Initial enquiries must be made directly to schools.
Our lead lay chaplain Angela O’Brien is putting together weekly prayer sheets to help families pray together while we’re unable to go to Mass.
We hope you’ll be able to use the activities to help both children and adults grow in faith at this time.
This week’s sheet includes reflections on the Feast of Pentecost.
Our lead lay chaplain Angela O’Brien is putting together weekly prayer sheets to help families pray together while we’re unable to go to Mass.
We hope you’ll be able to use the activities to help both children and adults grow in faith at this time.
This week’s sheet includes reflections on the Feast of the Ascension.
Pupils can now get their education back on track thanks to a chemical company’s generous act of kindness.
St Peter’s Catholic College in South Bank has taken delivery of £10,000 worth of brand-new laptops for children who haven’t been able to access online learning, after a donation from SABIC arranged by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP).
The government has announced plans for a wider laptop distribution scheme but pupils in 18 households will not have to wait any longer to join their school friends online.
The college’s head of pastoral Justin Tattersall said the gift could prove to be life-changing for the children involved.
“A fifth of our pupils are working on paper-based resources only, so they can’t access Google Classroom in the way we would like them to,” he said. “That’s more than 100 children and presents a massive challenge.
“They are currently excluded from the opportunities other children have and this will help us bridge that gap. On top of the equipment the government are hoping to provide, it will enable us to make a massive improvement in the quality of learning for so many children.
“We’re so grateful that despite facing their own challenging circumstances, as all of us do right now, everyone involved has taken the time to think about other people and really embody the message of loving your neighbour.”
Mr Tattersall praised former Redcar MP Anna Turley for her role in brokering the deal.
“Anna knows that St Peter’s is in one of the most deprived wards in the country and when SABIC said they would like to donate £10,000, she immediately called us,” he said. “After a number of conversations, it was quickly confirmed we were to receive 18 laptops, which was just brilliant.”
NPP is a non-political organisation chaired by former chancellor George Osborne and includes business and civic leaders all working together to try to make the north of England more successful.
It has been lobbying the government since the crisis began to demand more help for children who don’t have access to IT equipment at home, as well as working to find ways to ensure they don’t fall further behind their better-off peers while schools are closed.
Director Henri Murison said: “Businesses across the Northern Powerhouse have stepped up to support disadvantaged children and enable them to maintain their learning while the schools are shut. It is particularly critically important in the north where disadvantage perpetuates the north-south divide in educational terms.
“The funding SABIC have provided will go a significant way to ensuring that some of our most disadvantaged pupils on Teesside don’t miss out on their education at a critical time.”
“To have the ability to learn at home while the schools are closed is hugely important. But we have an opportunity here to narrow the gap between disadvantaged pupils and their better-off peers to allow them to catch up.
“We now need the government to provide a catch-up premium – funding of £700 per child for disadvantaged children – to make sure that the attainment gap is tackled once and for all.”
St Peter’s is part of Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust, a family of 26 schools across Teesside and North Yorkshire. Chief operating officer Hugh Hegarty said he was “amazed” by SABIC’s act of generosity.
“We’re very grateful for this contribution at a very difficult challenging time for companies,” he said. “It’s a reflection of the wonderful community spirit on Teesside that SABIC and the Northern Powerhouse Partnership wanted to help children they know are extremely vulnerable.”
And the school’s interim headteacher Neil Skerry added: “We are enormously grateful for the generosity of this donation at a time when many of our students and families will be struggling to adapt to the pressures of home learning.
“These students will now have access to the best technological support to enable them to maintain progress alongside their more advantaged peers.”
NPP says children from disadvantaged backgrounds leave school on average 18 months behind non-disadvantaged peers and warns that the school closures will only make this worse.
It is campaigning for the introduction of a “catch-up premium” when schools reopen, directing funds at secondary schools with the highest numbers of long-term disadvantaged children. It says an initial nationwide budget of around £300m – around £700 per eligible pupil – is needed to help children catch up.
Daren Smith, SABIC’s site director, said: “SABIC know that it is more important than ever that we come together at this time and help each other. That is why we have been delighted to work with the Northern Powerhouse Partnership to provide the funding for these laptops, knowing they will benefit some of the children in our community that need them most.
“Like many other businesses, supporting our communities is at the core of SABIC’s response to help fight the battle against COVID-19.
“We are proud to have a comprehensive CSR programme in place, from donating SABIC materials and PPE to helping local food banks, protecting the health and mental wellbeing of vulnerable groups or ensuring that children can still learn and access the online resources they need.”
Other companies that can provide either surplus laptops or funding can contact NPP on by emailing info@northernpowerhousepartnership.co.uk or contacting them on Twitter at @NP_Partnership.
Children and staff from St Joseph’s Primary School in Middlesbrough set a target of £150 with their VE Day Anniversary Sponsored Walk in aid of two great causes – and managed to raise EIGHT times that amount!
Pupils dressed in red, white or blue to walk as many laps as they could round their gardens.
