Headteacher's Letters
Friday 20th March 2020
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope this finds you well amidst these crazy times that we find ourselves facing. As you know, the government has decided to close schools, but make them available to the children of: “critical workers, vulnerable children, those with a social worker and for young people with an education, health and care plan”. This encompasses all the children and young people in our care. The government also said, 'We want to keep the majority of special schools and colleges open.’ So again, this applies to our school.
Hilltop School will remain open to provide flexible childcare provision. We know this provision will have to
be adapted to meet pupil and staffing needs and ratios; but please be reassured safeguarding will remain at the forefront of all we do. If staffing becomes more difficult we may need to ask you to keep your child at home on a rota. If this happens we will let you know before and ensure it is fair.
Please note there is no requirement for parents or carers to take up the offer of a school place; as the government also says, 'This is an offer to parents and carers and there is no requirement for them to send
their children to school if they do not need or wish to do so.'
I would like to thank all the families have confirmed with us that they want to continue to come to school. All those families who want their child in on Monday we have already let transport know. So, if over the weekend they are unwell or you change your mind please cancel transport yourself. Those families choosing to keep
their child at home will receive regular safe and well calls. This also applies to families who are either social-distancing or self-isolating.
The usual procedures will apply for pupils who are unwell and please remember, if your child is unwell please do not send them into school. If they have had a temperature and new persistent cough they must be off for
at least 14 days and must have been symptom free for at least 7.
If your child has regular prescribed medication it is worth ensuring you have enough to last at least a week or so.
We will maintain contact with you throughout this time and encourage you to contact us if you have any worries or concerns. We hope you and your loved ones remain safe and well.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope this finds you well amidst these crazy times that we find ourselves facing. As you know, the government has decided to close schools, but make them available to the children of: “critical workers, vulnerable children, those with a social worker and for young people with an education, health and care plan”. This encompasses all the children and young people in our care. The government also said, 'We want to keep the majority of special schools and colleges open.’ So again, this applies to our school.
Hilltop School will remain open to provide flexible childcare provision. We know this provision will have to
be adapted to meet pupil and staffing needs and ratios; but please be reassured safeguarding will remain at the forefront of all we do. If staffing becomes more difficult we may need to ask you to keep your child at home on a rota. If this happens we will let you know before and ensure it is fair.
Please note there is no requirement for parents or carers to take up the offer of a school place; as the government also says, 'This is an offer to parents and carers and there is no requirement for them to send
their children to school if they do not need or wish to do so.'
I would like to thank all the families have confirmed with us that they want to continue to come to school. All those families who want their child in on Monday we have already let transport know. So, if over the weekend they are unwell or you change your mind please cancel transport yourself. Those families choosing to keep
their child at home will receive regular safe and well calls. This also applies to families who are either social-distancing or self-isolating.
The usual procedures will apply for pupils who are unwell and please remember, if your child is unwell please do not send them into school. If they have had a temperature and new persistent cough they must be off for
at least 14 days and must have been symptom free for at least 7.
If your child has regular prescribed medication it is worth ensuring you have enough to last at least a week or so.
We will maintain contact with you throughout this time and encourage you to contact us if you have any worries or concerns. We hope you and your loved ones remain safe and well.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Tuesday 17th March 2020
Dear Families, Parents & Carers,
Front Doors – again!
Our automatic front inner door has stopped working again and we have had to order a new closing magnet system. This may take a few days or a week to sort. Please bear with us whilst we open the door for you when coming in.
Parent’s Chinwag and Facebook page
This is a very informal and friendly meeting for parents to discuss whatever is important to you.
If you have not been I would recommend you contact Becky Earp and take this opportunity to chat to other parents. There is also the ‘parents only’ Facebook page which again is organised by Becky.
Polling Station
I have agreed for us to be a polling station on Thursday 7th May. The school was not planning shutting as they only need to use the 6th Form portacabin at the front of school. I believe that has now been cancelled and I will; let you know more if I hear about elections.
New Deputy Head
After some really high-quality applications and candidates we were fortunate to appoint a very child centred practitioner who has been the head at a mainstream school in Sheffield. She is Joanne Grantham and she will
be joining us for September 2020. We hope she will be able to come into school before then.
Coronavirus
In very practical terms please continue to be both vigilant and sensible around the virus. I would urge you not to send your child into school if at all unwell over the next month or so. Please be aware of the symptoms of a temperature and a new persistent cough. If you or your child has either please self-isolate for at least 14 days. If someone in your family has any possible symptoms please do not send your child here to school.
If your child is ill at school we will be asking you to collect them as soon as possible.
