Welcome back to school, and (sadly) to Lockdown 2…
Guidance for schools about the new national restrictions was released just the day before the lockdown kicked in, so we’re still working through any changes – we don’t anticipate too many, thankfully. You may have read headlines about teachers claiming that schools should close. The arguments stem from one particular union, and others disagree. As we said earlier this week, we fully support the decision to keep schools open – children need to be in school to learn and socialise. We can assure you that Sphere Federation schools have been working as hard as we can to keep our schools safe places to learn.
Your child’s a historian this half-term!
With the start of a new half-term comes the start of a new topic. Across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, children are becoming historians this half-term:
- children in Years 1 and 2 will learn about the Great Fire of London
- children in Years 3 and 4 will become experts on Ancient Greece
- children in Years 5 and 6 will compare the Stone Age and Iron Age in Britain with what was going on in Ancient Egypt at around the same time
Read this one page list of History learning for the half-term ahead – it contains the core learning in terms of both knowledge and skills. (Be aware, though, that because of the closure of schools in Lockdown 1, teachers are being more flexible in their approach to the expectations set out in this document, making sure that missed learning and gaps are being addressed in Reading, Writing and Maths.)
And now, a message from Mrs Weekes…
The nights may be darker and with another lockdown just begun, but we’ve started this half term with lots of great learning and a positive buzz around school.
It’s great that we’ve made it into the second half term without having to ‘burst any bubbles’. This is because our children have been brilliant about staying in zones and keeping their hands sanitised and clean. It’s also down to you and the fact that social distancing and other measures are obviously being followed – thank you.
There are issues that are being reviewed constantly but routines are established and everyone’s getting used to the new normal. School lunches continue to be reviewed; the grab bags that are currently provided have really helped in getting the children used to new rules and expectations at lunchtime but we’re very aware that they aren’t ideal. With social distancing and available space, we can’t go back to a full hot menu, as yet, but there are plans in place to introduce a hot option that is not a grab bag – the details need to be decided but I’m meeting with the catering team this week to decide what is possible.
There have also been some changes to the extra space at the back of school; there’s been a separate website post about this but, in a nutshell, a lot of the land has been cleared and is now ready for some tarmac to be laid which is Phase 1 of the development. It’s very muddy (Mrs O’Malley had to hunt down her wellies) but we’re moving forward which is great news.
Part of keeping our environment safe during these Covid times is to have good ventilation all round school – great in the summer months but not so great now. We don’t want anyone to be shivering in class so there are a couple of options you could consider: add an extra layer for your child to wear under their uniform; or they could wear an additional jumper, sweatshirt or fleece (preferably red and unbranded). Also, please make sure that children are wearing suitable outdoor coats as we want them outside as much as possible.
Finally, two children have, in their own way, been thinking of people who are struggling for different reasons – well done to Betsy in Year 3 and Musa in Year 6 who have both been raising money for different causes. They’re both great role models to have in our school.
As always, thanks for all your ongoing support and patience with all the changes that are taking place.
