Please click on the link below to access a collection of thoughts, opinions and feelings put together from some of our P6’s work this week.

Public urged to keep eyes and ears open for children at risk during COVID-19 With the closure of schools and nurseries during the COVID-19 crisis, a national child protection group is urging everyone to keep their eyes and ears open for children who may be at risk during this time. Child Protection Committees Scotland, a national grouping of child protection professionals, supports all efforts by the Scottish Government, local authorities and the third sector to keep children safe from harm during the enforced break in normal routine. Highland Child Protection Committee recognises the impact a significant change in day-to-day life may have on vulnerable children. “Schools and nurseries in Highland play a central role in contributing to the safety of all local children, especially those who may be at risk of abuse and neglect. When children are not at school we lose the ability to monitor their wellbeing on a daily basis, and we are making every effort possible to support those children and families who may need it during these demanding times.” However, Highland Council stresses the need for the public to join efforts to protect potentially vulnerable children during the Coronavirus outbreak. Chief Social Work Officer, Karen Ralston urges everyone to play a part to keep local children safe: “The onus of care has now shifted from schools to local communities, and we’re asking everyone to keep their eyes and ears open. Local people always provide a significant protective factor for children and that’s even more important at a time when families may be under significant additional stress. If you’re at all worried about a child’s welfare, it’s much better to say something than do nothing.” Highland Child Protection Committee urges everyone to take action if they’re concerned about a child or young person. If you’re worried don’t hesitate to seek help. Full contact details for social work and other professionals are available on the website www.hcpc.scot. If you are worried a child or young person may be at immediate risk of harm, please phone 999.

Highland Trading standards advice and guidance on COVID-19 and scams The Highland Council’s Trading Standards is providing advice and guidance to businesses and consumers affected by COVID-19 at www.highland.gov.uk/tradingstandards David MacKenzie Trading Standards Manager said: “We are currently providing information for consumers and businesses on cancelled bookings for accommodation and services; hand sanitiser products; and financial protection for small businesses at present. We will add to our website as more intelligence and information becomes available to us.” Cancelled bookings for accommodation and services Many Highland tourist businesses face the problem of cancelled bookings. Consumers are unable to travel due to the COVID-19 restrictions and many businesses are forced to temporarily close. These are uniquely difficult times for Highland businesses, and we want to ensure that they are aware of all the options available to assist in these situations. We think that it is reasonable for businesses to make their customers aware of these options. For example: • If the consumer has paid using a credit card and the amount is over £100, they may be able to claim their money back from their card provider under “Section 75” equal liability rules. • If the payment was by debit card, the consumer may be able to make a claim from their card provider under the banking system’s “Chargeback” provisions. • The consumer may be able to make a claim on holiday insurance, e.g. an annual policy, more information is available from the Financial Conduct Authority • Any dispute that a consumer has with a financial company over insurance, credit cards or debit cards can be raised with the Financial Ombudsman Service. This is a free-to-use and highly regarded dispute resolution system. • It may suit both consumer and business to arrange a rebooking for a later date. • Detailed information for tourist businesses can be accessed from VisitScotland. Hand sanitiser products (not soap-based etc.) • Hand sanitiser products are in huge demand and some products are no longer available. Demand has led to some businesses (e.g. spirit distillers) diversifying into producing hand sanitising products. Products which are manufactured with the final intention of “destroying, deterring, rendering harmless, preventing the action of, or otherwise exerting a controlling effect on, any harmful organism” are currently controlled under the European Biocidal Products Regulations 2012 under a category defined as Product-type 1: Human hygiene. Biocidal products in this group are used for human hygiene purposes, applied on or in contact with human skin or scalps for the primary purpose of disinfecting the skin or scalp. • Trading Standards enforce these regulations in shops, but the current rules surrounding the manufacture and approval of these products need to be checked with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) • Hand sanitisers made for your own personal use are excluded from the Regulation, however if it is supplied to third-parties then the law applies, and advice should be sought from the HSE. • Soap-based or hand softener gels and creams with an antibacterial effect are regulated under cosmetic regulations. • Advice from the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association. Financial protection for small businesses • Individuals buying goods or services over £100 and less than £30,000 using a credit card are given additional protection if there has been a breach of contract under “Section 75” equal liability rules. Businesses who use ordinary (non-business) credit cards facilities may also benefit from the same protections even if it is in relation to items or services bought for the business. Card users should speak to their provider if they wish to make a claim. If a business has a right to make a claim and this is not honoured by the card provider, small businesses may be able to raise this matter with the Financial Ombudsman Service. The Scottish Government has also issued general advice to businesses, visit: https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/coronavirus-advice

