News and Views
Visit this page for news, information, ideas, celebrations of success and opportunities to support our Christian community.
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Important new term arrangements...
Wed 30 Dec 2020As you will be aware, there have been a number of announcements from the government and the Department for Education about Coronavirus testing for staff and secondary aged pupils in the new term. The government has also revised the dates of returning to school for a number of year groups.
Please read the information below carefully.
Staggered start to the new term: As you are aware, at CFS we had already decided to have a home learning week from 4th to 8th January. As of today and in line with government guidance, all primary year groups which are years R-6, as well as Year 11 (which is our GCSE exam class) will return to school on Monday 11th January. Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 will return to school on Monday 18th January. If you are a key worker family and are not able to make alternative arrangements for the week of 11th to 15th January for your secondary aged children, please contact us directly on ks@cfschool.org.uk
Testing for staff and secondary aged pupils: For the time being, we have decided that facilitating regular rapid testing on site for us as a school will be a very complex task. However, we would like to work with our community to keep Coronavirus infections down and to help as many pupils and staff to be able to be in school as possible. Therefore, in order to achieve this, we propose to take advantage of the Rapid (SMART) testing already available in Liverpool (which is currently planned to continue until the end of January) and would like to implement the following measures:
1. That staff and Year 11 pupils (and others if they want to) have two Rapid (SMART) tests at least 3 days apart between 4th and 10th January ready for starting back to school on 11th January. This is not compulsory but is strongly recommended. However, please note that this is not appropriate if the pupil has previosuly tested positive in recent weeks because further tests may still give positive results.
2. That Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 do the same the following week, ideally with the second test on Sunday 17th January.
3. That staff have regular weekly tests every weekend at one of the SMART testing centres as above so that they can receive a result before coming to school on Monday mornings.
4. That if and when a pupil who shows symptoms and tests positive for the virus, that their known in-school contacts (ie. bubble etc.) should have daily Rapid (SMART) testing for 7 days at one of the sites in Liverpool (as above) so that they can continue attending school. They would usually need to do this after school each day as most sites are open 8am-6/7pm. If you decide not to have daily testing, then the pupil will need to stay home for 10 days and do home learning.
We understand that the Rapid (SMART) test sites in Liverpool and the Wirral are remaining open until at least the end of January and can be found here - this is a live website which indicates how busy each test site is at any given time.
Please email ks@cfschool.org.uk before school reopens if your child(ren) test positive over the Christmas break so that we can have an accurate picture of the spread of the virus within school.
Further information including any possible revisions to our risk assessment or other related matters will be communicated after our staff INSET days on 4th and 5th January.
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CFS Donkey Visit
Mon 21 Dec 2020Highlights of this term were the visits from Legend the donkey to Lower School and Middle School. He played a starring role in the Lower School Nativity Play and brought great joy with donkey rides for the younger children. Older Middle School children enjoyed leading him on a walk around the school field. -
End of term nativity assembly
Fri 18 Dec 2020On 18th December we held an end of term assembly over Zoom including a wonderful Lower School nativity. A full video of the event was made available to view here on the school website over the Christmas period for our community to share with their wider families.
The video has now been removed.
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Reverse Advent Calendar
Fri 18 Dec 2020This afternoon, we delivered our Reverse Advent Calendar goods to the Micah Foodbank. A huge thanks to all the CFS families who contributed items that will go to feed the many families and individuals a week who are dependent on this help.
Below are photos of the food ready to go - there are more bags under the table! And our donation safely deposited at the food bank store.
Altogether we donated 170 items - which is a good amount especially as we had to close the school before everyone had had a chance to bring in an item.
Thank you, everyone!
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
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Buffet competition
Thu 17 Dec 2020This year we had an alternate version of our year 7 and 8 buffet, our annual Christmas celebration where the pupils all bring in a dish and then we all sit down and share a delicious feast. For obvious reasons we couldn't do that this year so instead the pupils were asked to bake something at home and send in a picture of what they had created. They produced some amazing creations and made year 11s' job of "Google Meet" judging of the best very difficult indeed.
The winners were Esther (year 8) and Hope (year 7).
Second places were Lucie (year 8) and Miley (year 7).
Honourable mentions go to Esther, Rhoda and Lesley.
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Important changes to the end of term...
Wed 09 Dec 2020Because of a number of positive Covid cases in school this week amongst pupils, staff and parents our last day at school will be Friday 11th December.
