Dear Parents/Carers,
Hope everyone is well and has enjoyed a good summer, despite the mixed weather recently (as I am writing this it is wet and miserable outside!). I am sending this newsletter to set out the arrangements for the return of pupils next Monday 7th September. All the staff have spent the last 3 days getting ready to welcome back the pupils and to plan both for next week and the term ahead. I sent all the details of how our reopening would look back in July and am sending this to you again today as a reminder and to make sure everyone is ready. One advantage we have is our experiences during lockdown when we had many of the pupils in school on a rota.
September Re-Opening
Our overriding aim is to keep the school day as normal as possible, do as many things as we would normally do while keeping to the guidelines and restrictions. We will have staggered arrival and departure times for the lower school (Years 3 and 4) and the upper school (Years 5 and 6). The times are:
Years 3 and 4 arriving between 8:30am and 8:45am and departing at 2:45pm.
Years 5 and 6 arriving between 8:50am and 9:05am and departing at 3:05pm.
Please try and keep as close to these times as possible to allow a smooth start to the school day. As the children arrive they will go into their allocated area of the playground to await the bell and go to class. If you have siblings in both the lower and upper school, try and arrive around 8:40-8:45 so the younger children can go to class and the older children only have to wait a few minutes. If it is raining the children will go straight to class as they arrive. Over the summer we have installed hand sanitisers outside each classroom for the children to use as they arrive and at other times during the day as well as the regular hand washing. Other key things to note are:
- There will be staggered playtimes and lunchtimes during the day. We will be serving hot meals to everyone in the dining room as usual apart from the pupils who would normally have a packed lunch. The playground will be divided in two and year groups will have their own section to play in at different times.
- We will not be doing class assemblies or any large productions this term. In- school assemblies such as the Friday Golden Book Assembly will be for year groups only so I am going to be spending a lot of time with 4 Monday assemblies and then 4 Friday assemblies! We can still do year group Masses this term which is good but not whole school Masses.
- PE and sport will still be taking place and we can use sports coaches. We can still do trips for year groups but not residential.
- We will be teaching the full curriculum this year. Obviously the first half term will include a lot of catch up but I would hope that before the end of the autumn term we are able to teach the normal curriculum for each year group. We are planning to use next week as an “Earth Week” with lots of cross-curricular work, outdoor learning and engaging activities to get all the children re-connected with school, particularly those children who will not have been in school at all since March. In the second week we will assess where the pupils are in their basic literacy and numeracy skills to see where the main gaps are and then to plan how to close these gaps.
- The home learning which has become a key part of the school curriculum since March will remain in place. This will now become the main tool for homework this term as children will not be taking books or worksheets home, but would also be needed if there were to be local lockdowns or an outbreak in part of the school which meant classes or year groups having to be sent home and isolated (which of course we hope does not happen).
- We will continue with the measures we have put in place such as regular hand washing, the “catch it, bin it, kill it” protocols, pupils not sharing books and stationery and only bringing essential items to school. On PE days they will come to school in their PE kit rather than changing in school (see below).
- Pupils will sit in rows in the classroom, all facing the same way. The change for September is that they will go back to sharing a table with another pupil. Teachers will still be encouraged to maintain the 2 metre distance from pupils and from each other.
- There will be protocols in place if a pupil is taken ill while in school with suspected Covid-19. If this happens parents will be contacted to collect their child as soon as possible and arrange a test. Children will be kept in an isolated but safe part of the school until they are collected. Of course we will still expect parents to not send their children to school if they are unwell. I am attaching an information leaflet with important health information for parents and I would urge you all to read it carefully. As well as giving information about areas such as testing, it also gives advice on travelling to school, encouraging pupils to walk, cycle or scooter and to avoid congregating at school gates both before and after the school day.
- This is by no means an exhaustive list and it may be subject to change as the school year progresses. Personally I am optimistic that we will get all of our children back on track as quickly as possible. As I have said several times before, I have previously taken care not to put pressure on parents to send their children back to school and I have respected which ever decision you have chosen to make. However the government has made it clear that they expect all children to now return to school for the new term. I do not wish in any way to impose fines for non-attendance this term as this would be counter-productive and I would much prefer to maintain a positive relationship with all of you and work with you. We all hope and pray that the current situation in the country will remain stable or even improve with no spikes or local lockdowns which can affect confidence and understandably make parents reluctant to send their children back. From Monday, if your child is not in school for any reason you must inform us straight away so we can keep track of all our pupils.
