Dear Parents and Carers
As we prepare to open the school again to all children on Monday, I would like to thank you all for your support with your children’s learning throughout the last 12 months. Going from a complete unknown last March, through school closure, partial opening, full opening and then closure again, this has been year of disruption which I am sure none of us wants to repeat.
From what I have seen of the children’s learning at home and in school, though, I think many of them have worked very hard and should find slotting back into normal school routines and expectations relatively straightforward.
There will be some, however, who will need more support than before and it is really important for us to work with you to provide what your child needs. Therefore, if there have been circumstances for your child which we are unaware of, either for them personally or for your families, please do let me or their class teacher know in the strictest confidence and, with your agreement, we should be able to help them settle back in quickly, come to terms with any changes and be ready once again to enjoy school. I am planning for us to have parents’ evenings early in the summer term which will give everyone the opportunity to find out how your children are settling back into school again. Dates for these will follow shortly.
We will soon be starting after school clubs for each class – details of what is on offer will be sent home next week. Those children who are signed up for Tennis with Ian Griffin will be able to start this Thursday.
I would be very interested to hear of your experiences of remote learning and, if your child has been in school this term, of our critical worker/vulnerable child provisions. The staff have worked incredibly hard throughout this time and have become quite used to standing in front of the camera and switching from one means of technology to another. You will be aware that it has been a very different way of working for the staff and your feedback will be very useful in making sure that, if for any reason we have to close again, we can make the best of any remote learning opportunities. Interestingly, I did read a comment recently from a headteacher elsewhere in the country who, thanks to remote education, was celebrating the end of Snow Days! Please spend some time completing the attached questionnaire, including the second section of Ofsted-style questions, in order to help us gain the most from this experience and improve our practice where needed. Where some of these questions may be difficult for you to answer for this term, please base your answer on your child’s experience of the Autumn Term. If you have any comments specific to any of the questions, please type in the question box, which will expand with your comments.
Related to the remote learning offer, I must apologise for the somewhat unreliable Teams lessons this week. Ironically, I suspect it was due to work being done on our new Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme which is designed to supply reliable, superfast broadband to the school and local households…
We are all looking forward to the remaining restrictions being eased, when we can consider offering a full range of after school activities, sing and act with gusto in school and invite you in again for assemblies, productions and to hear children read. We will resume normal service as soon as we are able.
In the meantime, thank you once again for your tremendous efforts and support. Do come and talk to me at the beginning and end of the day as it will be great to catch up with you all.
With best wishes
James Stanford