12th April 2021
Dear Parent / Carers,
We hope you have had a lovely Easter break and welcome back to the start of our Summer Term. We can’t wait to see all the children again tomorrow.
After school clubs
Again we have had to think carefully about how we can make this provision work alongside our wider protective measures, like keeping pupils in their ‘bubbles’ when possible. We also understand that a lot of parents/carers need access to wrap around care to help with work commitments.
Class 1, 2, 3 and 4 Teachers are going to offer their class bubble one hour after school tuition three times per week . We can then keep our bubbles together and offer extra tuition to try and help close any gaps of learning for all of our Reception-Year 6 children. These tuition sessions will be of no cost and will last one hour immediately after the class bubble finishes for the school day. This after school provision will start week beginning 19th April on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Class 1– 3.00pm-4.00pm -Tue, Wed, Thur
Class 2– 3.15pm-4.15pm -Tue, Wed, Thur
Class 3– 2.45pm-3.45pm-Tue, Wed, Thur
Class 4– 3.30pm-4.30pm- Tue, Wed, Thur
SIBLINGS MAY CONTINUE TO ARRIVE AT THE EARLIEST TIME AND LEAVE AT THE LATEST TIME.
Class Teachers will send out letters on Tuesday 13th April 2021 so that we know which pupils will be attending these sessions.
Breakfast club will continue as normal. Children who attend will be served breakfast in their own classroom bubble to avoid class bubbles mixing. It will start at 8am and finish when their class bubble arrives. It will continue to cost £1 per day, which you can pay via parent pay. Parents/Carers will need to follow same arrival guidelines as attending school classes and supervisory assistants will meet at main entrance at 8am. Please could children arrive on time.
Arrival and Departure
The times of arrival and departure for the different year groups continue to be:
Class 1 Children (Reception) – 8.45am-3.00pm
Class 2 children (Years 1/2) – 9.00am-3.15pm
Class 3 children (Years 3/4) – 8.30am-2.45pm
Class 4 children (Years 5/6) – 9.15am-3.30pm
At these allocated times parents/carers will need to be waiting outside main school gate at main entrance, alongside the green fence, adhering to social distance requirements at all times. Only 1 adult should drop off/pick, up to reduce the number of people around school. Please walk, or cycle, to school whenever possible – to ease traffic congestion. Please disperse as soon as you have dropped off / collected your child – to avoid unnecessary larger gatherings.
Parents/Carers will not be allowed to enter the school building/school site or have the daily contact or conversations they are used to having with staff but we will try our best. Contact will continue to be mostly electronic via email and telephone and prior arranged appointments. Please adhere to strict social distancing at drop off points and only arrive at school in time to drop off and collect your child. Arriving or staying close to school outside of this time could put other staff, parents/carers and pupils at risk. Please ensure you are aware of your child’s pick up and drop off times and stick rigidly to these times to help the day run smoothly – Your child’s class teacher will collect children from the gate and they will be escorted into school to wash hands immediately. Children and parents must wait alongside school fence and not come to the door and ring buzzer. If you are late you must ring the office to arrange an alternative drop off/pick up.
If you need to pass any medication into school please contact the office in the first instance- 0191 3710444 and we will arrange to meet you in the main entrance.
Staffing Update
Mrs Aspinall will be returning back to school from Maternity Leave on Monday 10th May. Mrs Plant’s last day at school will be Friday 7th May and would like to thank her for all of her hard work and dedication over this challenging time while covering two maternity leaves. She will be a big miss and we wish her lots of luck and success in her future work.
COVID-19 Information
Please remember that if your child develops any of the three key symptoms of COVID-19, you must keep them off school and book them a PCR test and you need to inform the school that they are absent due to suspected COVID-19. Whilst a lot of the time these tests end up being negative, every potential case of COVID-19 has implications for school – if we are aware that pupils are going for tests, we can begin planning for a potential bubble closure sooner. If we only find out once they have received a positive result, this understandably causes extra strain and stress which could be eased if we were aware of the possibility. In addition to this, we are required to report to the DfE on a daily basis whether we have pupils off for reasons relating to COVID-19, so it is imperative that we know if that is why your child is off so our information can be as accurate as possible.
COVID-19 Symptoms & Testing
It is also important to remember that if you, or your child, develop symptoms of COVID-19, it is not enough to have a lateral flow test, which many of you will be taking on a regular basis. Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms must isolate and book a PCR test whether or not you have had a negative lateral flow test.
Statutory KS1 and KS2 assessments
Statutory KS1 and KS2 assessments planned for summer 2021 won’t go ahead but school will still do teacher assessments. We will administer the optional Year 4 multiplication tables check and the Year 1 Phonics Screening Assessment within the 3-week period from 7 June 2021. Year 2 and Year 6 teacher assessments will take place week beginning May 10th 2021.
The DfE has added temporary disapplications to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) – as such, it won’t be mandatory to complete the EYFS profile assessment in 2021.
PE Kits
Children in Class 1 and 2 will need to bring their full PE kit into school on the first day back in a PE bag or carrier bag. Please ensure that this is labelled with their name and class. The PE kits will be stored in the cloakrooms on a labelled peg in school and sent home weekly to be washed. Class 3 and 4 will come into school with their PE kits on allocated PE days to avoid moving around.
Class 3- PE days for the rest of this term are WED and THUR
Class 4- PE days for the rest of this term are WED and THUR
School Holidays and Term Dates 2020 – 2021
I am sure that many of you will have had holidays cancelled or postponed and will be considering when these can be re-booked for next year. It is really important to remember that holidays during term times can only be authorised in very exceptional circumstances. Very few holidays are ever authorised and this is likely to be even lower next year. It is going to be essential for ALL children to be in school as much as possible due to the extended closure of schools during the latter half of this year. Please also bear in mind that if you do decide to take a holiday during term time which has not been authorised, if your child is out of school for more than 7 consecutive days you can be fined – £60 per parent for each child.
| Holiday | Closing Date | Date re-open for Teaching Purposes |
| Summer Holiday | Friday 17th July 2020 | Wednesday 2nd September 2020 |
| October Half Term | Friday 23rd October 2020 | Monday 2nd November 2020 |
| Christmas Holiday | Friday 18th December 2020 | Tuesday 5th January 2021 |
| February Half Term | Friday 12th February 2021 | Monday 22nd February 2021 |
| Easter Holiday | Friday 26th March 2021 | Tuesday 13th April 2021 |
| May Day | Friday 30th April 2021 | Tuesday 4th May 2021 |
| Summer Half Term | Friday 28th May 2021 | Monday 7th June 2021 |
| Summer Holiday | Friday 16th July 2021 | Thursday 2nd September 2021
|
Once again thank you for your support in these challenging times.
Donna Lee
Head Teacher