And one of the school’s teachers, Sean Dolan, was so inspired by their efforts that he ran 75 kilometres through the streets of Stockton, Billingham and Norton in just four days to boost the two charities!
“We have been completely overwhelmed by the children’s enthusiasm for this project and amazed that we have smashed our target,” said headteacher Liz King. “One child has raised over £200, which is incredible.
“The children loved the VE activities throughout the week and we felt it was only right to support a charity which looks after men and women who have been wounded in service for their country
“During this difficult time, we would also like to support and thank our wonderful NHS who are doing a fantastic job caring for our country in its fight against COVID-19.”
Photographs showing all of their achievements were displayed in a video montage played together with Colonel Tom and Michael Ball’s smash-hit version of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
The current total for Help for Heroes and NHS Charities Together is £1,245 and donations are still coming in.
To sponsor the children, please visit
Monday 18th May 2020
Dear Parents and Carers
As you know, and as set out in my email last week, the government hopes that schools
may begin to offer wider provision for a selected intake of pupils from June 1st.
The realisation of this aspiration will require much planning. We are aware of the
conversations being held in households across the region. We are also taking account of
ongoing updates of medical opinion.
To this end we are exploring the possibility of a phased and partial return of a limited
number of primary school pupils from Monday June 8th, a week later than initially
considered. This would be for Year 6 pupils only. A further week later, Monday June
15th, would see our Year 1 pupils returning.
This would end the current phase of wider opening – no provision for nursery or
reception will be considered in our planning at this point, as we fully understand the
educational issues surrounding any return to school for these children. I have also sent
in a separate document an outline of the planned return of the limited number of
pupils.
Our Year 10 and Year 12 students will begin one to one consultations with secondary
teachers from Monday 15th June. Secondary headteachers will communicate directly
with you on how this will be managed over the next two weeks.
During the planning period ahead of us we will consult with teachers and support staff,
parents, professional bodies and the Department for Education. This time will also see
the rollout to headteachers of a range of NPCAT risk assessments, consideration toolkits
and planning frameworks, which we have developed with reference to national
guidance and following advice from professional bodies.
I look forward to us all working collaboratively over the coming days and weeks to plan
effectively towards providing initially for those Year 6 children who wish to return to
school, along with those most vulnerable and key workers’ children.
We will do so while taking every possible precaution to ensure the safety of all of our
children and staff, adapting our environments where necessary to allow for social
distancing and hygiene considerations.
I appreciate that so many of you will have reservations on this issue and I understand
some may decide not to take this opportunity to return your children to school.
Please be assured that as a Trust we will continue to do our very best to support your
children over the coming weeks, whether this is through school-based learning or via
our remote learning platforms.
Yours sincerely
Hugh Hegarty CEO
NPQH | M.Sc. | PGCCGC | B.Ed. Hons.| CTC
Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust
Our lead lay chaplain Angela O’Brien is putting together weekly prayer sheets to help families pray together while we’re unable to go to Mass.
We hope you’ll be able to use the activities to help both children and adults grow in faith at this time.
Thursday 14th May 2020
Dear Parents and Carers,
You will be aware of the guidance issued by the DfE on Monday May 11th setting
out its anticipation to encourage pupils to attend school from Monday June 1st 2020,
which is subject to change. We will update you in respect of any such
modification.
As a Trust we have commenced our planning following the government
announcement. This will reference the government guidance allied to detailed
risk assessments and consultation with teachers, parents and trade unions.
We will ensure that any proposals to offer school opening from June 1st will take
account of the necessity to offer a safe and secure environment for pupils, staff
and naturally parents in respect to the dropping off and collection of your children.
We will issue comprehensive guidance on the Trust-wide model of school return for
June 1st onwards by Friday May 22nd 2020.
Kind Regards
Hugh Hegarty
Chief Executive Officer
Our lead lay chaplain Angela O’Brien is putting together weekly prayer sheets to help families pray together while we’re unable to go to Mass.
We hope you’ll be able to use the activities to help both children and adults grow in faith at this time.
Our lead lay chaplain Angela O’Brien is putting together weekly prayer sheets to help families pray together while we’re unable to go to Mass.
We hope you’ll be able to use the activities to help both children and adults grow in faith at this time.
Free School Meals voucher provider Edenred has apologised for problems on its eCode redemption website earlier this week.
Edenred says it has identified an issue with its system on Monday April 27 and Tuesday April 28 when a message was saying “invalid code” was displayed.
It said: “Edenred would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and reassure you that our teams have worked hard to deploy a solution which has now rectified the problem.”
Anyone who tried to redeem an eCode received on Monday or Tuesday and received the error messages is asked to try again. If the problem persists, you may have entered the incorrect eCode.
If your code is still not accepted after several attempts, delete the browsing history on your device, which may be storing the incorrect code in its memory.
If you continue to experience problems, please email freeschoolmealsparentscarers@edenred.com or phone 03334005932 for further support.