Highland Council to launch e-vouchers for free school meals Highland Council will be providing e-vouchers to families to support access to free school meals from week commencing 30 March 2020. This innovative and easy-to-use service will ensure over 4,000 school children will continue to receive support for school meals while schools are closed. For the majority of pupils, this will be delivered digitally through e-vouchers for food in local supermarkets. Enabling choice will provide flexibility and also help to reduce waste, as food can be purchased according to need or preference in the household. Some restrictions do apply as the e-vouchers cannot be used to purchase age restricted products such as tobacco, alcohol, lottery tickets and fuel. The impact of Coronavirus has caused many vulnerable families additional hardship and this process will ensure that the most vulnerable children can get food. Highland Council continues to investigate other ways of providing food across the Highlands for vulnerable groups within the rapidly changing environment. This includes working closely with High Life Highland, Eden Court and our many partners including the Third Sector. Further information will be provided in due course. Cllr John Finlayson, Chair of the Education Committee, said: “The provision of school meals is a priority service that we are committed to delivering including during when schools are closed in the current times. I applaud the Highland Council staff who are working hard to implement this service as quickly as possible and for e-vouchers to be issued next week”. A helpline number has been set up for anyone who is struggling and needing urgent help during this crisis. The single line number – 0300 303 1362 – will connect callers to relevant Council specialist teams and will operate Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm. All calls are free.

Good morning/afternoon Please ignore this email if it does not concern you The ELC DD will be collected next week as normal and then suspended until further notice. If you are a voucher payer please do not transfer any further funds at this time we will be in touch in due course.

Well done to all our families who took part in the round of applause for our NHS tonight. Please share your photos and videos on our twitter page @LochardilPS using #lochardillove #clapforourcarers #goal3goodhealthandwellbeing

If/ when any of our pupils are allocated a place at the Key Worker Hubs being set up within Highland, can you please ensure they take along their learning pack provided by us, device (if possible) and materials to write with. We also ask children to continue to register as they have been doing on their Google Classroom each day. Parents/ carers can you please email the school on Lochardil.Primary@highland.gov.uk to let us know if/ when your child is allocated a place for our information.

Thanks to every one of you for supporting us with helping to provide continuity for your child’s education and ensure their safety.

Following the information we received from the First Minister last night 23.03.2020, all free meals will be cancelled from today (Tuesday). We will be in touch soon with further guidance and information.

Following the information we received from the First Minister last night 23.03.2020, all free meals will be cancelled from today (Tuesday). We will be in touch soon with further guidance and information.

If your child is unable to register daily online, please report the absence by email lochardil.primary@highland.gov.uk or phone the school mobile on 07788 387590.

Reminder regarding free school meals for next week for any of our pupils entitled to this provision.

This is the extract from the letter posted on our blog on Friday. Please share.

Free School Meals
For the week beginning Monday 23rd March, a takeaway ‘Grab & Go’ option will be available for all young people who are entitled to a free school meal. This includes all P1-P3 pupils and all other pupils from P4 and above who are already entitled to this. These will be available from the local Secondary School for your Associated Schools Group (i.e. Inverness Royal Academy for our area) and can be collected between 11am and 2pm.
The plans for how this will look after the Easter break will be communicated to you separately, once further arrangements are in place.
There is no need to reapply but for new applications please see the link -www.highland.gov.uk/info/899/schoolsgrants_and_benefits/10/free_school_meals_and_assistance_with_clothing.

