Head Teacher Blog: Thursday 9th July 2020

Date: 9th Jul 2020 @ 11:49am

Full Reopening in September

You may have seen in the media that schools have now received guidance as to how we can fully reopen in September in a safe way for all children. We are currently working on this guidance and hope to have more information for you shortly but what I can tell you is that school will be open for all children in Year 1 to Year 6 from Wednesday 2^nd September 2020. One aspect that I need to make you aware of is that, as per the guidance, we will need to stagger the start and finish times of the school day to reduce the amount of people coming and going at any one time and it is vital that adults stick to the times that you will be given for your child. There will be 5 minute intervals between arrival and collection times and so anyone arriving early or late will be impacting on other groups that are arriving on time. More details will be sent out in a letter specific to each class, but the arrival times will vary between 8.30am and 8.50am and collection times between 2.45pm and 3.05pm. We have made sure that the amount of teaching time is exactly the same between all groups and is the same amount as before the pandemic.

Year 6 Leavers

This year is quite different for our Year 6 children who are leaving us. Due to the current guidance of no more than 15 in a group in school and it being unlawful to organise a gathering of more than 30 people, we have been unable to do any of our usual leaver celebrations. However, the Diocese of Chester are going to be holding a very special digital Leavers’ Service this year as an alternative to their usual end of year services at Chester Cathedral. The Year 6 Leavers’ Service will be broadcast at 10am on Tuesday 14^th July. The link can be accessed at  https://chesterdbe.co.uk/leavers and will remain available after 14^th July for any schools or those at home not able to join on the day. I know that Miss Hartley has previously blogged about this and people have been sending in photographs in preparation that she has sent off to Chester Diocese. Please see Miss Hartley’s Blog (Year 6 Leaver’s Diocesan Service – Update) for more information on other preparations that you can make.

I would like to wish lots of love and luck to all our children in Year 6 as they continue their educational journey at secondary school. Good luck and God Bless to Eden, Daniel, Kian, Sam, Kayleigh, Lily, Owen, Isabel, Jaime, Sophie, Georgia, Lily, Olivia, Evie, Callum, Connor, Evie and James and we look forward to hearing of all your future successes.

Hartford CE High School Admissions September 2021

For those adults with children currently in Year 5, Hartford CE High School, with whom we are a partner school in terms of admissions, have asked us to make you aware of a slight variation to their admissions policy for applications during this next academic year only, for admission to Year 7 in September 2021.

Following advice from Chester Diocese, the variation is related to families wishing to apply for a Foundation place only and relates to verification of attendance at church in the case of over subscription.

The variation requested is that "In the event that, during the period specified for attendance at worship, the church has been closed for public worship and has not provided alternative premises for that worship, the requirements of these admissions arrangements in relation to attendance will only apply to the period when the church or alternative premises have been available for public worship". 

Children’s Book and PE Kit Collection

An e mail was sent home this week with regards to collecting children’s workbooks before the end of term. Please read the e mail and respond via email to admin@overstjohns.cheshire,sch,uk with your intentions so that we can make sure that we have your children’s books ready at the allotted time. Don’t worry if you did not receive this e mail – for those children currently in school or who have siblings in school, we will send the items home with them.

End of Term

Next Thursday 16^th July marks the end of this academic year, in line with our previously published term dates. Usually we would finish the term at 2pm, but this year, in order to keep our bubbles separate, we will finish at the usual bubble times for a Thursday.

It has been a very different and challenging year, but with the help and support of our whole school community, we have got through it. I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone in our school family for helping us to get through it: the children and their adults for all that you have done to support learning and keep everyone safe during this time; to the governors who have continued to provide strategic support as well as support in a variety of other ways and to the staff team at school who have continued working throughout, including holidays and Bank Holidays. As I said, it has been an incredibly challenging year but everyone will be back together in September, adjusting to the new normal and we will all be stronger for it and continue to support each other in the way that only our close school family can do. I am very much looking forward to welcoming back every single child in September and cannot wait to see all the smiles and find out what they have been getting up to!

 

Take care,

Mrs E Snowdon