Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome to the middle of the week ! 'Everyday is an adventure' is our thinking at the moment as we work our way forward. 

1. End of term date clarification - term ends on Thursday April 1st and we return on Monday April 19th (with new haircuts !). 

Summer term ends for the children on Friday July 16th July.

Summer holiday club news will come out soon but we plan to run something from Wednesday 21st July (probably for the first four weeks of the holidays).

2. Chrome book return -  The Chrome books will be used in the near future to enhance our ICT offer to the children (The Parish Hall next door now has wi-fi so it gives us scope for extra use and ICT). I have just ordered our 7 laptops from the DFE scheme, a bit late but they are free and will be added to our laptops in school. 

3. Uniform after Easter - if the review on April 12th proceeds with the opening of shops then we will expect children in the correct uniform and shoes for the summer term. There is still a third of the school year to go and we are flexible towards the end of the year (last 2 or 3 weeks) if children grow out of their shoes. 

4. Behaviour and manners

Behaviour = we don't have any major issues but we have reached week 2 with some children who are tired, out of routine and still aware of everything else that is happening. Children need good routines, sleep and to eat/drink correctly to thrive. We all know home is different to school (as you have found out first hand during lockdown) but we are back to a more 'normal' routine now. 

Manners = we have very high expectations of manners from all of the children, we expect them to be polite and take responsibility for the way they speak to adults and other children. Generally it is something we see all the time but we are having to reinforce some aspects more than before. 

We are also noticing some table manners that have got weaker, using a knife and fork correctly, sitting properly etc. Please could you practise and reinforce these aspects at home please.

5. Expectations of you !

- to communicate effectively if your child is ill or displays any symptoms (keep them off and get tested asap then inform us of the result). DO NOT GIVE CALPOL OR ANYTHING ELSE and if you do please communicate with us.

- be prepared for a case (which in a primary school will result in the whole bubble isolating). 

- to keep the school community as safe as possible. Home testing is your own choice and not something the school needs to know (although when children say 'I had a test yesterday.....' we have to remember the context now !). Home testing is free and a link was sent on an old Parentmail.

Attached are a few fliers for various things and also a photo of our private forest school site, how lucky are we to have such an amazing site with a view of the mountains, lucky children ! 

Thank you for your support, care and understanding so far, it is appreciated.

Kind regards

Mr Batstone