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. Again it is strange to think that this would have been our International Week in school as we celebrated the diversity that is our community. The current weather outside would have been perfect for this week.
My apologies for not sending out this newsletter last week. As you can appreciate, given the announcement about school re-openings made last Sunday, I was contacting the Year 6 parents to start to prepare for their planned return.
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. We now know that the government would like our Year 6 pupils to return from the start of June and we will plan and manage that process as best we can. At this time we do not know if and when the other year groups might return. As we get more information we will let you know.
Home Learning
Of course the 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.
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. 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 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. 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.
Half Term
School will be closed next week for the half term break. We have remained open during the lockdown period for key worker children and vulnerable pupils even over Easter and bank holidays. It was my intention to stay open next week for these pupils but given the recent announcement about year groups starting to return, staff need a break next week as it is going to get very busy from June onwards. Also although the refurbishment work will be completed this week, we need time to tidy up and make sure all the classrooms are clean and ready to receive more pupils. I will confirm later this week when we will re-open in June. I may need Monday 1st June to help staff return and prepare for the increased number of pupils.
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.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
