Mrs Finch's Blog 6/7/20

Date: 6th Jul 2020 @ 7:43am

By now you should have all received your child's report via email - for those who we don't have an email address yours will be arriving in the post very soon.  It's been a hard one this year as we've only been able to comment on your child's progress and effort until the end of March.  The judgements that we have given have been based on how the children were performing at that time and if we expected them to reach age related expectations by the end of the year.  If anyone has any questions about the reports then please feel free to email your child's class teacher (you will need to do this via a separate email) or I am also happy to answer any questions you may have.  Please note that if you reply to any email that is sent from school, no matter which member of staff it is sent by, the reply will come to my email address.

So, this last week we've seen a few more faces joining us in school and this week there's more still.  We are on very low numbers so it is still quite strange for those who are in, it's certainly not the bustling school that we are used to.  However, as always I do think this is how it should be at the minute.  As we watch the wider community opening up it will be interesting to see how people cope with all the changes and what effect it has on the pandemic.

You will have seen that we have the definite go ahead from the government to open up the whole school in September and we can't wait to have everyone back together again.  As I have mentioned in previous blogs, although we will all be back in school it will still be quite different.  We've provided individual pencil cases and equipment for every child in school.  This will ensure that they are not unnecessarily sharing resources wherever possible.  Where resources are shared there will be rigorous cleaning after the activity.  Regular handwashing has now hopefully become the norm in society and we will be continuing to encourage this throughout the day.  Lunch and break times will be split so that we don't have all the children in one space all together at the same time and worship will be done in classes rather than having everyone in the hall. Little changes like this will make a big difference and although it will be strange at first I'm sure it won't be forever.   

In September we are going to need your help at the start and end of the day too, we're still refining how we can do this but I envisage using three separate entrances and ask that parents don't congregate in groups on the yards.  I will send more details about this next week and again just before we return in September.  The expectation is that all children return to school at this time and I do believe that it will be more than safe to do so.

It feels as though we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel after what has been a very strange and often dark time.  I'm so proud of how our little school community has handled it all, we've stuck together and kept each other safe in the best ways possible - by following government advice and staying home whenever we could.  The reopening of society is scary but I know that if we continue to work together and put safety first then we'll be back together soon.

Have a lovely week everyone, take care and stay safe.

Mrs F x