Please see the link below for information on managing care for children of key workers.

https://www.highland.gov.uk/keyworkers

Please see a copy of the letter that was sent home today through school bag mail.

With the announcement of school closures from today, Friday 20^th March, our commitment at Lochardil Primary School continues to be the education and safeguarding of all our pupils, and to sustain strong links with our learners, parents/ carers, and local community during this time.

We have worked to provide a system which will support continuity of education, and in line with Highland Council provision to support this.

Thank you everyone for your continued support for our Lochardil family, keep in touch & stat safe!

Thursday, 19 March 2020
Highland Schools will close at end of school day on Friday 20 March
As communicated by the First Minister yesterday, we can confirm that all schools in The Highland Council region will close at the end of the school day on Friday 20th March. Pupils should not return to school on Monday 23rd March.
The Chief Executive of The Highland Council, Donna Manson said:
“Having received a letter from the Scottish Government at 2:45pm today, immediate and extensive work will be required to make sure that we can assess the implications of the Government’s requirements in terms of the provision of learning and care for the children of key worker groups. It is hoped that these arrangements will be in place from Friday 27th March.
“Further information will be communicated as the Council engages with a range of partners to ensure that we support the Highland effort to reduce the spread of coronavirus and the work of the emergency services as set out in the Civil Contingencies Act.
“Another key piece of work will be the continued and adapted provision of food, care, support and protection to our vulnerable children.
“With regards to the week beginning Monday 23 March, I am confident that our education staff across the Highlands are in a position to provide families with an education package for all our children at home, during this first week of school closures in these exceptional circumstances.
“Schools have been in contact with parents and the Council has set up access to online resources via the educational improvement team at: https://www.highland.gov.uk/digitalschoolshub .”
“Any parent or carer enquiries should be directed to schools on Friday 20 March. From Monday 23 March Highland Council Education Helpline details will be communicated publicly in helping parents and carers with enquiries.
“Your support in these unprecedented times is greatly appreciated.”

With the recent announcement of school closures from Friday our commitment at Lochardil Primary School continues to be the safeguarding and education of our pupils, and sustain communication with our learners, parents/ carers, and local community. Home learning packs have been sent home today with each pupil. The contents within each pack will support your child to continue to learn during this school closure period. A letter to fully explain how we plan to provide and support our learners with their education through these packs and our digital Google Classrooms for every class from ELC – P7, will be shared tomorrow when we can include the support also provided from Highland Council. Our online classrooms will commence from Monday 23rd March – Friday 27th March. We will enjoy a break during our school holidays as planned then re-open online from Tuesday 14th April until further notice. A parent/ carer or nominated contact of any pupil that has been absent from school can collect their pack between 2pm-2.30pm or arrange for this to go home with a friend to collect from. Please email Lochardil.Primary@highland.gov.uk if you need support with this. Please check the blog tomorrow for updates. Thank you for your strength, support and understanding at this time.

18 March 2020 For immediate release Highland Council focuses on delivering statutory services The Highland Council is planning for greatly increased staff absence levels over the coming days and weeks. National modelling estimates that councils will see absences of at least 50% over the months ahead. We are no longer operating under business as usual, in order to focus on priority and statutory services. Today (18 March 2020) a number of Highland Council staff who are at a higher risk from coronavirus (COVID-19), have been advised to follow self-isolation measures, in line with current government advice. This group of people include those who are pregnant or have a specific underlying health condition. Anyone with any of the coronavirus symptoms is also advised to stay at home for 7 days and their other family members for 14 days. In addition to this group, many Council staff are also parents and staff will have additional child care responsibilities, due to the national decision to close all schools and nurseries from the end of this week. All these factors will significantly impact on the Council’s and our partners’ capacity to carry out our core functions and we ask that everyone is patient and understands that we have urgent priorities in resilience. The Council will continue to focus on our statutory duties under the Civil Contingencies Act. To enable this, the Council is suspending responses to enquiries or complaints about our current service provision and will instead be focusing our efforts to prioritise our statutory services, caring for the vulnerable, cooperating with our Resilience Partners and supporting economic recovery. We are aware that many people are keen to do what they can to support communities, within the constraints of the complex and unprecedented situation we are in. We are awaiting further national community resilience guidance and will ensure this is promoted to communities so that people are clear where to get help and how they can help themselves. In the meantime, Highland Council, along with partners and the voluntary sector, are engaging with community councils and other groups to assist the coordination of support to vulnerable people within Highland communities.

