Thank you for visiting the website for St. Mary's C.E. Middle School. We are a 9-13 middle school situated on the outskirts of Puddletown, a small village in the beautiful Dorset countryside. We are a church school with an ethos built on the core Christian values of respect, forgiveness, justice, uniqueness, equality, acceptance and kindness.
We look to inspire our school community and give them the tools to thrive in the modern world, summed up by our school aim of 'Inspire today to shape tomorrow'. We are proud to have been assessed as an outstanding church school in our last two Church of England inspections. We expect the highest standards in both academic work and behaviour and we place our children at the centre of everything we do.
The pupils, staff and governors are very proud of our school and we hope that this website will allow you to see why. We look forward to having the opportunity to meet you in person.
As previously advised, educational provision will remain open to vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers only. The school has recieved update guidance from the government which clearly states that 'parents and carers who are critical workers should keep their children at home if they can'. The school would ask that all pupils who are catorgorised as vulnerable are in school (staffing permitting). The children of critical workers should only attend where there is no alternative for them to be looked after safely at home. Whilst the guidelines say that only one parent in a family needs to be a critical worker for a child to attend school, if it is possible for the other parent to supervise your child at home, the government advice now suggests the it strongly recommends these children do not attend school. We are glad to provide the service for in school learning for those critical worker families that absolutely require it and for anyone we have approached as vulnerable using Government definitions but we will be keeping staff and pupils safe by rejecting requests outside these categories.
It is a legal requirement that pupils MUST stay at home if any of the following apply to them (even if they have meet the criteria for being in school):
are ill with virus symptoms (even if this is suspected and they have not been tested for coronavirus).
have tested positive for coronavirus, even if they are asyptomatic (are showing no outer signs of the virus).
have been advised by NHS Test and Trace to self-isolate.
are in a household with a person who has tested positive, even if this person is asymptomatic.
are required to self-isolate for travel-related reasons
Failure to follow these guidelines will put all members the school community at risk and may result in further action being taken. If you are in any doubt that your child or a member of your household may be infected with coronavirus, do not send them to school until it is confirmed that they are not infected.
If we have identified your child as vulnerable only due to their lack of access to ICT resources at home, we will expect these pupils to remain at home and engage in online remote learning once they are supplied with equipment to allow them to access this learning from home.
Please note the definitions for pupils concidered vulnerable and the list of pupils whose parents can be concidered critical workers for the flight against coronavirus are found below. These are the only children who should be attending school at the current time. We would request that if your child is attending school that this is for all sessions in the week and not part-time as the online learning timetable and the timetable of those pupils in school are different.
Vulnerable pupils are those who:
Critical workers are those who work in:
Please note that information in blue italics has been taken directly from the published DfE guidance documents relating to the safe opening of schools.
The school will follow the advice from Public Health England and establish a set of actions that all staff and pupils must follow whilst on the school premises. There are:
Please note that information in blue italics has been taken directly from the published DfE guidance documents relating to the safe opening of schools.
Toilet areas will be designated for use by pupils in a particular key stage. Toilets will also be cleaned more regularly.
There will be a one way system in operation around parts of the school site to reduce the congestion in corridor areas and to limit the chances of pupils from different key stages mixing. While passing briefly in the corridor or playground is low risk, schools should avoid creating busy corridors, entrances and exits.
There will be restrictions on pupils visiting their locker areas during the day to avoid congestion and crowding in these areas.
Each of the teaching rooms used by pupils will be cleaned thoroughly each evening or each morning before pupils arrive.
Staff in each teaching room will have a supply of cleaning products for wiping down surfaces and equipment as needed during the school day, including door handles.
Pupils will be given opportunities to wash their hands regularly throughout the school day.
Toilets will be cleaned more regularly.
The entire school site will be cleaned with a fog based cleaner every two weeks to kill any bacteria or viruses on all surfaces.
Buses
Arrival by Car
Arrival by foot
Your child needs to bring the minimum equipment to school each day. This should only be the essential equipment for each day. Pupils should share any of their possessions with anyone else in school or borrow equipment from another child.
All pupils in Years 5 and 6 are expected to attend school as normal from the start of the Spring term (Wednesday 6th January). From Wednesday 6th January until Friday 15th January, pupils in Years 7 and 8 and not required to attend school unless:
It is expected that all pupils in Years 5 and 6 come to school from Wednesday 6th January. Pupils will only be authorised for not attending school if:
There is no provision in law for pupils in Years 5 and 6 to not be in school unless it is for a reason listed above. Pupils who are not at school due to parental preference will be recorded as unauthorised absence and may be subject to further action through established Dorset Council procedures.
The following passage is taken directly from the governments guidelines for the full reopening of school.
In March when the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was increasing, we made clear no parent would be penalised or sanctioned for their child’s non-attendance at school. Now the circumstances have changed and it is vital for all children to return to school to minimise as far as possible the longer-term impact of the pandemic on children’s education, wellbeing and wider development. School attendance will therefore be mandatory again from the beginning of the autumn term. This means from that point, the usual rules on school attendance will apply. These include:
We understand that parents may be very anxious about their child returning to school. Please contact your child's class teacher or the school office if you have concerns. We strongly advise that pupils attend school from the beginning of term wherever possible.
We will look to work with any family who are struggling to get their child back to school or have concerns about them returning in January. However, the school does have a legal obligation to ensure that every child attends school and so will have to follow Dorset Council's procedures if needed.
The full set of guidelines for school attendance can be found here.
To access the document 'Schools and Childcare Settings: Return to school in January 2021', please click here.
To access the document 'Guidance for full opening: schools', please click here.
To access all of the documents relating to the functioning of schools during the COVID-19 outbreak, please click here.
The Dorset Council pages relating to schools returning in January can be found by clicking here.
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