12 November 2021

Dear Parents

We hope everyone has had a good week.

These last few days as a whole school we have focused our work and prayers on Remembrance. The children have shown great reverence and compassion in their learning. Today, we came together for a whole school assembly , sharing our poetry, prayers and reflections in front of a beautiful memorial created by the children's poppies and observing a one minute silence. It was very humbling to witness. I have included a photograph of the children's memorial at the end of the newsletter.

We have updated the school calendar to include our pr4opsed dates for Christmas celebrations. The Nativity performed by Reception Class , Year 1 and Year 2 will take place on Monday 6 December and Tuesday 7 December at 6pm. To ensure we remain as COVID safe as possible we will issue tickets for both evenings. Letters will be sent out soon for parents to request which evening they would prefer. KS2 will hold a Carol Service, Year 3 and 5 on Wednesday 8 December and Years 4 and 6 on Thursday 9 December. Again a letter will be sent out regarding tickets. We stress the tickets are free, it is purely to monitor numbers in the hall. We are sure all the children's performances will be wonderful Christmas celebrations to which we are all looking forward.

We are aware that many of our families will wish to attend the Stourport Three Kings Parade which is the same evening as our proposed Christmas Market. We have therefore moved our date to Friday 3 December 5.00-6.30pm. We will be serving hot food, drinks , a small selection of stalls, carol singers and a visit from a Very Important Person. It is very much an evening for us all to come together as a school community after the last twenty months so we hope you will all join us. We are yet to formally relaunch our PTA so the staff would be grateful for any offers of help on the night!! 

Please also note the dates for the children's 'Christmas Jumper Day' and Christmas Party Day.

In order to dismiss the children as safely as possible we are making a slight alteration for Year 1 children. From Monday 15 November at 3.30pm Year 1 children will be dismissed from the main door as they were last year. Siblings will also be dismissed from this exit. Therefore parents from Reception Class and Year 1 will follow the path around to the main door and leave the site via the usual drive exit. We are constantly reviewing procedures to ensure safety for all children  and parents and we hope this reduction of numbers in the playground will enable dismissal to be safer and smoother.

Over the last two weeks there has been a marked increase in the number of children arriving late for school with many coming down the vehicle entrance The school doors open at 8.50am to ensure the children are in and settled for school formally starting at 9.00am, this is when teaching starts. The children arriving late immediately feel at a disadvantage and miss the crucial teaching of the first lesson. All children arriving after 9.00am are registered as late and these are then picked up by the Education Welfare Officer.

We will always support families where an exceptional circumstance has resulted in a late arrival but please ensure all children arrive on time to start learning at 9.00am. Please note the small gate is closed from 9.00 for the duration of the day. Thank you for your support.