Dear Parents,

Happy New Academic Year!

We're really excited to welcome your children back to St John's School on Monday 6th September. I am writing to let you know some of the details:

The DfE guidance for schools has changed and many of the actions that we were having to take are no longer required. As with the wider opening of society, there are precautions that are still necessary in order to prevent the spread of Covid. Schools have contingency plans (sometimes called outbreak management plans) outlining what we would do if children, pupils, or staff test positive for COVID-19, or how we would operate if we were advised to take extra measures to help break chains of transmission. Schools will continue to work with the DfE and Public Health in the event of rising cases locally, or a new variant of concern.

What will be the same at St John's School?

- Children will still wash their hands with soap frequently throughout the day.

- Anyone entering school will be required to sanitize their hands.

- Social distancing of adults (particularly inside the building) will be encouraged.

- Adults in and around the school can choose whether or not to wear a mask.

- The building will be kept well-ventilated so windows will be open.

- Anyone showing any of the symptoms of Covid will be asked to isolate until they have the result of a PCR test.

- Children will need to bring their own pencil case which needs to be left in school. It needs to be small enough to fit in their drawer.

- Children will need to bring a water bottle each day and take it home to be washed.

- Children can come to school wearing their PE kits on the days on PE days. This should be plain navy joggers or leggings, a light blue t-shirt, the school hoodie and a pair of trainers.

PE days:

1S: Wednesday

1N: Friday

Year 2: Tuesday and Thursday

Year 3: Thursday and Friday

Year 4: Monday and Friday

Year 5: Tuesday (their second PE lesson is swimming)

Year 6: Monday and Wednesday

What will be different this year?

- Children and adults will not be required to stay in bubbles. This means playtimes can return to normal, clubs can resume, lunchtimes will not need to be so staggered, and some collective worships can be in the hall. We are not returning to whole school worship quite yet, and we will not be inviting parents in to assemblies at this time.

- If your child has Covid symptoms and is sent home to be PCR tested, their siblings can remain in school.

- No class bubbles will be sent home when there is a positive case. All contact tracing will be done by Track and Trace.

Timings of the school day:

School starts at 8.40am.

School finishes at 3.15pm for ALL children

We are determined to help children to make up for lost time during lockdowns so please BE ON TIME.

The doors will close at 8.50am and after this time, you will have to take your child to the office. The parents of children who are persistently late will be invited to a meeting in school so that we can support you in getting your child here on time.

Home Time Pick up Points:

Nursery: collect from the Nursery door.

Reception: collect from Reception classroom door

Year 1: collect from classroom door

2P: collect from classroom door

2B: collect from the steps outside the main school entrance.

Year 3: collect from the top of the right playground ( the top is the end nearest the school building, and right as you look out of the school)

Year 4: collect from the top of the left playground (left as you look out of the school)

Year 5: collect from the bottom of the right playground (the bottom is the end furthest away from the school and right as you look out of the school)

Year 6: collect from the bottom of the left playground

Swimming:

Year 5 will be going swimming this term.

5HE on a Monday- first lesson on Monday 13th September

5L on a Thursday- first lesson Thursday 16th September

Educational Visits:

We will be able to resume educational visits this year. Anywhere we go will be risk-assessed as usual, and in addition, will be Covid risk-assessed. I am really pleased that we will be able to take children back to places that help their topics to come alive!

Breakfast Club:

Breakfast club returns this year from 8.00am-8.40am. Your child can come to school and play with Mrs O'Keefe and Mrs Basra, or do some homework, reading or practising their times tables. Your child can have a breakfast, but doesn't have to eat. Please speak to the office if you would like a place.

After school clubs:

We are able to offer after school clubs again this year! A letter will be sent out shortly for you to sign up to the clubs you would like to attend. So far we have organised a Harry Potter book club, Master Chef, Colouring and Art Club, Nursery Yoga, as well as Football, Basketball, Cricket and Multi-Sports. There may be more on offer, so keep a look out for the Clubs letter next week. It will be great to give our children these fun activities again!

Catch-Up Tuition:

There will be more before and after school tuition this term. There will also be additional tuition available for children during the school day. If your child is being tutored, you will receive a letter next week explaining more.

Apologies for the length of this email. I will re-send this information in smaller chunks over the next couple of days so that you can read it again at your leisure.

Best wishes,

Mrs Seymour

PLEASE REMEMBER:

Anyone with symptoms of Covid still needs to isolate and book a PCR test.

Please do not send children with symptoms into school.