that they will need to isolate for the 10 day period following the start of symptoms.  Parents need to be aware that this will have implications on plans for Easter as the child will not be able to mix with anyone else and has to follow isolation guidance (please see the information on our website).

Please do keep in touch over the Easter holidays if anyone one in your household is experiencing symptoms and is tested for Covid-19. You can get in touch via email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk 

Please do support us in ensuring that we all follow this advice and keep one another safe over the Easter period.

Thank you

Friday 26 March 2021 - Bubble Closure Information

To confirm the information provided yesterday still stands and all children in Adventurers and Explorers plus the identified Y1/Y2 children that attended Schools Out are required to self-isolate until Friday 2 April 2021.

If any parents are eligible to apply for the Test and Trace Support Payment advice is provided here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme-claiming-financial-support/claiming-financial-support-under-the-test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme

Please note that the CTAS number can not be released to parents under GDPR regulations. When you make your application the Local Authority will contact school directly to obtain the CTAS number.

If you have any queries please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Bubble Closure - Starting from 8.30pm Wednesday 24 March 2021

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ
Apologies for the late message but we have been informed of a positive Covid-19 case within school. All children within the EYFS classes, Adventurers and Explorers will need to begin self-isolating from tonight.

In addition all children within the Year 1/2 bubble at Schools Out will also need to isolate.

Remote learning for all of these children will be available from tomorrow via Class Dojo.

A further update will be provided tomorrow but we wanted to ensure that we got the message to parents as soon as we received the information.

Only children within these bubbles are required to isolate; siblings can still come to school and members of your household are not required to isolate.

Again, please accept our apologies for notifying you of this in an evening but we are sure you understand that we needed to put things in place ASAP.

Free School Meals over Easter Holidays

Edenred vouchers will be provided through the Covid-19 Winter Grant scheme over the Easter holidays for families who are eligible for Free School Meals.  E-codes will be sent to email addresses on Thursday 25 March 2021.

If you have any queries please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Further Information about our Return to School

on 8th March 2021

Please see letter from Mrs Slater about our return to school.

Letter re Our Return to School from 8th March 2021

Please see below a letter from Mrs Slater regarding our return to school from 8th March 2021.

Further information will follow in Thursday's newsletter.

Positive Covid Case - Year 5/6 Provision Bubble

Unfortunately we have had confirmation of a second positive case in our Year 5/6 Provision Bubble - this means that the bubble will now remain closed and only re-open on Monday 8th February (as long as there are no further cases reported).

Can we please ask that if any children from this bubble who have siblings in other bubbles also keep siblings off too. Thank you.

If any children who have been accessing the Y5/6 bubble start developing symptoms please inform school immediately by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Please see the updated letters below.

Information for Parents of Children Accessing Provision

If you have a child who is accessing provision please can you ensure that you follow these procedures to ensure the safety of children and staff within provision and reduce the spread of transmission of Covid-19:

• If your child or anyone in your household displays symptoms of Covid-19 (a new consistent cough, a high temperature, loss of taste or smell), they must not attend provision.
• If your child or anyone in your household is awaiting a Covid-19 test result they must not attend provision until a negative test result is received or the household has isolated for 10 days.
• If your child has been notified by NHS Track and Trace that you have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 and advised to isolate your child must not attend provision for the duration of the isolation period.
• If your child needs to be absent from provision; for one of the above reasons, for a different illness or for any other reason you must notify school at the earliest convenience by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk or ringing 01772 726408.
• Children must be dropped off (8.50-9.00am) and collected (3.00pm) at the stated times.  We cannot allow anyone who arrives late into provision after 9.00am.
• If there are any changes to the days you require your child to be in provision these must be emailed to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk by 3pm on the Tuesday before they are required for the following week. We cannot accomodate any late requests.
• Can we please ask that everybody follows all government guidance in relation to the national lockdown at all times.

Failure to comply with any of the above could result in your child's place in provision being withdrawn.

Thank you.

Free School Meals Vouchers

Vouchers for the period 18 January until 14 February (4 weeks) for £60 per pupil have been ordered today (18/1/21) on the Edenred site.  We hope that these will be delivered to you by email within the next 48 hours but if there are any delays we will update you.

If anyone has any queries please email Mrs Inman to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk .

Children who are in provision in school will only be entitled to a voucher for the days that they are not in school - this will be worked out at the end of every two week period and a voucher ordered at the end of this time period.

Many thanks

Checking Eligibility for Free School Meals

If your financial circumstances have changed due to Covid-19 and you think you may now be entitled to free school meals for your child, please do check the eligibility criteria on the Lancashire County Council website below and register your child.  School will then be notified and we can then start applying for the vouchers for your whilst school is closed.

