News and Views
Visit this page for news, information, ideas, celebrations of success and opportunities to support our Christian community.
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CFS has turned 40!
Thu 16 Sep 2021Turning 40 is quite a milestone in someone's life. For a school that started with teachers who had open hands and hearts, willing to see where God led them, it is a remarkable milestone! God has been amazingly faithful to us as a community and we have so much to be thankful for. To celebrate 40 years of CFS and to help launch CFS into a new season we have decided to open a Just Giving page. We are asking for parents, friends, past pupils, the wider school community and beyond to stand with us and express their thankfulness to God for his faithfulness to us by means of a monetary gift. Any funds that we receive will be used to refurbish our building. You can find the link for the CFS Just Giving page below.
Please share the link with anyone you think may be interested in joining us as we celebrate 40 years of CFS and invest in future generations:
CFS 40th Birthday Celebration - JustGiving
In addition to our 40th birthday celebration, there are 2 other ways that you can support CFS by simply by shopping online. You can register CFS as your chosen charity on Amazon Smile and Easyfundraising. When you shop from these retailers CFS will receive a donation. More information about both of these initiatives can be found below:
Amazon Smile - Amazon.co.uk : amazon smile (Christian Fellowship School Trust)
Easyfundraising - Christian Fellowship School Liverpool Fundraising | Easyfundraising
Prayer is vital to the work of CFS so we also invite you to partner with us in prayer on a regular basis. You can find prayer requests and items for thanksgiving by visiting the Prayer and Thanksgiving page on the school website.
Finally, to mark our 40th birthday celebration, we would love to collect together stories, memories, reflections and updates from those who have been part of the journey and invite any contributions to be sent to 40years@cfschool.org.uk
Thank you for partnering with us in this exciting journey. We are looking forward to seeing what God has for us in the next season of CFS. -
Head's Bulletin September 2021
Sun 12 Sep 2021We thank God for a good start to the new term with a clear sense of God’s presence amongst us. The theme of our first whole school assembly on Tuesday, was WELCOME. We are delighted to welcome back all our pupils, including some who were unable to attend school in person at all last year. We are also pleased to welcome new children who have joined the school this term. Some are from our local community and others have come from other parts of the world, bringing their rich cultural and personal experiences to share with us. We are so grateful for the increase in our numbers and in the enthusiasm of the new families to play their part in our community. We do appreciate the way established families are reaching out to new families, explaining how things work at CFS, offering practical help and support and building new friendships.
We also spoke in the assembly of the need to look beyond our walls and extend a welcome to others who are in need of support and friendship. Several pupils, parents and families have responded immediately and have been active on the class WhatsApp groups, suggesting how we can offer practical help and resources for newly arrived Afghan families in the city. We are planning to liaise with Bridge2, a local charity where one of our new families is working, to co-ordinate donations through school. The main items needed are unused or second-hand clothing and personal hygiene items. We will set up collection points in different areas of the school - Lower, Middle and Upper, where your children can bring your donations.
Swimming starts again on Monday 13th September for Middle School and Thursday 16th September for Lower School. You can purchase caps, goggles and costumes from the school office. We have sufficient staff this week to walk the Middle School children down the hill and back again but would be very glad of a parent volunteer from 20th September; the times involved are 9.50am - 1130am. As the weather is so unpredictable, we ask you to ensure that your child has a waterproof coat to wear on the way to swimming. On Thursday, we are looking for a minibus driver to take Year 3 down to the University pool at about 9.00am and return to collect them at about 10.15am. If there were two or three volunteers for either of these roles, this could be done on a rota basis, so it need not be every week. Please contact Mrs Sharples on ks@cfschool.org.uk if you are able to help.
Worship assemblies will start again on Tuesday, 14th September. After such a long time without opportunities to meet together for prayer and worship, we are making it a priority this year to re-establish prayer and worship at the heart of the school’s life. So we warmly invite parents to join us at 8.45am to 9.15am in the Hall.
