Dear parents and carers,
A warm welcome back to a new academic year and a special welcome to parents and carers of children in Year 3 who have made a stunning start to their time in our school. I hope you were all able to enjoy some of the summer holidays and thank you so much for your support this week in helping to ensure a smooth start to the year. We really appreciate your patience and understanding whilst we get back into the routine of a new term. Information about the timings of the school day and where to drop off and collect your child can be found here.
Many previous restrictions in place due to Covid-19 have now been lifted and school is beginning to feel much more normal. This has made for a lovely few days! The main requirements now in place are:
· Ensuring good ventilation in classrooms
· Regular hand washing
· Good respiratory hygiene – ‘Catch it, bin it, kill it!’
Please do not send your child to school if they are displaying any symptoms of Covid-19 and arrange a PCR test. Further Covid-19 guidance, including what to do if your child is symptomatic, can be found here.
Children are no longer in class bubbles and are now able to mix freely at lunchtime, meet for assemblies and work in larger groups across the school. Contingency plans are in place should there be an increase in positive cases and we may reintroduce some of the previous measures, such as a return to year group or class bubbles, for a short period of time. Vaccinated staff and children no longer need to self-isolate if they are a close contact and this will mean that whole classes should not have to isolate in the event of a positive case. Further guidance for parents can be found here.
The children have been brilliant and have made an incredibly focused start back at school. We are having a whole school focus this half term on great manners; quiet movement around the school; being ready when the teacher is speaking and enjoying periods of silence in the day. Whilst there have been no changes to our uniform policy, we have also clarified expectations for our school uniform with the children and these can be found here. We really appreciate the support you have given to this so far as we know it can be a challenge. Please do contact your child’s class teacher if you have any questions or concerns about uniform.
There is so much to look forward to this year and we have lots of exciting plans for the children including trips and residentials; a return to after school clubs (more information coming soon!); music and performances and working with the wider community. These extra opportunities for the children are central to our vision of ‘Life in all its fullness’.
We will be in touch soon with information about homework, library books, after school clubs and parent teacher meetings. In the meantime, you can stay up to date with the latest information by visiting our website or following us on Twitter (@ilfracombejun).
You can contact us via the website here, by emailing parentsupport@ilfracombe-jun.devon.sch.uk, by phone on 01271 863463 or by leaving a note in your child’s Reading Journal. Staff are also available before and after the school day to say hello and answer any questions or concerns you may have. Finally, there are many ways in which we can support families and we are able to put you in touch with other services and agencies so please do let us know if you need any support.
Warm regards,
Mr Le Bredonchel
Head Teacher
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