Headlines By James Saunders 25th September 2020
C7, C8 and C11 will have their usual LS3 and finish at 12.45 We have now completed three full weeks of the term, although for many it may feel like we have done a term already. I hope that you will all agree that it is great to be able to get back to the business of building positive relationships. Walking around the school has been great this week. I have been so impressed at the level of maturity and behaviour of our learners. We have had to rearrange our classes and are doing more teaching from the front. What I have found is that rather than being the bringer of boredom staff and learners have embraced the opportunity to focus on learning more. Without question I have seen 100% engagement and focus in every learning session this week. Well done to all learners for settling in so effectively. You may have heard about a national catch up initiative to support learners who have fallen behind over the last six months. This fund broadly relates to ÂŁ80 per learner on roll. Does that mean that we are going to discreetly spend ÂŁ80 on each learner? Not quite. We will be investing this funding in a number of interventions and diagnostic tools. The first step, which we are currently completing, is to evaluate our cohorts from an academic and social perspective to identify need. We will then be able to assign learners to specific catch up and support interventions. I would like to remind you all that Thursday is what would have been, Open Evening. We are unable to run the evening as we normally would, however talks will still be going ahead. We therefore will still be closing half day on the 1st October as we have in years previously to provide our staff with our regular inset programme that continues into the full inset day on Friday 2nd October as shown in our school calendar. The timings for the day on Thursday 1st are as follows: All learners will complete LS1 and LS2 as usual. LS3 will be as follows:
C9 and C10 will not have an early lunch - their LS3 will run through from 11.30 and they will depart school at 12.40. (if your child is eligible for a free school meal, this will be available at break for collection). On the 1st October, buses and taxis have been arranged for the early pick from school. School is open again on Monday 5th October when we will be welcoming year 6 families to the school to see learning during the day for two weeks at 9am and 10:30am. We have organised the tours so that we have minimal visitors at one time. All visitors on tours have been asked to wear masks throughout their time in school. They will not be going into classrooms and will be able to view the learning and speak to staff from the classroom door, therefore limiting the risk. We feel it is important for year 6 families to see the wonderful work that goes on in our school, and visiting during the day we believe is the best way to make an informed decision. Finally I would like to remind everyone that as of next week we will not be able to continue to provide free masks for learners that have forgotten or lost theirs. We will be charging 50p to provide a mask for a learner as of Monday, the cost of which will be deducted from their cashless catering account. I have been very impressed by the respect shown by everyone in supporting the wearing of masks around school. I wish you a great weekend. James Saunders Thankyou to our Lead Learners: Jude Battersby, Lily Blute, Sienna Gray, Emily Pyatt, Hannah Pyatt and Hannah Read who met with Caroline Derbyshire today to share their plans and views of our school.