Headteacher's Letters
Wednesday 16th September 2020
Dear families,
New Classes, pupils, families and a return to class groups
Welcome back to all our pupils. It has been ages since I have been able to send a ‘normal’ communication to everybody.
It is great to see 90 pupils back at school. It is more than we expected and I do thank you for trusting us with your child.
We are doing all we can to keep everyone as safe as possible. I feel so proud and pleased with just how many children have just settled back in so well.
Wellbeing Support
We have appointed two staff, Robyn Gillespie and Helen Salim, as part time wellbeing support for our pupils. We would encourage you or your child to talk about your concerns and worries so we can effectively support all of us to stay healthy and well.
Preventing COVID-19 infection
I know we are all very worried about COVID-19 and we are all trying to minimise the risk. If your child is unwell, please keep them at home. This is particularly important where they have:
Since returning in September, we have experienced a lot of absence across all the Trust academies due to people isolating as a protective measure, as someone they live with has COVID-19-like symptoms but hasn’t had a test. The Government guidance requires a whole household to isolate in these instances and for the person displaying symptoms to get a test, and with the national shortage in testing we do expect this to lead to a loss of school days for pupils and staff without there ever being a positive COVID-19 test result.
As such, we need to ensure we reduce any and all risks of staff and children having to isolate, so ensuring you keep your child at home if they have any of the above symptoms and getting hem tested is a critical means of ensuring we don’t lose more school days this year than we need to.
Many of our pupils are vulnerable and we need to do all we can to ensure we all stay healthy and safe.
New Pupils
We have a number of new pupils who have now formally started on roll with us and have had a good week in their new school. A few of them are still increasing their times/days and I would like to welcome all of the children and families to our school.
New Staff
We have had a number of new staff, which includes Joanne Grantham who is our new deputy head along with Claire Rose. They have both done a great job in organising things day to day to get pupils back to school. We appointed Chloe Rudkin as a teacher in Larch class and Mathew Seamarks in Lime class. We are also pleased that Eilish O’Neil is now a permanent teacher in Red class. Many classes have new Teaching Assistants who we are so pleased to have appointed after we had a series of outstanding candidates.
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, who is or Parent & Carer Ambassador. Be kind to Becky, though, as this is a voluntary role!
Therapies
We have sent a notice out on the MyEd app to check whether you want your child to access additional therapies in school which may be delivered by staff outside their class ‘bubble’. Please fill in a response as soon as you can, to let us know.
Retirement
Both Karen Hornung and Glynis Lindsay retired at the end of the last school year and we were unable to have any celebration. We do wish both of them well and hope they enjoy their retirement.
Closure of ‘Bubbles’
We are closely following Government and Nexus MAT guidelines about responding to possible cases of COVID-19. If we get a positive case of COVID-19 in school, it may be that we have to close the school to a class bubble for 14 days, for all staff and students to self-isolate and ensure that we are minimising the spread of the virus. This decision will be taken by the school and the Trust, following advice from Public Health England. We will obviously let you know as soon as we are aware of any confirmed case. We would ask everyone to follow Government guidance around self-isolation and testing/track and trace.
School Building Work
As a consequence of being an academy in Nexus MAT, we have had lots of changes at school which have so improved the quality of classrooms and layout of the building. We have created a new classroom within the existing school building which is looking smashing. There is a new modular learning space outside school and our Sensory Integration and the family support teams are now based there. The lower school playground has been tarmacked and gives us more usable space.
The work on a remodelled orange class should also be completed today which now forms a new EYFS unit with yellow class being planned and organised skilfully by Alice Williams and Bev Cotterill.
We have applied for a grant to create a music therapy room which is very exciting and would use new technology to respond to children’s movements to create sound and light effects. We are hoping this will be agreed so we can get on with developing this tremendous provision for our more complex pupils.
I know this has been a difficult and stressful time for many months, for us all. I do want to thank you for working with us to support your child coming back to school. If you have any particular concerns, please email or ring school.
I am just so proud of the tremendous way our students and staff have done all they can to return to school and keep
things as normal as possible.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Dear families,
New Classes, pupils, families and a return to class groups
Welcome back to all our pupils. It has been ages since I have been able to send a ‘normal’ communication to everybody.
It is great to see 90 pupils back at school. It is more than we expected and I do thank you for trusting us with your child.
We are doing all we can to keep everyone as safe as possible. I feel so proud and pleased with just how many children have just settled back in so well.
