The Courier

Dear Parents

It has been a full week of INSET training here at the school, with the teachers and staff preparing in various different ways for the exciting term that lies ahead of us. It is a year of new beginnings in many ways, with the new Horton Centre ready to go from Monday morning, following a summer of  building work and refurbishment, preparing the space for the Year 2 class that will begin there on Monday as well as afterschool, music and drama which will be housed in the other main rooms.

Alongside this major project, we have had a new roof installed on the Mortimer Suite that adjoins the Reception classrooms, which floods light into the space and richly enhances an already important learning area for the youngest children.

I look forward to the opportunity of inviting parents in to see these facilities in the near future. Look out in our communications for dates and details.

We have also been launching our new whole school objective around growth mindset, with inspiring presentations from both in-house teachers as well as from Mr. John Medlicott, a visiting expert who ran a workshop for all teaching staff on Thursday. We have plans to run similar workshops for children and parents later in the school year, which I hope you will want to get involved with and support your children as they develop the learner profile that will enable them to thrive in their education.

However, the main focus for the preparations always has to be the first day, the first week and the first half term and welcoming the children back into school. I know that there will be some nervous children over the weekend with natural anxiety about either their very first day in school, or their return after a lovely long summer break. Please reassure your children that we are all ready and raring to go and the staff will make every effort to make you and your child feel welcome on the return. Books have been labelled, pegs have got names on them, display boards have lovely welcome messages and all we need now is for the children to arrive and we will have our school back up and running.

Have a great weekend everyone and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday. All children should arrive by the side gate on the school field as I mentioned in my letter last week. One small amendment to that letter was that dismissal for Year 5 and 6 at the end of the day will be from the front of school rather than the field side to ease congestion in that area.

With very best wishes

Joe Thackway
Headmaster

Important information for parents

From the beginning of term our after-school provision will be based at the newly refurbished Horton Centre. This provides an excellent location for this facility and will enable children to complete homework and reading assignments in a peaceful and calm area of the school. We also now have two double doors that lead directly from the after-school room to the playground which can be used later in the afternoons when homework has been completed.

We have planned to install an electronically controlled entrance gate next to the car park that will allow parents to be buzzed through, using an intercom and camera system. However, there have been some problems with the manufacture of this new door and hence this is not yet in place and is unlikely to be installed before the end of this month.

For that reason, we are introducing a temporary system for collection from after school that will run as follows:

• Parents or guardians who want to collect their child should go to the side gate next to the field
• Parents should then call the after-school number 07467 488440 on their mobile phone. This number will also be on the parent notice board
• Your child will then be brought to you at the gate for safe hand over

This system well ensure that all of the children are kept safely within the school site at all times and only handed over to parents or guardians when closely supervised by a responsible adult. As soon as the new gate is installed, I will communicate with parents again to clearly outline the new procedures that we will put in place at that point.