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-education-families/schools/free-school-meals/?page=2

If you have any queries please do contact Mrs Inman by email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Thank you

Free School Meals

You should now have received your vouchers for the period 4/1/2021 to 15/2/2021. If you have any problems please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk .

Please see the help guidance from Edenred if you are struggling to download your e-code and access the vouchers:

https://www.edenred.co.uk/reward-recipients/Free-School-Meal-Vouchers/

For children that are in school in provision who are eligible for free school meals; if your child is in 5 days per week you will not also get a voucher as their entitlement is provided through their meal at school.  If your child is not in everyday, at the end of each two week period, Mrs Inman will work out how many days they have not been in school and a voucher will be ordered based on the number of days and emailed to you.  Please ensure Mrs Inman has an up to date email address for you and if you have any queries please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk .

Thank you for your patience whilst we have been awaiting guidance and have been getting the voucher scheme up and running.  If you need support with the vouchers system, please refer to the guidance above and Mrs Inman can be contacted at contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk .

The next vouchers will be ordered to be delivered by email on 18th January 2021 - please allow 24 hours for delivery and if you have not received your voucher by 10am on Tuesday 19 January email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk.

Thank you

Test and Trace Support Payments

If your household has to isolate, you may be eligible for a Test and Trace Support Payment.

Please see information below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme-claiming-financial-support/claiming-financial-support-under-the-test-and-trace-support-payment-scheme

Emergency Grant Scheme

The Local Authority Emergency Assistance Grant is to help support residents of the Preston area who do not have enough resources to meet the immediate short-term needs and urgently require assistance with food and essentials items.

They must be experiencing financial hardship as a direct result of Covid-19.

Awards will be made where there is no alternative means of meeting the need.

Provision in School

We have been overwhelmed with requests for places for provision in school and on certain days we have reached capacity.  We are having to review our risk assessments daily to ensure we can safely offer places to children and where necessary priority has to be given to vulnerable children and to those children whose parents work for the NHS or within the education sector.  We do hope you understand our difficult position.

In order that we can provide parents with as much notice as possible should we not be able to accommodate all the days you require for provision, please can parents provide the days they require for your child in provision w/c 18 January 2021 by emailing this information to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk by 3pm on Tuesday 12 January 2021. Unfortunately it may be necessary for us to contact parents to advise you that on certain days we may not be able to provide your child with a place in provision should we be at capacity on certain days. On these days we will have to apply the criteria of vulnerable children and those children of NHS and education keyworkers if necessary.

Thank you for your understanding and support in helping us keep provision in school as safe as possible for all our school community.

Free School Meals

Thank you for your patience whilst we have been awaiting guidance about Free School Meal provision during the national lockdown, this has now been received.  We will be able to order the Edenred vouchers again at £15 per child per week for the duration the school remains closed.  This is for all children that are not in school and are entitled to FSM (please note this does not include children in EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 who receive a Universal Free Meal).

Children who are in school accessing provision will not be entitled to the vouchers as they will receive their meal in school.  If you have any queries regarding this, please email Mrs Inman via contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk .

Vouchers will be ordered every 2 weeks so you will receive £30 per child every 2 weeks and you should receive your first voucher early next week (subject to order fulfilment by Edenred).  Updates will be provided on the school website. If you have any problems with vouchers please email Mrs Inman via contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk who will support you with any issues.

If you have not yet provided an up to date email address and contact phone number please ensure you do so by 8.30am on Monday 11 January 2020 to ensure there is not a delay with your first voucher delivery and so that Mrs Inman has contact information to keep in touch with you regarding the vouchers. Please email this information to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk .

Once again, thank you for your patience whilst we have been awaiting further information in relation to this.

Provision in School

Just to reiterate the safest place for your child is at home.  

Our risk assessments indicate that we have too many vulnerable and keyworker children to safely have in school. I urge you to look at you childcare options again and notify of us any changes that you are able to make by 4pm today. Please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk 

Tomorrow we will revisiting our vulnerable and keyworker list and possibly may have to look towards priority given to 2 parents who are critical keyworkers.  If you are working from home, whilst we appreciate this is hard, this is still the safest place for your child.

School should be used as a last resort if you really have no other option, to effectively stop the transmission of the virus.

I really hope you understand our position and are able to support us in reducing numbers of children attending the provision.

Best regards

Lynne Slater

Information for Parents on the Furlough Scheme

Please see some information below on furlough schemes which have been updated in light of the new lockdown which may be useful information for some parents to share with their employers.

https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/1380528/martin-lewis-furlough-rule-parents-childcare

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/working-parents-furlough-schools-closed-lockdown-employers-offer-covid-support-817538

There is also a Martin Lewis show on TV tomorrow night at 8.30pm ITV "Martin's Money Show" during which he will share more financial advice including information on the furlough scheme including advice for parents.

