Newsletter 18.09.20

Dear Parents/Carer,

Settling in

We are delighted to see our children back! All the teachers are very complimentary about our children and they way they have settled back into school. Not only have the pupils settled in but they are adapting to all our new systems in school. We planned a fortnight of wellbeing activities to ensure pupils are regulated, positive and feel supported. On the Lane site, Year 1 staff are so proud of the way the children have taken to their new site really well and considering we did not have transition in the summer term this is really pleasing.

We are so pleased to welcome our new Reception and Nursery children! Our EY Team say that they have made a fantastic start – thank you to parents for the part you play in that too.

Hands up in Year 6 if you are pleased to be back!

Reception pupils are ready for their forest schools session.

Our new playtime and lunchtime zones are working very well.

Active bodies means healthy minds in the first week of school.

We are all so pleased to see our friends again.

Staffing

We have three new teachers and three teaching assistants that we are delighted to welcome to our school:

Miss Pigg 3JP

Miss Patten Nursery

Miss Onyett Reception

Teaching assistants:

Mr Wilson 1MT

Mrs Allan 1SM

Mrs Chapman R

Miss Jones 5FW

We also have a student teacher Miss Stanton in 5FW who is completing a teaching placement with us.

Welcome to our new recruits.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Mrs Mowat, Miss Hudson and Miss Gulc who are all expecting babies. We look forward to sharing any news with you of pending arrivals. We have started the recruitment of a new teacher who will cover Miss Gulc’s maternity cover from mid October onwards – tough shoes to fill and we will announce the name of the successful candidate to parents and carers of pupils in this class very soon.

Parents on site

Thank you for following our signs and one way system on The Lane site. This seems to be working very well where everyone is being respectful of social distancing. Similarly on The Leyes site the staggered times means that pathways are not overly congested and parents are being courteous at pinch points where the path narrows.

Face coverings

Please ensure you wear a face covering when you step onto the school sites. This includes when using the car parks for dropping off at Breakfast Club or After School Club or on the Leyes site.

Please exit the site promptly

Thank you for ensuring you leave the sites promptly. Teachers will endeavour to release the classes at the end of the day promptly. One Year 2 child I observed this this week was making sure that his much younger brother did not play on the equipment. It’s great to see everyone working together.

Seesaw and Tapestry

Passing on a message to your child’s class teacher in the morning can be difficult. Please use Seesaw (Year 1-6) and Tapestry (for Nursery and Reception) to communicate with your class teacher. You can also call the office: 01904555606 or email: admin.osb@ebor.academy. Any information to be shared about your child’s health – Covid related or not – please contact the Office and not use Seesaw or Tapestry.

Parent hub/Parent Pay

Information sent home to parents will be sent via:

• Parent Hub (download the app onto your phone)
• The school website

Please ensure you have activated your ParentPay account. Letters were sent out via Classroom teachers at the beginning of this week to remind parent to do this. This will enable parents to book clubs, pay for dinners, wrap around care, Nursery fees etc online.

If you encounter any problems activating your account, please contact the Office – 01904 555606 or admin.osb@ebor.academy.

Covid19

There may be a situation whereby we need to send a pupil home or entire bubble home at very short notice if there is a case reported of Covid19. Please make sure your mobile phone is up to date and you have the Parent Hub app. It is very frustrating for the office when we cannot contact parents and carers. If a pupil is sent home with suspected symptoms we would ask that parents arrange for a test as soon as possible. If the test is positive, the child needs to be off school for 10 days (14 days for family members). If the child’s test is negative, they do not need to be at home and can return to school when they are feeling better.  If you are unable to organise a test and are showing possible symptoms, your child needs to be  at home for 10 days and can return to school when they are feeling better.

PE arrangements

Thank you for bringing in PE kits. However, we have changed this policy. All PE kits are being sent home today. The children will wear their PE kit to school on their PE day and remain in it all day. Please ensure they have jogging bottoms for when the weather gets colder.

Uniform

Please ensure names are in jumpers and all school uniform. In this lovely weather jumpers are taken off and we cannot find the rightful owner.

Parents Evening

Parents evening this half term will be via video conference or telephone call.  We value the conversations with you about your child so we can work closely in partnership so please do make an appointment to speak with your child’s teacher. Information will be sent out nearer the time regarding times and dates.

Teaching specialists

We have written rigorous risk assessments to allow some of our specialist teachers back on site. Music and Sport are strengths of the school and at OPA we value a rich, varied and balanced curriculum. Sport clubs and peripatetic music lessons are gradually starting again. More information to follow.

Catch up funding

The government has pledged catch up funding which equates to £80 per pupil for Years 1 to 6. We will carefully be planning how we can best use this so that your child can best catch up any learning that they may have missed out on over the last 6 months.

New starters

As you can see our new reception class are enjoying their start to school.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Mr Brown