Mr Worsley and Mr Sharples, together with the governors made this decision recently and we wanted to let you know as soon as possible so that you can make plans. The week commencing 14th December will be a home-based learning week for all pupils. Lower School will have packs sent home as they did before, and Middle School and Upper School will have work set on Google Classroom with some scheduled lessons on Google Meet in certain subjects. Lessons will finish on Thursday 17th December and we will all meet for a short Zoom assembly on Friday 18th December at 5.30pm, which will include our wonderful Lower School filmed nativity. We are hoping to be able to make the nativity available for about a week to view online soon after the assembly, so that it can be enjoyed by your wider family and friends.
The reason for moving lessons to home-learning next week is primarily because it is getting difficult to physically run the school safely and effectively with so many staff having to be off self-isolating. Another reason is that we would also like to give parents and staff the opportunity to reduce their social contacts ahead of Christmas, so that they can see wider family over the designated days of 23rd to 27th December, as per government regulations.
On Friday, pupils can wear their own clothes with a Christmas jumper theme. Middle School parties are being scaled down and will take place in classrooms. Children in those year groups are invited to bring in any special food items for themselves to enjoy on Friday, but there will be no food sharing possible. Thank you to all parents who have sent money towards events and parties. We will email again about how we will use the money and collect any still owing at a later date.
Lower School children will be having a toy day on Friday to celebrate the end of term. Instead of a traditional party day, we all thoroughly enjoyed our Forest School day, with a wide range of Christmassy outdoor activities and celebrations.
Another change to the school calendar has been made for January. The first three days of term (Wednesday 6th to Friday 8th January) will be home-learning days and we plan to be back on-site on Monday 11th January. This is to establish a small circuit-breaker after Christmas gatherings and before returning back to school, so that we can hopefully come back as virus-free as possible on 11th January.
Please continue to inform us if you or your household develop symptoms and/or test positive right up until the end of next week, 18th December. This is so we are aware of the prevalence of the virus amongst our community, but also because we continue to have a responsibility to inform Public Health England and help families work out their contacts. For your information, all children and adults who do not have symptoms can have a quick Lateral Flow test at multiple locations in Liverpool. However, please be aware that if you think you have been in contact with an infected person, the test is more likely to detect if you have picked up the virus if you wait a couple of days or more before you have a test.
We would like to thank all of you who have supported our digital Christmas Fair, both as producers and customers. In spite of our Year 10 students having to work from home, we are still expecting to get most orders out to customers by the end of this week. Any remaining orders will be delivered in person to customers’ homes next week. Please get last orders in by midday tomorrow, 10th December.
We will be in touch again with Zoom details in the next few days for our Christmas assembly on Friday 18th December, and would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our parent body for your wonderful support this term. May we all experience God’s goodness and mercy in these days. -
Take action: COVID-19 cases in school...
Mon 07 Dec 2020We have been advised by Public Health England that there have been several confirmed cases of COVID-19 within our school community. The individuals involved were not symptomatic in school, but have subsequently tested positive for the virus.
All pupils in Upper School (Years 9, 10 and 11) and also Year 6 need to self-isolate and stay at home for 14 days. This means that they will not return to school this term. All other pupils should continue to attend school unless they start to show symptoms or test positive for the virus. It is very important that you contact school to report any positive cases in your household by emailing info@cfschool.org.uk or phoning the Office on 0151 709 1642 (please leave a voicemail if you can't get through).
We will be in touch very soon regarding the provision of home learning content for the affected pupils. We'd also like to remind you to limit your social contacts outside of school including sharing lifts, unless absolutely necessary.
Furthermore, we would like to suggest that families take the opportunity to have a Lateral Flow test which are available in many Liverpool testing centres. This may help identify other people in the community who do not have symptoms, but should self-isolate if they test positive. However, please be aware that the self-isolation period of 14 days for Upper School and Year 6 cannot be reduced even by getting a negative test result.
If you develop symptoms such as those described below, please arrange for a PCR test through phoning NHS 111. Also look out for other symptoms such as stomach cramps and colds, which although not part of the official list of common symptoms have been experienced by those in our community who have tested positive.
Public Health Information
Symptoms of COVID 19
The most common symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) are recent onset of:- new continuous cough and/or
- high temperature and/or
- a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia).
If anyone in your household develops symptoms, you must self isolate and book a test. You can seek advice from NHS at here or by phoning NHS 111.
How to stop COVID-19 spreading
There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with COVID-19:- wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds
- use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available
- wash your hands as soon as you get home
- cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze
- put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards.
We would like to reassure you that we continue to take all necessary actions to keep everyone at our school as safe as possible.