Dear Parents/Carers,
Hope everyone has had a good week. The weather has been a bit cooler this week and we have been dodging the rain showers, but it has made school a little more comfortable for both pupils and staff, particularly us northerners!
This week we have seen pupils from both 3H and 4RB back in school and it has been lovely to see them again, even for just 4 days. I think they found it all rather strange on the first day but then adapted very quickly and hopefully had a nice week back with their teachers and some of their friends. Almost for the first time since we went into the lockdown back in March, school is beginning to feel like school again, even with all the restrictions and staggered times. We have had over 90 pupils back this week at different times and on Wednesday alone I counted 75 pupils in school across the various groups. Almost all the staff are now back which is great and makes running the school a lot easier. A big thank you also to you the parents for the way you continue to respect our new timetable and make sure you are dropping children off safely in the morning and picking them up promptly in the evening. Below I set out the timetable for next week. 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 6th July:
Year 6: This timetable will stay as it is with the single group on Monday/Tuesday and the two groups on Wednesday/Thursday. Please note that next Thursday 9th July will be the final day in school for all our Year 6 pupils. I will write separately to the Year 6 parents about the end of year and my plan to hopefully celebrate this, if not now then later in the summer before they all start secondary school.
Year 4: – Class 4P 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 3K 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.
Year 5 classes will return for their week from Monday 13th July. I will give more details of their times and timetable in next week’s newsletter.
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. 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. Uniform should be washed every evening after use.
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.
Transition
This Wednesday would have been our transition day in school. Obviously we were not able to do it as in the past but I am trying to make sure that the Year 3 and 4 classes get to spend a little time in their new classrooms and meet their new teachers for September and the Year 5 classes will spend most of their week back in school in the Year 6 classrooms. I am also arranging for the Year 2 pupils to spend a morning with us in September before the official start of the new school year on Monday 7th September. Meanwhile I am setting out the class arrangements for next year below. I am pleased to say that all our current teaching staff will be here in September which will give us stability and continuity at what is going to be a very challenging time.
Year 3: Miss Hoy (3H) and Miss Kamara (3K) will take our new Year 3 pupils from St Joseph’s Infants, other neighbouring schools and new arrivals from abroad.
Year 4: Ms Poku (4P) will take the current 3H and Mrs Ronnau-Bradbeer/Mrs Christdoulou (4RC) will take the current 3K.
Year 5: Ms Le (5L) will take the current 4RB and Ms Osei (5O) will take the current 4P.
Year 6: Ms Carmody (6C) and Mrs Panteli/Ms Morgan (6P) will take the current Year 5 classes. As we normally do, the current Year 5 classes will be re-arranged for Year 6. The children will know which class they are going to be with and who their teacher will be in September before they finish for the end of term.
Congratulations to our three newly qualified teachers, Miss Hoy, Miss Kamara and Ms Osei who have all successfully completed and passed their induction year in St Joseph’s and as the old saying goes, will become “real teachers” in September!
Summer Catch-Up Scheme
We are running a Summer Catch-Up Scheme during the first two weeks of the summer break from Monday 20th July to Friday 31st July. 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, 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 is keen for schools to run such schemes and I am pleased to say that I received confirmation today from the LA that we will be getting the funding. We are contacting the families of the children we wish to target for the scheme in the next day or so. If you receive an invitation, you need to let us know by next Friday 10th July if you do not need the space so we can offer places to other families.
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. If your child is in school on any day, we will give them a copy of their report to take home, as we have done this week. 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.
Church Re-Opening
As many of you will be aware, St Joseph’s Church re-opened last week for private prayer. The times are Monday to Wednesday from 10:00am – 12:00pm and Thursday to Friday 6:00pm – 8:00pm. I know that Father Gerry had hoped to be able from this weekend to be open for Masses and confessions and of course many parishioners have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to attend Masses again. Unfortunately they are not quite ready to re-open for worship just yet and are waiting for the formal go ahead from the Diocese. I will continue to keep you updated.
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)
