Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolHead Teacher Blog: Friday 28th May 2021
Date: 28th May 2021 @ 2:00pm
Happy half term! We have made it to the end of another half term and we continue to have a healthy dose of luck as well as people carefully following our risk assessment, as we have still not had to close any of our class bubbles at all during this pandemic (hopefully I haven’t spoken too soon!).
Thank you so much for all that you continue to do to ensure the safety of our children and school community. It is worth remembering that, whilst COVID restrictions may be easing across the country, we continue with the same risk assessment as we have done – whilst large members of the population are accessing the vaccine, we have to remember that children are not currently doing so and as such, our priority is to keep them safe.
Guitar and Ukulele Tuition
Yesterday we had a music assembly. Lucia, who is in Year 6, has been learning the ukulele at OSJ since she was in Year 1 and she played beautifully to the whole school via Microsoft Teams. It was nerve-wracking for her, but she rose to the occasion and impressed us all with how well she played and how well she spoke about her experience of learning the instrument.
We use a company called Front Row Music who believe music should be as fun and accessible to young children as possible. The emphasis is on performance and helping children to get excited about playing an instrument.
Lessons cost £6.50 per week and are 30 minutes long. The children learn together in small groups within their bubbles focusing on popular music that they know and love. If you would like to sign your child up for lessons in school with Front Row Music go to https://frontrow-music.com/signup/ and select the Cheshire region.
Lessons take place in the school day on Thursdays. Once you’ve signed-up, Front Row will be in touch to confirm the exact time of your child’s lesson upon receiving a sign-up form which you can access here: https://frontrow-music.com/signup/ - our school is under the Cheshire area.
Here's a video assembly that Front Row have made to give you an idea of what the lessons are like: https://frontrow-music.com/videoassembly (Please be aware that we currently only offer guitar and ukulele lessons and not keyboard lessons as in the video.)
Instruments are provided in lessons, but if you’d like to purchase one so that your child can practise at home, please get in touch with Front Row directly at cheshire@frontrow-music.com or call 07956 702 142 / 0161 327 1905
Front Row Music are excited that the children are so enthusiastic about music and are looking forward to introducing children from Sandymere upwards to the ukulele or guitar. If your child is in Hatchmere, you can express an interest now in lessons for September. All other children are welcome to start lessons when we return after the half-term break.
Items brought in from Home - Reminder
With the continued lifting of COVID rules, please may I take this opportunity to remind you that we are still operating our COVID risk assessment in the same way as we have done previously – there are no changes at Over St. John’s just yet. As such, I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of a couple of things that I have noticed recently.
Part of our risk assessment asks that nothing is brought in from home apart from certain specified items:
- coat
- water bottle
- snack
- lunch box
- PE kit on specified days
- items as specified by the class teacher.
The reason for this is to reduce potential transmission of the virus by moving things between households. Recently, we have had an increasing amount of requests to share cakes and other treats that may have been brought in. Whilst I appreciate that this is very thoughtful and generous, this is something that does not fit with our risk assessment – please do not be offended if the items are returned.
A couple of children have been bringing mobile phones into school without permission from ourselves. Whilst we would discourage the need for children to carry a mobile phone, if you need them to have one, we can accommodate this but only with permission from ourselves, perhaps for Blakemere class where some of the children walk home independently or for other classes where children move between adults homes. If permission has been given by myself or the class teacher, the phone must be switched off on arrival at school and placed in the teacher’s drawer to be collected at the end of the day. Children must not keep the phone in their bags or coat during the day.
If your child needs any medication – prescription or non-prescription – please do not put this in your child’s bag. All medication must be handed in at the office with a completed medication form so that we know when to administer it.
#WakeUpWednesday
On the surface, TextMe sounds like it’s just another instant messaging service that provides free calls and text messages. The app is free to download and provides users with their own dedicated number, which they can use to communicate with people all over the world. However, one feature that might make TextMe so appealing is the ability to remain anonymous, opening up the possibility to contact others without giving your real identity away. That is why National Online Safety have created this guide to help parents and carers understand exactly what TextMe is all about.
Confirmed Dates for the Summer Term 2021 – new dates are highlighted
Monday 7th June School opens at usual bubble times
Saturday 26th June Delamere Street Festival involving Hatchmere – more details to follow and subject to current COVID roadmap restrictions
Friday 16th July School closes for summer with bubble closure times as follows:
Blakemere at 1:45pm
Linmere at 1:45pm
Oakmere at 1:50pm
Delamere at 1.55pm
Sandymere at 2pm
Hatchmere at 2.05pm
Have a lovely week next week.
Mrs E Snowdon