Dear Families

I hope that you have had a relaxing and sun-filled half term week. 

As you know the whole staff have been working exceptionally hard over the past few weeks to prepare ourselves and the school for a wider reopening to more children. 

We know that decisions to return your child/children to school have been exceedingly difficult and emotional for you all. As I have stated many times previously, there is no right or wrong answer to this.  You have, and will continue to make, decisions based on what you think is best for your child and your own families, and we wholeheartedly support you with this. 

This has also been a very emotional and difficult time for us as staff.  We have had our own concerns and still do, about opening the school up to more children, being torn between knowing if we have done our best to risk assess and prepare everything to be as safe as we possiblly can for everyone, to knowing that we desperately want to get back to doing the job that we love and is a vocation to us all - developing a love of learning in your children that will help them be successful in so many ways in life. 

While we are as ready as we could ever be to reopen the school to more children on 1st June, no one can really know the impact this will have and we will take every day one step at a time. 

To those whose children remain at home we will endeavour to do our best to continue with the quality home learning that has been happening since lockdown began. I know that you will appreciate that this is an immense task for our teachers and they are working tirelessly and endlessly to maintain this level of support for your children, while many of them are also having to support their own children at home with their learning.  

For those returning to school on Monday, we have to tell you that school will not be the same as you are used to. The classrooms and whole school looks very different with furniture being removed to allow for social distancing, resources and equipment removed to reduce any risk of infection, and bubbles created that you will have to remain in without having any contact with other children or staff in school. Playtimes and lunchtimes will be very different and how you enter and exit school at the start and the end of the day will be different. 

However, while so much will be different, we are still the same. Whether you are learning at home or in school, we will do our best to keep you safe. We will do our best to continue to develop a love of learning in all of you. We will do our best to make you smile and feel good about yourselves. We will do our best to show you that we care about you and your families. We will do our best to make this very different and strange experience feel like it is just a part of everyday normal life, because at the moment this is the new normal. 

For those who were unsure about returning your child to school, if you would like a copy of the school Recovery Action Plan which sets out what we have tried to do as a school to risk assess and take action to make the return to school as safe as we are able to, then please email me directly and I will send this to you. You can also request photographs of what the 'new normal' in school looks like at the present time. We want to make sure that you are as informed as much as possible. 

Lastly, we thank you all for everything you have done to support your children and support the school during this time. We truly appreciate all of the kind words and messages that you and your children send to us - that is what keeps us going every day and what gives us our drive and inspiration. 

Thank you to our amazing children, who have adapted to this situation so well and even when they have their wobbles and moments of meltdowns, like we all do, they still rise again and show the determination and strength that we are so very proud of. 

Thank you and take care.

Stay safe, stay healthy.

Mrs Jameson