Month: December 2020

The announcements made by the First Minister have taken everyone by surprise, leaving little time for planning by councils and schools. These announcements may also affect what you had planned but I hope you will all still be able to enjoy a happy Christmas with your families. 

Edinburgh Council will confirm arrangements for return in January but information may come after schools close. The holiday will be extended for almost all children until Monday, 11th January 2021. Teachers will offer learning online using Teams from that date. As an alternative, where children cannot access work online we will offer a paper format to be collected from school. 

A limited number of spaces will be provided for childcare in a school ‘hub’ from the 6th of January. The council will invite you to apply for a space if you meet the specific criteria defined by essential ‘key worker’. The spaces available may not be confirmed until the 5th of January. This is very late but is a consequence of the unexpected announcement. Like most of you, school staff are expected to work from home in tier 4 and there will only be a limited number of them travelling to work in school buildings.

Thank you to our staff who have worked extremely hard these last months to keep children safe and provide them with as normal a routine as possible. Thank you to the many parents who have supported us and patiently followed the restrictions that have been required. Finally, thank you to our children, who have adapted so well to new routines and resiliently faced the challenges this pandemic has thrown at them. We are proud of how Ferryhill responded and what we achieved. 

I hope everyone can relax and enjoy a happy holiday period.

Yours sincerely

 Stewart D Crabb

Head Teacher

15^th December 2020

Dear Parent/Carer,

To ensure we are able to support families who may test positive over Christmas and New Year, we have put in place arrangements that will allow City of Edinburgh Council staff to work with Health Protection Lothian to identify potential close contacts in schools. For this to be most effective, we are asking you to note the following:

ALL SCHOOL SETTINGS

• Until Tuesday, 22^nd December, please report any absence to your child’s school so we can keep our records up to date
• If your child is symptomatic with any of the following symptoms, please do not send them to school
  • a new continuous cough.
    • A new continuous cough is where you have a new cough that’s lasted for an hour have had three or more episodes of coughing in 24 hours and are coughing more than usual.
  • and/or a fever/high temperature
    • A high temperature is feeling hot to the touch on your chest or back (you don’t need to measure your temperature). You may feel warm, cold or shivery
• During the school holidays, if your child has had a positive test result for Covid-19 please call 0131 200 2000 so we can carry out the tracing and contact process for others who may be affected. 
• The school’s email boxes will not be monitored over the holiday period.

EARLY YEARS, PRIMARY, SPECIAL

As your child(ren) is in the same class or bubble the school will share attendance information with the Health Protection Team so they can identify and notify close contacts. 

URGENT SOCIAL CARE

If someone needs urgent social care or you think an adult or child needs protection, call Social Care Direct 0131 200 2324

In the evening and at weekends or public holidays, you can call Emergency Social Work, free of charge from a landline. Your mobile phone provider may charge for 0800 calls 0800 731 6969

Monday to Thursday 5pm to 8.30am

weekends from Friday 3.55pm to Monday 8.30am