Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope everyone is well and you are all continuing to keep safe. We have completed another week in school and have certainly enjoyed the more spring like weather this week, particularly today which has been lovely, after the cold days before half term. Let’s hope this is a sign of things to come and we can get the children outside as much as possible, especially when everyone returns in just over a week’s time.
Full Re-opening of School
We had the confirmation which came from the Government on Monday that all pupils can return to school on Monday 8th March, which is great news and something I had really hoped for, especially since this will be my last term at St Joseph’s. As I mentioned on Tuesday, essentially it will be a return to the arrangements we put in place during the autumn term with the staggered times etc. Just to remind every one of the times we will be returning to from 8th March:
Years 3 and 4 arriving between 8:30am and 8:45am and departing at 2:45pm Years 5 and 6 arriving between 8:45am and 9:00am and departing at 3:00pm
As part of the full return to school on Monday 8th March, we will be resuming both our Breakfast Club from 7:45-8:45am and the After School Club from 3:00-6:30pm. We will keep the prices (reduced from 2019-20) as before, so £2 per day for Breakfast Club and for the After School Club – £10 per day (£5 up till 4:30pm) and £40 for a full week. It would be useful if you could indicate whether you are likely to use either or both of these clubs so we can plan ahead for staffing etc.
We will also be resuming the use of sports coaches as quality PE lessons will play a vital role in the return of all pupils. As before the pupils should come to school in their PE kit on their allocated days which are:
Year 3 Mondays, Year 4 Tuesdays, Year 6 Wednesdays and Year 5 Thursdays.
The children should be in full school uniform on the other days except Fridays which will continue to be non-uniform days.
I am confident that just as in September, all the children will return ready to learn and to embrace everything that school has to offer. Two important differences now from when the children returned last September from the first lockdown are that significantly more pupils have been in school this time, we have had around 60 pupils each day this week as opposed to around 30 last summer. Secondly of course we have had the remote learning in place for the pupils who have not been in school. This should ensure that they have not fallen behind as may have been the case previously. As in September, it is my intention to assess all the pupils in literacy and numeracy before the end of term to see where they are in their learning and to plan the catch-up tuition for the summer term and beyond.
Meanwhile we will continue with the remote learning and the face to face lessons for vulnerable and key worker pupils for the next week. As part of this, the Year 3 teachers ran “live” lessons on Thursday morning for the Y3 pupils at school and at home, the Year 4 teachers are trialling lessons this week and next and the other year groups are hoping to do the same.
Federation
The Federated Governing Body continues to work hard to prepare for the full federation of the schools in April. Governors are meeting weekly to put plans in place and in addition myself, Ms D’Souza and the joint chairs are also meeting weekly to ensure a smooth transition at Easter. As part of this Ms D’Souza and I are meeting all the staff individually at the junior school next week so that she can introduce herself formally to everyone.
Covid-19
We ask that you continue to remain vigilant to any symptoms of Coronavirus within members of your household, even if your child is at home. If in doubt, please get yourselves or your child tested. All Waltham Forest residents are able to get tested even if they are not showing any Coronavirus symptoms, as this will reduce the spread of infection to others. If your child or a member of your family tests positive for Coronavirus, you will need to self-isolate as a family for 10 days and inform the school, even if your child is working at home or school is closed
Virtual Assembly
I did my latest virtual assembly this week and hopefully most of you will be able to catch it at some point. This week’s Friday Assembly has been shared on-line and went “live” from Friday morning via j2homework. The theme this week was Lent and I also read out a “Promise Letter” which prepares for the full return on 8th March. I will be doing one of these every week during the current lockdown period.
Book Day
It is the national Book Day next week on 4th March; however we are going to hold ours the following week on 11th March when all the pupils are back in school.
Refurbishment Work
As you will know, we were able to complete most of the refurbishment work in school during the first part of the lockdown period. This included new lighting in all the classrooms, and halls plus the removal of asbestos in all the Year 3 and 4 classrooms and main hall with new ceilings being put in. In October we had the removal of asbestos in the lower school corridor and toilets with again new ceilings and lighting then being installed. This work was finally completed last week with my own room and some smaller cupboards being done. This now means we have removed virtually all asbestos form school which is great plus we have new ceilings and LED lighting throughout the school. Along with the new skylights which were installed in 2019, this means our school is a brighter and safer place for staff and pupils to work in. We have also had additional outside emergency lighting installed around the school, which enhances the security of the school site, particularly in the evenings and over the weekends and holidays. The whole project has taken a year to complete but I am happy it is now done.
Friday Assembly
Remote Learning Awards:
3H – Georgios, Lorenzo and Zara
3K – Samanta, Sloan and Mirabel
4P – David, Amelia and Goda
4RC – David, Neddy and Dominik
5L – Loderya, Elisha and Amber
5O – Lina, Rebecca and Chloe
6PM – Travon, Jacob and Destiny pus a special mention for Timothy
6C – Karolina, Kelsie and Michael
Key Worker/Vulnerable Pupil Awards:
Year 3 – Daryna, D’Andre, Oscar and Ameerah
Year 4 – Milan, Oliwia and DJuliana
Year 5 – Michael, Daniel and Malgorzata
Year 6 – Devonte, Lauretta and Maria
Group of the Week – all groups for their continued commitment to learning this week and the great work they have been doing in class. Well done everyone.
I wish everyone a safe week ahead. We are now in the Season of Lent which is such a special and important time in the church year, so again it will be good to have all the children back for the second half of Lent and then all being well for Holy Week itself at the end of March as we prepare for the great Feast of Easter. I would like to finish with a special prayer for Lent which I have shared with all the pupils this week both in school and at home.
Lent
For us it is the happy season of Lent:
We need at least forty days each year
To learn with all our heart, all our joy,
All our strength, all our faith and all our soul
To love God and our neighbour
To listen to the Gospel of Jesus
As to a word, completely new,
Coming from the mouth of God.
We need at least forty days each year
To learn to walk
Along the same road as the Son of God.
To you our Father in Heaven,
We give our adoration, our trust and our praise.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
