Dear Parents and Carers,

 

We are nearing the end of the first week of the Government’s plan for Wider Opening and it has been lovely to see some familiar faces again. I would like to say thank you to those of you who are bringing your children in and can be seen to be taking social distancing very seriously.

 

As you will have seen if you have been to school, I have been out on duty at the beginning and end of most days to direct parents, answer questions or provide advice and it has been great to catch up with you all. Parents and children have been using the yellow ‘drop off’ lines as requested which again is helping to keep staff and children safe.

 

At no point have I witnessed any congestion on the site as all of the gates are open and so parents are approaching from all directions and so providing you all with a lot of space. We are lucky to have such a large site.

The children who have returned have been incredible. They have taken to the new rules and expectations exceptionally well, even the nursery and Year R children have been trying really hard to keep their distance but if they forget they respond quickly when asked.

 

All children across both schools have been provided with their own space to work in, pens and pencils and equipment or toys relevant to their age.

 

The Year R and nursery children have their own set of construction toys as well as objects for counting so that there is no need to share equipment. If they do need to it is being washed or sanitised in between use.

 

At lunchtimes and playtimes the children are going outside into their own ‘school family’ space and being supervised by other adults in their ‘school family’. At no time have I been told a child has tried to escape to another family, but have been playing very happily with the children in their own ‘family’. Again equipment has been provided for each family to use to focus their play.

 

The children have soon settled down to their learning and the teachers have planned modules of work to help address the work they have missed during the last 10 weeks. Again some of the children are not with their usual teacher or support staff but have adapted very well to this.

 

For those of you who want to review your situation regarding school attendance, details of how you can do this will be included in Monday’s update, with a start date of 15^th June. We need to have these specified start dates to ensure the children already in school aren’t continuously disrupted by new children arriving each day, teachers aren’t having to recap everyday on previous work because this takes up precious learning time and to reduce cross contamination of constant new arrivals.

 

Just to remind you that if you still feel you would rather keep your child at home that is totally acceptable and you will not be fined. You have to do what you feel to be right for your child and family.

 

The provision of work, on line, continues as the teaching staff who are not class based are managing this side of the learning. Children should also have their learning packs or study books to work from (except nursery).

 

Library books

Our librarian, Mrs Boseley, is needing to carry out an annual stock take of our library books and as we can’t use the library at the moment this is an ideal time for her to do this.

 

If you have any library books at home please can you return them as soon as possible. There is a box in both school reception areas for you to drop the books into and then Mrs Boseley will scan them back in.

 

We spend a huge amount of money on books for the children and any lost book means that we have to buy a replacement which subsequently reduces our ‘new book’ spend. Please look carefully for any books you may have. Thank you.

 

Transition

At this time of year we would normally be holding open afternoons and visits for parents and children to see their new school, as well as supporting the year 6 for their move to secondary school. Obviously due to the current situation these will not be able to go ahead. However, we are working on alternative ideas to help  with your child’s transition and details of these will be provided very soon.

 

I have already spoken to Miss Pearce at The Vyne School and we have arranged for our staff to work together to support the year 6 once they have transferred, so that both their learning and emotional needs are met.

 

It is usual practice for Mrs Keys and Mrs Pink (ELSAs) to continue to support children during the first term of their transfer and this will continue next term providing Covid 19 restrictions allow. If your child is transferring to another secondary school other than the Vyne, and currently receives ELSA support, we will make the same offer to continue that support but it will be up to the individual school as to whether this is something they would agree to.

 

Finally, please stay safe, the lockdown rules do now allow up to 6 people to meet outside as long as they socially distance, but the more people you mix with the greater the risk of you transmitting the virus as well as catching it, so please try to keep socialising to a minimum as I am sure we would all like to keep South View Covid free.

 

With very best wishes,

 

Mrs Sheila Pape

Executive Headteacher