COVID testing and isolating information
If pupils develop symptoms, they must stay at home and arrange for a PCR test as soon as possible, then isolate for 10 days. Adults who are double vaccinated should also book a PCR test but can leave home whilst they await results. Children in the household should also book a PCR test but we ask that they stay home until their results come through. If they develop symptoms after that, they are asked to do another PCR test and await results at home. Please continue to inform school if your children have symptoms and are taking or have taken a PCR test.
We continue to encourage Lateral Flow Testing every Sunday and Wednesday evening for Years 7 to 11. Form teachers will check with pupils each Monday and Thursday morning that they've taken their test. If a child forgets on an occasion, please supervise them taking the test when they get home that evening.
Water
With current COVID mitigation measures in place, we regret that it is not possible for pupils to fill up their bottles at the water fountains. Please could we remind parents to send in sufficient water (two bottles in most cases) especially on hot days. Teachers will put out jugs of water at various locations, but it is obviously easier for your child to just reach into their bag to get a drink.
We have recently added some forthcoming events this term to our website calendar; please do check these out. The most important one for parents is Tuesday, 19th October 7.15pm to 9.15pm, when we will be holding our Parent and Friends Collaborative (PFC) meeting (postponed to 16th November). Please put the date in your diary as our PFC meetings are a vital part of building our community, both socially, spiritually and practically. We are looking forward to seeing at least one parent from each family. As part of this meeting, there will be an opportunity for new families to meet together to find out more about the life of the school and ask questions. -
Autumn Term
Fri 03 Sep 2021We do trust that you and your families have enjoyed a good summer break and once again we praise God for His hand upon our community over these past months. The new autumn term starts for all pupils from Y1 to Y11 on Monday 6th September. The new Reception class will start on Wednesday 8th September at 8.45am, but will finish at 12.00pm (before lunch) for the rest of the week.
Here are some updates about recent developments in school so that you know what to expect at the start of the new term.
We are expecting to return to school with far fewer restrictions and expect to run a full programme of teaching and activities. We will be returning to the school start time of 8.45am when the whistle and bell will be sounded and pupils will line up on the yard. We are really looking forward to seeing parents at the gates and on the yard but the gates will only be open from 8.25am so please try not to drop off pupils before 8.30am.
Please also be aware that most of Overbury Street and the adjacent Cardwell Street are for residents parking only, so please use Jack’s car park if you plan to walk in with children. There are now two new pedestrian crossings at the lights which should make this much easier.
Covid measures
According to guidance from the Department for Education issued on 17th August, schools no longer need to maintain social distancing but need to have an enhanced regime to combat the spread of infection and a further contingency plan to increase these measures if staff or pupils test positive for the virus. We will be writing again with more specific expectations and our updated Covid risk assessment will be uploaded to the website shortly.
We will no longer be operating a bubble system at school, and break times, lunch times and assemblies will go back to how they were before.
Contact tracing will no longer be carried out by school but by local public health officials who will contact parents at home. We are no longer expected to send groups of children home to isolate if there are infections in the class. However, we have been warned that more infections are likely as we move towards the autumn and winter, and the Department for Education guidance encourages schools to put or keep in place measures to reduce the likelihood of spreading the virus in school. The following measures will therefore remain in place:
Testing
All pupils in years 7-11 (and adults in school) are asked to carry out twice weekly lateral flow tests (LFTs) at home. This is now considered to be the first line of defense against bringing the virus into school. The other equally important action for parents is to take all Covid symptoms seriously and arrange for a PCR test for themselves and their children if they develop any symptoms. We would also ask that if your child has symptoms of a heavy cold (runny nose, headache, sneezing, sore throat) that your child stays home and you arrange for a PCR test. It is anticipated that colds and flu will be very active this year, so we need to limit the spread of all respiratory diseases as far as possible, especially as some symptoms of the common cold are also common symptoms of the Covid virus.