We hope this is useful.

Free School Meals Provision

We have been informed by Lancashire County Council that they are working hard to try and get the voucher scheme reinstated whilst we are in national lockdown however it is likely that we won't receive a further update about this until Thursday 7 January.

If anyone requires any support before we receive an update about when the scheme will be up and running please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk and we will see what we can put in place as an interim measure.

Please also ensure that we have an up to date email address and mobile number for you so that we are ready for when the scheme is ready and so that we can keep in contact with you about updates - please email these details to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Many thanks.

Provision for Vulnerable Children and Children of Keyworkers

Please can we ask for total honesty from all parents who are accessing provision as to their eligibility as we have had to prioritise those families of critical workers particularly those children who have two keyworker parents.  If you do have any other option i.e. one parent is home based, then please re-assess your position as to whether your child needs a place in provision.  It has come to our attention today that some parents are asking for a place where we know they alternative options.

If anyone's circumstances have changed please advise us ASAP by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Return to School - 4 January 2020

Following the government updates this afternoon we would like to confirm that we will, as advised by the government, open as normal following the Christmas break on Monday 4 January 2021.

As you will be aware Lancashire is going into Tier 4 but the government have advised that Primary schools in our area are able to re-open on Monday 4 January.

All procedures that were in place before the Christmas break will continue in order to ensure everyone's safety so we ask that you please continue to support us with all of these measures.

We hope that everyone has had a lovely Christmas break and we look forward to welcoming all our children back on Monday 4 January.

Take care, be kind and keep safe.

Lea Community Primary School. 

Returning to School - Pick up and Drop Off Times

Please see the pick up and drop off times for all classes for our return to school.

Returning to School in September (Years 1-6)

Children in Years 1-6 will return to school on Wednesday 2 September 2020.

A letter confirming arrangements for our safe return to school will be issued on Thursday 27 August.

Letter from County Councillor Williamson

Please find below a letter from County Councillor Phillipa Williamson who has published this letter for all parents in Lancashire ahead of children's return to school in September.

Returning from a holiday abroad - if you need to self-isolate

If you are going abroad on holiday this summer we would be very grateful if you could please read the government guidance below to check whether you need to self-isolate/quarantine on your return from holiday please.

As a school we have to follow government guidance on this and ask that all families returning from a county listed as needing to quarantine on your return follow this advice.  Children will not be allowed to return to school until the end of the 14 day period following your return from holiday.  This is for the safety of our whole school community and in the interests of everyone's safety.

If you are going abroad can we please ask that you get in touch by email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk and inform us of you destination (if it is on the list of needing to quarantine on your return) and your return date to the UK.  We can then advise the earliest date that your child can return to school.

Thank you for your co-operation with this in ensuring the safety of all our school community.

FSM Vouchers

Families eligible for FSM vouchers should receive the next voucher codes on Monday 13 July this is for the period 13-19 July.

The Department for Education have announced that vouchers will continue through the summer holidays as part of the Summer Fund. Parents will receive £90 of vouchers per child. These should arrive by email on 15 July for the full amount to last the 6 week period.

Should you have any issues please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Test and Trace - How it works

Please find below a link to government advice on how the Test and Trace service works and what you need to do if anyone in your household, including children, display symptoms.

FSM Voucher - Update 18 June 2020

The next voucher code should be emailed on Monday 22 June.  This will be for another 3 week period (22 June - 12 July) and will be for the value of £45 per child.

Should you have any queries please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Letter for EYFS Parents - 16 June 2020

Please find attached a letter for EYFS parents - we would be grateful if you could please email your responses by 12 noon on Thursday 18 June 2020 to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk. Please send a further response even though you responded to the last letter, thank you.

Uniform Bank

If you are having a clear out of old uniform please consider donating it to the uniform bank as detailed below. Equally if you need to access the Uniform bank for more uniform please see the attached details for how to do this.

Useful Government Guidance

Please find below links to government guidance you may find useful and informative.

Staffing for the Academic Year 2020-21

We have some exciting news to share with you, please find below the staffing structure for 2020-21.  Due to the current situation this is subject to change but this is the proposed structure.  All our staff are really looking forward to working with their new classes.

If you have any queries please do get in touch by email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Update on opening - Monday 8 June 2020

We have been informed by Lancashire County Council this morning that the Director of Public Health for Lancashire has reviewed the guidance and has determined that it is still not safe to welcome more pupils back to school yet.  This will remain under review and we will continue to update parents and careers as we receive updates from Lancashire County Council. 

School will be continue to be open for vulnerable children and children of key workers only at the moment. Home learning will continue to be set for all children.

Thank you for your patience and support during these continued challenging times. Our school community's safety remains paramount in all decisions.

Take care.

