Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope everyone is well and you are all continuing to keep safe. It was wonderful to see everyone back in school on Monday after the long period of lockdown finally finished. As I said last week as we were preparing for the full re-opening, I truly hope this is the last one and we can now have an extended period with school fully open and running as normally as we can. There were a few minor teething problems on the first day as we all get used again to the timings and arrangements but by Tuesday it was like we had never been away! My thanks to the staff for again helping the children settle back into routines and learning and to you the parents for helping us get school back to how it should be. It has been lovely catching up with you as well this week. I have timetabled myself this week to work with every class and see for myself how well the pupils are engaging in their learning. Although Monday almost seemed like the first day of term, we are now of course moving quickly towards the end of term and Holy Week. I am trying to organise as many activities as possible for the children in the next three weeks, so see the details below.
Full Re-opening of School
Just to remind every one of the times we have now returned to as of 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. We have also resumed the staggered play and lunchtimes during the day.
As part of the full return to school on Monday 8th March, we have resumed both our Breakfast Club from 7:45-8:45am and the After School Club from 2:45-6:30pm. We will keep the prices 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. From Monday we will be taking children from the infant school into the ASC as part of the new federation. This is the first of what will be many links between the two schools as we move forward, which is very exciting for the community of St Joseph’s.
We have also resumed 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.
As in September, it is my intention to assess all the pupils in literacy and numeracy next week to see where they are in their learning and to plan the catch-up tuition for the summer term and beyond. I wanted to give the children a week to settle back in before carrying out any formal assessments so they are timetable for next week.
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.
Covid-19
We ask that you continue to remain vigilant to any symptoms of Coronavirus within members of your household, even when 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 at home or school is closed e.g. weekends or holidays.
CAFOD Lenten Appeal
As we have done in previous years, we will be raising money for CAFOD’s Lenten Appeal over the next few weeks. This will include some non-uniform days and sponsored walks in the last week of term. The non-uniform days will be on Friday 19th March and Friday 26th March plus we will have lunchtime cake sales on both days. The children should bring £1for CAFOD if they are in non-uniform plus some money for cakes (20p per cake). Your child will also be bringing home a sponsor form today for our end of term “Walk for CAFOD”. In the past we have done this as a whole school but this year each year group will do their walk on one of the days during Holy Week, so Year 3 on Monday 29th March, Year 4 on Tuesday 30th March, Year 5 on Wednesday 31st March and Year 6 on Thursday 1st April. I think doing the walks during Holy Week itself is special and of course it is my intention to walk every step with the pupils over the 4 days so I had better get into training now! Please support your child to collect as many sponsors as possible. During my time at St Joseph’s, one of the things I am most proud of is our wonderful charity work over the years including the CAFOD Lenten Appeal, so I would really like to make my last one as successful as possible.
St Joseph’s Day (19th March)
Next week marks the feasts of two very special saints. Wednesday is St Patrick’s Day and then next Friday is St Joseph’s Day. This is special in any year but is extra special this year as Pope Francis has dedicated this as the Year of Joseph. To mark the day, the Diocese of Brentwood is going to live stream a special Mass for St Joseph to all schools and parishes next Friday at 11:00am. We cannot have any whole school events such as Masses at this time, but this means that all the pupils can watch and be part of this Mass at the same time from their respective classrooms. As I am writing this, I am reminded that around this time last year we were moving inevitably towards that first lockdown, which meant sadly that we could not celebrate St Joseph’s Day in 2020. I truly hope we can do so in 2021.
Masses for Holy Week (29th March to 1st April)
I have met with Father Gerry this week and we are hoping to organise year group Masses during Holy Week and to take the children down to church for the Masses. I will confirm the dates and times for this next week.
Book Fair
As part of our Book Week in school we would have held our spring term Book Fair this week. Unfortunately due to the recent uncertainties around school openings, I have rescheduled this for the summer term, so it will take place between 17th and 19th May. The Book Tokens that we normally give to the children to use at the Book fair will still be valid in May.
