News and Views
Visit this page for news, information, ideas, celebrations of success and opportunities to support our Christian community.
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Lockdown: Bulletin 9
Sun 24 May 2020We are writing with a short update about the possibility of school reopening in June. As you may be aware, a number of schools in Liverpool are looking at opening for a limited number of pupils in June, and the date is likely to be later than some other schools nationally.
At CFS a decision has been made to consider offering places to children of Keyworker families, and also to pupils on our ALPS (Additional Learning and Pastoral Support) register. We have therefore emailed a number of families last Thursday to see if they would be interested in taking up this option. According to government guidance, we would run two 'bubbles' of up to 15 children. There would be a Lower School Bubble and a Hall Bubble held in the hall. Only the ground floor of the school would be in use; the two groups would be entirely independent of each other, and their teachers themselves would not mix. Pupils would largely follow the home learning curriculum set for their own classes, with Middle School using computers set up in the hall.
We have not heard back from all the families that we emailed yet, but according to the feedback so far, we believe that we do have enough interest to go ahead with this partial reopening on 8th June for these specific children. If you received the email last week and have not yet responded, please read and respond as soon as possible so we can firm up our numbers. If you are a Keyworker family and would like to be considered for this option but did not receive the email on 21st May, please contact ks@cfschool.org.uk ASAP, as you may have been missed from the original list of Keyworker families.
We plan to update you further in early June on whether we are able to consider any reopening to years R, 1 and 6 during this summer term. -
Lockdown: Bulletin 8
Fri 15 May 2020The government provided guidance on Monday about how pupils in years R, 1 and 6 might begin to return to school from the beginning of June. The school’s leadership team have reviewed in great detail the risks and viability of a return to school and have explored the plans that would be necessary to achieve this with the governors. We have agreed with Mr Worsley that in light of local Merseyside infection levels and local government guidance, that the balance of risks and benefits don’t support a return to school; so, for now we will not be reopening school.
Whilst we recognise that the risk to children is low, the problems associated with trying to maintain social distancing for very young children and their teachers are such that we cannot manage the risk of cross-infections that would affect our wider community. As we communicated in our email at the end of last week, as a school, on balance we are seeing a high level of engagement in learning from the pupils that is well above the national average, and this reassures us that delaying a return to school is the right thing to do.
There is much discussion at national and local government levels about the small steps that should be put in place to return to school, and the associated ways to mitigate risks. That said, the creativity that is possible within the CFS community to make our own unique small steps need to reflect who we are and what is important to us. Whilst we keep a close eye on the national and local government thinking, at some point next week we would like to be in a position to provide further details of the next steps that CFS will take to start the journey of returning to school. Amongst other things, we are exploring options for families requiring help to receive specific academic and pastoral support and encouragement.
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Home Schooling: Bulletin 7
Thu 07 May 2020The governors met on Tuesday for our regular monthly meeting. We were very aware that we still don’t know the government’s plans for returning to schooling onsite, however one of the items on the agenda was to hear from Mr. Worsley and Mrs. Boulton regarding pupil engagement during lockdown. There has been much discussion in the media about the low level of pupil engagement in remote education, with average figures of 33% being quoted for state schools, and 66% for independent schools. We’ve been very encouraged by the way that the CFS staff have embraced developing new online learning consistent with our Christ-centred curriculum, as opposed to much of the generic off-the-shelf lessons that are available. This has meant that the pupils have been able to continue with the CFS curriculum, and for their learning to keep them on target in terms of progress.
It's been very exciting to hear about a pre-recorded Worship Assembly and The Merchant of Venice lesson, some lessons by videoconferencing, one-to-one sessions for additional support, as well as multiple work packages and some very interesting research projects. In Lower School the approach has been more age appropriate with staff preparing work packages for a few weeks at a time for the children to complete with parents. There has also been a significant amount of time given to establishing new protocols and ongoing changes to policies to accommodate remote education. All this with continued marking and feedback by the staff of the Middle and Upper School pupils’ work, through Google Classroom and associated apps.
The staff have been so blessed by the way that families have been able to support and encourage their children, and that about 90% of CFS pupils are engaged in regular remote education.
In addition the government published guidance on Wednesday; Remote education practice for schools during coronavirus. It’s encouraging in reviewing the case studies that at CFS we are achieving very similar approaches to the best practice examples, relevant to our context. In fact, it looks as though in some respects we are achieving more; this is partially aided by the small size of our school and the strong relational foundation on which we are building.
Finally, none of this would be possible without the support of the CFS community by families supporting their children with their remote learning and continuing to pay fees, often sacrificially, which is enabling the teachers to stay employed and able to deliver a rich education. Let’s continue to remain faithfully engaged as a community and trust the Lord to carry us and provide for us through this challenging time. -
Home Schooling: Bulletin 6
Mon 04 May 2020We are writing to remind you about a couple of dates in the school calendar this week.
Thursday 7th May is a staff Inset day. This would normally have been an opportunity for us to meet with other Christian Trust schools in our area including Bradford, Sheffield and Stockport; but this year we plan to have various virtual staff meetings and department meetings on Google Meet to help with the smooth running of Home-schooling.
Friday 8th May is a bank holiday so pupils will not have any formal schoolwork set; however, some classes have some suggested work related to the VE day bank holiday which may provide a focus for the day.
We would like to thank all families who have been working to oversee their children's education, balancing home-learning with their own jobs and other demands on the family at this challenging time. A reminder that you can contact class teachers through the Google Classroom facility, and you can email general queries to school on info@cfschool.org.uk. Please also see the information page and this news page for the school bulletins during closure.
As you know through the media, the government has suggested that they are working on a plan for schools to reopen in the next few weeks. We do not have any specific information about this yet as a school. Please do pray for all decision makers in the government to be guided by the Lord and His wisdom as they explore and make recommendations to the nation about how society should reopen various sectors, including education. We will be following the government’s advice closely and will keep you informed of any developments. As an Independent ‘through-school’, it is possible that we may have more flexibility than state schools in terms of timing and year groups, which we will consider very carefully.
In the meantime, we pray that pupils, parents and we as staff continue to know God's presence and His hand upon us. His mercies are new every morning.