Dear Parents/Carers

It’s hard to believe we’re already at the end of this very unusual Spring half-term. What a cold week it has been but lovely to see the snow. As temperatures begin to rise over the next week and the evenings are getting brighter, we’re beginning to see that Spring is finally on its way.

The most recent lockdown has an exceptionally challenging time for everyone as we all adapted to the new learning routines since the start of term and the Government announcement that schools would be closed to many children. We moved quickly to our Google Classroom digital platform to support remote learning and are very pleased that we have been able to give so many devices to children at home, as well as wifi support if necessary. We know how hard parents are working with children at home to support remote learning and that this is not always easy. Your support is invaluable and we want to say a huge thank you to parents and family members for all you are doing to support your children’s learning.

We may hear more from the Government on 22^nd February about when schools are due to fully reopen. Until then, we are continuing to reflect on how we can ensure children not attending school are offered high-quality remote learning. To help us make sure we‘re providing the right support for you and your child we will continue to contact parents after the half-term and we welcome your feedback on the questionnaire which you can access on your child’s Google Classroom account. Thank you to all the parents who have already completed the questionnaire and for sharing your positive experiences of remote learning, along with ideas of what else we can do to further support this.

We are very proud that we have been able to offer school places for almost 70 children of critical workers and other eligible children during the current partial closure and it has been lovely to welcome the children into school each day. We have been able to offer this high number of places thanks to the fantastic dedication and commitment of our entire school staff. Teaching Assistants, teachers, office and premises and catering staff have been in school every day to ensure all year group ‘bubbles’ have stayed safely open to care for the children attending school and also to organise the remote learning for the children working at home. Thank you to all the staff for the tremendous efforts you have shown during this very challenging time to support our children and families, both those attending school and also those at home.

Ash Wednesday takes place next week to mark the beginning of Lent, the most important season in our Church year. During Lent we will be thinking about the time Jesus spent in the desert and how Lent is a time when we can try to change and grow even closer to God. This is even more meaningful during the pandemic when many families have suffered loss and are experiencing very difficult times. We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to those families who have sadly lost loved ones or who have family members or friends suffering health problems due to Covid. Please keep each other in your prayers at this time. We are very fortunate to have had Br. Joseph , our School Chaplain, supporting us with Religious Education during the last several weeks. He has provided a weekly video for Key Stage 2 classes with a reflection on the Gospel that week. His videos are very engaging and enjoyable to watch and we really hope children and families have had the opportunity to view these. Thank you to Br. Joseph and we look forward to working with him to provide learning resources during Lent.

We would also like to share some good news with you and celebrate events in our school community. Huge congratulations to our Site Manager Les Moroney and his family on the recent birth of his daughter Lola-Rae. Mum and baby are both doing well and the whole family are delighted to welcome Lola-Rae, a little sister for Maisie.

Miss Lynn, our Nursery teacher also safely welcomed a baby boy last week and congratulations also to her and her family. We will update you with more details as we have them but mum and baby are well and we’re very pleased to have such good news to share.

We are also delighted to let you know that Miss Rees has recently been appointed as Assistant Head. Miss Rees already works closely with School Leaders in her Early Years/Key Stage 1 and Literacy Leader roles to supporting teaching and learning across the school and she will take on new responsibilities to further support the school. Congratulations to Miss Rees and we look forward to working with her in this new role.

Finally, we would like to wish you a safe and happy half-term break and hope you enjoy this precious time with your loved ones. Stay well and we look forward to welcoming many of the children back to school on 22^nd February and to seeing everyone else online. We very much hope that we will be welcoming all the children back to school very soon.

Miss O’Prey and Ms Giverin