We will still be going out into the community. Our concern is very real for our students who have poor immune systems and are easily poorly especially those with any respiratory/breathing issues.
Sports Day
Just in case you have not seen the Coronavirus letter sent on Monday we have cancelled/postponed the sports day and it will now be a normal day in school.
Sad news
One of our students Molly has recently died. She has been part of Hilltop school for many years and has always been in Pink class. We feel deeply for her family at this difficult time. The funeral is Wed 25th March and I am aware there are many staff who will wish to go. It has been hard for the Pink class team over the last year or so with significant illness and loss in the class.
MyEd
It is now available as an app for your phone. It just has the basic information for now but we will be adding more as time goes on. We have started to use it to contact you and you can get more information and contact us through the app very easily. Please make sure we have your up to date mobile phone number.
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Headteachers Letter March 20.pdf |
Wednesday 5th February 2020
Dear Families, Parents & Carers,
Transport meeting
Firstly, thanks to all the parents who came and shared their concerns and views before Christmas.
Rotherham transport have asked if we can again host a meeting to share the changes. Some of our students will be changing providers and we want to make this as easy and smooth as possible for everyone. The plan is for the majority of students to have a shorter journey to school with transport concentrating on key areas of the borough rather than travelling longer distances. Also a few of the routes will be picked up by Rotherham transport staff and buses. From our experience Rotherham’s service has been second to none and we believe this is a positive move forward for our students. They have asked if parents and carers can meet Wednesday 12th February at 2pm at Hilltop. I would encourage you to come and find out more about the actual plans for all students.
Front Doors
We had an incident a week ago where a pupil who was being picked up by a parent was able to exit the school front doors before their parent was ready. Fortunately, a member of staff was there and stopped the student getting to the buses or potentially the road. It is essential all of our students are safe at school and this could have resulted in a serious accident. Please can I urge staff, parents and visitors to ensure the door closes behind you and to check a student is not trying to exit the school. Can I ask you to just be aware of students who may be around when leaving or entering school. If you have any concerns please let someone know immediately.
Parent’s Chinwag and Facebook page
This is a very informal and friendly meeting for parents to discuss whatever is important to you.
If you have not been I would recommend you contact Becky Earp and take this opportunity to chat to other parents. There is also the ‘parents only’ Facebook page which again is organised by Becky.
Our Futures Night
We would encourage you to get involved and attend this very useful meeting on Thursday 6th February between 5pm and 7pm in the hall. It will be a drop in and informal chat session. There will be a number of providers and services present to give advice. It has been really useful in the past and I would encourage you to come along if you have an older student for some good advice and support post Hilltop.
New staff
We have appointed a number of new Teaching Assistants thanks to a brilliant range of people with some really good skills to add to Hilltop school.
Advert for a second Deputy Head
Firstly, do not panic – Claire Rose is not going anywhere! We have decided to look for a second deputy for September 2020 to support greater development of the school and as part of a longer-term leadership plan.
We hope to interview Wednesday 11th March and Becky Earp will provide a parents’ view and challenge for the lucky candidates along with parent governors!
MyEd
We have trialled with a couple of parents and are just about ready to launch. Becky Earp has tried it and seems to think it will help us all keep in touch more easily. We will let you know how to log on soon.
Opening of the new Pink and Yellow Classes PMLD play area
We had a fantastic coffee morning and opening of the new play area last Wednesday. Thanks to 6th Form for organising the refreshments. It was great to see just what a huge difference, generous donations from a number of parents and their friends along with a grant from Lord Taverners has made. We also shared some of our longer-term plans to gradually expand the number of places in school and improve our buildings so the whole school is fit for purpose. It was certainly ‘fresh’ when Shaz Biggin the Chair of Maltby Town Council officially cut the ribbon. It was so good to see so many faces and it was a huge success. We all went outside and had a play! I do want to thank all those who have worked so hard to make the area so accessible for all our learners.
It really is just what our younger learners need and it looks fantastic.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Dear Families, Parents & Carers,
Transport meeting
Firstly, thanks to all the parents who came and shared their concerns and views before Christmas.
Rotherham transport have asked if we can again host a meeting to share the changes. Some of our students will be changing providers and we want to make this as easy and smooth as possible for everyone. The plan is for the majority of students to have a shorter journey to school with transport concentrating on key areas of the borough rather than travelling longer distances. Also a few of the routes will be picked up by Rotherham transport staff and buses. From our experience Rotherham’s service has been second to none and we believe this is a positive move forward for our students. They have asked if parents and carers can meet Wednesday 12th February at 2pm at Hilltop. I would encourage you to come and find out more about the actual plans for all students.
