Dear Parents/Carers,
We have nearly reached the end of our first full week back in school and so far things have gone as well as we could have expected and in many ways better. It was lovely to see the children arriving for school on Monday, smartly dressed in their uniform and I have been so impressed with their enthusiasm for learning, their mature and sensible behaviour and the way they have embraced the changes and new ways in school. A special well done to our new Year 3s who have had a great first week in school and to the Year 6s who have settled straight back into learning in what is for them a vital year (the Year 4s and 5s have been wonderful too!). I have mentioned to several people this week that it seems that we have never been away, as everyone has settled back into school so well.
Over 95% of pupils are in school and we know that some families are still abroad, so hopefully we will have everyone back soon. A big thank you to the staff who have worked so hard both last week to prepare for the return on Monday and this week to help settle the children back into routines and normality. Also well done to you the parents who have supported us, particularly with the new times and arrangements. I know it has been a big challenge for you as well and you have had to adapt but hopefully we will get used to it. A warm St Joseph’s welcome to all our new parents.
September Re-Opening
This week has in many ways been a test to see what has worked and what may need to be changed. For you as parents the main challenge has been the staggered arrival and departure times which we have put in place. These will remain but we are going to slightly alter the times for Years 5 and 6. The main reason is to lessen the waiting time between the lower school and upper school times particularly at the end of the day when quite a lot of you are waiting between picking up younger siblings and then waiting for an older sibling to come out. We have changed the upper school times only by 5 minutes but hopefully this will make life a little easier for some parents. We still need a gap between the two arrival and departure times but not the 20 minutes we have had this week.
The amended times are:
Years 3 and 4 arriving between 8:30am and 8:45am and departing at 2:45pm (no change to these times).
Years 5 and 6 arriving between 8:45am and 9:00am and departing at 3:00pm (5 minutes earlier than this week).
I will continue to see how the times work for you and for school and amend if needed.
We will constantly review these times as we go through the term, particularly when we move towards late autumn and winter when the weather is colder. Please try and keep as close to these times as possible to allow a smooth start to the school day. We have had children arriving 10 -15 minutes earlier than their allocated time and having to wait quite a long time before they can go into the main playground. 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. Other key things to note are:
• There will be staggered playtimes and lunchtimes during the day (we have made some minor changes here as well, particularly at lunchtimes to give the children a bit more time in the playground, especially as they have behaved so well this week). 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 (this has worked very well this week, particularly for the new children and avoided overcrowding etc.).
• We will not be doing class assemblies or any large productions this term. I did my 4 Monday assemblies this week and will do 4 Friday assemblies tomorrow!
• PE and sport will still be taking place and next week we will start using sports coaches for each year group.
• 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. Next 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.
• 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 are sitting in rows in the classroom, all facing the same way and sharing a table with another pupil. Again this has worked very well this week and the pupils have adapted quickly. 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. We cannot take a pupil back into school until they have been tested and the result is known. If it is positive they will have to isolate for 10 days from the first day of being unwell, if it is negative and they are feeling well they can return to school. Of course we will still expect parents to not send their children to school if they are unwell.
• From this week we have resumed 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 or at the school office and you can pay for both of the clubs online. This would be a good time to make use of these clubs as the reduced prices are temporary so you may not get as good a deal later in the school year!
Uniform/PE
From now on we will be selling uniform every second week in school on Wednesday mornings from 9:00am to 9:30am in the school library. The next sale will be next Wednesday16th September. Again we will not be increasing our uniform prices for the new school year as 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. PE lessons with the Leyton Orient sports coaches begin next week.
The days for each year group are:
Year 3 – Mondays, Year 4 – Tuesdays, Year 5 – Thursdays, Year 6 – Wednesdays.
Normally we would expect the children to wear plimsolls for PE, but given that many of the pupils will be walking to school each day, if it is more comfortable for them to wear trainers on their PE days, they can do so. The main reason for this change is to avoid the children having to bring PE bags into school each week. They should only bring their normal blue bag and packed lunch if they have one.
“Dr Bike”
As you will be aware, with the return to school, the government is encouraging pupils where possible to walk, scooter or cycle to schools. During the summer the school signed up to a free project called Dr Bike and this allows us access to cycle training, additional cycle racks and as an introduction a free bike check for pupils and staff next week. A mechanic will be in school next Thursday 17th September from 11:30am to 1:30pm to provide safety checks on any bicycles that are in school that day. Even if your child doesn’t normally cycle to school, if they can bring their bikes in next Thursday they can get it checked out by Dr Bike! I will keep everyone updated on any future projects run by Dr Bike.
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 and a numeracy scheme called White Rose Maths to support catch up lessons across the school and we want to buy additional resources e.g. sets of books for class reading, to support the scheme. Tomorrow 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 have resumed our own After School Club this 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 next 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.
Photographs
All the pupils who were in school on Tuesday had their photograph taken. You are now able to order your child’s photograph online directly with the company.
Vacancy
St Joseph’s Church in Leyton is looking for a Faith Community Administrator to provide complete and comprehensive administration for the church community. The candidate must have excellent written and verbal communication skills and be able to manage their own work load. The post is for school term i.e. 39 weeks plus 6 days. Working 3 days per week, which may be increased to 4 days per week. 9-12:30pm per day. Closing date is noon on Friday 18th September 2020. For further information please contact the church on 020 8539 2908 or email Leyton@dioceseofbrentwood.org or gerry.divine@yahoo.com.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
- Dates for this term (will be added to and updated each week)
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) – pupils come in PE kit on their day
Tuesday 15th September – Dance Stables Dance Club resumes 3:00-4:15pm
Thursday 17th September – “Dr Bike Day” in school (details above) 11:30am-1:30pm
Friday 18th September – non-uniform day for school funds (bring £1)
Friday 25th September – non-uniform day for school funds (bring £1)
Friday 2nd October – non-uniform day for school funds (bring £1)
Friday 9th October – non-uniform day for school funds (bring £1)
Thursday 15th October – Young Shakespeare workshops in school for Year 4 – “Romeo and Juliet”
Friday 16th October – non-uniform day for school funds (bring £1)
Friday 23rd October – last day of half term
Friday 23rd October – non-uniform day for school funds (bring £1)
Monday 26th to Friday 30th October – half term holiday
Monday 2nd November – pupils return to school for 2nd half term
