Keeping Children Safe Online

Parents are reminded to carefully monitor their child’s online activity and speak regularly to them about digital safety at this time of heightened use. Please contact your child’s head of year via the MyEd app if you have any concerns.

Free School Meal Voucher Update

Due to school closure the government will now be providing access to £15 a week shopping voucher per child, if a family is entitled to free school meals, from next week.  If you are not currently in receipt of free school meals but believe you may qualify please check and complete the online application by clicking here. 

The vouchers currently being provided by Sandhill View Academy  as emergency support for children who are working from home will finish this week, further details will follow.

How to qualify for free school meals

To be eligible you must be in receipt of one of the benefits listed below:

• Income Support

• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

• Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income, as assessed by the Inland Revenue that does not exceed £16,190 or

• Guarantee element of Pension Credit

• Working Tax Credit run-on paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit

• Universal Credit

Children who receive Income Support or Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance in their own right are also entitled to receive free school meals.

School Office Closure

Due to COVID-19 from Monday 30^th March Sandhill View Academy School Office will be closed until further notice.

If you have any queries please contact us between the hours of 8.30am and 3.00pm (Monday to Friday) via school text, our messaging system MyEd or by email info@sandhillview.com.  The admin team will aim to respond and answer any queries you have within 24 hours.

Please note we will continue to run the emergency provision.

Thank you for your support.

Free School Meals During Disruption

Until the government outlines how they plan to cater for those students eligible for free school meals, we are sending out e-vouchers for Asda to all parents of children who are eligible via the MyEd app. If any parents have issues accessing the MyEd app please contact main reception for help.

Please check this page for more information on how to use the vouchers.

We hope this helps parents and carers of children who are eligible for Free School Meals during this challenging time.

Schools Closure Update

Further to our latest update,  we can confirm that we have now been instructed to close the school to almost all children after this Friday 20th March until further notice.

As advised by the government, we will do all we can to stay open for the children of key workers (e.g. NHS staff, police, others in frontline services) and children with certain needs.

We sent a text last night to ask parents to inform us if they fall into the ‘key worker’ category so that we can plan for numbers. Thank you to all of those parents who have already confirmed this. If you have not received the text please contact the school office immediately to let us know.

All other children will need to stay at home, so we ask that you do not send your child into school from Monday 23rd March 2020 onwards.

Please note that this is a national closure – as you may have heard in the news – so while it is a challenging situation, we are not alone. We will re-open fully as soon as we can and will let you know when this is by text, the school website and all of our social media channels.

Sandhill will only provide care (9am-3pm) for those pupils whose parents/carers meet the Government criteria and where they cannot be safely cared for at home.

Further information for parents and carers can be found on this page of the government’s website.

What we’ll continue doing while your child is at home.

Your child’s learning is of course important to us, we have set instructions on Show My Homework for accessing MathsWatch and Instagram and created virtual ‘classes’ on Seneca Learning (please click this link for further information https://www.sandhillview.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/SMHW-Seneca-Help-sheet.pdf). Students can ask questions via Show My Homework and teachers will reply on a daily basis between the hours of 8.30 and 3.35. Many of our departments now have Instagram accounts for general tips and advice. We encourage your child (if they are older than 13) to follow these accounts so that they have regular updates from their teachers. These are open accounts and questions can be asked as comments (no direct messages will be opened for safeguarding purposes).

Should you wish to contact the school for any reason, you can do so via telephone or text. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

We already had plans to provide supermarket vouchers for children who are in receipt of free school meals. We are contacting those parents separately with more information about how we will provide this support, and then will be looking at the scheme the government has just announced.

What we won’t be able to go ahead with:

• School trips
• Breakfast or after-school clubs
• Events
• Internal exams or tests

This is as much as we know right now and we appreciate your continued patience with as we deal with this ever-changing situation. We understand that this latest news will have an impact on you and your family and it’s far from ideal, but we’ll continue to keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops.

If you want to get in touch to share any concerns, please don’t hesitate to do so via the MyEd app.

And remember: if you or your child feels ill and you want to know what to do next, please use NHS 111 online.

Thank you again for your continued support, and we will be in touch with more information when we can.

Partial School Closure in Effect from 19/03/2020

Based upon the evolving development of events in school and nationally, Sandhill View Academy will operate a reduced service from 18/03/20 until the scheduled closure for next week.

On Thursday 19th March and Friday 20th March, school will be open only for the following students: 

• Year 7 (it is not recommended that children under the age of 12 are left at home without adult supervision, we hope that staying open for all year 7s will support working parents)
• Year 11 (to support preparation for the important GCSE exams)
• Children of any parents who work in front line services and SEN students who have no adult supervision at home. Students will be supervised in year group computer rooms to complete the work that is set as though they were following the ‘working from home’ arrangements (detailed below). 
• Students in years 8, 9 and 10 will need to study at home, following the arrangements that have been set up in the past few weeks by our teaching team, following their usual timetable where possible. 
• Students entitled to a free school meal can collect a packed lunch from the school reception between 11.00 and 12.30. 
• This is not a school holiday and no students should be seen outside during the school hours of 8.30 and 3.35 (unless coming to school to collect a lunch between 11.00 and 12.30)
• Students in all year groups who are self isolating, or from years 8, 9 and 10 who are ‘working from home’ should check the ‘Show My Homework’ website/app for the specific work that has been set for them. Much learning will be done through signing up to Seneca learning (the link for Seneca can be found on the home page of our website
• We have made additional arrangements for families who have already informed us that they do not have access to the internet, they will be contacted separately with details of further support.
• Any changes or further updates will be posted on the school website and communicated via our MyEd App.

You can view the information above, which was sent as a letter to parents on Wednesday 18th March 2020 by clicking here.

We continue to follow the advice and guidance given to us by the UK government. We will keep our school community updated as quickly as we can but please appreciate that the situation is ever-changing.  If the advice and guidance changes then we will update this page.

From Friday 13th March , anyone with flu-like symptoms – defined as a fever of above 37.8C or a persistent cough – is being asked to stay at home for at least seven days.  Anyone who has travelled to an affected area, or who has been in close contact with an infected person, should self-isolate for 14 days.

Spending 15 minutes within 2m (6ft) of someone with the virus, or having face-to-face contact, is judged as close contact and a significant risk

Further advice is available here:-

NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

GOV: Coronavirus (COVID-19): latest information and advice – GOV.UK

Year 11 Progress Evening Cancellation

As a precautionary measure, in response to unprecedented international events linked to the Coronavirus outbreak, the Year 11 Progress evening, Monday 16th March, is cancelled.

For more information and what to do if you have a child in Year 11, please click here.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Activities Day Trips Cancellation

In light of the current circumstances, we have decided to postpone activities day this term and cancel any upcoming trips involved with activities day until further notice. 

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Non Urgent Appointments Cancelled

To support our staff to prioritise the safety and education of our children at this very busy time in school, all non-urgent appointments are cancelled. 

Parents, please communicate with school via the school text service (MyEd) and understand that staff will respond as soon as they are able to.

Thank you for your understanding and support at this time. 

Last updated: Wednesday 1st April 2020 10:00pm