St Luke's C of E Primary School, Glossop

St Luke’s CE Primary School Newsletter

8.10.2020

Dear Parents,

I do hope you all enjoyed the sculptures the children made with the theme of Hope. They all made me smile, and still do even though they are looking a little bedraggled due to the rain. I do hope this next week is less soggy!

The children are all having a first aid session this week. I am so pleased that despite the restrictions we are still able to offer extras such as the sculpture park and first aid.

Because of the restrictions we are not able to join together in church and celebrate the harvest. I do miss us all joining in songs of praise together, but keeping everyone safe is more important. We do however want to still think about how grateful we are for what we have. With this in mind, on Wednesday 21st October, we are asking the children to bring in a donation for Glossop Food Bank this can be tins, dried food or toiletries. We are also for the first time supporting Social Box Biz. SocialBox.Biz, a social enterprise, supplies free reused laptops with open source software to the homeless, refugees and the elderly. It was founded by a former child refugee who was given an old used laptop. SocialBox.Biz has had a surge in requests for the laptops but unfortunately has not been able to meet the increased demand. If you have an old but usable laptop and charger which you are happy to donate please send it into school.

On Wednesday 14th October it is photo day. I have been asked if the company is still happy to do pre-schoolers in a family group. I am checking it out and will let you know.

We have been thinking about how to do parents evenings without meeting up in person. We have decided to hold the meetings via zoom. On Friday 23rd October you will be given a ten-minute slot to talk to your child’s teacher, we will coordinate so you are not due to talk to 2 teachers at the same time. You will get an invitation via email. If there is any time between 8am and 6pm when you are not available on the 23rd please let us know. If you can be available at any point there is no need to reply.

Stay happy and healthy

Alice Littlehailes

St Luke’s CE Primary School Newsletter

1.10.2020

Dear Parents,

Well here we are in October already where has September gone? The weather is certainly feeling more autumnal and the trees are turning, and I was given my first conker of the year this week. The children are settling back into the school routine, though it has taken a little longer than most years because of lockdown.

Thank you to all the parents of key stage 2 pupils who have got them going on Reading Plus at home. If you are having any difficulties do get in touch because this will really help your child’s reading.

Well done to all the children in Y5 who have done Bikeability I have received some great reports about your work. All the children looked much more confident at the end of the 2 days.

We are really missing the Y1 children and cannot wait for them to be back with us on Monday. I hope we don’t have to ask any other classes to isolate but just in case we do we would love any tips for other parents on how to make zoom lessons as good as possible. Thank you to the parent that suggested making sure the name on the log in is the child’s name. If you have found anything particularly helpful just let us know so we can put together a tips and wrinkles sheet for parents just in case.

We are about to hold our now annual sculpture park. I know some classes have been asked to send in recycling and there has been a great response to this, thank you. I am looking forward to seeing all the sculptures on Monday. We are planning to put them on your walk round school so you can see them whilst still following all the rules around social distancing.

From 2021 the Government is changing the Early Learning Goals for Reception children. We are an early adopter school so we have been disapplied from the current statutory Early Learning Goals and instead will be using the new ones. This will not affect the curriculum your child is offered.

Stay happy and healthy

Alice Littlehailes

St Luke’s CE Primary School Newsletter

24.9.2020

Dear Parents,

This has been a tricky week. I am so sorry I have had to ask the children and staff in Peregrines to isolate for 14 days. I know this is very disruptive to the children and to parents work. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about this. You know that I always try to get the children into school if at all possible. Miss Done has been doing a great job supporting the children’s learning via zoom, something we are all learning about how to do. Thank you to all you parents who have helped make this happen for your children, we do not underestimate how hard that can be.

I also unfortunately had to postpone one of the bikeability groups because the instructor was unwell and had been asked to have a test. That came back negative and the team are trying to find availability to rebook. I will let you know more as soon as I know.

I have sent out a letter from the DFE yesterday going through who should and should not be tested. It is so hard we all want to do the right thing and not clog up the system but also don’t want to be infectious and pass it on to others. If we all keep doing our best and keep being kind to each other we can feel confident we can do no more. There were new regulations announced on Tuesday none of which will affect school at the moment. I would just remind you that if at all possible just 1 adult from each family should come to drop off or pick up their children. This is to reduce the number of people on site and so the number of possible infections.

On Wednesday some of the children and I were explaining to the teaching students at Manchester University how things had changed in schools. I was very proud of all the children involved as they answered questions with confidence and honesty.

Stay happy and healthy

Alice Littlehailes

Luke’s CE Primary School Newsletter 

17.9.2020

Dear Parents,

Hasn’t it been lovely to have some sunshine this week I know the children have been enjoying it. The forecast looks good up until next Wednesday – hooray.

I want to congratulate all the Year 6 children who stood for office in the elections. Their husting speeches were really good. They had all put so much thought into what they wanted to say. I wanted to elect them all. As parents you should be incredibly proud of them.

The systems in the morning and evening seem to be working well. Thank you to you all for not hanging around in the yard, much as you would like to chat. In terms of the perennial problem of traffic outside school the staggered start and end of the days has reduced the number of school cars at any one time. However, there is an increased number of neighbour’s cars parked around school due to more people working from home, this has led to problems. One simple solution is to park a little further away from school and walk. Please also think about the safety of all the children and do not park or mount the pavements. I know these are stress points in the day but nobody want’s there to be an accident.

I know there has been a lot of activity on Facebook around the subject of testing. A number of the children have got colds, the advice from Public Health England is that people should not seek tests if they have a cold. If someone develops a high temperature, a new continuous cough or a loss of taste or smell they should have a covid test. I am saddened by how unkind people have been towards each other on Facebook over this issue please think before you post anything and make sure you are showing respect towards others opinions and feelings. We are a strong community who need to stand together at this time. I also believe that there have been rumours flying around about us closing. I will always let you know if a class or the whole school have been asked to isolate. Our thoughts go out to the local schools who have had to partially or fully go into isolation. We can all imagine how hard it will be to keep children at home isolated for 14 days when they have just gone back to school. I know you will all help the families effected in any way you can.

We sent out an email about access to digital devices at home. If you have not replied yet please can you as this will help our planning.

Stay happy and healthy

Alice Littlehailes