Dear Parents and Carers
I hope you all had a relaxing half term holiday despite the somewhat blustery weather at the beginning. The school survived amazingly in-tact, but the amount of debris around later at the weekend showed how strongly the wind had blown.
The children seem to have really enjoyed being all back together this week. Seeing them all playing together on the playground and having whole school assemblies in the hall has been lovely. Their whole-school parade wearing their brilliant World Book Day costumes yesterday was a real treat – thank you to everyone who went to the effort of dressing up and bringing in book-related work! Fingers are crossed that we can carry on operating as a whole school again, and can invite you into school for events this term.
We are, however, still being cautious. Staff are continuing to do LFD tests at least twice a week and are wearing masks when in meetings or mixing with a wider range of children. We are still trying not to have the children in close contact with those from other classes when indoors, are keeping the classrooms well-ventilated and are emphasising the importance of Catch-it, Bin it, Kill it! and rigorous hand-washing.
Volunteering in School
If you would like to come into school to help, for example with reading, running a club, supporting art lessons or any other ideas you may have, please let me or the class teacher know. Volunteers are very welcome, with the understanding they should follow the same rules as other adults in the school.
Opportunities to come into school
Parents’ Evening
We are planning to hold parents’ evenings in person this term, and have set the dates as Tuesday 22nd March (all classes) and Wednesday 23rd March Hazel, Chestnut and Oak. Please complete the slip coming home tonight and return to school with your preferred day and time and we look forward to seeing you on one of those evenings.
Miss Gale is also hoping to invite parents of children in Chestnut Class into their ukulele concert near the end of term, we have the whole school disco on Friday 18th March (which is also Comic Relief Day – children to wear something red for a suggested £1 donation), Mrs Clasby is holding an information session for parents of children in Oak Class to learn more about their forthcoming residential trip to North Devon, and Miss Buxton will be talking to parents about the Year 1 phonics screening check. Full details will be sent home separately.
Internet Safety
This is a topic I am having to refer to sadly often. On a number of occasions this term, children have come into school referring in detail to games, apps and websites they are too young to understand and cope with. They are talking about these with their friends and suggesting incorporating some of the content into their own games. I have been in contact with Dorset Police, who used to run information sessions for parents on how to keep children safe when on-line, and they are currently producing some materials which should be very helpful. As soon as they are released I will forward the link to you, and recommend everyone looks at them – they promise to be very informative and will help everyone realise how easily children can access inappropriate material. In the meantime, I would be grateful if you would reinforce the school’s message that it is really important for the children to talk about anything they have seen which has upset them, or which they realise was not right for them, but only to the adults around them. I also recommend looking at the NSPCC and ThinkuKnow websites, which give details of how to make sure your devices are safe for the children and the ratings/age limits for many popular apps. The advice is always to monitor closely your child’s use of phones, tablets etc. and to check their history regularly. Please also be aware of some anomalies; WattsApp, for example, has a PEGI rating of 3, but a minimum age limit of 16 without parental consent.
Cricket at Stour Provost
Please see the attached flyer for cricket sessions on Sundays in May and June. Full information may be found at https://ecb.clubspark.uk/Dynamos/Course/5c3e6476-b00d-4eee-91ea-b8df91d50192
With best wishes
James Stanford
Headteacher