School News

Dear families,

What a great start to the term! Everything went well this morning and thank you to you all for following our social distancing protocols. The children who attended last term, if only for a few days, clearly were very comfortable with the new procedures and they supported the children who were not so familiar. Thank you for wearing the masks too. Great job.

Once inside the classrooms, it was business as usual. I led my first official whole school ‘zoom’ assembly at 9.30 welcoming everyone back! Not my preference or talent to say the least but it was great to see the classes in situ! The plan is for me to lead individual class assemblies on Mondays and Tuesdays, meeting each class over the two days and then a full school zoom assembly each Friday! All very different! All very grown up! There are some great advantages to this – one being age related/themed assemblies rather than one size has to fit all. I am looking forward to tackling age appropriate topics!

Our key priorities for the school year are outlined below. We always look forward to doing better each year and much of last year’s targets need to be continued for this year. But I think you should know which areas will be our foci.

1. To assess as quickly as possible gaps in children’s individual progress with Reading, Writing and Maths.
2. To provide interventions or whole class lessons, where needed for any children to ‘recover’ missed learning.
3. To prioritise Guided Reading in all classes, along with phonic teaching and learning in Reception and KS1.
4. To ensure that children’s mental health and well being are strong, when coping and dealing with the many challenges that they have faced and will continue to face this year.
5. To know what ‘equality’ means and how everyone has a part to play in ensuring that everyone feels valued, cared for and considered.

As I write this, I am smiling wryly to myself! Not much then! And this is only a small part of it! Ultimately first and foremost is that we wish for the children to be happy to have returned to school, to know that we are a safe place for them alongside you and that their well being is all that matters!

It is going to be a busy year! When isn’t it? Hope the children had a great day! We loved seeing them!

Kind regards

Jacqui Saunders