Continued use of Covid restrictions at school until the end of term

Although the restrictions are due to be lifted nationally on Monday 19th July, they will remain in force at school until the end of term, as recommended by Public Health Dorset. This means that everybody should continue to stick to the same routines please and especially continue to maintain 2m distancing and wear face coverings on the school site.

Leavers’ Assembly arrangements: Tuesday 20th July at 1.30pm

The above restrictions also apply to the leavers’ assembly on Tuesday. This will be held in the hall, so has the following measures in place:

• the room will be well-ventilated
• children will have a maximum of 2 adults attending
• household groups will be distanced from others
• face covering should be worn, unless exempt
•  use of hand gel when entering the building

Regardless of these tiresome covid arrangements, the assembly is shaping up to be a lot of fun and should be a memorable final experience for the children at the end of their time at primary school. We are looking forward to sharing it with the Year 6 parents on Tuesday.

A new term beckons

I am preparing a newsletter for the start of next week describing our arrangements for returning the school to ‘normal’ operation from September – ie with no Covid restrictions. This will be sent to all parents in Years R to 5 and is intended to be a helpful reminder of times past, ready for the new term.

Meet the teacher

Children have today met their new teacher in their new classroom, so should have lots to talk about when they get home. They are bringing home a welcome letter with some useful information for September, including what to do on the first day back. We have also included a sheet of ideas for home learning over the summer, to help prepare your child for their new topic, and a knowledge organiser so you can see what the children will be learning. Any extra help and support you can give your child over the holiday would be very useful. Thank you.

FOSS Ice-cream treat

The lovely people at FOSS have not been able to organise any of the events they would normally in a school year, but this has not stopped them providing treats for the children. Today they organised an ice-cream van to visit school. Each class has been out to collect their pre-ordered ice-creams and, thanks to FOSS, we’ve had a lovely time enjoying them with our friends in the sunshine. We are lucky to be so well looked after by fabulous FOSS.

Stormbreak

I am sure your children will have told you about Stormbreak – the charity we are working with as part of our support for children’s mental health. We take part in an activity on most days and Stormbreak are keen for this to continue over the holidays. Please see the Stormbreak flyer below.

And finally…

Once again, it’s been quite a year. The Autumn term was relatively normal, even though we had to keep to our bubbles. The Spring Term was interrupted by a long period of remote education as most children were at home during the lockdown. The Summer term has continued in bubbles as we’ve been trying to catch up on all the things we’ve missed, while other things (like class trips) have begun to return.

School has survived pretty well, and this is down to the willingness and resilience of your children, the professionalism of the staff when working in difficult circumstances, and the support of parents who have patiently kept to our rules and restrictions while trying their best to care for their children at home. That we haven’t had to deal with any outbreaks of the virus in school, over the past 18 months is because of this team effort (let’s hope I’m not tempting fate for the last three days).

I am sincerely grateful to you all for this. I hope you have a great holiday with your children and are able to enjoy the relaxed restrictions in some glorious summer weather.