Cycling
As was the case when schools re-opened last September, the government is encouraging as many pupils as possible to walk, scooter or cycle to school safely and avoid public transport or use of cars. As part of this we are organising cycle training for some of our pupils, beginning in the week of 22nd March with Cycle Confident Training for up to 24 Year 5 and 6 pupils. We hope to organise something similar in the summer term for the younger pupils.
Uniform
To support the full return to school from Monday, we have resumed uniform sales from this week. Uniform will be on sale every Wednesday for the remainder of term from 8:30-9:00am including next Wednesday 17th March.
Friday Assembly (12/03/21)
Remote Learning Awards for this Term:
3H – Lorenzo, Emily, Alexandra, Beatrice and Georgios
3K – Nehemiah, Samanta, Alina, Sloan and Mirabel
4P – Faith, Krischann, Jayden H, Amelia and David
4RC – David, Neddy, Dominik, Nicole and Patryk
5L – Leondrea, Simeon, Lily, Amber and Billion
5O – Rebecca, Antonio, Michaela, Joella and Lina
6PM – Klara, Natalia, Kayleigh, Travon and Destiny
6C – Kelsie, Michael, Joshua, Karolina and Reinhard
Golden Book Pupil Awards:
3H – Whole Class + Jaydan, Beatrice, Ivan, Amber and Emily
3K – Whole class + Oscar, Jake, Jakub, Dijon and Sloan
4P – Tyrone, Amelia, Nathan, Goda and Jakub
4RC – Alexander, DJuliana, Nathalie, Naomi and Adam
5L – Cassie, Tomas, Amber, Letoya and Elisha
5O – Daniel, Ashley, Kacper, Tyron and Ravinder
6PM – Jolene, Ezekiel, Matthew, Janet and Anita
6C – Keziah, Michael, Akira, Lamar and Tyrone
Class of the Week – I have awarded this to all the classes this week as they have all returned to school with an enthusiasm for learning and excellent behaviour in the playground. Well done everyone.
Quality Mark Award
It is always good to end a newsletter by sharing some positive news about our school. Back in 2014, the school was awarded the Quality Mark Award. This is a nationally recognised award which covers all aspects of school life including school leadership, teaching and learning, pupil achievement and progress over time, pupil behaviour, engagement with parents and the local community and an effective and challenging governing body. We were able to renew the award in 2017 and were due to renew again in 2020 but were unable to do so because of the first lockdown. However I was finally able to “meet” the national assessor, Dr. Andrew Swatland this week to carry out our renewal assessment by Zoom. He contacted me this morning to confirm the good news that the Quality Mark Award for St Joseph’s has been renewed for another three years. This was something I wanted to get in place before I finished and I am very happy it has been renewed for the school and indeed for our whole community.
As always I wish everyone a safe week ahead. Again I would like to finish with a special prayer for Lent which I have shared with all the pupils this week in school.
Prayer for Lent
Merciful God,
As your loving children,
We are eager to do what is right.
Send your Holy Spirit to live with us
And to fill us with your light
During these 40 days of Lent.
Receive Lent with gladness and joy.
Be strong
And turn your life towards God.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
Future Dates:
Wednesday 17th March – uniform on sale in school 8:30-9:00am
Friday 19th March – St Joseph’s Day – Streamed Live Mass at 11:00am
Friday 19th March – non-uniform day and cake sale for CAFOD (bring £1)
Monday 22nd March – cycle training in school this week for up to 24 Y5 and Y6 pupils
Wednesday 24th March – uniform on sale in school 8:30-9:00am
Friday 26th March – non-uniform day and cake sale for CAFOD (bring £1)
Monday 19th March – Year 3 Mass 10:30am and then sponsored walk for CAFOD
Tuesday 30th March – Year 4 Mass 10:30am and then sponsored walk for CAFOD
Wednesday 31st March – uniform on sale in school 8:30-9:00am
Wednesday 31st March – Year 5 Mass 10:30am and sponsored walk for CAFOD
Thursday 1st April – last day of term
Thursday 1st April – Year 6 Mass 10:30am and then sponsored walk for CAFOD
Tuesday 6th to Friday 9th April – Easter Holiday Food Programme
Monday 19th April – Ms D’Souza takes over as head of the federated schools today
Monday 19th April – staff inset day
Tuesday 20th April – first day of summer term for pupils
