UPDATE 24 September 2020

Please see the letter for parents from the Director of Public Health.

UPDATE 23 September 2020

Please see the latest important letter to parents from NHS Track and Trace.

UPDATE 4 September 2020

 Please click on the link to see the latest letter to parents and carers explaining the arrangements for the start of the new school year. 

UPDATE 24 June 2020

Please click on the link below to see the latest guidance on staying safe outside our homes. We need to use these principles set out in the guidance wherever and whenever appropriate.

UPDATE 11 May 2020

Schools and Families Advice Line (SFAL) Launched

The ‘Schools and Families Advice Line’ (SFAL) is a new service established by Herts Community NHS Trust to provide emotional wellbeing advice and early help to children and young people, school staff and families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It can be really worrying when you, or someone you know is going through a difficult time. If you feel this service could help, please call their Single Point of Access (SPA) who will take your details before passing them onto their call back service.

Supporting children, young people and their families by providing early advice around managing:

• Specific anxieties (around COVID-19/self-isolating measures, transition between year groups, developing and maintaining relationships, fear of failure, low self-esteem or aspirations, trust issues, social anxiety, etc.)
• Phobias (animals/insects, specific food stuffs, specific objects, modes of transport etc.)
• Low mood
• Emotional regulation difficulties.
• Mild obsessive compulsive difficulties that are starting to impact day to day activities.

Supporting school staff by:

• Signposting to wellbeing resources which could be used in the classroom.
• Supporting education staff to think about how they might adapt their current wellbeing processes to the COVID-19 situation.
• General discussion and psychoeducation for school staff around wellbeing/coping methods/normalising etc.
• Signposting individual staff to wellbeing resources (e.g. hard copy/virtual and website based/phone apps).
• One-off phone/video consultations to discuss staff wellbeing.

Contact Details:

Telephone: 0300 777 0707

Email: hpft.spa@nhs.net

UPDATE 23 April 2020

Please see the link below sent to all Hertfordshire Schools giving advice to parents during the coronavirus from the Royal College of Paediatricians & Child Health. This contains important advice if your child begins to feel unwell.

Advice for parents during coronavirus

UPDATE 16 April 2020

As we approach the end of the two week Easter period, I would like to thank the Chessbrook staff who have continued to work throughout this time to provide provision for students on a daily basis.  

Following the announcement this evening that the lockdown arrangements will continue for another three week period, we will be continuing with the arrangements we have in place. The centre will continue to open on a daily basis to support children of key workers and those who are vulnerable.  

UPDATE 3 April 2020

I would like to thank you all for your support over the past 2 weeks.

To support those children of key workers and with social workers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we are continuing to offer daily support at Chessbrook throughout the Easter holidays. Those children who fall into the vulnerable category (have an EHCP or a social worker) have already been contacted. As per my most recent letter, please contact us if you feel your child is vulnerable and needs the additional support from us.

I will update you further regarding the plan for after the Easter holidays.

Try and have a relaxing time and stay safe.

UPDATE 30 March 2020

As we enter the second week of operating in a way that supports the government's advice on staying at home and social distancing, I wanted to highlight a couple of key points from the letter I sent home last Friday.

Firstly I would like to thank you for your continued support. This is a very challenging time for us all and we need to do all we can to stay positive and ensure we support each other. If you or your child is finding the whole situation overwhelming, there are a full range of resources available on the #JustTalk website. You can access these by clicking on the image on the right hand side of this page.

We are continuing to offer support and a timetable for all students in a variety of ways. Today we have four more teachers being trained to deliver 'live' lessons via our virtual curriculum, TUTE. 

We have identified the students who will be attending Chessbrook based on the government advice on vulnerable students, those with an EHCP and those with parents who are key workers.

Please contact us if you feel you or your child needs any additional support throughout this time.

Your child's PLM will continue to make regular contact with you.