March 2021 Update 

If your child or young person needs
to go to the Emergency Department,
from 8am on Tuesday 23 March, you
must go to the new Royal Hospital for
Children and Young People at Little France.

Thursday 4th March is World Book Day. Follow the link below for lots of information on how you can get involved.

£1 book vouchers will be distributed over the coming weeks. Book vouchers cannot be used online, however, when bookshops are open again you will be able to use them and the tokens will be honoured beyond 28 March – while stocks last.

Share a Story – World Book Day

Please find below, a link to a letter from Lesley Brown, Executive Director – Education and Children’s Services

FEB PARENT-CARER LETTER

FEB 21 LEARNERS LETTER

Please follow the link below to read the Scottish Government advice on the phased return to in-person learning, published yesterday:

Coronavirus (COVID19): Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues – advice on phased return to in-person learning in schools and early learning and childcare (ELC) settings – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Integrity Coaching on Twitter: “15 Things Mindful People do Differently which help them to get more out of life 😊 #wellbeing #Teacher5aday #sltchat https://t.co/ENlzIMUf7C” / Twitter

Please follow the link below to find the Scottish Government arrangements for the re-opening of schools:

Coronavirus (COVID-19): school re-opening arrangements for January 2021 – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We know that many adults and children are feeling particularly anxious at the moment.  The resource below, produced during last year, may be helpful for you and your children to look at. We hope that our Building Resilience programme is also giving you some strategies to use, and we are launching the new unit called “Get Active” at our assembly this week.

Please follow the link below to access the resource:

20210118102345972_coronavirus-anxiety-toolkit-4.pdf

As a result of the First Minister’s announcement on Monday 4th January 2021, schools will be closed to most children other than children of key workers and the most vulnerable until 29th January 2021.  This is a change from the initial statement from the First Minister on 19^th December 2020 which required a phased return to school. 

Due to the extended period of school closure, East Lothian Council has reopened the application process for key worker children to access places for in-school learning and childcare from Monday 18th to Friday 29th January 2021.  This online application process is for new applicants who did not apply in the first round in December 2020.  Those who have confirmed places already will roll over in to extended period and do not need to reapply.

Priority will be given to those key workers in category 1 and category 2 where both parent/carers are key workers or where there is a single parent who is a key worker.  Information about the category definitions can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-school-re-opening-arrangements-for-january-2021/pages/children-of-keyworkers/  

Wherever possible, parents/carers should make use of informal childcare arrangements in line with the Scottish Government Guidance.

Any parents/carers who believe they are key workers under criteria set out by the Scottish Government will be invited to complete our online application.  This link to this application can be found here: https://eastlothianconsultations.co.uk/education/january2021-keyworker-application-2

Kind regards

The Education Support Team