Wellbeing Support
We have appointed two staff, Robyn Gillespie and Helen Salim, as part time wellbeing support for our pupils. We would encourage you or your child to talk about your concerns and worries so we can effectively support all of us to stay healthy and well.
Preventing COVID-19 infection
I know we are all very worried about COVID-19 and we are all trying to minimise the risk. If your child is unwell, please keep them at home. This is particularly important where they have:
- a high temperature – this means they feel hot to touch on their chest or back (you do not need to measure their temperature);
- a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if your child usually has a cough, it may be worse than usual);
- a loss or change to their sense of smell or taste – this means they’ve noticed they cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal.
Since returning in September, we have experienced a lot of absence across all the Trust academies due to people isolating as a protective measure, as someone they live with has COVID-19-like symptoms but hasn’t had a test. The Government guidance requires a whole household to isolate in these instances and for the person displaying symptoms to get a test, and with the national shortage in testing we do expect this to lead to a loss of school days for pupils and staff without there ever being a positive COVID-19 test result.
As such, we need to ensure we reduce any and all risks of staff and children having to isolate, so ensuring you keep your child at home if they have any of the above symptoms and getting hem tested is a critical means of ensuring we don’t lose more school days this year than we need to.
Many of our pupils are vulnerable and we need to do all we can to ensure we all stay healthy and safe.
New Pupils
We have a number of new pupils who have now formally started on roll with us and have had a good week in their new school. A few of them are still increasing their times/days and I would like to welcome all of the children and families to our school.
New Staff
We have had a number of new staff, which includes Joanne Grantham who is our new deputy head along with Claire Rose. They have both done a great job in organising things day to day to get pupils back to school. We appointed Chloe Rudkin as a teacher in Larch class and Mathew Seamarks in Lime class. We are also pleased that Eilish O’Neil is now a permanent teacher in Red class. Many classes have new Teaching Assistants who we are so pleased to have appointed after we had a series of outstanding candidates.
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, who is or Parent & Carer Ambassador. Be kind to Becky, though, as this is a voluntary role!
Therapies
We have sent a notice out on the MyEd app to check whether you want your child to access additional therapies in school which may be delivered by staff outside their class ‘bubble’. Please fill in a response as soon as you can, to let us know.
Retirement
Both Karen Hornung and Glynis Lindsay retired at the end of the last school year and we were unable to have any celebration. We do wish both of them well and hope they enjoy their retirement.
Closure of ‘Bubbles’
We are closely following Government and Nexus MAT guidelines about responding to possible cases of COVID-19. If we get a positive case of COVID-19 in school, it may be that we have to close the school to a class bubble for 14 days, for all staff and students to self-isolate and ensure that we are minimising the spread of the virus. This decision will be taken by the school and the Trust, following advice from Public Health England. We will obviously let you know as soon as we are aware of any confirmed case. We would ask everyone to follow Government guidance around self-isolation and testing/track and trace.
School Building Work
As a consequence of being an academy in Nexus MAT, we have had lots of changes at school which have so improved the quality of classrooms and layout of the building. We have created a new classroom within the existing school building which is looking smashing. There is a new modular learning space outside school and our Sensory Integration and the family support teams are now based there. The lower school playground has been tarmacked and gives us more usable space.
The work on a remodelled orange class should also be completed today which now forms a new EYFS unit with yellow class being planned and organised skilfully by Alice Williams and Bev Cotterill.
We have applied for a grant to create a music therapy room which is very exciting and would use new technology to respond to children’s movements to create sound and light effects. We are hoping this will be agreed so we can get on with developing this tremendous provision for our more complex pupils.
I know this has been a difficult and stressful time for many months, for us all. I do want to thank you for working with us to support your child coming back to school. If you have any particular concerns, please email or ring school.
I am just so proud of the tremendous way our students and staff have done all they can to return to school and keep
things as normal as possible.
David Burdett
Headteacher
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Wednesday 2nd September 2020
Dear Parents and Carers
The government have made it clear they expect every child to return to school. If you are concerned about this and wish your child to have a phased return please speak to your class teacher who will create a plan that will work for you and your child.
We have been open as ‘normal’ as we can throughout the Covid 19 pandemic and have had around half of our students in before we broke up for summer.
I just want to let you know what we are doing in terms of keeping your child as safe as we possibly can over the next few months.
