Dear Parents/Carers,
Hope everyone remains well and continuing to cope with the ongoing situation we are all facing at this time. Again just a quick catch up and some updates to share with you. The warmer weather has returned this week which is nice for staff and pupils here and indeed hopefully for everyone in our community. As I mentioned last week, I check my school diary to remind myself what we would have been doing if we were still fully open and next week would have been a very important time for our Year 6 pupils who would have been sitting their SATs tests. Of course these are not happening now but every pupil will get an assessment in literacy and numeracy which hopefully will reflect all their hard work this year and they can also take to secondary school in September.
School Opening
School continues to be open for vulnerable pupils and children of key workers and as before, I will manage the staff who are able to be here each day to ensure that the children we have are safe and getting as close to a normal day as possible, while at the same time protecting the welfare of the staff and their families. I know you will all be wondering when and how schools may re-open and there remains a lot of speculation in the media. We are expecting a major announcement from the government on Sunday which should include plans for any school re-opening. I think the earliest any return would begin would be in June but we need confirmation of this and also how the return would be managed. Schools will need time to plan for any return including staffing, the revised timetable and most importantly keeping everyone safe. This may take up to 3 weeks to prepare for which would take us into June.
Meanwhile we continue to run school for an increasing number of pupils, including the bank holiday tomorrow. Over the last 7 weeks of lockdown, we have had a regular group of pupils coming each day plus some staff children. As our “school” has grown, particularly in the last week or so, the staff have adapted the daily timetable to suit the wide range of children we are now accommodating. As I mentioned above, we do not expect any re-opening of school till at least June so we will carry on with this and the current staff rota for the next few weeks.
Home Learning
Of course the vast majority of our children will remain at home during the current lockdown. We aim to regularly contact parents guiding you towards updated and revised home learning resources. These include additional links, a suggested timetable for a typical day of home learning and some good advice on staying safe online.
Parents and Children – Messages and tasks will be posted up on the Year Pages Message Boards via the main School Web-site. Please ensure that you both check these regularly.
www.stjosephsjun.waltham.sch.uk >> classes
Children – as well as reading the messages, always check j2homework, which is accessible after logging on to myUSO. We recommend that you always logon first via myUSO in order to access all resources including j2e and EducationCity.
Free School Meals
During the partial closure of schools, the Government and Local Authority are keen to continue to support families eligible for free school meals, including the recent introduction of a national voucher scheme. It may well be that with the economic effect of the current crisis, more of our families may now be eligible for free school meals. We have put a link on our school website for parents to check if they might be eligible and then advice on how to apply if they are.
School Refurbishment
We are taking the current opportunity where we have relatively few staff and pupils in school to try and get as much of our planned refurbishments completed before we need to re-open either fully or partially later this term. The main work is to replace all the lighting around school, which also involves the removal of asbestos from the ceilings in Years 3 and 4, the main hall, corridor and my room. This work began during the February half term and was due to continue during the Easter break and then be completed over the summer break ready for our return in September. However we have had to reschedule this so now the asbestos removal in each room is happening on Saturdays when we have no staff or pupils on site and then the new ceilings can be installed plus the upgraded lighting put in during the week while the pupils are in another part of the school or outside. We have also had 10 of our fire doors upgraded and other minor work done. Some of the work will need to be completed in the summer and it is still the aim to get everything ready for the new school year in September.
Again everyone please remain safe and healthy and let’s help and look out for each other during these difficult few weeks. During the month of May it is good to pray to Our Lady every day to ask her to help us all during these sad and challenging times. I have attached below a prayer from Pope Francis for the Month of Mary.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
Prayer from Pope Francis for the Month of Mary
O Mary,
You shine continuously on our journey
as a sign of salvation and hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Lady of Sorrows,
who, at the foot of the cross,
was united with Jesus’ suffering,
and persevered in your faith.
Protector of the People,
you know our needs,
and we know that you will provide,
so that joy and celebration may return
after this time of great trial.
We fly to your protection,
O Holy Mother of God;
Deliver us always
from every danger.
Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform ourselves to the will of the Father
and to do what Jesus tell us.
For he took upon himself our suffering,
and burdened himself with our sorrows
to bring us, through the cross,
to the joy of the Resurrection.
Amen.