Updated Guidance for Parents and Carers

Please find below updated guidance for parents and carers. 

Gov.uk state that: "We have updated our guidance on what parents and carers need to know about schools and other education settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak to include information on the curriculum, after school activities, repeating a year for pupils, transport and keeping children safe online. We have also amended information on whether it is compulsory to send pupils to educational settings and education for children at home."

Reading Eggs

We are sorry that there has been some connection issues with Reading Eggs this week - this was reported as an error yesterday and the company have confirmed this morning it is back working as normal.  If there are any other problems please do let us know by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk and we will get these resolved ASAP.

Many thanks

FSM Vouchers Update - 28 May 2020

The next voucher codes will be issued on 1 June 2020 - these will be for 3 weeks (1-21 June) so will be the value of £45 per child.

If you have any issues or have problems converting the voucher codes to supermarket vouchers please get in touch by email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Thank you

Update - 27 May 2020

We wanted to make parents and carers aware of the following announcement from Lancashire County Council as soon as possible, this has been recieved by school this evening:

"Lancashire County Council is advising schools in the county not to open to more pupils from 1 June, but instead to continue with the current arrangements. This is because, in our assessment, we do not currently meet all five of the government's tests in Lancashire which would allow this decision to be taken safely.

We will regularly review the situation and provide further advice so that we can advise schools to open to more pupils as soon as we judge it safe to do so.

We are actively encouraging schools to follow this advice."

The decision to re-open school to more pupils is therefore currently on hold in line with this advice. However school will continue to provide provision for children of keyworkers and vulnerable children as we have been doing since school closed on 20 March 2020.  Home learning will still continue to be provided for all children.

The safety and wellbeing of children, their families, and school staff remain paramount. We do appreciate that these continue to be extremley challenging times for all our school community. 

We will provide further information tomorrow (28 May) but we wanted to make parents and carers aware as early as we possibly could.

Letters to Parents - 18 May 2020

Please find attached below letters to parents from Mrs Slater regarding the potential re-opeing of school from 1 June 2020.

The first letter is for all parents, the second for the parents of EYFS children.

We thank you for your continued support during these challenging times.

Update 15 May 2020

We continue to review the ever changing guidance from the government.  We are also aware that the unions are meeting with scientists today to obtain further information.  Following a review of this and further subsequent guidance we will send further communication as soon as we are able to.  Please understand that our ultimate focus in bringing children back to school remains their safety, the safety of staff, parents and wider community. 

Thank you for your continued support throughout these uncertain and challenging times.

Government Guidance for Parents and Carers

Please find below a link to the guidance that has been produced by the government for parents on the potential re-opening of schools from 1 June 2020

FSM Vouchers Update - 14 May 2020

Your next email with your voucher code is due to arrive to your email inbox on Monday 18 June. This will be for the period 18-31 May and should be for £30 per child.

If you have any issues with the codes please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk.

If there are any outstanding issues with previous codes please do get in touch at the same email address so we can look into this for you.

Letter for Parents 11 May 2020

Please find below a letter for parents and carers following the Prime Minister's announcement last night.

FSM Vouchers - 1 May 2020

We have had an update to say that McColls are now included as an available supermarket.

We have been provided with an email address from Edenred for parents to use if you which to contact them directly freeschoolmealsparentscarers@edenred.com  However we are happy to still contact them you on your behalf if you are having issues, please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk.  All issues that have been sent to us to date, have been reported to Edenred. 

You next voucher codes will be emailed on 18 May 2020.

Take care.

A Little Video Message from the Staff at Lea!

FSM Vocuhers Update 28 April 2020

Hopefully you will all now have recieved your voucher codes for the next 3 weeks (£45 per child).  If you have any problems at all or have not recieved your email please contact us by emailing us at contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

You will recieve next email code on Monday 18 May.

Many thanks and take care.

FSM Vouchers Update - Monday 27 April 4pm

Unfortunately the Edenred website is not showing our order for today as complete. We will continue to monitor this but it is possible you will not recieve your codes today.  The status we have recieved from them is that orders up to yesterday have been processed and they are currently working on orders for today.  We are hoping this will mean you will recieve your emails with codes for this week within the next 24 hours.

We can only apologise for another issue with the vouchers, this is out of our hands, we work to their deadlines but unfortunately on this occasion they have not processed the order within the stated timescales.  We will update you as soon as we recieve more information.

Please note that you will be recieving a code for the value of £45 per child this week which is for the next 3 weeks.  After this week your next voucher will not be due until w/c 18 May 2020.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

FSM Vouchers for week commencing 27 April 2020

We just wanted to update you about vouchers for next week.  The order has been placed and codes should be emailed to you on Monday.  To make things easier for parents we have placed one order for the next three weeks so you will recieve codes for the value of £45 this will be for the period 27.4.2020-17.5.2020. You will then receive the next voucher on 18 May 2020.

