OAK BITES 27^th January 2021

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Dear Fair Oak Family

Happy Wednesday everyone!

The Big Garden Bird Watch

This weekend is the return of the Big Garden Birdwatch (you may have seen the advert on TV). The RSPB are encouraging as many people as possible to take part in the world's largest bird survey. They ask you to choose an hour, any hour,  between 29^th - 31^st January to count the birds you see in your garden or from your balcony/ window. All the details that you need can be found on the website under the Get Involved section. 

www.rspb.org.uk. There are pictures to help you identify the birds if you are a bit of an amateur like myself. There are also other helpful resources to read and watch. 

You might also enjoy the schools Winterwatch programme on the BBC at 11am on 28th January. More details can be found by looking at the website. 

www.bbc.co.uk/teach/live-lessons/big-schools-winterwatch-live-lesson/zv8vn9q 

I hope you enjoy taking part and it is a little bit warmer than last weekend!

Please see below information from ICON regarding their Half Term Holiday Camp for Critical Workers and Vulnerable Children.

News for Year 3

Firstly, I am so sorry that I missed uploading Times Tables practise questions and answers to the Y3 website page. Thank you for your kind and understanding emails and I hope that you've been able to see them on the page now.  I know that the children are very keen to challenge the rest of the school in the Timestables Rockstars Tournament and I have been really impressed with how many children have logged on to the TTRS website and started earning valuable points for this week already. I am not sure who will earn the title of 'Y3 Weekly Champion' yet as it is changing daily. 

We are incredibly proud of all of the Y3 children and want to thank you for all the amazing work completed and shared so far. We look forward to seeing the children celebrate and share something they are proud of or have enjoyed this afternoon in our Zoom call. From next week, there will be a small change to the work uploaded on the Purple Mash platform. The learning presentations will follow the same format that the children have successfully followed so far and will look the same apart from a small detail; some pages will have an 'Upload Me' star in the English and maths powerpoints. These will be the pages you need to upload or hand in when collecting new work packs. There is also a weekly record sheet to record Fluent in 5 and timestables achievements as well as weekly spelling scores. Please could a photo be taken of this and uploaded by Friday so that the teachers can share pupil achievement. This change was introduced on Monday in the Oak Bites from Mrs Layley and I hope that this message has made this change clearer.  I know that lots of you have made a home learning work book / journal or stapled weekly work together and please continue to do this as we would love the children to bring this in when we return to school and share it with their teacher.  If you are unsure how to upload work to the Purple Mash platform, please watch the video on our YouTube channel. Thank you for your continued support.   

News for Year 4

There is no specific news for Year 4

News for Year 5

Please see attached a letter from Miss Coxhead regarding some special activities for the next couple of weeks.

News for Year 6

There is no specific news for Year 6

OAK BITES 13^th January 2021

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Dear Fair Oak Family

News for all pupils

Just a reminder to check out the Fair Oak Junior School YouTube channel – you will find lots of lessons but also some ‘how to’ videos – including how to upload work on to Purple Mash – so that teachers can see it and comment!

Please remember that the daily timetable on your child's year group tab is there to help and support families, please only complete as much as you can and what fits with your family's circumstances. I am sure you are all doing a fantastic job and remember we are always here for help and support where possible. If extra work is required please check out Mr Stredwick’s PE challenges and Mrs Tottle’s Music lessons (which were emailed separately) as well as all of the other extra's on your child's page such as the mindfulness activities or activities posted on the general home learning page.

As you may remember from some time ago, Mr De Silva sent out correspondence based on building work which has been scheduled to take place across the whole campus. The timescales for this work to begin have been changed a number of times due to various circumstances including the covid pandemic. There are plans for lots of work to commence across the whole campus impacting on Wyvern, FOIS and FOJS. I will update you further as the work progresses but as a reminder and information to new parents, we are going to be having a new entrance and office block built where the current staff car park is based, we are losing our playground next to the infant school as this initially will become a base for the contractors and afterwards will be given to the Infant school as a playing area due to increasing demands on the school for places and to become a 5-form entry school. We are also going to be having some work carried out on the millennium garden to make this a much more useable space transforming it into a new playing area/sports court. As you can see this will be a busy period of time on top of all the demands already on schools. A 'soft' start date we have been given from the contractors is Monday 18th January. At this time, they will be setting up the site compound. From the 1st February work on the new office block is due to commence. As always dates are subject to change and we will continue to update you as and when new information becomes available. 

What will the impact be on children and families of FOJS? 

• Children will not be able to access the site through the small wooden gate on the playground next to the infant school. 
• Parents will not be able to access the infant school through our playground as this will be sectioned off for the builder's compound. 
• From February, the staff car park will be cordoned off, although parents and children can still access the back of the school/ field for drop off and collection.
• The whole campus will become a building site due to the amount of work across all three schools and the access required. Therefore, the Wyvern main gates will be manned by Wates, the main contractors on site. Therefore, it is even more important to remember that access to site will be challenged, only those with permits will be allowed access. 

News for Year 3

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Thank you for all your support with the work the children have completed so far. 

A video has been made to support you with how you could upload photographs of the work completed to their personal Purple Mash folder. Teachers will be able to access the folders and see what they children have completed and share their achievements. There is also a class blog for your child to write on should they be unable to access a piece of work or find that they need some support. The comments are visible to the members of staff but need to be approved by staff first so don't worry if their comments can't be seen when they send it.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXP9SYLQAfc&t=6s

News for Year 4

It has come to our attention that some of our Year 4 work packs (paper copies), have been photocopied incorrectly and are missing slides. This has given the illusion that only answers are available for some of the practice pages. This is most certainly not the case and should you wish to see the maths pack in its entirety please head to the website or ask the office if you can come and collect a new one. We apologise for this error and this will be resolved for next week’s pack.