Front Doors
We had an incident a week ago where a pupil who was being picked up by a parent was able to exit the school front doors before their parent was ready. Fortunately, a member of staff was there and stopped the student getting to the buses or potentially the road. It is essential all of our students are safe at school and this could have resulted in a serious accident. Please can I urge staff, parents and visitors to ensure the door closes behind you and to check a student is not trying to exit the school. Can I ask you to just be aware of students who may be around when leaving or entering school. If you have any concerns please let someone know immediately.
Parent’s Chinwag and Facebook page
This is a very informal and friendly meeting for parents to discuss whatever is important to you.
If you have not been I would recommend you contact Becky Earp and take this opportunity to chat to other parents. There is also the ‘parents only’ Facebook page which again is organised by Becky.
Our Futures Night
We would encourage you to get involved and attend this very useful meeting on Thursday 6th February between 5pm and 7pm in the hall. It will be a drop in and informal chat session. There will be a number of providers and services present to give advice. It has been really useful in the past and I would encourage you to come along if you have an older student for some good advice and support post Hilltop.
New staff
We have appointed a number of new Teaching Assistants thanks to a brilliant range of people with some really good skills to add to Hilltop school.
Advert for a second Deputy Head
Firstly, do not panic – Claire Rose is not going anywhere! We have decided to look for a second deputy for September 2020 to support greater development of the school and as part of a longer-term leadership plan.
We hope to interview Wednesday 11th March and Becky Earp will provide a parents’ view and challenge for the lucky candidates along with parent governors!
MyEd
We have trialled with a couple of parents and are just about ready to launch. Becky Earp has tried it and seems to think it will help us all keep in touch more easily. We will let you know how to log on soon.
Opening of the new Pink and Yellow Classes PMLD play area
We had a fantastic coffee morning and opening of the new play area last Wednesday. Thanks to 6th Form for organising the refreshments. It was great to see just what a huge difference, generous donations from a number of parents and their friends along with a grant from Lord Taverners has made. We also shared some of our longer-term plans to gradually expand the number of places in school and improve our buildings so the whole school is fit for purpose. It was certainly ‘fresh’ when Shaz Biggin the Chair of Maltby Town Council officially cut the ribbon. It was so good to see so many faces and it was a huge success. We all went outside and had a play! I do want to thank all those who have worked so hard to make the area so accessible for all our learners.
It really is just what our younger learners need and it looks fantastic.
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Headteachers Letter 5th Feb 20.pdf |
13th January 2020
Dear Families, Parents & Carers,
Happy New Year
Welcome back to all our students. It has been great to see so many pupils back and settling well to class learning again. I do hope you all had a decent break.
Sickness and Diarrhoea
I am aware that many schools have had significant outbreaks of sickness with some closing before Christmas due to the vomiting bug/norovirus. We have been fortunate not to be hit with significant illness and our school attendance is the best it has ever been at 90.5%. Thank you all for really making a huge effort to ensure you child attends school and you let us know about appointments. I have been re-reading the NHS guidance around sickness, vomiting and diarrhoea. I realise we had information either wrong or out of date on our website.
I just wanted to share the NHS guidance with you all to try to ensure our vulnerable pupils don’t come into contact with any sickness bugs.
They are very clear that any person with vomiting, sickness or diarrhoea needs to “Stay off school or work until you have not been sick or had diarrhoea for at least 2 days.” We have changed the advice on our website as well and just want to ensure if your child has had sickness or diarrhoea they do not return to school for 48 hours after the last time they were unwell.
Our ‘information for parents’ page on website makes it clear.
There is a NHS link which may help www.nhs.uk/conditions/diarrhoea-and-vomiting/
New Pupils
We have 3 new pupils who have now formally started on roll with us and have had a good week in their new school. A couple of them are still increasing their times/days and we would want to welcome the students and families to our school.
Parent’s Chinwag and Facebook page
Chinwag, this is a very informal and friendly meeting for parents to discuss whatever is important to you.
If you have not been I would recommend you contact Becky Earp and take this opportunity to chat to other parents. There is also the ‘parents only’ Facebook page which again is organised by Becky.
Our Futures Night
We would encourage you to get involved and attend this very useful meeting on Thursday 6th February between 5pm and 7pm in the hall. It will be a drop in and informal chat session. There will be a number of providers and services present to give advice. It has been really useful in the past and I would encourage you to come along if you have an older student for some good advice and support post Hilltop.
New Job Adverts
We have a number of new jobs being advertised on our website and Facebook.
