Mr Applegate

It was a brilliant first day! One of the many highlights was seeing the children simply enjoying playing together outside in their classes. Just lovely. Thank you for all that you’ve done so that today ran smoothly. As parents and carers, you were great in wearing masks, following the one-way system and traffic flow, and observing the 2m rule. Let’s keep it up – especially at the doors of the classroom.

We are finding that we spend a lot of time hand washing, and go through a LOT of paper towels- these are surprisingly expensive, and we’ve already run out of room in our main bins.

There is no pressure to do so, but if you would like to send in your child with a small bottle of hand sanitiser, that would really help us. Please put their name on it. We are getting larger bottles of sanitisers too – it should speed things up. If you would rather your child doesn’t use hand sanitiser, please do let the teacher know. We’ll do a mix of hand washing and hand sanitiser anyway.

Thank you for your support! The St Mark’s team.

We are looking forward to welcoming all children back on Monday! A few reminders:

• All parents and visitors on site must wear a face covering please.
• The arrival/collection times and locations are here.
• Our latest newsletter came on on Monday if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
• School dinner menu is here – remember we start on week 3.
• PE will start the week of the 14th Sept (28th Sept for Year R). Children won’t need to wear their PE kit to school until then – teachers will let you know next week which days children will be doing PE. Remember, on their PE days, children can wear their kit to school.
• Children won’t have home reading logs. These were used to track reading and also for parent/teacher comments. We are looking at a better system to track reading so will be in touch about that. But reading at home must carry on! It’s vital! Parent/teacher communication will be via the year group email.
• We hope to send out a friendly email to the children by Sunday. I’m sorry it’s so much later than expected. It’s been such a busy week. Don’t forget children can see their teacher videos on Google Classrooms (the videos that came out in July).
• Finally – it’s not too late to join us for the St Mark’s Tidy Up tomorrow – 9-11am. Just come along!

Best wishes, Mr Applegate

I hope you’ve had a great summer break. Doesn’t it go fast?! Some may say it can’t end soon enough! It’s not over quite yet, but an early communication from school will hopefully help everyone.

I know we all have a mixture of emotions with going back to school. Many children haven’t been to school since March- that’s a long time ago. And we have lots of children joining us for the very first time! We are fully expecting children and adults to be feeling differently about the return, and anxiety is normal. However, I do want to reassure you that as a staff we have spent many, many hours making the school environment as safe and friendly as possible, including the day-to-day logistics. Our experience previously has been that whilst children may be nervous at first, it doesn’t take long before they settle in. Please know that we will welcome everyone back with a smile and our usual cheer!

And of course a huge welcome to our new Year R children and families, as well as those in other year groups who are new to our school. We hope that you find our school community to be warm and welcoming, and we look forward to you feeling at home with us.

See you on the 7th September! Mr Applegate

Important Messages / Summary

1. Read the section on Face Coverings/Masks below- it’s affects parents too.
2. Read the ‘September plans‘ (the only change has been the guidance on face coverings/masks). Youtube video may be helpful! Remember to have a back-up plan in case we have to call you to collect your child.
3. We’ll be posting a child-friendly YouTube video for children this week. Also, Google Classroom accounts will be re-enabled to allow children to watch the video made in July about their new teacher.
4. Got questions? Please email the office.

Can you help us please?

Can you give a couple hours on Saturday 5th September? 9-11am. Adults only please. We’ll tidy the grounds. You just need to bring any of the following: brooms, hedge trimmers (manual or electric + extension lead), wheelbarrows, fork, shovel, trowels, gloves, anything for weeding, etc. Click here if you can help. Thank you.

Face Covering / Masks – who should and shouldn’t wear a mask?

A hot topic! We hope this brings clarity to you and your children, and reassures you that we take everyone’s safety seriously. Remember, this is about keeping everybody safe, including the adults who work in the school. Having over 1000 people on site at drop-off and pickup times, and almost 750 during the day, means that we need everyone to play their part. As we reduce the risk at school, it also reduces the risk for families at home.

1. Parents must wear face coverings/masks when on the school site, including when dropping off or collecting a child, or visiting the office (having first spoken to the office via email/phone).
2. Pupils must not wear face coverings/masks whilst in school, although they can wear them to and from school. If a child has particular health needs, then please consult with the school about this. Where they wear a mask to school, we ask that parents take the mask home.
3. Staff won’t be wearing face coverings/masks within the classroom environment (ie within the bubble), but will do so outside of the classroom where a distance of 2m cannot be maintained (for example, when in communal/office areas, walking within school, using the photocopier etc). Breakfast club and lunchtime staff will be wearing masks.
4. Visitors, including those who visit the school regularly to meet with pupils, must wear masks at all times; where this is not deemed possible because of the nature of the work, the system of controls must be strictly adhered to.

Where face coverings/masks are worn, they must be suitable and appropriate in style.

Dear all,

We hope you are enjoying the summer. Just a few things to communicate ahead of starting school on Monday 7th September.

1. SCL After School Club – 3:20 – 6pm … is available to book now. Click here for more info.

2. Breakfast Club – For those who applied for a B/C space, we emailed at the end of July to say if you have been successful. We have no breakfast club spaces left, apart from a few places for children needing care from 8:20am. The subject of the email was “Breakfast Club – Place Allocations”.

3. Outdoor Tidy Up! Can you give a couple hours on Saturday 5th September? 9-11am. Adults only please. We’ll tidy the grounds. You just need to bring any of the following: brooms, hedge trimmers (manual or electric + extension lead), wheelbarrows, fork, shovel, trowels, gloves, anything for weeding, etc. Click here if you can help. Thank you.

4. September Plans. As things stand, there are no real changes to our announcements in July about plans for September. Please see here for details about September if you haven’t seen them.

5. Anything to update us on? Contact numbers? Email addresses? Medical issues? Family circumstances? Please do let us know via email. Remember not to visit the school office unless you have phoned first.

6. Google Classrooms for Years 1-6: We’ll open up the accounts again on Monday 31st August. You’ll be able to watch the teacher-welcome video again, which may help your child settle in.

We’ll be in touch before we start on the 7th, including a video to help the children see what school will look like.

Best wishes, Mr Applegate