Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope everyone has had a good week and you are all staying safe. Thankfully it has been a less eventful week in school and children are returning after periods of self-isolation. Class 4P returned on Wednesday, Year 6 today and Year 5 are due back next Tuesday, so all being well we will have everyone back for the end of term. After the disruptive term we have all experienced, particularly over the last couple of weeks, it is more important than ever to have a good end and to be able to celebrate Advent together. As I mentioned last week, remote learning has been in place for all the pupils and the school has invested a lot this term in both online resources and time to prepare for this eventuality and hopefully we can learn from the experience of the staff and pupils who have been working from home.
Advent
We are still planning to mark the season of Advent in school and do as many activities as we can, including filming some of the individual Year 3 and 4 classes singing and our traditional fundraising for Christmas charities. I would still like to hold Advent Prayer Services for each year group in the last week of term.
Parent Governors
As I mentioned last week, a new governing body is being established to oversee the federation of the two schools in 2021. This body will include 2 parent governors and if anyone would like to nominate themselves for this position, please put it in writing with a brief outline of what skills and experience you would be able to offer and send into the school for the attention of the Chair of Governors. If required, an election would be held in January. The closing date for nominations to be received is Monday 14th December. If anyone is interested in this and would like some more information on what the role of parent governor would entail, please get in touch with me and I am happy to go through this.
After School Clubs
Please note that all the after school clubs have now finished for this term and will resume in January 2021.
Tuition Clubs
Please note that these clubs have also now finished for this term and again we will be running more clubs from January 2021
COVID-19
Please note the following important points which I shared with everyone recently.
• If your child is not attending school for any reason, you must inform the school on the first day of absence before 9:00am with the reason for absence and how long they are likely to be off for. You should also send a note into school for the attention of the class teacher when they return to school. Obviously not all absences are going to be COVID-19 related but we need to know why pupils are off on any particular day.
• If your child shows any one of the symptoms of Coronavirus i.e. a high temperature, a new and continuous cough or a loss of taste and smell, you need to get them tested straight away. If the result of the test is positive they need to stay at home for 10 days from the day they were tested. If the result is negative they can return to school.
• If your child has come into contact with someone who has tested positive i.e. a family member, the child needs to self-isolate for 14 days from the day the test was carried out. If they show no symptoms during this period they can return to school after the 14 days. If they show symptoms at any point during this self-isolation, they need to get a test and if this is positive they will need to begin the 10 day period of isolation from the day of the test.
• If you have had your child tested, please share the results with us before they return to school. You can either bring this into the office or if it is more convenient you can forward the message to the school e-mail address.
• The school has to report every day to the Department for Education how many staff and pupils are absent and how many of these absences are COVID-19 related. This is why it is vital we have up to date information about all absences.
• If you are unsure about any of the above or want some advice, please contact the school and I am happy to discuss with you. Many thanks again for your support.
Uniform
We are selling uniform every second week in school on Wednesday mornings from 8:30am to 9:30am. The next sale will be on Wednesday 16th December.
Governors Fund
We recently sent out a letter asking families to make a contribution towards our Governors Fund for this academic year 2020-21. The letter outlines what the fund is used for and how to pay it. I have not increased it this year, again to try and make it easier for our families to contribute.
Advent Charity Support
Today we held our first “Jumper Day” and next Wednesday 16th December (to go with our Christmas lunch!) we will have an extra “Christmas Jumper Day” so that hopefully all our children can take part, particularly our Year 5s who return to school next Tuesday. As today, the pupils can come in Christmas jumpers, hats etc. or just their own clothes and donate their £1 to support the wonderful work of Save the Children.
Friday Assembly Awards (Week of 7th to 11th December)
Golden Book Awards:
Class 3K – Michelle, Maciej and Nehemiah
Class 3H – Daryna, Amber and Nevaeh
Class 4P – Jaiden S, Krischann and Jakub
Class 4RC – Nathalie, Djuliana and Nicole
Class 5L – Not in school today.
Class 5O – Not in school today.