Please spread the word as we want some great people to work with our children and young people.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
We met with Bryony from the trust and they are planning to create a small wild flower meadow, water recycling planter/benches, plant some trees and reclaiming rainwater from our new polytunnel. They have also given us some great ideas for developing the pond area. It is quite exciting to see what they are planning for us over the next month. They have also invited our students to visit Potteric Carr Nature Reserve and we are planning this over the next few weeks.
MyEd
We have purchased an app for us to communicate with parents. It is a simple app on your phone which will notify you of letters dates etc. We are in the process of setting it up and it should be up and running in the next few weeks. We are aware there are and have been some issues with communication at school.
We are hoping this will help us all to keep in touch and reduce the amount of paper we waste.
Pink and Yellow Classes new PMLD play area opening
As I hope you are aware we have some new play equipment paid for partly by donations and grants from others. These are specifically for our pupils with more complex needs who are likely to be wheelchair users. Alice and John have worked hard on the planning and design of this. We have asked Shaz Biggin our Chair of Governors and the Chair of Maltby Town Council to formally open the play area. The opening will be at 10am Wednesday 29th January. Alice and John will be sending out letters to have a coffee morning in classes to celebrate the new equipment. All parents are welcome to come. We also hope to have some plans to share for the new therapy suite which should be soon underway.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Dear Families, Parents & Carers,
Happy New Year
Welcome back to all our students. It has been great to see so many pupils back and settling well to class learning again. I do hope you all had a decent break.
Sickness and Diarrhoea
I am aware that many schools have had significant outbreaks of sickness with some closing before Christmas due to the vomiting bug/norovirus. We have been fortunate not to be hit with significant illness and our school attendance is the best it has ever been at 90.5%. Thank you all for really making a huge effort to ensure you child attends school and you let us know about appointments. I have been re-reading the NHS guidance around sickness, vomiting and diarrhoea. I realise we had information either wrong or out of date on our website.
I just wanted to share the NHS guidance with you all to try to ensure our vulnerable pupils don’t come into contact with any sickness bugs.
They are very clear that any person with vomiting, sickness or diarrhoea needs to “Stay off school or work until you have not been sick or had diarrhoea for at least 2 days.” We have changed the advice on our website as well and just want to ensure if your child has had sickness or diarrhoea they do not return to school for 48 hours after the last time they were unwell.
Our ‘information for parents’ page on website makes it clear.
There is a NHS link which may help www.nhs.uk/conditions/diarrhoea-and-vomiting/
New Pupils
We have 3 new pupils who have now formally started on roll with us and have had a good week in their new school. A couple of them are still increasing their times/days and we would want to welcome the students and families to our school.
Parent’s Chinwag and Facebook page
Chinwag, this is a very informal and friendly meeting for parents to discuss whatever is important to you.
If you have not been I would recommend you contact Becky Earp and take this opportunity to chat to other parents. There is also the ‘parents only’ Facebook page which again is organised by Becky.
Our Futures Night
We would encourage you to get involved and attend this very useful meeting on Thursday 6th February between 5pm and 7pm in the hall. It will be a drop in and informal chat session. There will be a number of providers and services present to give advice. It has been really useful in the past and I would encourage you to come along if you have an older student for some good advice and support post Hilltop.
New Job Adverts
We have a number of new jobs being advertised on our website and Facebook.
Please spread the word as we want some great people to work with our children and young people.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
We met with Bryony from the trust and they are planning to create a small wild flower meadow, water recycling planter/benches, plant some trees and reclaiming rainwater from our new polytunnel. They have also given us some great ideas for developing the pond area. It is quite exciting to see what they are planning for us over the next month. They have also invited our students to visit Potteric Carr Nature Reserve and we are planning this over the next few weeks.
MyEd
We have purchased an app for us to communicate with parents. It is a simple app on your phone which will notify you of letters dates etc. We are in the process of setting it up and it should be up and running in the next few weeks. We are aware there are and have been some issues with communication at school.
We are hoping this will help us all to keep in touch and reduce the amount of paper we waste.
Pink and Yellow Classes new PMLD play area opening
As I hope you are aware we have some new play equipment paid for partly by donations and grants from others. These are specifically for our pupils with more complex needs who are likely to be wheelchair users. Alice and John have worked hard on the planning and design of this. We have asked Shaz Biggin our Chair of Governors and the Chair of Maltby Town Council to formally open the play area. The opening will be at 10am Wednesday 29th January. Alice and John will be sending out letters to have a coffee morning in classes to celebrate the new equipment. All parents are welcome to come. We also hope to have some plans to share for the new therapy suite which should be soon underway.
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Headteachers Letter 13th Jan 2020.pdf |
Archive
| Headteachers Letter Dec 17th 2019.pdf |
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