Dear Parents 3 March 2021

This letter contains lots of important information for the coming days.
 
First of all, we are sending our love and best wishes from our school family to our governor and friend Mr Jimmy Spratt, as he has been unwell recently. Jimmy is a fantastic advocate for our school and an encourager to our governors and staff. We are thinking of you in our thoughts and prayers Jim and Lynda.
 

School Restart:

The Minister for Education has confirmed that the phased return of children to schools is to commence on Monday the 8th March for our younger pupils:

Nursery – Yr3:

From Monday 8th March until Friday 19th March, pupils from Nursery and Yrs 1 – 3 will return to face-to-face teaching in school for a period of two weeks.

Nursery will close at 11.30 am as usual but school will close at 2.00 pm, Monday – Friday, from the 8th – 19th March for ALL Yr1 – Yr3 pupils. 

Remote learning will resume for Nursery – Yr 3 pupils from 22nd – 26th March, i.e, the week before the Easter holidays.
 
Remote learning packs for this third week will go home with the Nursery – Yr3 children on Friday 19th March.

This long-awaited phased return to school will provide opportunity for our younger pupils to begin to reengage with their teachers, CAs and friends and to begin to return to a little more normality. 

This two-week period will provide a gentle, light touch return to school. We will not be engaging in an overnight drive for ‘catch up’. Our primary purpose will be to allow the children to settle back into the routine and rhythms of the school day. We believe that this approach will help us to address our children’s emotional health and well being. 

Our teachers will begin to assess where the children are in their learning and begin to revise key learning. They will also reassess the composition of reading and spelling groups etc. This will all take time, patience and understanding.

Our staff cannot wait to welcome our younger children back to class on the 8th and we look forward (all things being equal) to welcoming our whole school back after Easter. That will be a wonderful day for our school family; as yet is not confirmed, but we are getting there.

Years 4 – 7:

Pupils in Yrs 4 – 7 will continue to work remotely at home for a further 3 weeks, i.e., until the Easter holidays commence on the 26th March.

Remote learning packs will be available on Friday afternoons between 12.00 noon and 2.00 pm. Please note the change in pick up times.

Keyworkers’ children, children who have statements and vulnerable children:

Where parents are unable to make alternative provision, school will continue to provide supervised learning supported by our team of classroom assistants. They have been doing a sterling job in school since lockdown began and I want to thank them for their willingness to support our children in this way. They have brought a cheerfulness and sense of fun to the children’s days in school.

Please note the online, weekly application form, which is available on Facebook and the website, must be submitted by Saturday evening to secure a place for the week ahead. 
    
Covid-19 Mitigations:

All covid mitigations remain strictly in force for the health and safety of our children and their families and our staff and their families.

This includes:

1. Taking your child’s temperature each day before they come to school.
2. Not sending your child to school if they have symptoms of minor illnesses. I want to thank parents for helping us in this way, it has been an important element of our Covid response.
3. Not sending your child to school if they have any Covid symptoms.
4. Informing the school immediately if someone in your household has Covid.
5. Revisiting handwashing, sanitizing and respiratory hygiene (Coughs and sneezes) drills with your children.
6. Always wearing a facemask when you enter the school grounds. This is not only the policy of the school governors it is the policy of the Department of Education and Education Authority.
7. Not socialising on the school grounds or at the school gates. 
8. Maintaining social distancing and respecting the personal space of others.
9. Not entering the school building and wearing a face mask if you need to speak to a member of staff at the classroom door or to Debbie at the office.

Remote Learning:

I must thank our teachers for how they have risen to the challenge of remote learning. This has been a steep learning curve for us all. They have been zooming and Seesawing and Googling left right and centre. I am so blessed to work with such  a dedicated team.

I must also commend you as parents for how positively you have engaged with remote learning. I know this hasn’t been easy, and in some instances has been a real struggle. Don’t worry about ‘Mrs. my child has done everything and more’ or, ‘Mr. my child is actually further on than they would have been if they had been in school’. You have all done what you could, given your particular set of circumstances and our staff appreciate your efforts. Your children will come to appreciate that too! You have done a great job. 

Remember, we are coming through a pandemic, there was no parents’ or school manual for this! We have been in this trial together and we will come out of it and begin to move forward, together. 

After School Provision:

Will continue to be provided for keyworker children who are in school for supervised learning and pupils who are attending school from Nursery – Yr3.
Please note normal fees will apply and ASC will close at 5.00 pm sharp.

St Patrick’s Day ☘️ 

School will be closed for all pupils on this statutory holiday. 

After School Club will be available from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm for children who are registered with ASC. Normal fees apply.
The children need to bring a packed lunch, break and water bottle. (Non-uniform)

Easter Holidays 🐣 

School finishes at midday on Friday 26th March for all keyworker children and our Easter holidays will run, as planned, from Monday 29th March – Friday 9th April inclusive.

After School Club will be available during the Easter break from 9.00am to 5.00pm for children who are registered. Normal fees apply.
The children need to bring a packed lunch, break and water bottle. (Non-uniform)

School Meals 🍲 

School meals are available for the period 8th – 19th March priced £2.60. Children entitled to Free School Meals will be able to avail of this service as normal.

World 🌎 Book 📚 Day

WBD is celebrated this Thursday and we are encouraging the children to make their favourite book characters using potatoes and a little imagination. Details are on our Facebook page. 

Please send us photos of their creations to Seesaw, or the group Whatsapps or in the Facebook comments.

Other activities might include: recording a video of you reading a story for your teacher; recreating a scene from a book with your family as the actors and recording your mini sketch; making a reading den; cartooning a scene from a book and of course dressing up all day as your favourite book character. There are loads of great ideas at www.worldbookday.com

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

Take care and stay safe.

Roy Greer 
Principal