We will be creating class bubbles to minimise contact between students and staff in other classes. Students will be kept separate from others throughout the day which includes breaks and lunchtimes. We have also planned for students to come in and out of school through our 3 different entrances.
There will be regular cleaning in and around classes and we have additional cleaning from our provider. We have also removed as many ‘soft’ things or things which are difficult to clean.
We are not asking staff or students to routinely wear PPE but if individuals feel more confident or comfortable wearing a mask they can do so.
We will ensure everyone regularly washes their hands and maintains good hygiene.
Some activities may involve other staff outside of their bubble or school and we will check with you
that you are comfortable with that via MyEd.
We have reduced the number of people coming into school and would ask that we can either talk on the phone or virtually rather than coming into school for a meeting.
If any staff or students show any signs of symptoms of Covid 19 we will ensure they are isolated and if needed that bubble will need to isolate to keep the rest of school safe.
We are trying to reduce things coming in and out of school. Can you try to send in a bag for the week if your child needs personal care items, snacks or has things to reassure them? We will still send home/school diaries daily.
We have appointed two part time staff to support our students’ mental wellbeing and if your child seems anxious please encourage them to talk to their class teacher/team.
Obviously, many of our students are unable to verbally share their concerns. If you are concerned about your child’s anxiety, safety and how they are being supported back to school start by contacting your child’s class teacher. We want to work together to get all of our students back to school. Please contact us if you have not already sorted your child returning to school.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers
The government have made it clear they expect every child to return to school. If you are concerned about this and wish your child to have a phased return please speak to your class teacher who will create a plan that will work for you and your child.
We have been open as ‘normal’ as we can throughout the Covid 19 pandemic and have had around half of our students in before we broke up for summer.
I just want to let you know what we are doing in terms of keeping your child as safe as we possibly can over the next few months.
We will be creating class bubbles to minimise contact between students and staff in other classes. Students will be kept separate from others throughout the day which includes breaks and lunchtimes. We have also planned for students to come in and out of school through our 3 different entrances.
There will be regular cleaning in and around classes and we have additional cleaning from our provider. We have also removed as many ‘soft’ things or things which are difficult to clean.
We are not asking staff or students to routinely wear PPE but if individuals feel more confident or comfortable wearing a mask they can do so.
We will ensure everyone regularly washes their hands and maintains good hygiene.
Some activities may involve other staff outside of their bubble or school and we will check with you
that you are comfortable with that via MyEd.
We have reduced the number of people coming into school and would ask that we can either talk on the phone or virtually rather than coming into school for a meeting.
If any staff or students show any signs of symptoms of Covid 19 we will ensure they are isolated and if needed that bubble will need to isolate to keep the rest of school safe.
We are trying to reduce things coming in and out of school. Can you try to send in a bag for the week if your child needs personal care items, snacks or has things to reassure them? We will still send home/school diaries daily.
We have appointed two part time staff to support our students’ mental wellbeing and if your child seems anxious please encourage them to talk to their class teacher/team.
Obviously, many of our students are unable to verbally share their concerns. If you are concerned about your child’s anxiety, safety and how they are being supported back to school start by contacting your child’s class teacher. We want to work together to get all of our students back to school. Please contact us if you have not already sorted your child returning to school.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Tuesday 16th June 2020
Dear Parents and Carers
I just wanted to say a thank you for responding so sensibly and positively to the gradual reopening of school.
I know lots of you are anxious and uncertain as to what to do and when to send your child back to school. Please remember you are the best judge of what is best for your child and your family. I do not want to put anyone under any pressure to send their child back to school until they and you are ready. There is a risk in returning to school and we are doing all we can to reduce that. I do think it is going to take some time for us all to be back to usual routines.
I can imagine things still being unsettled in September and all of us gradually settling everyone back into school may take quite a few weeks. We all have to make the best decisions we can with the information we have so far.
We have had 50 students in last week and our class ‘bubbles’ have worked really well to try as best we can to keep teams and classes separate.
I do feel very proud of all the staff who have carried on as best as we can with normal school days and ensured our students are well cared for and reassured about any changes in school. I do think this has been as stable as we could have possibly made it for our learners. We are trying to keep the school looking and feeling as normal as possible for our students.
If you have any concerns or just want to talk please contact myself, the class teacher, Claire or Amanda.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers
I just wanted to say a thank you for responding so sensibly and positively to the gradual reopening of school.