Class 6PM – Anita, Kayleigh, Tristan and Lauretta
Class 6C – Karolina, Joshua, Reinhard and Olivier
Team of the Week – Didn’t award this today as some classes have been self-isolating
Class of the Week – Class 4P for their wonderful writing this half term and Class 4RC for their lovely Advent art work
Attendance of the Week – Didn’t award this today as several classes are isolating
Pupils of the Week – Amber 3H, Mirabel 3K, Gracee 4P and Nathalie 4RC
Parish Food Donation
In last week’s newsletter I shared some important information regarding how the parish is going to be supporting families in need over the Christmas period. If you can help in any way please contact the number below. I am planning to help with the food distribution on Saturdays. If you know of any families who may need this support please let them know, it is available to any families in need not just those who attend church.
To help with food distribution on a Saturday please contact 0208 539 2908.
FOOD COLLECTION:
Food will be available for collection for all those in need every Saturday 12:00pm-2:00pm from The Jubilee Centre, St Joseph’s Catholic Church, 68 Grange Park Rd, Leyton E10 5ES.
Christmas Cards
Traditionally at this time the children would be giving each other Christmas cards in school and using our special “Post Box”. This year we will do it a little differently. The children can bring in cards on any day next week but only for children in their own class and the teachers will give all the cards out on the last day of term. The pupils should not be giving cards to each other in the playground.
Aquinas Trust Letter
I am attaching a letter from all the heads of the Catholic Schools in our Deanery. We have been working together as a group for several years as part of the Aquinas Teaching and Learning Trust and we felt it was important to send out this message to staff, parents and indeed everyone in our respective parish communities after the very challenging year that we have all experienced.
Year of St Joseph
To end a difficult year on a positive note, it was announced this week that Pope Francis has declared a “Year of St Joseph” from December 2020 to December 2021 in honour of the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as the Patron Saint of the Universal Church. This is of course a particularly special announcement for our school and parish community and the timing is also perfect as it will coincide with the 120th anniversary of the founding of our own school way back in January 1901.
Mrs Lock
I am pleased to let everyone know that Mrs Lock gave birth to her third child, a boy named Zachary last Thursday. Zachary is staying in hospital at this moment for a few checks until he is ready to go home. I would ask everyone to keep Mrs Lock and her family in your prayers at this time and let us all hope that baby Zachary can be home for Christmas with mum, dad and his two older siblings.
End of term
You may have heard or seen that schools are being asked to consider closing for pupils next Friday 18th December and using the day as a staff inset day. After careful consideration and talking to the infant school and the other Catholic schools in Waltham Forest, we have decided to remain open next Friday and finish the term as planned. The main reason for this decision is that the last week of Advent in school is a particularly important and special time and we want if possible to have a full week to celebrate this season. Also the last couple of weeks have been interrupted for many classes by having to isolate and we don’t want to lose any more days if we can help it.If anything changes in the next few days and schools are instructed to close on 18th we will of course let you know straight away.
Just to give everyone advance notice that school will be finishing earlier on the last day of term on Friday 18th December. We will still have the two staggered endings but an hour earlier than normal. Year 3 and 4 will finish at 1:45pm and Year 5 and 6 at 2:00pm. This is to tie in with the earlier finishing times at the infant school that day and to allow parents time to pick up siblings from both schools.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
- Dates for this term (will be added to and updated each week)
Week of Monday 14th December – End of term assessments in Maths and Writing for all year groups
Tuesday 15th December – Year 5 return to school
Wednesday 16th December – Christmas lunch for pupils
Wednesday 16th December – “Christmas Jumper Day” for Save the Children (bring £1).
Friday 18th December – last day of term (Year 3 and 4 end at 1:45pm, Year 5 and 6 end at 2:00pm)
2021
Monday 4th January and Tuesday 5th January – Staff inset days in school
Wednesday 6th January – First day of term for pupils
Week of Monday 11th January – Reading assessments for all year groups
Week of Monday 18th January – Parental Consultation meetings (times TBC)
