Message from the Headmistress
Dear Parents,
My two word summary of this week: cold and complicated.
There are many communications coming your way regarding different things. I am sorry these are coming in different mails but we are trying to send year group specific ones (or Junior/Senior specific ones) directly to those concerned if there are attachments, rather than collate all into one huge weekly document. It is getting a little complicated for the final weeks of term as we have increasing children on site and are working on transition for all to their new classes.
Next week sees the return of 5 Nursery children – who will join the Reception bubble 3 days a week. We have one space left in this bubble if any of the other Nursery children wish to join.
We also see the return of the Year 10 in very small cohorts for their subject master classes. They have been sent the timetable for this return. Year 10 will have one or two sessions a day – one for each subject they do, in a maximum group sizes of 6. They are pre-allocated their session where more than one is running. The morning session is 9.15am – 12.15pm and the afternoon 12.45pm – 3.45pm. It is important that the pupils arrive on time for their session and wait outside for the teacher to let them in. All sessions will be in Room 1 unless the teachers have let them know differently. Subject teachers will let them know what they must bring for their sessions. This is a fantastic opportunity for the pupils to have long master class sessions to re-invigorate pupils and to inspire them to continue learning. Pupils cannot be in school if they are not in an allocated session.
Parents are reminded that there is currently no on-site catering and that lunches and snacks must be brought from home.
Please ensure that you have read the Parent Handbook (Covid-19) if this is your daughter/son’s first time back in and help us prepare the ground by discussing with them the new procedures. This will be reinforced in school, too.
I am really sorry for the children in Years 2 to 5 and Years 7 to 9 who are not going to get to see us in school this term. I will not be able to add any further bubbles even if the government changes its mind and permits this in the next week or so. With the restrictions imposed by social distancing, mitigating the flow around buildings, separate play times for each bubble and different arrival and departure times, we are unable to facilitate any others.
We are adding in the junior flying up days with next year’s teachers (in once a weekly sessions) and ensuring that other new children joining the cohorts have the opportunity to meet at some of these times virtually as well.
A senior pupil recommended to myself and Mr Dean that I have a meeting with pupils in Year 7, 8 and 9 to say hello and to explain the situation to them. This has been scheduled for Monday 15th June at 10am. Thank you MH for the suggestion. We are hoping that the pupils themselves will ask questions and make suggestions for our transitional plans for the beginning of September.
I need to inform you that unless we are aware of your intentions to return children, our Key Worker groups have now reached their saturation point and are full.
From September, we are not operating our early arrival time for the Junior children. The earliest time you can arrive at school will be 8.00am. Breakfast will still be available until 8.30am for any who require it for £1 a day. We ran the early hours service as a trial and the take up was very small. I hope this doesn’t inconvenience anyone.
School uniform for September
We are now aware that the school uniform supplier, Schoolwear Solutions, will be re-opening their shop in Chilwell from Monday 15th June. Because of their restrictions, trying on in shop will not be possible. They will take orders by phone, online and will happily discuss the correct size requirements if you send in measurements. Orders can be collected from shop or posted home. I am awaiting some further information from the supplier and will send this on separately when it arrives.
We will also seek to provide a second hand service to parents and once we have worked out a procedure for how this will work, with the existing restrictions, I will send further information.
Holidays
With current restrictions on travellers returning to the UK being told to quarantine for 14 days, can I ask parents to ensure that if a holiday abroad is planned in the Summer that there is the time afterwards to self-isolate before return to school. If this rule is still in place, children will not be able to return to school until 14 days after return from abroad.
Future plans
Whilst having a range of alternative strategic ideas moving forwards into September, depending on the changing rules and guidance, currently we are planning on being open for all our pupils from the beginning of the Autumn Term.
Helping us to protect the children and staff
The rules are ridiculously hard to remember and as we know they constantly change, but at the moment children should not be arranging play days at each other’s houses, nor travelling in shared cars, to avoid unnecessary risk. The release of restrictions permits a lone person to join another bubble indoors and to have more physical contact with that discrete group (this is aimed primarily at elderly relatives and people living alone). Additionally, 2 families may meet in an outside area, in groups less than 6.
I clearly recognise some of the inconsistencies in advice but fear that as more shops open and society appears to get back to normal we will rush back to old behaviours and forget the implications should the virus start to re-surge. Key things as always are to retain social distancing where possible and to insist on frequent handwashing.
You may also have been alarmed by recent news stories about online grooming especially of vulnerable /susceptible children. Can I please remind parents of the dangers for children befriending people who they do not know online. Please monitor your son/daughter’s online behaviour on social media channels and gaming sites and try to engage with them about their experiences so they feel able to talk if they feel unsure about a ‘developing friendship’. We are always here to offer advice and to help and can send out other resources if required.
I have a one day a week Maths appointment to make for September – the full details are on the school website and on our social media if you know anyone who may be interested.
We have our next Virtual Open Day on Thursday 25th June for prospective parents to take a look around and ask questions. Please recommend this to families unsure about their school placements for September.
Next Friday (Friday 19th June) would have been Parents Forum. Instead, I am holding a Zoom session inviting any parents who wishes to ask for face to face clarification on any issue to come along. This is for all parents in the school. Mrs Bamber will send out the joining instructions next week.
The timetables for Senior School form times, subject clinics, Year 10 on-site lessons, and Teams teaching are below:
Finally, the Telegraph headline on Thursday gave interesting food for thought: suggesting that children under 15 had more chance of being struck by lightning than to die from Coronavirus.
This was part of a discussion about the oddity that children couldn’t all go to school but they could go to the zoo. (I can’t wait to go to the zoo).
Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs Hutley
Headmistress
Message from the Head of Juniors
Click here to view this week’s Stars of the Week
Dear Parents,
I hope you have all had a good week despite all the rainy days.
This week, we have seen the return of Year 1 and Mrs Wand to school and they have really enjoyed being back. Next week, our nursery children will also be joining us.
Around this time of year, with the end of term not too far away, we would usually have a ‘Flying Up afternoon’ for children to spend time in their new class with their new teachers. This year, these will be online with three weekly sessions, all of which children should attend. Please note the change in date for Year 1. If you wish to arrange additional meetings or phone calls with new teachers, please let them know.
Other Teams sessions for next week are as follows:
Have a lovely weekend with hopefully some sunshine!
Mrs Wright
Head of Juniors