Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend and enjoyed the weather ! The roof works are progressing well and we will be looking for Years R and 1 to move into other classrooms (ICT room/Year 2 classroom) within the school building within a week or so as the roofers move around the building.

Year 2 will remain in the Parish Hall as they are used to it and it works, a big 'thank you' to the children, staff and parents/carers in Year 2 for being so sensible and understanding.

1. Covid update and the road ahead

The weekend was also full of new Covid news, our approach has always been to be sensible and cautious so we will see what the next few weeks bring. Masks in school are for high schools and we see no need at the current time as we are still in class groups inside and mixing more outside (if children want to wear a mask in class then we allow them to). Assemblies are distanced anyway.

We ask you to be extra cautious and vigilant and regularly test.

Year 5 and 6 now have 'posh' toilets on site with heating and all other classes have inside toilets, they are expected to use them perfectly as it is a personal favour for our school to have them (the cost has been reduced and they are only hired on the understanding that we will use them correctly). We do not receive any additional funding for this or other Covid measures we still have in place.

Ventilation is still vital and the children need layers on during the cold weather. We sometimes put the heating on for a booster but we can't get to the boiler house due to the roof works (we can still access it in an emergency).

2. Eco Christmas - no cards (one to the class)

It is a good time to remind people that we do not have post boxes in classes or encourage the children to send individual cards to people. We would prefer that the children invest the time in one card for the class if they want to send one.

3. Christmas Parties etc

As stated before we will have Christmas parties but, as last year, they will be at forest school and outside. Some classes may stay up there a bit longer until it gets dark. More details will be sent soon.

Details for Year R and 1 will be sent shortly as they will have theirs in school.

4. Nativity and whole school Christmas

Despite some very unhelpful information from the DFE about nativities and Christmas celebrations it is the schools choice to decide what does and doesn't happen in relation to their own situations and infections.

Year R and Year 1 will have an afternoon Nativity (parents/carers are invited) in Madley Church (we are just checking it is free). We will be asking parents/carers to wear masks and to be seated socially distanced.

There will NOT be a whole school Christmas Church celebration this year.

5. National Tree Week

This week is National Tree Week and I have attached a picture related to the importance of trees. It also links forest school at school to eco schools to a wider understanding of the World.

I have no doubt there will be more Covid news as the weeks progress (here we go again !! Not that it was over anyway......).

Regards

Mr Batstone