Latest News
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
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26th March 2021
Fri 26 Mar 2021Dear Parents
Another week has flown by and I can't believe how close we are to Easter. On Thursday we break up at 2pm and I will be leading a distanced assembly with each class on the last day. We are not singing inside but we will enjoy some of our Easter classics on the playground, with distance.
Managing all the safety measures is a challenge everyday but we are fully committed to all we are doing to keep our school community safe. Today, updated guidance has been published which I will go through in detail before presenting any amendments to our procedures to our governors. When I was emailed the guidance, I went straight to the section on residential trips; I am delighted that if all government steps continue as planned then residential trips can take place from 17th May. This will hopefully, all being well, mean that our Year 6 will get to experience PGL. PGL have phoned us today to confirm this.
Another step forward in the current situation is that we are going to be offering hot lunches after Easter. I am still working out all the logistics but we will manage it safely and we are pleased to do so.
Please be aware that Mrs Lawrence will not be in the office on Monday and Tuesday but can be contacted by email. We will continue to answer the phones as much as we can but please leave a message if you do not get through.
Last week I directed you to our Relationships and sex education policy which is on our website and states that we are currently consulting on the policy. Please contact me with any thoughts, opinions or concerns regarding the policy before the end of term.
It has been great to see Beehive a little busier this week. Beehive are committed to our school and we are very lucky but they do need support now. If you want to book, please go on their website. Likewise, NSsport will be running the Easter holiday club at school and you can book days via their website.
I wish you all a lovely weekend. Once again, I thank you all for your support and I thank our wonderful staff for their exceptional hard work.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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19th March
Fri 19 Mar 2021Dear parents & guardians,
I hope you are well. This has been such a busy week and it has flown by. I have had the pleasure of 3 days training (online) along with Mrs Dodds and Mrs Combe. The training was called Therapeutic Thinking and we are very excited about moving our school forward through this approach.
The Governors have also met this week on Teams. It was great to celebrate the return to school and review the measures in place whilst also focusing on whole school development. I would like to draw your attention to our Relationships and sex education policy which will be added to the policies page of the website tomorrow. This is under consultation and we welcome your feedback. Sadly we cannot arrange a parent meeting at school for this consultation so I urge you to email me if you wish and we will set a date for a Teams consultation meeting in a couple of weeks time.
Whilst we are settling back into the term, we remain just as cautious as ever regarding Covid. Please can I remind you to take your child's temperature each morning as a routine and if they show any signs of being unwell please take a proactive and careful approach in regards to sending them to school.
Thank you for supporting us today for Comic Relief, we had a distanced, but whole school skipping competition. We were so impressed with the children's skipping and it was great to be together enjoying exercise and sunshine. I will confirm the amount raised next week but here are the colour team scores!
Blue - 1601
Green -1982
Yellow - 2041
Red - 2068
Well done to the Reds and to everyone for joining in. Thank you to Year 6 for your counting and leadership and thank you Mr O'Reilly for organising it all! A fantastic 7692 skips!!
Please note that Goldfinch will have their PE on Tuesday next week rather than Monday so please adjust the uniform/PE kit day.
I wish you a lovely weekend, hopefully a sunny one.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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12th March 2021
Fri 12 Mar 2021Dear parents & guardians,
Welcome back! It has been so wonderful to see the children back. I would like to thank Alison for the balloons at the front of school; they looked so cheerful and gave a lovely welcome. I am delighted that we reopened on Monday with 100% attendance.
We have made some changes to the organisation of school, this is largely due to the way we are using the playground, computer suite and the hall. We have even got a portaloo for staff to use, allowing us to split the use of the toilets into class bubbles; I think that demonstrates our dedication to keeping safe!
The morning routine is working very well, however, I am concerned about home time. The timings are very tight for us to send the children out but we wish to allow parents to collect siblings together. I am confident it will work well but we need parents to arrive at their allocated time and not before. I must also take this opportunity to remind you that, if children are not collected on time, we will be asking Beehive to look after them and charge parents for a half hive session.
It has been great to see the children so involved in their learning this week and I have had a lovely day with Rosefinch today. The children are showing commitment and determination to their learning and they have transitioned from remote learning to school learning in such a positive manner. We will continue to use Google classrooms for weekly home learning so please support the children to keep up to date with that.
I wish you all a lovely and safe weekend. The beautiful mother's day bouquets have hopefully got home in one piece; thank you to all the staff for making them with children, especially Mrs Metcalfe for organising it for the school. I wish you all a relaxing Mothering Sunday.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone
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5th March 2021
Fri 05 Mar 2021Dear Parents & Guardians,
I hope you are well and that the children are looking forward to returning to school on Monday.
I wanted to share how proud I am of our pupils. They have worked hard, engaged with the videos, lives and the learning and have shown care and kindness towards each other. I know as parents, how hard you have worked too and I hope this weekend, you can take a moment to reflect on what you have done and achieved for your family. I hope you feel proud and I hope you can relax!
The letter I sent out on Monday should provide you with all the information you need for the return to school. I would like to reiterate a few points:
- Please do not allow the children to bring things into school other than the essentials.
- Please check your child's temperature before bringing them in. Take a precautious and proactive approach if your child or a member of your household is feeling unwell in anyway.
- If we send things home with the children, please know that we have done this is a Covid safe manner. If you do not wish to have things sent home, please let us know.
- Please adhere to the organisation set out for drop off and pick up. Please avoid bringing dogs to the entrance of the school carpark and please keep distance from others.
We have attached various documents to the Office updates including a note from Mr and Mrs Fox, Nssport information, Household testing information and a letter from Fofsa. Please take a look at all of these.
We have been so busy with remote learning, the provision for key worker children and the return to full opening but I am delighted that we have also continued developing as a school. We have Parentmail working, a new server, a new website design and layout and even new phones which allow us to transfer calls! We are also close to ordering new books for Key Stage two which is very exciting.
I wish you all a lovely weekend. I thank you for your support and the so many kind gestures shown to the staff. We are incredibly grateful for all you have done and we are pleased to support our wonderful school community.
With kind regards
Jacquie Vanstone