We are offering year 7 and new pupils in years 7 - 10 a supervised LFT test in school on Monday 6th September so that they become familiar with how the test should be done. These pupils should arrive at school at 8.30am and a member of staff will take them to the hall where testing will take place. Permission forms will be emailed to parents over the weekend.
Hand hygiene
We will continue to provide opportunities for regular hand-washing, as well as hand-sanitising stations in specific areas of the school. However, it is very important that all pupils in years 4 - 11 have their own small hand sanitiser (gel) with them which is refilled regularly. They should keep this in their pencil cases or their pockets as they will be moving between various rooms during the school day. Please also supply tissues and surface wipes and be aware that pupils will be moving rooms between lessons, especially from year 7 and up, and will need to have these items with them during the day.
Ventilation
Classroom windows and doors will be opened as as much as possible to enable a throughput of air. In colder weather, doors and windows will be opened for a few minutes at a time at regular intervals. The lecture theatre is sometimes used for years 7 - 11 and though it does not have opening windows, we have an extractor fan which will be turned on high between lessons and when the room is not in use to ensure a full change of air.
Cleaning
We will continue to provide twice daily cleaning of frequently touched surfaces such as door handles.
Water bottles
Pupils will not be able to use water fountains to refill their bottles, so we ask that they bring as much drinking water as they need to last the whole day - two bottles if necessary.
Swimming
We are very pleased that all of Lower School are resuming swimming lessons every Thursday, and Middle School will be swimming on Mondays. All swimming lessons will start during the second week of term - ie. Monday 13th September and Thursday 16th September. The cost of swimming will now be paid with general fees. Please note that if swimming lessons are cancelled, we will be providing another type of activity session for which we need to timetable teachers / instructors and will divert funds to those activities. Parents will be able to purchase swimming costumes and caps from school. More details will be provided about how you can order and pay for these in the next update email.
Middle school equipment years 4 - 6
Please note that as per the equipment lists various items of equipment and stationery are now being provided by school and pupils should bring the payment of £10 to school during the first week to be handed to their form teacher.
PE uniform
We have also decided that pupils in years 4 - 11 should come to school in their PE kits on days when they have PE, as they did last year. Please ensure that pupils are wearing correct items of PE uniform.
School community news
God continues to be very gracious to us. We finished the year with very few infections and managed to put on a highly successful production of Little Women for close family in person and friends online. Congratulations are due to the class of 2021 who did very well indeed with their GCSE results and are all now able to go to the sixth forms and colleges of their choice. May God go ahead of them and prepare a place for them to thrive and to bless others.
Over the summer, the building team and maintenance team have worked hard to maintain and enhance our facilities. The work on fixed wiring will continue throughout the academic year. We have had some windows replaced at the entrance and admin block thanks to a generous donation. Roy Sammons and his team have been especially busy getting school ready for the start of term. However, we are in need of a new cleaner, so if you know of someone in your community who would be interested in working at school as a cleaner, please ask them to contact ks@cfschool.org.uk
We would like to welcome our new parents to our school community and trust that you will find much friendship and fellowship amongst us. We hope to create a number of opportunities to meet together as a community over the coming weeks. In particular we would like to invite all parents to our PFC (Parents and Friends Collaborative) meeting on Tuesday 19th October at 7.15pm to 9.15pm (postponed to 16th November). So please put this date in your diaries now and look out for more details.
Finally we would like to give advance notice of events for you to be aware of in the next few weeks:
1. Year 9 Information Evening - Wed 22nd September 7.15pm - 9.00pm
2. Min-Y-Don residential, years 6 to 8 - Wed 29th September to Fri 1st October
3. Year 7 and 8 Parent Forums - on two evenings this term, TBC
4. PFC meeting for all parents - Tues 19th October
5. Staff INSET days Thurs/Fri 21st and 22nd October
6. Half Term Break 25th to 29th October.
We will be writing again next week, to provide you with further details and other information that you will need. Thank you for your ongoing support in all these matters.