Dear Parents and Carers
It has been lovely to have all the children back in school this week, with attendance at 99.7%! Well done to all the children, and thank you to all of you for supporting your children’s return to school. To have the classes full and the happy sounds of the children learning and playing together is giving them a real sense of normality and they seem to be settling in very well. If you think your child is struggling in any way, please don’t hesitate to let me or the class teachers know; you can still contact them via the class e-mail account as before.
Thank you also for keeping to the important safety measures we have put in place. With so many more of you in the carpark, particularly at the end of the day, we need to be very careful to follow the school’s measures; keep at least 2 metres from other households and all adults to wear a face covering, please. It would also help reduce the number of people on the car park if only one adult from each family waited to collect the children, and please take exceptional care when driving on the car park as parents and carers are having to stand much further from the traditional collecting points.
It is very good that so many of you are taking advantage of the free bus service. This service is available for children who live in and around Todber, Fifehead Magdalen, East and West Stour and Kington Magna. The children are sitting in their class groups on the bus so maintaining their ‘bubbles’ as well as can be managed. If your child is using this service, it would be a sensible measure to ensure they have at least sanitised their hands before they board the bus in the mornings, as we do at the end of the day.
Breakfast and After School Clubs are also proving popular. Guidance given to us during this continuing lockdown states:
Therefore, from 8 March, providers should only offer indoor and outdoor face-to-face provision to:
vulnerable children and young people
other children, where the provision is:
reasonably necessary to enable their parents and carers to work, search for work, undertake education or training, or attend a medical appointment or address a medical need, or attend a support group
being used by electively home educating parents as part of their arrangements for their child to receive a suitable full-time education
being used as part of their efforts to obtain a regulated qualification, meet the entry requirements for an education institution, or to undertake exams and assessments
From 29th March, these restrictions are due to end. For now though, in order to reduce the risk of infection spreading between groups, we would be grateful if you would use this facility for your children only when needed in line with above. We are resuming our 07:45 – 08:45 Breakfast Club hours and 15:20 – 17:30 After School Club hours from now.
Staffing update
You will be sorry to learn that Mrs Sleigh who has been a teaching assistant in Chestnut Class since September will be leaving us at the end of next week. We thank her for all she has done for the school over the last few months and wish her well in her future career.
Questionnaire and Parent Forum – 23rd March 2:00pm
As you know, we are always very keen to provide the best possible all-round education for your child and to do this we need to have your input. I would be very grateful if you could spare a few minutes to complete and return the questionnaire sent home last week – attached again at the bottom of this newsletter. If you would like a paper copy, please let me know and one will be sent home with your child. Another chance for you to have your say, and to find out the results of the questionnaire and our plans to address any issues raised, is by coming along to the Parent Forum. It is a while since we held one of these, so it is even more important for us to have as wide a representation as possible. Due to the current circumstances, we will be holding this meeting via Microsoft Teams. You do not need an account to access it, just click on this link Stower Provost Parent Forum 230321 14:00 and use the web app. I hope to see lots of you at the meeting, and if you have any points your wish to raise about the children’s education or the school as a whole, we would be grateful if you could let us know beforehand in order to give our responses some thought.
With best wishes
James Stanford