The Courier

Dear Parents

Welcome to our final Courier of the half term and it is a good time to look back on a productive and rewarding six weeks here at school.

After the lockdown which affected us in the Spring Term, it has been great to have had everybody back in school with the children working hard and making lots and lots of progress. I hope you have been reading the reports from Ms Forth in recent newsletters with very positive news about the children's performances in their assessments since their return, giving us every indication that the home learning we provided brought genuine benefits to the children. Of course, as we put in detailed plans for next school year, we will look closely at these results not just across the classes but also individually.

We have all learnt the art of ingenuity and innovation during the pandemic and we had two great examples of that during the week gone by. By combining lessons for our Year 4 children on Tuesday, we were able to create a special afternoon focusing on the experience of evacuees during the Second World War. This really brought the learning to life for the children and it was great to see them all coming to school in their period clothing, many children were able to tell us stories of great aunties, uncles and great grandparents and how they had experienced the war.

On a similar historical theme, Year 1 and 2 really enjoyed their virtual knight experience on Zoom yesterday, once again bringing learning to life and creating genuine engagement with the children. Medieval weapons and armour are a great way to get the historical juices flowing, at least metaphorically.

When we return to school after the half term break, building work will have started on the new Horton Centre, as mentioned in previous newsletters. I have met this week with the contractors and we are all confident that this should go ahead without impinging on the children's school experience. The compound for contractors will now only take a very small part of the playground, which is great news. When we are further into the project we will think about a good date for an official opening and hopefully give parents a chance to come and look around the new facility.

It seems we finally have some warmer weather on the way and on a bank holiday weekend as well, of all unlikely things. I know from the children that many of you have exciting activities planned and I hope you all enjoy a well-earned break.

Best wishes

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

As our current Reception children move into Year 1 next September we will be having two classes in this year group for the first time. 

With this in mind, we have recently appointed a new teaching assistant to work with the team from the beginning of next term. Her name is Beckee Humphries and she is a face some of you will be familiar with from her time working at Pathfinders as a senior leader.

Beckee has recently finished her university training that gives her Level 6 teaching assistant status and also means she will soon gain Early Years Teacher status.

Beckee’s experience and training will be a tremendous asset to us and I have no doubt you will enjoy getting to know her in due course. 

With this final appointment in place, I am now able to announce the full teaching team for Year 1 for September, which is as follows: 

• 1SS Mrs Stapleton (Teacher) and Miss Humphries (TA) 
• 1LS Mrs Symons (Teacher) and Miss Hanson (TA) 

As we look towards the final weeks of this school year, there are number of important events coming into view where we would normally welcome parental attendance.

When planning these events, we need to work alongside the other schools of the Foundation and I think there is a common feeling that, having got this far, we don't want to jeopardise any of the gains we have made in the final weeks of the year. That is not to say we are putting a blanket ban on parental attendance, but we are adopting a cautious approach that I do hope you will understand.

We should know more in June as the government announces details of the final stage of the road map out of lockdown, with 21 June a potentially significant date. It is important to note that although restrictions may (or may not) be relaxed, or completely removed, it is most unlikely that the test and trace system will go.

We are mindful that families are about to go on summer holidays and that a call to isolate following close contact at a school event would be most unwelcome at the end of the term or the beginning of the break.

The first such event is Sports Day at Princethorpe College on the 15 June. This falls before the 21 June date and we are not intending to invite parents to this event, in line with a Foundation-wide agreement on sporting fixtures. In particular, this event would create problems around access to toilets and parking, on what is a normal school day at the College.

In terms of other events that occur later in the term, and after the key date of 21 June, we are hoping for some level of parental attendance in a managed and safe way but can’t make any firm commitments at this stage. There are quite a number of events that this will affect, including Pre-Prep Sports Day, Welcome Evening, Open Book Afternoon and Leavers’ Celebration Assembly. We will share the full details of our final plans with you as early as we can next half term to allow you to make your plans.

Best wishes