Dear Parents

It has been lovely this week to take our first steps towards a wider reopening of school with the return of some of our Year 6 children. I wrote a few weeks ago of how different and sad the school felt without all its children. This week it's almost like fresh life has been breathed back into it. The school looks somewhat different and there are stringent procedures in place as we work around social distancing, high levels of hygiene and adherence to 'Bubble ' isolation. The systems in place, the indepth Risk Assessment and the physical rearrangement of the school are the results of considerable time by the staff and I would like to acknowledge the time, unstinting support and professionalism of them all.

A review of our wider reopening is presently taking place and further information will be sent out next week. I am sure everyone appreciates that the continued success of this reopening hinges solely on the safety measures in place and that these cannot be compromised by rushing. We will keep everyone informed as quickly as we can and thank you for the ongoing support and understanding we have received in the last few weeks. A push notification will be sent to indicate any new documents regarding schools reopening.

Can I also remind you that If anyone has, at anytime, a concern regarding a child's well being or a safeguarding concern please email the school office secretary@wulsev.worcs. sch.uk ,  or telephone 01299 877808 immediately. The important thing now is to keep well, keep safe and stay at home and we look forward to all being back together.

Many of our families are presently going through massive changes in their employment, family circumstances or entering times of financial hardship. It could be that they are eligible for some support through Free Schools Meals. Further information and online application can be found on www.worcestershire.gov.uk even if only for a short time measure this could help. I am pleased to say this has recently been successful for a few of our families so certainly worth applying.

Mrs Tasker , keen organiser of our annual 'Talent Show' ,is not deterred by lockdown and sends the children this message

This year's end of year Talent Show will take place via the school Facebook page. In the final weeks of term, we will be asking you to send us short videos of your talents for us to share. Over the next few weeks, it would be a good idea to start practising your routine! We can't wait to see what talents you entertain us with this year! 

Mr Tasker , our PE Lead, is equally committed to ensuring the children's enjoyment of sport continues in lockdown and sends this message.

This week we saw the launch of this year's Worcestershire School Games. Due to the current climate, instead of cancelling the games the sports partnerships decided to provide competition and promotion of key values in a 'virtual' format. The children throughout Worcestershire and in our school have been completing challenge and activities set by the organisers. This week, children have been competing in the 'Speed Jumps' activity and have started designing Worcestershire Virtual School Games flags or posters which promote the key values of honesty, teamwork, self-belief, respect, passion, and determination, alongside the importance of inclusion within sport. We have already received some fantastic entries for the flag/poster competition which closes on Friday 26th June, but we would love to see more. 

Once again, your children’s photographs from home are a joy to receive and thank you for continuing to send them to us. We hope you enjoy them.

 Next week’s work will be uploaded ready for 5pm on Sunday and a push notification will be sent. We totally understand how challenging it is to maintain home learning , be it with one child or a mixed age range , while working from home, juggling home life and also looking towards the future. Teachers are working hard to plan activities that provide variety, creativity and interest for the children. As I have said before your child may access some of it or all of it. Please do what you can . Some days will always be better than others and looking after eachother is the most important thing at the moment. Your child’s teacher is an email away but please be mindful that they are also teaching Key Worker and Year 6 Bubbles as well as preparing lessons, Zoom , Facebook community etc  They will reply though and are always there to help and support.

I would like to end this week with acknowledging one group who I haven’t ever mentioned , the Key Worker children. These little ones have come into school nearly every day since 23 March working in a very different school , different classroom with different teachers. Some have real understanding that their parents by going to work put themselves at risk. These children have been absolutely wonderful, no grumbling that they are here and their friends are at home , polite hardworking and cheerful. It has been a pleasure to teach them and we are very proud of them. Thank you children.

We hope you have a lovely weekend and thank you to everyone as we move one step closer to reopening St Wulstan’s to all our families.

God bless and take care, from all the staff

Well done to all our children!