Headteacher Message

Dear all,

I hope you are all well and like us looking forward to a full return to school.  I really believe that this time it will be for good.  This is not just my usual optimism.  The rate of infection is falling rapidly both nationally and locally while at the same time the number of tests are rising.  Hopefully as we move into summer and nearly every adult is vaccinated we can finally move on from this crisis.  Yesterday we published guidance regarding the return to school.  We have adapted the plan we had formulated from our last re-opening.  We are rightly proud of our response to the crisis and the control measures we have previously applied have served us well.  This will mean a return to the following:

• Staggered start and finishes to the day

• Regular handwashing throughout the day

• No mixing between class bubbles

• Staff wearing masks in all communal areas

• Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation.  We will be keeping as many doors and windows open as possible.  

Your children are used to these measures and responded superbly last time round.  They have been the stars of this lockdown and have shown the resilience, adaptability and intelligence that will serve them well in the future.  We have a nice period of 3 weeks and three days before the Easter break and we will review these measures continually in order to reflect the changing national and local picture. Once again I would like to thank you for your herculean efforts with home learning.  You can stand down now from front line service but please continue to show an avid interest in your child’s learning.  We now have a whole community of teachers to call on if necessary!

Also thank you for looking after your child’s Chromebook.  The Chromebooks have been an invaluable part of our remote offer and will continue to support the learning process as your child returns to school.  We would like them back in school.  Please can you bring them back into school on Monday when you return.  We have thought about this and the best way to get them back into where they have to be is to give them to your child to carry into their class.  If your child comes into school independently and you are worried about them travelling to school with a chromebook please contact the school and we will try to make alternative arrangements. If you have a copy of your child’s class reading book, please could you ensure that you send this in with your child on Monday.If possible can you fully charge the chromebook so it is ready for use.

We also have a few more requests of you;

• Please, if possible wear a mask when you are on site

• Use the one one way system for pick up and drop off.  It is painful for some of you as it adds slightly further to your journeys but I would encourage you to see it as a way of increasing your steps for the day.  We will have staff on duty on Monday to help direct you. 

• Ensure that your child is wearing a school uniform.  They are allowed to bring in extra layers and coats but their base layer needs to be the school uniform 

• Arrive on time to avoid congestion.

• If you need to speak to the office please phone.  We look forward to the day when we can fully fling open our doors but for now we are going to maintain our safety measures and the office will be effectively closed for 1:1 visits.  We will ensure that members of the leadership team are in the playgrounds before and after school to ensure that we maintain good communication.  I am always happy to have a call and like a chat.  Please ring through or email me if you would like to discuss anything.  If I cannot respond immediately I will get back to you as soon as I can.

 In other news my family will shortly be in receipt of a Border Collie puppy.  Why am I telling you this? Well, in the future I would like the dog to become a school dog. There are many consultations and risk assessments to be completed before this is the case but I wanted to keep you informed.      

I had better finish now as I need to dust down the turntables and ensure that the sub woofers are still working on our speakers.  I and we very much look forward to seeing you and your children dancing into school on Monday.  It has been too long.  

Wrap up warm and have a lovely weekend.

Joe Porter