- From next Monday 7th September, we will resume both the Breakfast Club from 7:45am to 8:45am and the After School Club from 2:45pm to 6:30pm. I would like to make the clubs more affordable, particularly when many families may have been severely financially affected during the health crisis. So not only will we not be increasing the prices but we will be offering places at reduced prices in September. Breakfast Club will be £2 per day (previously £3) and After School Club will be £5 per day up till 4:30pm and £10 per day up till 6:30pm (previously £7 and £14) with a reduced rate of £40 if you book for the week (previously £50). You do not need to book for the Breakfast Club, just pay as you use it either daily or weekly. For the After School Club you will need to book a place. Application forms are available on the school website and you can pay for both of the clubs online. Hopefully by today everyone who needs to has been able to purchase uniform for the new school year. From now on we will be selling uniform every second week in school. I will confirm the day and times next week. We will not be increasing our uniform prices for the new school year as again we want to make it affordable for everyone.
- As I mentioned above, this term the children should come to school in their PE kit on the days they have PE rather than changing in school. The days for each year group are:
- Year 3 – Mondays, Year 4 – Tuesdays, Year 5 – Thursdays, Year 6 – Wednesdays.
- Please note that PE lessons will begin in the week of 14th September so next week the children should be in full school uniform every day except Friday which will be our non-uniform day (see below).
Non-Uniform Days
Over the past few years we have held non-uniform days, usually on Fridays to raise money for the school to buy additional resources such as PE equipment, sets of books for literacy, numeracy support materials. This year we were not able to hold our Summer Fayre plus some other fund raising activities which would have raised around £4,000 for the school, so we want to use non-uniform days to raise some additional funds this term as we still may not be able to hold whole school events for some time. We have subscribed to a reading scheme called Power of Reading to support catch up literacy lessons across the school and we want to buy sets of reading books to support the scheme.
Next Friday 11th September will be our first non-uniform day this term and the children can come to school in their own clothes and bring £1.
After School Clubs
As I mentioned above we are resuming our own After School Club from next week. We also want to resume the other clubs which we ran last year after school including sport, art and craft, dance and drama run both by outside groups and by our own staff. We will not be resuming all of these clubs just yet as we want to focus on getting everything else in place. As we resume the clubs I will let you know and you can sign up your children. Dance Stables ran a very successful dance club last year on Tuesdays after school and they will be resuming this from Tuesday 15th September. They should be contacting families who used this club last year and also providing fliers so that other children can sign up.
Year 3 Transition Visit
The new Year 3 pupils who are starting on Monday spent the morning with us today, along with some pupils who are joining the other year groups. They met their teachers, spent time in their classrooms and got a feel for the school before they start formally with everyone else on Monday.
Photographs
We traditionally begin a new school year by getting individual photographs taken of all the pupils and we will be doing this again next Tuesday 8th September in the morning. We will be using our usual photography company and they will be using their own safety measures and following our protocols for school visitors. You will be able to order your child’s photograph online, more details next week.
Very best wishes to everyone and see you all very soon. I am happy to meet with or talk to parents to discuss any concerns you may have regarding the return for pupils next week.
Dates for this term (will be added to and updated each week)
Monday 7th September – first day for pupils (see arrival and departure times for each year group above)
Monday 7th September- start of “Earth Week” in school
Tuesday 8th September – individual photographs for pupils am
Friday 11th September – non-uniform day for school funds (bring £1)
Monday 14th September – assessment week in school for all year groups
Monday 14th September – sports coaching begins for each year group this week (see above for days for each year group)
Tuesday 15th September – Dance Stables Dance Club resumes 3:00-4:15pm
Thursday 17th September – “Big Bike Day” in school (details to follow)
Friday 18th September – non-uniform day for school funds (bring £1)
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
