Back to School
Wednesday 2nd September 2020
Dear Parent(s)/Carer(s),
Returning to school on 7th September 2020
As I am sure you are aware, the children’s first day back at school will be Monday 7th September and myself and the staff at our school are really excited to see everyone after the Summer break.
Whilst I wrote to parents at the end of last term to share plans, it is probably a good time to write again. As I’m sure you will be aware, the government has stated that all children should return to school this term. I believe this is a positive step and we have scrutinised the government guidance and completed the necessary risk assessments to ensure we have the appropriate measures in place to minimise risk around the school.
Class Structure:
Class | Teacher | Location | Start of the Day / Drop – Off | End of the Day / Collection |
Cherry | Mrs Knock | Early Years Unit (Enter via the gate on the left before the Children’s Centre) | 8:45 – 9:00 | 3:00 – 3:15 |
Rowan | Ms Hall | Early Year Unit (Enter using the passage on the right hand side of the Children’s Centre) | 8:45 – 9:00 | 3:00 – 3:15 |
Hazel | Ms Pantoll / Mrs Coombes | Early Year Unit (Enter using the passage on the right hand side of the Children’s Centre) | 8:30 – 8:45 | 2:45 – 3:00 |
Elm | Ms Fast | Main School Site 10th classroom on the right as you walk down from the main entrance | 8:30 – 8:45 | 2:45 – 3:00 |
Beech | Ms Lewis | Main School Site 8th classroom on the right as you walk down from the main entrance | 8:30 – 8:45 | 2:45 – 3:00 |
Willow | Ms Raby | Main School Site 6th classroom on the right as you walk down from the main entrance | 8:45 – 9:00 | 3:00 – 3:15 |
Maple | Mr Pope/Mr Hurley / Mrs Coombes | Main School Site 5th classroom on the right as you walk down from the main entrance | 8:45 – 9:00 | 3:00 – 3:15 |
Ash | Mr Goddard | Main School Site 4th classroom on the right as you walk down from the main entrance | 8:45 – 9:00 | 3:00 – 3:15 |
Pine | Ms Martin | Main School Site 3rd classroom on the right as you walk down from the main entrance | 9:00 – 9:15 | 3:15 – 3:30 |
Birch | Mrs Bailey / Ms Bryant | Main School Site 2nd classroom on the right as you walk down from the main entrance | 9:00 – 9:15 | 3:15 – 3:30 |
Oak | Vikki M / Mr Hurley / Mrs Coombes | Main School Site 1st classroom on the right as you walk down from the main entrance | 9:00 – 9:15 | 3:15 – 3:30 |
We have a number of measures in place to minimise risk, including:
- Children will sanitise their hands each time they enter the classroom and the lunch hall, using newly installed sanitiser dispensers.
- Staggered start-times / drop-off times / break times and lunch times for children of different ages / phases to reduce congestion, reduce mixing of classes/phases and aid social distancing.
- Only one parent / carer to drop-off and collect children.
- No whole school assemblies. Instead we will introduce phase assemblies where children can socially distance and sit apart from each other more easily.
- We will minimise children sitting face to face in classrooms.
- One way systems for children in school and for parents when dropping off and collecting.
- Increased cleaning of classrooms and surfaces throughout the school day.
- The curriculum will be adapted to avoid higher risk activities and there will be increased emphasis on teaching the children key safe behaviours such as: ‘Catch it, bin it, kill it.’
There has been a lot of news recently surrounding the use of face-masks in school. We are adhering to the government guidance which states that primary aged children do not need to wear facemasks in school:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-in-education/face-coverings-in-education
Drop-Off and Collection:
Each class has been allocated a 15 minute range in which to drop-off or collect your child. We ask that only 1 parent/carer enter the school site to drop-off and collect and there is a one way system to follow that is indicated by blue arrows. Outside the classrooms there are places to wait to drop-off and collect as indicated by blue circles which will assist with social distancing (2 metres apart). We know that under normal circumstances parents and carers have an opportunity to talk with the teachers and teaching assistants at the classroom door but we ask that this be kept to a minimum in order to avoid queueing. Towards the end of the Summer Term, some parents were no longer adhering to the time slots allocated which led to some unnecessary queueing outside of classrooms. With increased numbers of pupils returning to school, it is very important that parents stick to the time slots and in particular, please do not arrive earlier than the allotted time as this creates congestion.
School Uniform
We require children to wear the school’s new school uniform from September 7th 2020. This last year has been a transition year, where we allowed children to wear the old uniform to allow parents to get best value for money if they had just bought some of the old items. However, we now wish all children to adhere to the new policy (we will send it out again via parentmail). The school will be open on September 3rd and 4th for parents wishing to come and purchase uniform from the office. Alternatively, it can be purchased via the Wovina website:
https://www.wovina.com/collections/holsworthy-c-of-e-primary-school
As we are reintroducing school uniform, we will be asking children to bring in different clothing for Wild Tribe. As we did before, children can arrive in their Wild Tribe clothing with their uniform in their bags if they have Wild Tribe session in the morning and vice versa if their session is in the afternoon.
Wild Tribe Timetable:
| Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri |
AM:
| Ash Class | Rowan Class | Pine Class | Beech Class | Hazel Class |
PM
| Oak Class | Maple Class | Birch Class | Elm Class | Willow Class |
This will mean pupils may need to bring a bag into school again but we ask that pupils only bring in essential items, for example their packed lunch or Wild Tribe clothing (no toys, cards etc). We are also allowing pupils to bring in their own water bottles but can we remind parents that pupils are only allowed to fill their bottles with water. The school will provide pupils with stationary, therefore we are asking that children do not bring in their own pencil cases, pens, pencils, rulers etc from home.
Breakfast Club and After School Clubs
As we are required to keep the children in ‘bubbles’ there will be some challenges setting up a safe breakfast club provision but we will seek to do this asap. If you are a working parent, with a great need for a breakfast club provision, then please could you inform the school office as soon as possible and we will seek to overcome the practical challenges of delivering this service safely.
With regards to after school clubs, we will seek to introduce these in the first few weeks but these will require additional planning to ensure it is safe to do so.
School Dinners:
Over the Summer, builders have been busy creating our new kitchen and so from September 7th, meals will be cooked on site by our new kitchen team – very exciting! In the first week back there will be a simple menu (see below) which will be ordered in the usual way but once the team have settled in we will be in touch with details of a more comprehensive menu and a new system of ordering. The cost of school dinners is now £2.40 per meal.