I have said these are the worst case scenarios and to date, by following the guidance, we have been extremely fortunate in having minimal disruption due to Covid. Your support in keeping unwell children at home, following all Covid guidance, and supporting our school expectations has been key to this, and I thank you for your continued support as we move forwards into 2022 together. 

A reminder of what we told you on Tuesday;

• No adults in the building please until further notice, even to ‘pop in’ to the office (e.g. if you are collecting your child for an appointment please wait outside after buzzing the office). If you are a regular volunteer or are coming into school for an appointment please see the advice in the Covid section below.
• Please email the school office to ask questions or to pass with messages for staff. We also have the communications box where you can leave a note or letter. You can buzz at the gate and speak to the office if you are unable to email or ring in.
• Use the one way drop off system in the mornings
• We ask adults to be mindful of social distancing at pick up time (currently all in and out of the main gate)
• Please check current guidance for self-isolations expectations as these are changing very rapidly. You are always welcome to ring us at school to talk any concerns through.
• Please keep us in the loop for all child absences and family self-isolations so we can track and advise close contacts. This helps us to keep all children in school. It is also helpful to share any out of school close contacts (e.g. playdates or car shares) as these have been very relevant for school cases to date.
• Please share these expectations with all adults who drop off or collect your children from school.

In our learning back at school we have been pleased with how children have come back into school after the holidays and look forward to a great term of school fun ahead!

We have had a lovely Prayer Day today in school where children have had an opportunity to have self-reflection time, to design their own prayers and take part in some class prayerful activities. Ask your child what they enjoyed.

Have a super weekend and let’s hope it stays bright at this chilly time of the year.

Mrs Katy Pinchess, Headteacher

 

Covid update

Please know we are keeping a very close eye on all the updates. We review our Risk Assessments regularly and any time there is a new requirement. 

At this time we have been instructed that facemasks and lateral flow tests are mandatory for adults indoors. With this in mind, we have decided to halt any adults coming into the school building unless this has been pre-arranged. Regular reading volunteers or arranged meetings with staff may go ahead indoors as long as all parties have taken a Lateral flow Test in advance. If you are a regular volunteer and come inside school to volunteer, we would ask that you email your LFD test results before you come in. These are logged and are used in case of any outbreak. These records will be held on site securely according to our GDPR policy. We highly recommend that you do not come into school without having had your Covid vaccination and booster.

Some positive news is that the CO2 monitors from the DfE are enabling us to monitor our ventilation and to work safely without having lots of windows open! Therefore, our building is much warmer this winter and, as we have recently had the engineers in, we are feeling quite toasty. Please support your child to continue to look smart in their school uniform by ensuring their top layer is their Bentley green jumper or Bentley fleece. Thinner layers of vests and long sleeve t-shirts are welcome to be worn underneath their jumpers if they are a chilly person.

A huge thank you for your support to help us all keep safe. We will update you if there are any changes.

 

Ofsted & beyond

Our School Governors invite you to attend an online session to find out more about our recent Ofsted and next step plans. We look forward to seeing parents and other members of the community on Zoom from 8.00pm - 8.30pm on Monday 10^thJanuary. Please click here to let us know you are coming.  Mrs Pinchess and Governors are happy to answer any questions and you can log these at the link too.

 

Not all superheroes wear capes!

As you know we are lucky enough to have two school minibuses.  This enables us to take the children on super school visits without the additional cost of a coach, saving our parents an average of £10 per trip.  School visits help all the children to embed what they learn in the classroom - their memories of these experiences can last a lifetime and teachers see them as a vital part of their learning journey.

Unfortunately, we now only have a handful qualified minibus drivers and with 27 visits planned for this term and next, we simply cannot expect these few to drive every visit!  We don’t wish to cancel trips, nor do we want to put financial pressure on our families by using coaches more often - so we are seeking your help and need you to volunteer.  Please click here or call the school office for more details

 

Spring Term – Clubs

Information about all the Clubs running in the Spring Term will come out by email later today with the online form to request places on Teacher led clubs opening at 6pm tonight.  These forms will be processed on Tuesday and you will receive a text by 12pm on Friday to let you know if your child has a place at the club of their choice.  Forms will be dealt with in the order they arrive, so please don’t delay going online to complete yours.

 

Helping your child develop their writing skills

Lots of parents want to help their child with the many key aspects of writing. This has been an area where pupils struggle and we are often asked about expectations for what makes a ‘good’ writer at each year group. Mrs Miffling is running an information session over Zoom to help parents and carers support their child’s developing writing skills.  She will also cover the expectations in writing across the curriculum.  Would you like to join her on Friday 28th January at 10am?  Click here to register and for joining instructions.

 

Thank you to

…Benedict and Orla’s Grandma for the super stationery items

…the Turk family for the amazing dressing up clothes

 

Click here to find out what’s happening next week and

here to get more information about what’s going on in the local area