Dear Parents/Carers,
Hope everyone has had a good week. We have been experiencing our first serious summer heat wave this week but things are due to cool down now over the next few days as we return to the good old British summer that we know and love!
On Monday I wrote to everyone about the plan and timetable to bring back our Year 3, 4 and 5 classes before the end of term in a phased return. As I stated, each class will come back for 4 days each (Monday to Thursday) and I set out their arrival and departure times. Please try and keep as closely to these times as you can. Can I again emphasize that no one will be forced to send their children back to school at this time and no parent will be fined for non-attendance.
School Re-opening in Week of 29th June:
Year 6: This timetable will stay as it is with the single group on Monday/Tuesday and the two groups on Wednesday/Thursday.
Year 4: – Class 4RB will return this week for 4 days, arrival at 9:15am and departure at 2:45pm each day. They will have staggered play times and lunchtimes during the day. School uniform each day except Wednesday when they come in PE kit.
Year 3: – Class 3H will return this week for 4 days, arrival at 9:15am and departure at 2:45pm each day. They will have staggered play times and lunchtimes during the day. School uniform each day except Monday when they come in PE kit.
Key Worker/Vulnerable Group: This group will continue to run each week from Monday to Friday until the last day of term on Thursday 16th July with the same timetable and arrangements each day. Please note that children who are in this group will remain here and cannot re-join their classes for the week they are in school.
Year 5 classes will return for their week from Monday 13th July.
Also please note the following important points for Years 3, 4 and 5 returns:
• The children will be in school from Monday to Thursday, Friday is for staff planning and additional cleaning as well as the regular daily cleaning.
• The children should be in their summer uniform each day so no ties needed, they can wear summer dresses and the PE tops. Year 3 can come to school in their PE kit on Mondays and Year 4 on Wednesdays as these will be their PE days.
• The children do not need to bring school bags or PE bags into school and they will not take anything home. Everything they need to have will be in their rooms and will stay in school.
• They will need to bring bottled water to school each day, particularly in this very warm weather, as our water fountains have been shut down at the moment.
• The children will be in their normal classrooms (except for Year 5 who will use the Year 6 classrooms for their week) and will be taught by their own teachers or other staff in their year group. Teachers have planned a range of lessons and activities to try and cover as much as possible in the 4 days.
• The children will wash their hands on arrival and at regular times throughout the day and will keep to the social distance guidelines. The classrooms have been re-organised so that the children have their own table and are spread out.
• The children will have school dinners as normal unless they usually have a packed lunch.
• When dropping off your child in the morning and collecting them in the evening, please respect the 2 metre distancing outside the school gate.
As I said above, it will ultimately be your decision as parents whether to send your child back. It will be nice to see many of the children again for those few days, but I fully respect and understand that some parents may be reluctant to send their children into school at this time. Please do not send in your child if they are unwell for any reason. If your child becomes unwell in school they will be isolated in a safe room and you will be contacted to come and collect them as soon as possible.
Summer Catch-Up Scheme
We are planning to run a Summer Catch-Up Scheme during the first two weeks of the summer break from Monday 20th July to Friday 31st July. We have run similar schemes in the past but this will be slightly different as part of the programme will have an educational element to it as well as sport, art and drama etc. We will be inviting children who we feel need that catch up before September, so we will focus on pupils who have not been in school at all or not very much during lockdown, pupils who have not been able to access online learning from home and pupil premium children. We will also include some of the vulnerable and key worker children who would benefit from additional catch up. The government, through the local authority, is keen for schools to run such schemes and have promised to fund them. We will be contacting the families of the children we wish to target for the scheme in the next couple of weeks.
Uniform
I know many of you will be planning to buy uniform this term in readiness for the new school year in September and we also want to sell uniform to the families of our new pupils who will be starting in Year 3. We are going to be selling uniform every day during the last week of term from Monday 13th July to Friday 17th July from 10:00am to 12:00pm and from 1:00pm-3:00pm. You do not need to book a particular time but please only come during one of these slots that week. We will also be selling uniform during the staff inset days in September from Wednesday 2nd to Friday 4th September at the same times.
End of Year Reports
The end of year reports for all the pupils are now completed and ready to go home. From next Monday if your child is in school on any day, we will give them a copy of their report to take home. If your child is not going to be in school at all this term then you will need to come in and collect it. Any report not collected by the end of term will be posted out. I am not sure we will be able to organise the usual kind of parent’s evening this term. I am looking at alternative ways of sharing information.
Church Re-Opening
As many of you will be aware, St Joseph’s Church re-opened this week for private prayer. The times are 10:00am-12:00pm (Monday to Wendessay) and 6:00pm-8:00pm (Thursday and Friday). I will keep you updated through the weekly newsletter on any changed and hopefully church can re-open soon for Masses.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend and we will all catch up again next week when we look forward to seeing some more of our Year 3 and 4 children back in school.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
