Dear parents and carers,

 

I hope you have had a good summer and your children are looking forward to returning to school next week. Thank you for your patience in waiting for information about the arrangements for the school reopening safely next week.

 

Start and End of the School Day

To avoid too many children arriving or leaving at the same time, children should arrive at school between 8.45-9am and be collected between 3.20-3.30pm. Please arrive on time and avoid gathering at the school gate.

Once you have collected your child/ren we ask that you leave the school grounds immediately. To limit the number of people on the school site, children should be accompanied by one adult only.

 

Robins – enter via the garden gate

Owls – enter via the KS1 playground (the one which is between the lower building and main buildings) Sparrows – enter via Sandford walk and use the corridor which runs alongside the kitchen

Blackbirds and Woodpeckers – enter via Sandford walk and use the fire escape doors (NOT the cloakroom doors)

Kingfishers – enter via Sandford Walk and enter the top building

 

The one way system which was introduced in the summer, remains in place.

 

If your child is in Sparrows, Blackbirds, Woodpeckers or Kingfishers you must enter via the Sandford Walk entrance and leave via the main drive. Owls and Robins can enter and leave via the main drive.

 

If you are dropping off children to various classrooms, please follow the one way system and drop off Sparrows, Blackbirds, Woodpeckers and Kingfishers before dropping off Robins and Owls.

 

Year 6 pupils can be unaccompanied to walk to and from school, but a form must be signed by parents to give permission. This form is available from Mrs Kingscott and she will make it available on ClassDojo. If Y6 pupils are walking to or from school on their own, they can bring a mobile phone to school. Mobile phones will be collected by Mrs Kingscott and locked away in the classroom during the school day.

 

Access to School Buildings

To ensure the safety of both pupils and staff, parents and carers must not enter classrooms or cloakroom areas. The only access for parents to school buildings is via the main reception. We ask that anyone entering the reception area wears a face covering, unless they are exempt from doing so. Please avoid coming to main reception and use email or telephone communication when possible.

 

Bubbles/Classes

Each class is a ‘bubble’ of children. However, to ensure that the school day can run smoothly, these bubbles are combined into double-bubbles for playtimes and lunchtime. At break times the following bubbles will mix:

• Robins and Owls
• Sparrows and Blackbirds
• Woodpeckers and Kingfishers

 

Within the class bubbles, children will be socially distanced where possible. Classrooms have been rearranged to ensure most children are sat forward facing. The pupils starting in Robins Class will not be expected to socially distance from each other or from the staff working with them.

 

There will be no whole school assemblies and children will not be mixing with children from other ‘double bubbles’.

 

Uniforms and PE Kits

The children are expected to wear school uniform.

 

Children in Blackbirds, Woodpeckers and Kingfishers should wear PE kits to school on the days when they have PE – class teachers will let you know which days will be PE days and we will use ClassDojo to remind you.

Children in Sparrows, Owls and Robins need to bring their PE kit into school and will change in classrooms as normal. PE kit must be a school PE kit (not football kits).

 

There will be no indoor PE this term, instead the children will have two outdoor PE sessions a week. Therefore, please ensure that your child has tracksuit bottoms so that they can remain warm throughout the day.

 

Resources

We must limit the amount of things moving between home and school. Therefore children should only bring the following items into school:

• Water bottle
• Coat
• Lunch box
• Reading books (and book bag) – Mondays and Fridays only
• Mobile Phone (Y6 pupils who are walking to or from school without an adult)
• PE kits (pupils in Sparrows, Owls and Robins)

 

Lunches

We will provide a hot school dinner option for all pupils who would like a lunch.

 

All pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a free school dinner, as well as pupils who are registered as being eligible for free school meals due to financial circumstances. If your child does not qualify for a free school meal, you can purchase a school dinner for £2.50 a day. If you are sending money into school to pay for school dinners please ensure that it is in a sealed envelope which is clearly labelled with your child’s name, class and amount of money enclosed. Money MUST be sent into school only on Mondays and can be given to the class teacher or posted through the school letter box at the main reception. The envelope will be stored securely for 72 hours before being processed by our school administrator.

 

The children have a choice of two meals every day, at least one of which will be vegetarian. At the present time there is no jacket potato alternative. The temporary menu has been posted on ClassDojo.

 

Clubs (including Breakfast and ASC)

Unfortunately we have to limit the number of clubs available for the children to attend. We will be starting a new breakfast club from Monday 14th September (7.45-8.45am). More details about this will follow next week.

 

Unfortunately Newtown Preschool are unable to offer an after school club for our pupils at the current time. We are trying to make alternative arrangements and will let you know as soon as we have something in place.

 

Attendance

It is important that all children return to school and attend regularly. Non-attendance will be monitored closely.

 

If your child is unwell please do not send them into school. If they have symptoms of Covid 19 you must get them tested as soon as possible and keep the school informed throughout the process.

The symptoms of Covid 19 are:

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
• a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

 

If the school has a confirmed case of Covid 19 we will work with Public Health England to determine action taken. This may result in bubbles of children and staff having to isolate for 14 days.

 

Face Coverings

Pupils will not be wearing masks in school. If pupils arrive at school wearing a mask they will be supported to safely remove and store their mask for the day.

 

Staff will generally not wear masks around school. However, they will wear a mask if they are supporting a child who starts to show symptoms and needs to be isolated whilst waiting to be collected, when working with children who need to be supported with intimate care or first aid.

 

Staff have been allocated with visors which they may use if they are working closely with a child i.e. to hear them read. Staff who are moving between different bubbles may also wear a visor if socially distancing is not possible.

 

Curriculum

Covid 19 has impacted on everyone in different ways. The first two weeks of term are a whole school topic focused on a ‘Golden Recovery’. Newtown Primary School prides itself on its long history and has lots of artefacts which tell us about the life of the school since it was founded. We want to create a resource which records the experiences of the school over the last six months. The children will also do some artwork based on the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi – the art of fixing broken pottery with gold to recognise that nothing is ever truly broken and that often the experience makes it more precious.

 

We have a thorough risk assessment in place to ensure that everyone can return to school safely. Please help us to keep everyone safe.