I know lots of you are anxious and uncertain as to what to do and when to send your child back to school. Please remember you are the best judge of what is best for your child and your family. I do not want to put anyone under any pressure to send their child back to school until they and you are ready. There is a risk in returning to school and we are doing all we can to reduce that. I do think it is going to take some time for us all to be back to usual routines.
I can imagine things still being unsettled in September and all of us gradually settling everyone back into school may take quite a few weeks. We all have to make the best decisions we can with the information we have so far.
We have had 50 students in last week and our class ‘bubbles’ have worked really well to try as best we can to keep teams and classes separate.
I do feel very proud of all the staff who have carried on as best as we can with normal school days and ensured our students are well cared for and reassured about any changes in school. I do think this has been as stable as we could have possibly made it for our learners. We are trying to keep the school looking and feeling as normal as possible for our students.
If you have any concerns or just want to talk please contact myself, the class teacher, Claire or Amanda.
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Head Teachers Letter 16th June 2020.pdf |
Friday 22nd May 2020
Dear Parents and Carers
Wider opening of school - update
As requested by the Government, we are planning to open to more students after half term and we are confident we have enough staff to manage all the students where families want them to return.
If your child is returning to school, we would ask you to continue to follow Government guidelines on social distancing to reduce the possibility of any pupil bringing Covid-19 into school.
If anyone in your family becomes unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature, or has a loss of - or change in - their normal sense of taste or smell, please do not send your child to school.
We would advise you to get the whole family unit tested. If you are unable to do so you will need to isolate for 14 days and it will be at least 7 days after anyone shows symptoms before your child can return to school. Please follow government guidance and keep school informed.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance
We have a range of risk assessments in place which are informing our plans to minimise risk to staff and students. Given the nature of our pupils we cannot guarantee social distancing measures can be adhered to at all times. The Government recognise this is a genuine issue for most special schools and are therefore asking we do all we can to keep children in their own class groups with their own class teams, in what we’re terming “class bubbles”. At break and dinner times we will ensure students and staff do not mix. We will reduce the movement around school and ensure we only have essential visitors and we will continue with enhanced cleaning of the school site, with heightened hygiene measures in place for all staff and pupils.
We will continue to routinely use standard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when undertaking intimate care, following Government advice that face masks and goggles/face shields aren’t necessary, unless in very specific circumstances.
As we have throughout this pandemic, we will continue to put our trust in the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Science Officer – as has continual informed Government policy.
We may need to reduce our offer at various points if we have a high volume of sickness absence or staff self-isolating, though we will endeavour to communicate this as soon as possible to reduce the impact on families.
If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact school.
David Burdett
Headteacher
Dear Parents and Carers
Wider opening of school - update
As requested by the Government, we are planning to open to more students after half term and we are confident we have enough staff to manage all the students where families want them to return.
If your child is returning to school, we would ask you to continue to follow Government guidelines on social distancing to reduce the possibility of any pupil bringing Covid-19 into school.
If anyone in your family becomes unwell with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature, or has a loss of - or change in - their normal sense of taste or smell, please do not send your child to school.
We would advise you to get the whole family unit tested. If you are unable to do so you will need to isolate for 14 days and it will be at least 7 days after anyone shows symptoms before your child can return to school. Please follow government guidance and keep school informed.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance
We have a range of risk assessments in place which are informing our plans to minimise risk to staff and students. Given the nature of our pupils we cannot guarantee social distancing measures can be adhered to at all times. The Government recognise this is a genuine issue for most special schools and are therefore asking we do all we can to keep children in their own class groups with their own class teams, in what we’re terming “class bubbles”. At break and dinner times we will ensure students and staff do not mix. We will reduce the movement around school and ensure we only have essential visitors and we will continue with enhanced cleaning of the school site, with heightened hygiene measures in place for all staff and pupils.
We will continue to routinely use standard Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when undertaking intimate care, following Government advice that face masks and goggles/face shields aren’t necessary, unless in very specific circumstances.
As we have throughout this pandemic, we will continue to put our trust in the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Science Officer – as has continual informed Government policy.
We may need to reduce our offer at various points if we have a high volume of sickness absence or staff self-isolating, though we will endeavour to communicate this as soon as possible to reduce the impact on families.
If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact school.
David Burdett
Headteacher
| Head Teachers Letter May 22nd 2020.pdf |
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