The First Minster has just made an announcement closing schools after Friday this week. Donna Manson, Chief Executive of The Highland Council said: “Highland Council will need time to assess the impact of this announcement on our workforce, and our communities as well as on the provision of support for our young people. “Further information will be forthcoming tomorrow, and please be assured that our central education team have been working extensively on providing learning materials for use at home. “More detail will be given to parents and carers and pupils from the Council later this week. “As was intimated by the First Minister, details about free school meals will again be forthcoming in the days ahead. “Thank you for your understanding on this matter. “We are expecting further information from the Scottish Government on what will be happening for older pupils regarding exams and the Council will provide further updates as they come. “Thank you for your understanding on this matter.” Regards Donna Manson Chief Executive The Highland Council

Cancelled Loch Insh trip – Please know we await an update on further information on this with regards to payments/ refunds/ rescheduling of dates. There are a number of schools in a similar situation due to the current situation, so we will update parents/ carers as soon as we find out the information. Thanks for your understanding at this time.

Latest Update from Highland Council It has been announced by the UK/Scottish Government that as of 16 March anyone developing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, however mild, should stay at home for 7 days from the onset of symptoms as per existing advice. In addition, it is now recommended that anyone living in the same household as a symptomatic person should self-isolate for 14 days. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are recent onset of new continuous cough and/or high temperature. Information for the public on COVID-19, including stay at home advice for people who are self-isolating, can be found on NHS Inform. Further, people are advised to take social distancing measures to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19. In particular, this is strongly advised for people aged 70 or over, people with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women. Further advice on these measures will be available on NHS Inform shortly. The Highland Council, local education authority and Highland Schools are following national government and public health guidance. For further information please refer to the national guidance: www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/ For school closures in Highland please refer to the schools closures website at www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures

We received our Aldi Sports Kit today. It included bibs, cones, balls, beanbags, relay batons, finish line and “eggs” with spoons!

Thank you to everyone who donated tokens for this collection. Looking forward to sunny weather to enjoy this bag of goodies!

In line with the latest guidance from The Highland Council as a precaution all parents evenings and afternoons have been postponed until further notice, as have school trips, including off-site lessons such as swimming.

For us at Lochardil School this means that for the foreseeable future our clubs that are held after school will be cancelled:

OJ Sports

Glee

Cross Country

Gymnastics

Highland Youth Theatre (performance due to be held 20.03.20 also cancelled)

Netball

Football coaching

Lion King Trip to Edinburgh

P3 UHI trip

McRobert Cup & Baillie Cup Sporting Events

Loch Insh Residential Trip

Apologies but due to the current restrictions in place in light of the coronavirus outbreak we are CANCELLING the Parent Council meeting on Thursday 19th March. We hope to go ahead with the next meeting as planned on Wednesday 13th May. Many thanks for your understanding. The Parent Council Committee

Please see the current guidance from the Highland Council which we are now following . Thank you for your support. It is much appreciated at this time.

Please see below information recieved this afternoon.

