Dear Parents/Carers,
Hope everyone remains well and continues to cope with the situation we are all facing at this time, but also getting some time together as families. Just a quick catch up and some updates to share with you as we move towards the re-opening next week.
School Re-opening in June
As I informed everyone last week, I made the decision to close the school to pupils during this half term break. The main reasons were to prepare for the re-opening of school next week and to ensure all the recent refurbishment work gets finished and we can clean all the rooms and shared spaces this week. I can now confirm that school will reopen next Tuesday 2nd June for Year 6 pupils and the key worker/vulnerable pupils. We need Monday 1st June as a staff preparation day, particularly for the Year 6 staff who need to plan for the return of their pupils on the Tuesday.
Last week I sent a detailed letter to all the Year 6 parents outlining their timetable, changes to the typical school day and which days and times their particular child will be attending. We are staggering arrival and departure times for all the groups who will be coming to school from next week and it is important that these times are adhered to as closely as possible. We will also be staggering play times and lunchtimes.
Key Worker/Vulnerable Group
As well as welcoming back many of our Year 6s next week, we will continue to offer places for children of key workers (including teaching staff) and vulnerable pupils. However because we now have to plan for the return of around 40 Year 6 pupils from next week, we can only take pupils from our school. If your child was attending this group before half term then then they can resume from next Tuesday. However if you think your child might now be eligible for this group, you need to contact the school first to discuss this with me. To accommodate the return of Year 6 and the need to stagger arrival and departure times, the school day will now be slightly shorter for this group, so pupils should arrive between 9:15 and 9:30am and be collected between 2:30 and 2:45pm. They will be in the Year 5 rooms and should wear uniform every day except Friday which will now be their PE day. Any Year 6 pupils who were attending this group before half term will still be able to attend on the days they are not in their new Year 6 “classes” but unfortunately we cannot take any other Year 6 pupils.
I apologise if this seems very complicated, particularly for Year 6 pupils who might be attending two different groups on different days at different times! It is the only way we can accommodate all the pupils who should be here while keeping all the safety measures in place. Hopefully after next week it will settle down into a regular routine.
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
A quick update on our recent refurbishment work. The new lights are now up in Year 5 and the library and all the Year 3 and 4 rooms have their new lights and ceilings with all the asbestos removed. All that remains for now is the main hall and it should be finished by this Friday, ready for the re-opening of school next week. Some of the other 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.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