News for Year 5

There is no news for Year 5

News for Year 6

There is no news for Year 6

OAK BITES 11^th January 2021

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• As a school, we would encourage you to follow the government’s guidance and only send your children to school, if it is not possible for them to be at home. Thank you for your support with this – it is designed to keep everyone safe.

• Please note that the school office is manned from 8am until 4.15pm each day.

• Lockdown 3.0 PE Challenge Introduction –

Dear parents/carers,

We are delighted to let you know that we shall be re-starting the Hampshire School Games Daily Challenges, #HSGDailyChallenge, for Lockdown 3.0. Many of you supported the initiative during the last Lockdown and we hope you will get involved once again!

Now, more than ever, it is important that children are physically active to support both their physical and mental well-being. With this in mind, the Hampshire SGOs #HSGDailyChallenge will begin on Monday 11th January and will initially run until February Half Term.

Parents and children can share photos and videos of all the activities they have taken part in. Don't forget to use the #HSGDailyChallenge in your posts and tweets, as well as tagging your local SGO or Sports Partnerships so they can see what your pupils have been up to and the impact this challenge is having across Hampshire! The main aim of our campaign is to get and keep people moving whilst trying to have some fun! If you wish to share your successes on social media, then you can do so at the following places:

Twitter:

@HampshireSGO                           @Pompey_SSP

Facebook:

@HampshireSGO or search 'Hampshire SGO's'

Instagram:

@hampshiresgos

We look forward to sharing this journey with you all and we hope you enjoy the #HSGDailyChallenge.

Thank you in anticipation of your support!

• We are very aware that there is already a packed timetable of subjects available to your child weekly on the class tab of the website. If you child would like to engage in further music activities this week then there is an upper school and lower school link below featuring our music teacher Mrs Tottle who works for Hampshire Music Service. These will be sent weekly and not uploaded to the website due to the need for a private link for this teacher who is not employed directly by FOJS. There is absolutely no requirement for these to be completed but they are available for those children wishing for more work or with a musical interest. For Upper School children - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgzIrU9F02M&feature=youtu.be&safe=active

For lower school children please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4WGx_AjfqI&feature=youtu.be&safe=active

Evening everyone. 

Unfortunately, we again find ourselves at the last minute having to make changes to educational provision. 

Following the Government announcement that all schools must close from tomorrow we will now be updating risk assessments and timetabling to allow only the children of critical workers and vulnerable children to attend school until new guidance is provided. All other children will be required to work from home. Home learning provision will be provided on the school website under the appropriate year group tab. 

To allow us to be able to process all the information we are currently gathering from the Survey Monkey survey sent earlier today regarding critical worker status and vulnerable pupil status, we have made the difficult decision to close the school to all children tomorrow (Tuesday 5th January 2021).

We will communicate further with all parents and carers tomorrow to provide further information for the opening of school on Wednesday 6th January to those that meet the requirements. 

As always, we thank you for your continued support and patience during these unprecedented times. 

Mrs Layley 

Acting Headteacher 

Fair Oak Junior School

FAIR OAK JUNIOR SCHOOL

Botley Road, Fair Oak, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO50 7AN

T: 023 80 693195

E: adminoffice@fairoak-jun.hants.sch.uk

www.fairoakjunior.co.uk

Acting Head Teacher: Mrs Katy Layley

Dear Parents and Carers

Thank you to everyone for all your support for what we are doing in school.

Also, please accept our apologies for the slight delay in providing any updates today - as you can imagine, our INSET day has been rather hijacked by recent news events and we are trying our best to work out what needs to be done in order to continue to comply with the Government guidelines.

There is a lot of confusion and anxiety regarding the latest news reports regarding Covid. However, we have to follow Government guidance which states that children are safe in school and our school is open. 

As you know we are keeping the classrooms well ventilated and the handwashing routines are now part of our daily activities. We are now encouraging the staff to wear masks and children can wear a mask in school, if they wish.

We understand that some parents will still have concerns, despite our best efforts, and will choose to keep their children home, at this time. We do need to point out though, that currently, because the guidance says that children should be in school, any absences through choice, will have to be marked as unauthorised. For any children self-isolating there will be home learning available, via the school website, in due course.

Please be aware that, due to various circumstances, we will be experiencing a number of staff absences from school in the coming days, but we will ensure that cover is consistent where possible and that the children are provided with the high quality education that you would expect and that their safety remains paramount. If, as a last resort we need to close bubbles/classes we will communicate via email and provide all necessary information.  Work will be ready to go on the website for your child.

Apologies we can’t give any further information at this point, as and when guidance changes we will continue to keep you informed.

With kind regards

Mrs Katy Layley

Acting Headteacher

OAK BITES 4^th January 2021

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Dear Fair Oak Family,

Happy New Year! We hope that you have all been able to have a peaceful, happy and healthy Christmas with your family in these very challenging times. We look forward to welcoming the children back to school tomorrow ready for a busy spring term of learning!

We would like to draw your attention to the attached letter outlining our ongoing response to the current, but ever changing, Covid situation.

Also, we are asking you to help us plan for any potential school closure by completing the attached Survey Monkey survey, see link below, to indicate whether your job entitles your child to attend school as the child of a key worker or if they fall in to the vulnerable category.

The survey can be accessed here.

News for all pupils

• Music lessons: Music lessons will not be taking place in school this week but will continue as normal next week.

• School dinners – Please check your child’s dinner account before they come back in to school tomorrow and ensure there is enough credit on their account for any meals that they may require. Thank you.

News for Year 3

There is no news for Year 3

News for Year 4

There is no news for Year 4

News for Year 5

There is no news for Year 5

News for Year 6

There is no news for Year 6