Please see the document below for our most up to date Remote Learning Agreement.
If you have any questions about any points in the agreement, please do not hesitate to contact the school or the class teacher to discuss your queries.

Please contact the school if you think you may be eligible so we can contact the companies on your behalf.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope you have managed to have a good weekend and to get outside for a short while, even though it was very cold.  Thank you to all the parents who have emailed us about remote learning, we really appreciate your lovely comments. 
We are now into the second week of lockdown and everything is up and running in terms of remote learning.  For everyone, we provide two hours of live lessons plus two other tasks which the children can complete independently each day. 
The most important thing for your child is that they are safe and happy.  You know your child best and will be doing an amazing job of looking after them.  Don’t compare what you are doing to other families as everyone is different and have different circumstances.  There is no expectation that you are going to be able to recreate school at home!
We really don’t want you or your child stressing about remote learning.  The government requires us to provide the equivalent to four hours of learning every day.  There won’t be many families who will be able to complete all of the tasks set so please don’t stress if you can’t.  We know that some of you are trying to work from home while you are looking after your children, remember you can’t do everything!
It is hard for everyone so don’t feel guilty or embarrassed if you aren’t coping.  We are all feeling the pressure but we will get through this together.  We are here to help as much as we possibly can so get in touch if you need us. 
Each day we will be doing our registers at 9.30am so if possible please make sure your child is online ready for registration.  If you are unable to have your child in the online classes, please let us know as we need to account for every child every day. 
All the very best and remember, we are here to help if you need us.

Take care,

Miss Digweed

​Dear Parents, 

Well this week has certainly turned out differently to what we were all expecting!  A huge thank you to you all for being so supportive and accommodating with all these changes.  It was a shock to us too and then we were not helped by the fact that the lockdown was announced so late on Monday.  To confuse the situation even more our main system for communicating with you, Teachers to Parents, crashed as all schools were trying to use it at the same time!

All children have a log in for Microsoft Teams and I hope you have all now found your way onto our live lessons.  We are here to help if you have any problems, please just call or email the school office, office@ivjs.school.  We need to have contact with every child every day.  Therefore, if your child is not in the online lessons we will need to call you to make sure everything is alright.  The expectation, just like school, is that children are ‘in’ the lessons every day.

As I am sure you can understand, we have limited staff to look after the critical worker/vulnerable children in school.  Therefore, if you are a critical worker please only take a place if you have no other alternative and only on the days you are actually working.  This lockdown is different to the March lockdown as all teachers are online teaching and so they cannot be in school helping with the groups.  On top of this we have staff who are isolating and shielding. 

We are very aware that this is going to be a very difficult time for everyone.  Please get in touch with us if you need any help especially if you are struggling with buying food as we can help you. 

As we get into the new routine we will start to make phone calls to see how you are doing.  In the meantime please take care and don’t forget to email/phone if you need us. 

All the very best,

Miss Digweed

From tomorrow, our lower school pupils will have Microsoft Teams lessons with the teachers. We will be sending out text messages with each pupil's log in details this afternoon, please log in to Teams this evening to make sure you have time to check it all works correctly. 

Lessons will start tomorrow morning from 9.30 with the class teachers. Should you have any issues logging in, we will be available to help tomorrow morning. 

Please see the document below which gives an introduction to using Microsoft Teams.

Dear Parents
I am sure that by now you will have heard that the Prime Minister is closing all schools.  This means that from tomorrow we will only be able to accept children of key workers and children classed as vulnerable into school between 8.50am and 3pm.
All other children MUST stay at home.
Children will be able to attend school if one of the following is true:
·         A social worker is currently supporting your family
·         Your child has an EHCP
·         You are a key worker who must attend their place of work and are therefore not available to care for your child at home
​
To arrange for your child to attend school, you must send an email to: office@ivjs.school
Please include all of the following information:
Name of child
Class of child
Your name
Days and times of required attendance
Please remember, even if you are a key worker, if you can keep your child at home, please do so to help us keep the numbers low in school.
There is a list of key worker categories at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision
If you feel you fit these criteria, please email the school office as soon as possible, but no later than 8am tomorrow morning. Children will not need to wear uniform to school but will need to wear warm layers as we will still need to have doors and windows open for ventilation.
Tomorrow morning, we will put on our website lessons for years 3 and 4 (years 5 and 6 will continue as planned with their online lessons).  From Wednesday we hope to be in a position to offer live lessons for years 3 and 4.  

We will contact parents regarding provision for free school meals this week.

Kindest regards,

Miss Digweed

Dear Parents,

As you will be aware, there has been discussions as to whether primary schools should be open or not. This has put families and schools in a very difficult position.
A number of parents have already emailed us to say their children will not be attending school for at least the next two weeks. If you are intending to keep your child at home, please let us know ASAP by email (office@ivjs.school) or by phone (please leave a message if you are unable to get through).
We are also looking at the number of staff we have available due to a number of different reasons:

• Shielding as advised by their doctor,
• Isolating due to contact with a positive case,
• Following union advice.

Please bear with us and we will update you as soon as we can. We know you will be extremely concerned about the current high rates of infection in Iver and we will do all we can to help protect our community.