POSTPONEMENT OF MCROBERT CUP CROSS COUNTRY EVENT 2020 You will be aware the First Minister announced that the Scottish Government is advising that as of next week, gatherings of more than 500 people should be cancelled. High Life Highland is aware that the Scottish Government will be issuing further guidance over the weekend, however having given the matter serious consideration a decision has been made that the McRobert Cup will be postponed until a future date. This decision has not been easily reached; however HLH is of the view that to leave the decision until the start of next week, pending the additional information from the Scottish Government would not be fair to those participating; family members; supporters and helpers. We hope you will appreciate at this stage we are unable to give any indication as to when any rescheduled event will be held but we will be back in touch once we have a clearer understanding of when business-as-usual is re-established and we can look to put the event back in the calendar. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to you, your family or organisation but hope you will understand that in the current climate circumstances are very much out with our control.

Just a reminder that tomorrow (Friday) pupils can bring £1 and dress in sports wear or as their favour sports person to raise money for Sport Relief. Mrs Fisher will be leading a Zumbathon at lunchtime for anyone who wants to join in .

A reminder that our Science event is today 4pm-5:30pm please pop along between this time to try out our science activities and learn the importance of science within the early years.

We enjoyed a walk around our local area yesterday and we looked at many different styles of houses. Lochardil House Hotel was very interesting and we were able to work out how old it is. We passed many of our own houses and ones where other members of our family live. Fortunately we missed the rain showers!

The open morning scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 11^th March, has been postponed.  A new date will be advised in due course.  We look forward to welcoming you to the classrooms soon.

Open Morning – our school open morning, which was due to take place tomorrow, has been postponed.

Sports Relief – on Friday the school will be raising money for Sports Relief. Children are welcome to come to school in sports clothes for a donation of £1. A Zumbathon will also be taking place on Friday lunchtime with Mrs Fisher!

Learning Pathways – all learning pathways are due to be returned by Wednesday 11th March.

Thank you for your continued support. Mrs MacLelland.

Staff, students and pupils who have returned from Category 1 risk areas for COVID-19 within the last 14 days should self-isolate, and NOT attend education or work for 14 days, even if they feel well.

You can find information about affected areas on the HPS website: www.bit.ly/HPS-coronavirus

Staff, students and pupils who think they have been in contact with someone infected with coronavirus should NOT attend education even if they are well, but should first contact their GP or NHS24 (111) for further assessment and advice. See www.bit.ly/NHSinform-coronavirus

You are invited to come in to school on Wednesday 11th March 09.20 – 10.00 to have a look around your child’s classroom.

We will have a second hand uniform stall in the reception  area where you can purchase uniform items at rock bottom prices!

Working hard this week ahead of the Scottish Opera performance, and celebrating World Book Day!

On Wednesday our very talented liaison person Rodger from Scottish Opera came and ‘sorted them out!’

The children did us proud, and it seemed that all of them knew the words. Rodger was very complimentary about singing AND behaviour, so well done all!

We had lots of funny characters reading in our class on World Book Day. Don’t panic! They didn’t have to dress up- only if they wanted to!

The children went around the school to different classes to share some Book Day activities too.

In my class we were shocked to discover a murder had taken place! Mrs Irving had completely molicated Bart Simpson! The children had to find out who the murderer was using clues around the class

Remember to come along to our Open Morning on Wed 11th if you can make it. We’d love to see you! 9:20am

For some of the Caley Thistle team , World book day was spent at Lochardil promoting The SPFL Trust 4-4-2 reading programme with all our children encouraged to take part and get their reading card from the local library (read 4 books, collect 4 stamps, get 2 tickets*). Class leaders in each group helped explain to their classmates what was involved. The offer is open to all primary aged children. * Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC are offering a family ticket for anyone who successfully collects 4 stamps.

Would you be interested in helping our pupils to learn about safe cycling?

on the roadsWe rely on parent/carer volunteers to help deliver Bikeability Training to our Primary 6 classes.

We have been advised of a training event for Cyle Training Assistants to be held at Milton of Leys primary school on Tuesday 17th March 9am – 5pm.  If you would like to attend this training, or would like more information about becoming a training assistant, please contact the school office who will be able to help.

https://www.cycling.scot/bikeability-scotland