This has been done so that you are not having to access the system each week as we know it has been problematic for parents and you have experienced long wait times whilst on the website.  Please be mindful when transferring your codes to vouchers that you will not recieve your next one until 18 May 2020. You may want to order multiple vouchers to use each week if this makes it easier for budgeting.

Please remember that you do have to transfer the codes into vouchers before you can use them in the supermarket, they will only accept vouchers.  We are aware that Morrisons were only letting you order vouchers in multiples of £10 but this has now been changed so that you can order in multiples of £5.  From next week you will also be able to order Aldi vouchers as they have now joined the scheme from 27.4.2020.

We do hope that all issues you were experiencing have now been rectified but if you are still having any problems please do get in touch by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Thank you

FSM Voucher - Monday 20 April 2020 (10.30am)

Hopefully you will have recieved your emails this morning with the voucher codes for this week (£15 per child).  If it has not yet arrived it should be with you by the end of today, but please do check your spam and junk folders in case it has gone into their for any reason.

If there any problems with the codes or when you convert them with your chosen supermarket, please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk and we will log a report with the supplier to get these resolved ASAP.

Thank you for your patience whilst the system is being established.

FSM Vouchers Update - 17 April (3.30pm)

We have received the following update:

The latest issue is that individual supermarkets are not being able to send the gift cards out quick enough. There is still approximately a 72 hour delay. In addition, Morrison's have incorrectly sent out cards that are requesting a “Secret Code”. If a school, parent or carer has received such a message, a second code should be sent to them within the next 24 hours which will not require the “Secret Code”.

Still continue to email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk if you are still experiencing issues.

Many thanks.

FSM Vouchers - 17 April 2020 (1.00pm)

Can we please apologise for the problems our families have been experiencing with the vouchers, we know it has been an extremley frustrating situation.  It has been reported nationally that parents across the county are experiencing the same issues and the Department for Education are working closely with the supplier of the vouchers (Edenred) to try and resolve the problems ASAP. 

We are equally frustrated as we are really limited in the support we can provide to parents to help sort these issues out for you, we are doing all we can to get answers to the problems that are facing you and as soon as we get information back we will update you.  We are also working with Edenred to streamline the system in order to make the process better for families and we will provide you with more information on this next week once we have confirmation as to how we will operate vouchers from week commencing 27 April 2020.

We have already logged reports with Edenred detailing the issues that parents have had this week but in order that we can ensure you have all had your entitlements and have got the vouchers in full with your chosen supermarkets, if you are still experiencing problems can we ask that you please send an email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk detailing what the issue is, and with which supermarket in order that we can get these issues reported and get answers for you. 

Issues may include:

• You have not yet recieved any emails with the initial voucher codes
• You have only recieved one NOT two emails with the initial voucher codes
• You have converted the codes to a supermaket voucher but have not recieved the voucher from the supermarket
• You have recieved the supermarket voucher but not the activation code
• You have not been able to use your ASDA voucher online
• Any other issue

As frustrating as it is, please do not give up.  We want to ensure that you do get these vouchers that you are entitled to during these challenging times.  So please do email and let us know what the issues are  so we can get the answers for you as soon as we can.

The order for next week's vouchers is showing as fulfilled, so you should recieve the vouchers for week commencing 20 April 2020 on Monday.  Please do check your spam and junk email folders as some parents reported this week that the emails went into there.  Again if there are any issues please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk so that we can get these resolved for you.

Thank you for your patience, again we do apologise that this hasn't been a straight forward process and we do hope that next week will be a much better experience for everyone.

Take care and do get in touch if there are outstanding problems.

Thank you.

FSM Vouchers - 15 April 2020 (4pm)

We are aware that many of you are experiencing issues with the vouchers and we apologise that you are having trouble converting the codes, particularly after having to wait so long for them.

We have logged a report with Edenred to inform them that parents are experiencing difficulties and asked them to advise what the problem is in order that we can support you to resolve this ASAP.  Unfortunately we are still awaiting a response from them but as soon as we receive this we will update you.

We do think that the website has been inundated today, all parents across the country have recieved their vouchers for this week and last week within the last 24 hours, so the demand on the website today is particularly high.  Hopefully over the coming weeks things will settle and we are looking at ways we can make this easier for you as the weeks go on as we do understand how frustrating this has all been and we are really sorry for this.

We can only apologise for the problems you are experiencing, unfortunately with it being a national supplier website we do not have any control over things once the vouchers are issued to you however we are doing all we can to resolve this on your behalf ASAP. Thank you for your patience, we do appreciate this is very frustrating.