Kindest regards,

Miss Digweed and Mrs Gooch

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I am sure that you will be aware from the television and radio that a ‘Major Incident’ has been declared in Buckinghamshire amid fears the number of Covid-19 cases could overwhelm the county's health services. We are currently faced with a rapidly deteriorating situation in Buckinghamshire which is fuelled by the new, far more transmissible COVID-19 variant. Taking all this into account, I wanted to take this opportunity to contact you all.
Firstly, infant and junior schools in Buckinghamshire are staying open, and we will be welcoming children back on Tuesday 5 January 2021. Even if you live outside Buckinghamshire in an area where schools are closed, your child is still allowed to come to school in Buckinghamshire at present.
Secondly, we urge you to be vigilant. Covid-19 can present itself in many different ways, especially in children. Some children may seem to have a cold or have stomach pains/an upset stomach. Please, if your child is ill, keep them at home. If they have a high temperature, new continuous cough or loss of (or change in) taste or smell, get them tested and keep them at home until the result comes back. Tests can be booked at www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test or by calling 119.
Thirdly, it is very important that we all remember the restrictions for Tier 4 areas:
- Residents should stay at home, unless they have a "reasonable excuse" such as work or education
- You cannot meet other people indoors, unless you live with them or they are part of your support bubble.
We know this is a very worrying time. We will do everything we can to try and keep everyone safe. Undoubtedly there will be more cases in school so please be prepared in case year groups need to isolate. Some of the precautions we are taking in school are:
- Children will be kept in year group bubbles at all times.
- Windows and doors will be kept open at all times. You may want to send your child with extra layers as classrooms will be cold.
- Children will be asked to use hand gel at different points during the day. Please do not send your child with their own hand gel as many of the ones children had last term did not have enough alcohol in them to be effective.
- As much as possible children will not share resources.
- Staff will only be working in one year group to ensure bubbles are maintained.
It is also vital that at pick up and drop off times you remember to maintain social distancing and use the in/out gates. Please do not use these times as a social event.
Staff will be outside at the start and end of the day. However, to try and keep everyone safe, we would ask if you need to speak to someone you call the school.
As we still haven’t yet seen the impact from moving into Tier 4, these numbers may continue to increase swiftly and we cannot relax our behaviours just yet. It’s vital that we all continue to play our part in helping to reduce the transmission of the virus by strictly following the current Tier 4 guidance. So, for the coming weeks please take all the precautions you can.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Digweed

On the first day back Year 4 are going to be hosting a 'WOW' day.

As Year 4 are going to be studying the book 'Arthur and the Golden Rope' in English, they will be using their imaginations to travel to Iceland by taking part in some Icelandic activities during the day. As Iceland is known as the land of Ice and Fire, we would like Year 4 to wear winter jumpers over their school uniform for the day.

As a surprise treat, we will also be offering them hot chocolate, skyr yoghurt and hotdogs in the afternoon, though they will still need to have a separate lunch. Please complete the google form below to give permission for your child to take part in the day's activities (that involve trying the different foods). 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We are hoping to go ahead with the 4-night residential visit to the Windmill Hill near Hailsham, Sussex from Monday 18th October – Friday 22rd October 2021. The visit includes a full programme of activities and is similar to those we have run in the past. The group will be accompanied by teaching staff from the school and fully qualified instructors at the centre supervise each activity. The cost will include travel to and from the PGL centre and full board while they are away. Whilst the trip is not essential for curriculum purposes, it provides an excellent opportunity for children to extend their learning and to refine their personal and social skills. A meeting for parents giving detailed arrangements will be held nearer the time.
 
The Year 6 residential trip is at beginning of the year to allow children to bond with their new teacher ready for the remainder of Year 6.  It is also an opportunity for teachers to identify different strengths in children that we can build on throughout the year.
 
In order to help organise and plan this trip in advance, we need to confirm the numbers of pupils who would like to attend. Therefore, for the visit to take place a payment of £410.00 per child is required. If you have not already paid your deposit please pay a non-refundable deposit of £50.00 via School Money with the form below returned in order to secure a place by 10th January 2021. The full cost must be paid by monthly instalments of £60 a month (for 6 months) via School Money from February 2021 and fully settled by 17th July 2021, although we would appreciate it if payments could be made as early as possible. Cash and cheques will also be accepted. Cheques should be made payable to Buckinghamshire Council Receipts Account. If you receive Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance or Child Tax Credit (not entitled to Working Tax Credit and with an income below £16040pa) please feel free to contact us if there are any difficulties involving the cost.  Payments may also be made in more frequent smaller amounts but the balance must be settled by the end of the school year in July.

Should you have any issues logging in to your SchoolMoney account, please contact the school reception for your log in details.
 
Only a limited number of places are available and we ask that completed forms and deposits are returned to school no later than 10th January 2021 to avoid disappointment. 
 
Payments:  £410 total
Non-refundable Deposit of £50 by 10/1/2021
Six Monthly payments of £60 starting on 1/2/21 until 1/7/21 via School Money
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
 
Mr P Clifford