Dear parents,
It’s certainly been a wet week! I am glad to see that the forecast is improving and we can look forward to some sunshine and warmer weather this week. Staff will be looking forward to getting outside with the children again as much as possible. For those children in school please do ensure that your child has a sunhat in school and that you apply an all day sun cream in the morning. Despite the good forecast, as we know the British weather can be somewhat unreliable so it would be a good idea for children to have a light, waterproof jacket in school too!
A reminder that children do not need bags and should not bring additional items into school – only lunches and water bottles.
For those children at home, remember to keep safe in the sun and I hope you are able to have some more fun outdoors after a week of probably spending a bit more time inside at home.
Unfortunately, the problem with our website is proving a bit trickier to fix than we thought. We are trying to get it sorted as quickly as possible. In the meantime we will continue to email the home learning and any urgent communications will be sent via text/email. I appreciate having no website is far from ideal so thank you for your patience and understanding while it is sorted.
We are very pleased to hear that the Government are planning for all children to return to school in September, full time. This is the news we have been waiting for – I don’t think any of us anticipated back in March that the school closure would go on for quite so long. We have been promised an update/review of measures within weeks to give us time to prepare for this whole school return and ensure it remains as safe as possible for children and staff. The Government have now said that schools will not be providing childcare for Key Workers during the 6 weeks holiday. This time will be used to prepare for the new year ahead. Staff spend a considerable amount of time working both in school and from home each year during the Summer holidays, this year there is even more to plan and prepare for. Staff are also understandably in need of and looking forward to at least a few weeks rest, having worked throughout holidays and term time since we closed in March.
Understandably there is considerable concern as we look to how children can be supported in their return to school having missed such a significant amount of learning time. The term ‘catch-up’ is being used very cautiously by the teaching profession, it suggests a quick, short term boost to get children ‘back up to speed’ and where they would have been had the closure not happened. We must be very realistic and fair to our schools and indeed our children; the task that lies ahead is going to take considerable time to achieve and will be a huge challenge. The preferred phrase seems to be ‘recovery’. In September we will begin to work with children, supporting academic and emotional/well being areas. This will take time, patience and understanding as we gradually try to make up for the time missed in school. It is not going to be a ‘quick fix’. We are pleased to hear that the Government have pledged funding to enable schools to provide support for our children. We look forward to further clarity as to how this funding will be allocated to individual schools and guidance on how this recovery should be approached.
Whilst we continue to plan for September, we are also considering how we best support;
- the transition of children to their new classes within school
- our Year 4 children and Nursery children who are moving onto new schools
and
- the induction of children into our Nursery and Reception classes (we will share this information with parents as soon as possible.)
Thank you to staff who continue to work extremely hard to support the children in school with their well being and learning as well as supporting those still at home via email/telephone. I would also like to highlight the fantastic efforts of all staff in keeping the school site clean during the day with regular wiping of resources, surfaces and ‘touch points’. Thank you to Mr Price for ensuring the school site is ready and safe each day and to Mrs Ash and Mrs McLeod who continue to work to their extremely high standards and demonstrate such pride in their work (as they do in ‘normal times’ but with several additional procedures in place to meet the requirements of the risk assessment!)
Thank you once again to your ongoing support and understanding during such challenging times.
I hope you have enjoyed the weekend so far with your families and loved ones.
Best wishes
Mrs Ferretti