Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you all had a wonderful half term last week and made the most of being able to see family and friends before the next national lockdown began this week. I’m not sure what it would take for a school to be closed completely but I’m thankful that we can remain open. The first half term went smoothly, all things considered, and we have had a great start to the second half of the Autumn term.  

As you know, we have had to close our first bubble this week: the Cobras class. The plans we put into place for this eventuality have helped Mr Cowles and other staff to ensure home learning could take place and many of the children got to see Mr Cowles and some of their classmates during a ‘Teams’ session yesterday.  When I spoke with him on Tuesday, he was pleased with the work the children had been completing at home and Google classroom had worked well for this Year Four group. During the first half term, we had some advice shared with us from other schools who had experienced a positive test result and this helped inform our own plans. Now, having gone through it ourselves, we have learnt from the experience and further improved what we will do if we have other positive results in the school.  

We have received some very positive feedback from many parents on how we have handled the ever-changing situation and I’d like to say thank you to everyone for supporting the school and working with us during these complicated times!  

My assembly in school today was about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot. I know many of you would usually be planning to take your children to a public fireworks display but, unfortunately, this can’t happen this year. Part of my assembly was about keeping safe during bonfire night and, as many more households will be doing something themselves this year, please ask your children about how you can all keep safe if you plan on having a bonfire or putting on a firework display. Judging by my dogs’ reactions to some rather low key fireworks last weekend, I shall be hiding them away inside during the evenings this weekend!  

The sponsored event that took place on the Friday before half term was a big success and it was great seeing the children working together to achieve the challenges set by their teachers. Thank you to those that have supported the event. I know the office is busy collecting sponsor money and the teachers are looking forward to purchasing the items they wanted to raise money for.  

I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend. 

Colin Marks 

Deputy Head Teacher 

Photo by Dan Freeman on Unsplash