FSM Vouchers Update - 15 April 2020 (1.20pm)

Hopefully you should now have had 2 emails with the vouchers codes owing to you for last week and this week.

If you haven't had both yet, it may take until the end of today to receive both.  If you havent yet received both please check your junk and spam email folders to check it hasn't gone into there.  If once you have checked all of these and by 4pm today you havent received anything at all please let us know by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk so that we can follow this up with the supplier.

We understand that some of you are having issues when converting the codes - this is an issue with the supplier's website.  If you continue to have issues please see the following website for help and how to contact them:

https://www.edenred.co.uk/contact-us/

We know that the website will be experiencing heavy demand today due to the vouchers being released to parents in the last 24 hours.

Please do contact us via email at contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk if you are experiencing problems and will endeavour to help you as best we can.

FSM Vouchers Update - 14 April 2020 - 1.15pm

We have recieved an update to say that the voucher codes should be with you by email by 8pm tonight (14/4/2020). 

If you do not recieve your codes by 9am tomorrow morning please get in touch with school by emailing contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk, please also provide a phone number we will be able to contact you on tomorrow.  We will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible either by email or phone.

We expect you to recieve two emails, one for last week and one for this week.

You should recieve £15 per child but if there is more than one child in your family your voucher will be the value for the total number of children in your family (i.e. £30 for 2 children, £45 for 3 children per week etc).

The step-by-step guidance for when you receive the email to use the code to select your chosen supermarket and convert to a voucher is below. Please note that the website you will be directed to is available 8am until 10pm. Again if you experience any issues please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk and we will get back to you as soon as possible in working hours.

Thank you again for your patience whilst this system has been getting up and running, we hope in the following weeks this will be a much smoother process.

FSM Vouchers Update - 14 April 2020 - 11.30am

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend in the sunshine.

We are really sorry but the national ordering website for the vouchers is still showing our order as unfulfilled.  We have logged a case with the supplier this morning and we are waiting for feedback. We will update you as soon as we hear more.  We have been informed that this is a national issue.

We can only apologise, as we reported last week this is unfortunately out of our hands, and we are doing all we can to ensure the vouchers reach you as soon as is possible.

As of this week the vouchers owing to you per child are:

6.4.20 - £15

13.4.20 - £15

So £30 per child up to now.

Thank you for your patience, it really is appreciated.

FSM Vouchers Update - Easter Weekend

Unfortunately the order on the national website is still showing as pending and this is the same for the majority of schools.  We now expect this to be the same for Easter Weekend and therefore we do not expect you to receive the vouchers to your email address until after the bank holiday weekend.  We can only apologise for this, unfortunately this is out of our hands and there have been a number of teething issues reported with this new system only being rolled out this week.

Please be assurred that you will still recieve your voucher for this week, you will therefore likely recieve 2 vouchers next week.

There is a possibility that the vouchers will arrive to your email address over the weekend, if they do, we have re-added the guidance for parents below which provides a step by step guide how you access the voucher once you recieve the email.

If once you recieve your voucher you require help please contact school by email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk and we will get back to you as soon as possible.  If you require a telephone call please provide a telephone number within the email so we can call you back.

Once again please accept our apologies and we thank you for your patience.  If we receive any further information over the weekend we will of course update you, otherwise we will provide a further update on Tuesday morning.

Wishing all our families a very Happy Easter despite these challenging times, take care and stay safe.

SEND Newsletter

Please find below this week's newsletter for the parents of SEND children.

Thank you

FSM Vouchers Update - 9 April 3.30pm

Unfortunately our order on the national ordering webpage is still showing as pending.  This is the same situation for the majority of schools unfortunately.  It is unlikely the vouchers will reach you today and we can only apologise for this.  We will provide a further update tomorrow morning. We ask that you continue to bear with us during the first week of this new scheme. Thank you.

How to Apply for Free School Meals

If you aren't currently registered for free school meals but think you may be entitled please follow the link below to Lancashire County Council's website where you will find more information on who is eligible and how to apply, particularly if your circumstances have changed.

As soon as you receive confirmation from LCC that you have been accepted we will then be able to apply for the vouchers for you.  Please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk once you recieve your confirmation.

The vouchers are not applicable to children in EYFS, Y1 or Y2 (universal free school meals) unless you are eligible under the criteria detailed on the LCC website so please check the website to see if you are entitled.

Thank you

FSM Voucher Update - 9 April 10.45am

Apologies, our voucher order is still being processed.  We have been informed that the order takes up to 72 hours to process and then up to a further 24 hours to reach parents by email.  We continue to monitor progress and will keep you informed.  Unfortunately, this is out of our hands and we are doing all we can to ensure they reach you as soon as possible. We can only apologise for the delay with the vouchers this week, the system is new to everyone and they are experiencing gliches and high demand with it being the first week the vouchers are being rolled out.

