Dear Parents
Newsletter
The children continue to be settled and happy in school and school routines continue to run smoothly. We are really pleased with how children have adapted so well to our new and different ways of working.
Well done to those children who have been awarded Kindness Butterflies. These reinforce our value of kindness which is our assembly focus for this half term as we continue to support children to show kindness to themselves and to each other as we adjust to our school routines.
Staggered times
The changes to the start and end of the school day were introduced in response to current Government guidance for schools. As you may know, I continue to monitor this closely and am watching how this works at the gates as often as I can.
Please can I remind parents that families with surnames A-J should arrive from 8.40am up to 8.50am and K-Z from 8.50 – 9.00. The school gates are opened at 8.35am to ensure the flow of people is able to keep moving. Please can I ask families to time their journeys so that you do not arrive before 8.35am. If you are earlier than this then the gates are closed and it will cause a queue. We have considered this routine but have decided that we cannot open the gates before this time because this would encourage families to wait around on the school site and this is what schools are being asked to minimise. When you arrive, please go to the door where your child goes in but please do be aware that we cannot let children into classes until it is 8.40am because staff are working hard to prepare for the day ahead. With the current lunch break reduced to 45 minutes this preparation time before school is even more important to staff. It is a challenge to enable 400 children and families to enter and leave our school safely every day and this has largely been very smooth so far. Thank you for your continued co-operation and understanding of these measures.
Self-isolation
Recently some siblings of children at our school have been sent home because they are showing symptoms of COVID. If this should happen within your family we all need to be clear of the current guidance.
The system of controls, which all schools must follow, states that:
Therefore, should this happen within your family, parents must not send any siblings to school. This applies to children in all of our year groups. Parents are asked to ring the school Office please to inform us and to keep all siblings at home and to follow Government guidance to self-isolate.
Parent reading meetings
We always hold parent information meetings about how we teach reading early on in the autumn term. This year we are having to do these differently and hence they are slightly later than usual.
For parents at both schools, the dates and times of the meetings are:
Reception year |
Monday 12 October 4.00 – 4.30pm |
Packs will be sent home in advance on Wednesday 7 October |
Year 1 |
Wednesday 7 October 4 – 4.30pm |
Packs will be sent home in advance on Monday 5 October |
Year 2 |
Wednesday 7 October 4.45 – 5.15pm |
Packs will be sent home in advance on Monday 5 October |
Years 3-6 |
Sessions for each year group will be pre recorded. Available to view from Wednesday 7 October. |
Please email any questions to the year group email and staff will respond to your questions. Guidance will be sent home on Wednesday 7 October. |
Please will all parents watch out for the guidance which will be in your child’s book bag or school bag.
The sessions for years Reception, 1 and 2 will also be recorded and available for parents to view.
You will shortly receive the details from Miss Minter about your child’s email account and password which is for parents to use to log on through Google Meet. If anything is unclear, please do email staff who will be able to help you.
For pre recorded sessions, there will be a link on the Google classroom and the sessions will also be available to access through the school website.
Yours sincerely
Mrs M. Mills
Headteacher