Dear Parents/Carers,
Hope everyone has had a good week. We are nearing the end of term which officially ends next Thursday, though obviously we have had lots of “last days” for groups of pupils over the last couple of weeks. This week we have seen pupils from both 3K and 4P back in school and it again 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. Once again a big thank you 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. We said goodbye to our Year 6 pupils this week, not just for this year but of course for their time in St Joseph’s. I have sent a separate letter today to the Year 6 parents thanking them, saying goodbye but also hopefully arranging a proper send off in early September before they all begin secondary school.
Below I set out the timetable for next week. Each class/group 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 13th July:
Key Worker/Vulnerable Group: This group will continue to run this week from Monday 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: Both Year 5 classes will be in this week from Monday to Thursday but will be in the Year 6 classrooms as part of their preparation for going into Year 6 in September. They will be in their current class groups and be taught by the Year 5 staff. We will be mixing the classes for September and they will know which class they are in and who their teacher will be before they leave school next Thursday. Each class will have different arrival and departure times and again it is important to keep as closely to these as possible. They will also have staggered play and lunchtimes each day.
5L: arrival at 9:00am and departure at 2:45pm each day
5O: arrival at 9:15am and departure at 3:00pm each day
Also please note the following important points for the Year 5 return:
cleaning as well as the regular daily cleaning.
The children should be in their summer uniform (so no ties needed, they can wear summer dresses and the PE tops if they wish) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They should come to school in their PE kit on Mondays and 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 as our water fountains have been shut down at the moment.
The children will be in 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. They will have PE with the sports coach from Leyton Orient on Monday and Wednesday afternoon.
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 with their own resources 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. Please try and keep to the allocated arrival and departure times for each class.
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 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 have invited 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. If you have received an invitation you need to confirm by today if you do not need the place so we can start to plan the scheme.
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 next week 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.
End of Year Reports
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 again 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
St Joseph’s Church has now resumed Masses which I know will be very good news for the parish and beyond. They will be held every weekday at 9:30am and all the regular weekend times. They will be short with no singing and a maximum of 66 people at each service. Private prayer will continue on Monday to Wednesday from 10:00am – 12:00pm and Thursday to Friday 6:00pm – 8:00pm.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend and we will all catch up again next week for the end of term when we look forward to seeing our Year 5 children back in school.
Yours sincerely,
J Alexander (Head teacher)