We will provide a further update before the end of the day or as soon as we recieve further information.

Thank you for your patience.

FSM Update - 8 April 3.45pm

Unfortunately our voucher order for this week still hasn't been fulfilled - this is out of our hands and we will continue to monitor the situation on a regular basis.  We will provide a further update tomorrow morning.

We can only apologise and ask that you please bear with us, unfortunately we are waiting for the order to be released. As soon as it is, the vouchers will be sent to you automatically by email, there will be no delay.

Thank you for your patience.

FSM Update - 8 April 11am

We have checked the national voucher website this morning and unfortunately the order we placed yesterday is still "pending". We will continue to monitor the status of our order throghout the day and keep you updated.  We can only apologise for the delay with the vouchers for this week, unfortunately this is out of our control and we ask that you please bear with us.

If you do need to contact school at any time we ask that you please do this by email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Thank you for your patience.

Free School Meals Update - 7 April 2020

We have been informed today by the Department for Education that the vouchers for eligible families will now be available throughout the Easter holidays to support families through these unprecedented times.

We have placed the order for this week's vouchers for you this morning, and we are hoping they will be with you today, but due to this being a new system we are aware there are delays with the vouchers arriving to your email address, however we can not guarantee that they will arrive today. We ask that you please be patient, this is a national system and it is taking time whilst it is all being set up, we will keep you informed as we recieve updates.

Below is the guidance for when you receive the vouchers, if you do encounter any problems, please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk and we will get back to you, if you leave a phone number we ring you back.

Going forward you will receive a voucher each week, £15 per child, per week.

The available supermarkets to use your vouchers are:

Morrisons

Tesco

Sainsbury’s

Asda

Waitrose (John Lewis)

M&S food

Parenting Support

Please find a link below with information and support for parents during these difficult and challenging times.

Looking After Your Mental Health Whilst Staying at Home

The NHS have released some really useful and supportive information that we would like to share with you on supporting your mental health during these challenging times.

Please follow the link below:

https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/

Access to Food Banks

During these difficult times, if you are in need of emergency food, clothing or household items you can speak to Mrs Green via the school Facebok page or via the Pastoral Support page on the school website, about a voucher referral to the Foodbank or Thrift shop run by local Christian Churches. All enquiries will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

Self referrals are also accepted through any of the following organisations 

https://noorfoodbank.co.uk/

https://www.luvpreston.com/food-bank/

https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/preston

Free School Meals Provision from 20 April 2020

Just to keep you informed, we have today recieved an update to say that going forward the provision for families eligible for Free School Meals is that you will recieve a voucher for the value of £15 per week, per child to use at the supermarket.  This will come to you by email.

Please note that there is no provision over the Easter holiday period (6-19 April) as the children would not normally be in school, the vouchers are only available during term time.

If you have not yet provided your email address it is imperative that we have this by Wednesday 2 April 2020 please so that we can register you for the vouchers. Please provide your email address to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Information about eligibility for FSM is further down this page. Please note the vouchers are not for Universal Free School Meals (children in EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2).

Thank you

Support for Parents with Online Safety

Please see below some guidance we have been sent for parents to support you with online safety during school closures.

Supporting Children’s Mental Health & Well-being

Please see the link below for some information on how to support children during these challenging times. 

Free School Meals Provision w/c 30 March 2020

Lancashire County Council have confirmed the arrangements for free school meals families for this week.

This week the provision for children eligible for free school meals (not Universal Free School Meals - EYFS, Y1 and Y2) is that food packages can be collected from Savick Library.

Address: Savick Library, 6 Birkdale Drive, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, PR2 1UL.

The times you can collect the food packages are:

Monday 30 March 2020 12 noon until 2pm

Tuesday 31 March 2020 11am until 2pm

If you have any queries please email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk.

Lancashire County Council are working hard to put a voucher scheme in place as soon as possible - if you have not already done so please ensure that you provide us with your email address ASAP ready for when this comes into place.  Please email the details to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk. Thank you.

Free School Meals Clarification

Just to provide some clarity on who is entitled to the Free School Meals during school closures.  The entitlement is for families who are eligible for free school meals through Pupil Premium, this is different from Universal Free School meals which all EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 children are entitled to.  Unfortunately, our Universal Free School Meals children are NOT entitled to food parcels or vouchers during the closure. We appreciate this is very confusing.

You will have recieved a text from school if you fall into the free school meals Pupil Premium criteria.

If you have any queries please do get in touch via contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

If you have been contact by school as being eligible please can you ensure that we have your email address for when the vouchers become available.  Please provide this to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk ASAP.

Thank you.

Food Voucher Scam

Lancashire County Council have been made aware that people are sending out fraudulent emails asking for parent's bank details if you are entitled to free school meals whilst schools are closed.

