Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• UPDATE to Free School Meals Vouchers

  Sun 12 Apr 2020 Ms Ward
  Schools are experiencing issues with the company who are providing Free School Meals vouchers; Edenred, who are providing the vouchers are currently struggling to cope with processing the demand from schools and their website is unavailable.  We wanted to provide additional vouchers for Free School Meals beginning on Monday 13th April however at the moment we aren't able to do this.  We will continue to provide packed lunches for Free School Meals children until the vouchers arrive.  If you are entitled to Free School Meals and haven't already ordered a packed lunch for your child but wish to receive one, please contact school and we will arrange this for you. We will update you further on Free School Meals vouchers when we have more information.

• Free School Meals Vouchers

  Wed 08 Apr 2020 Ms Ward
  From Monday 20th April Parkside will be emailing an Asda voucher to each family entitled to Free School Meals every week.  The voucher value is £15 per child, so if you have two children in receipt of Free School Meals you will get a £30 voucher.  It will be sent to you by email from a company called EdenRed.  I have spoken to the store manager at Royston Asda so that he is aware parents will be using vouchers for their shopping.  The government has said these vouchers will only be valid when purchasing food and groceries.  If you have any questions or queries about the vouchers then please contact school.

• Easter Message

  Fri 03 Apr 2020 Ms Ward

  It's Friday 3rd April and it should be the last Friday of the term...I  usually really look forward to spending the day giving out special Head Teachers Award prizes and taking photos of Easter Bonnets.  Everyone is excited because we draw the winning tickets for our Easter Egg raffle....we all hope that we are going to win!!!  I always write an end of term news message wishing everyone a Happy Easter.

   

  Today feels very different.  

   

  We have still had some children in school who have Mums and Dads who are key workers.  We've spent the day making different types of rainbows and banners which we have hung on our railings on Midland Road.

   

  All the staff, teachers and myself are missing the children very very much; we CAN'T WAIT until everyone is able to come back to school.  The teachers are working hard to update their blogs and make sure that there is always something new for children to do.  Mums, Dads, Grandmas and Grandads you are all doing an amazing job of keeping your children safe and doing school work with them during this very difficult time.  

   

  However some things are still the same as they have always been at Parkside, like the kindness, generousity and care from the parents, children and staff who make up our brilliant Parkside Community.  

   

   Thank you to you all for reminding us what makes Parkside such a special place.   🌈 🌈 🌈 💙💙💙. 

   

  Ms Ward

   

   

   

    

  

• Guidance for parents and carers: keeping children safe online

  Wed 01 Apr 2020

  Information from the DfE:

  We have updated our information for parents and carers to include a section on keeping children safe online. It provides links to online resources that will help support parents and carers in keeping their children safe online.

  Full details can be found in section 6.3 of the guidance for parents and carers on the closure of educational settings:

  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers

• Barnsley Employment Support Helpdesk

  Wed 01 Apr 2020

  Please see the information below from Barnsley Council:

   

  We are writing out to let you know of a new service available for residents of Barnsley, please can you help us raise awareness of the support available.

   

  During these difficult times, many residents are unfortunately facing uncertainty about their current and future employment. To address this and to support our residents, the employment and skills team have developed a simple, single point of contact to make it easier to speak to someone and access the free support available to residents who may have been:

  • Furloughed
  • Laid off/unemployed
  • Are at risk of redundancy
  • Looking to develop or grow skills

  Barnsley Council’s Employment and Skills service has joined forces with Enterprising Barnsley and other employment support providers to make it easier for residents to access employment and skills support.  We have launched the Barnsley Employment Helpdesk providing a simple single point of contact for all residents who would like to speak to someone and access support.   We aim to respond to enquiries on the same day with a referral to support within 24 hours.

  • Support can be accessed through the website and its webchat function:   https://www.enterprisingbarnsley.co.uk/support-for-employment/
  • Or, directly through our email address: employmentsupport@barnsley.gov.uk

   

  We’re on the end of a phone and can provide advice to determine eligibility for Universal Credit and how to start and prepare claims; job searching, getting a CV ready, support with applications and interviews and access to free training if residents want to develop your skills for a new role or promotion.

   

  Please help us raise awareness of this support across your networks, we are ready to receive referrals. Just make sure people are happy for you to share their contact details and email them through or direct people to us on the details above.

   

  We are working on getting a contact phone number and unfortunately in the meantime we are only able to receive enquiries through the email or webchat.  However, if individuals are not able to access email or webchat, if they can ask a friend, neighbour or professional to email us their phone number we will phone them straight back.   

   

  Our partners include: Barnsley Council Adult and Community Learning, Enterprising Barnsley, The Growth Company & Wiseability, The Coalfields Regeneration Trust, The Citizen’s Advice Service

   

  For further information about Barnsley Council’s response to Covid-19, visit: barnsley.gov.uk/services/health-and-wellbeing/covid-19-coronavirus-advice-and-guidance/