We would never ask for your bank details in this way.

If you receive one of these emails please do not respond to any emails of this nature - you will be contacted directly from school about any voucher scheme.

Free School Meals Update - 24 March 2020 12.30pm

Food packages for those children entitled to free school meals (you will have recieved a text) are now available to collect - this will be from 12.30-14.30pm ONLY. 

Please go to the kitchen door and you will be met by a member of staff.  Please respect social distancing measures and stay 2 metres away from one another if there is a queue and away from staff in the interests of everyone's safety.

Please note that we have not recieved a full delivery, we have worked with Ashton High School to try and give families as much as possibile within the packages but please note that we can only provide what we have been given in the delivery and a lot of items that are listed have not been provided, this is out of our control. We have tried to provide families with as much as possible.

From next week we are working hard to provide families with vouchers instead so that you can purchase items directly from shops that your family are in need of.  This is why it is imperative that we have an email address for you so please ensure you provide this to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk

Thank you for your support and we wish everyone well.

Update 24 March 2020

Please can all parents ensure that all as advised in previous communication they are not contacting indivudal members of staff about set work or any other enquiries.

Please use the email address contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk and your email will be forwarded to a member of staff who will be able to get back to you. Different members of staff have different roles during these times including still providing provision in school for some children. Thank you.  

Free School Meals Update 23 March 2020 (12 noon)

We are still awaiting our school's delivery of the food packs for children eligible for free school meals, as soon as they arrive and are ready for distribution, we will let you know. Apologies for the delay unfortunately this is out of our hands and we do ask for your patience.

We are unsure what the plan for next week will be, it is possible vouchers will be in place rather than food packs from next week.  With this in mind please can you ensure that you provide us with an email address for each family to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk so that we can contact you about this information as it becomes available to us.

Update 21 March 2020

The government have released a publication for parents and carers on the decision behind school closures and some supporting information.  Please see the link below to access this document.

Update 20 March 2020

As you are aware school is now closed for the majority of children.  These are very challenging times for everyone and I would like to thank all our children and families for the support they have shown towards all our staff this week and continue to show as these unprecedented proceedings continue. 

We want you to know that in the face of adversity your/our children have been an absolute credit to us all, displaying our school values and so much more over these past weeks.   Please check out Saturday Night Take Away with Ant and Dec tomorrow night as we have today submitted our contribution with our children dancing and showing their wonderful spirit for the End of the Show Show! Lets hope ours is selected to be aired!

I feel I must take a moment to share the pure brilliance of our entire school staff who have without question displayed pure selflessness, integrity and professionalism in getting your children and each other through these totally unprecedented weeks.  Please be mindful that our staff have families too and if mishaps occur via remote learning or contact that there will be good reason. Please be kind.

As communicated in updates earlier in the week, work for the children will be uploaded on the class pages of the website on the Monday of each week.  We hope that during all this uncertainty you will enjoy family time together too.

We will continue to provide updates on the website as the situation progresses so please do keep checking on here for any updated information.

Our Lea Family will pull together and support our families in any way that we can.Should you need to contact school during the closure please do so by email to contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk . We are also very aware of the impact the current situation could have on our children and families on emotional and mental wellbeing.  Therefore, Mrs Green (Pastoral Leader) will be available should anybody require support.  Mrs Green can be contacted by email at c.green@leacp.lancs.sch.uk or via the message service on the school Facebook page. If you need a verbal call, please ensure that you provide a phone number so that you can be called back.

Please take care and we look forward to welcoming everyone back to school as soon as we are able to.

With the very best wishes from Lynne Slater, all of the staff and governors at Lea x

Update 18 March 2020

As you will be aware it has been announced tonight that schools are to close from the end of the school day on Friday 20 March 2020 until further notice.  Therefore, following the guidance, from 3.05pm on Friday we will be closed. 

A further update will be provided in the morning with more information, including how we will provide work for the children during the closure. This will be posted on this section of the website.

If you feel you qualify as an Emergency Worker or a Key Worker please could you email contact@leacp.lancs.sch.uk stating:

• Your name
• Your job role and employer
• The names of your children and their year groups

Can we ask that you please provide this information by 9am on Thursday 19 March 2020.

We appreciate that this is a very difficult time for our whole school community and we thank you for your continued support during these unprecidented times.

If a child or member of staff displays symptoms

The current advice states:

• staff, young people and children should stay at home if they are unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature to avoid spreading infection to others. Otherwise they should attend education or work as normal.
• if staff, young people or children become unwell on site with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature they should be sent home.
• The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are a new, continuous cough or a high temperature.
• If anyone becomes unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature in an education setting they should be sent home and advised to follow the staying at home guidance.