St Luke's C of E Primary School, Glossop

St Luke’s CE Primary School Newsletter 

10.9.2020

Dear Parents,

As this is the first real newsletter of the new school year welcome back. It is so lovely to have school back to a full complement of pupils. It is also lovely to be dealing with the usual such as children (and staff) who suddenly hit that first full week back wall yesterday. If your child was one of those who suddenly felt sooooo tired don’t worry it is normal and gets better!

I cannot praise the parents, friends and family of St Luke’s enough for how sensible and considerate you have been. Even though a number of you may have been anxious over the children coming back you have shown care for our whole school community and tackled the new normal with a smile. I know the rules are getting stricter from Monday with the number permitted in a gathering both inside and outside being reduced to 6. This new rule will not affect how school is operating so there will be no changes to the current arrangements.

An email was sent out earlier this week about flu immunisations for the children, please remember to register your child for this. It is even more important this year to reduce the spread of flu.

I know it feels odd to be reminding you about the rules around holidays in term time at a time when most of us are trying to feel the love for holidays at home but it is one of those things that I need to do.

In September 2013 the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 came into force. These regulations make it clear that Headteachers should not grant approval for any leave of absence during term-time, including holidays, unless there are exceptional circumstances. These regulations also state that holidays cannot be authorised retrospectively.

Any requests should be on an official school absence request form and handed into the school office for consideration prior to any holiday/leave arrangements being made.

You may be issued with a Penalty Notice should leave be taken which is not authorised. If unpaid this could lead to prosecution under section 444(1) of The Education Act 1996.

I am also including the information about our facebook page again just so you have it. I will try to get better at remembering to use it, I know I am rubbish at posting on it put it down to my age!

if you are a Facebook user we would welcome you to ‘like and follow’ the St Luke’s Church of England Primary School official Facebook page. The Facebook page has been established by the staff and governors to share information and events about the school to the school and local community. Its aim is to be a source of information, it is not to be a page for queries and/or concerns regarding your child/children. If you have any questions regarding school matters then these should be directed through the traditional channels of the school office or your child’s class teacher. The School staff will of course respond to comments as soon as possible should a response be required but this may not be immediate. We would be very grateful if you could respect this page and the users who use it – we will have to delete inappropriate comments should this be required. The staff and school governors hope that this will be a great new additional communication tool for the school, all the other communication channels will remain in place.

The school Facebook page can be found using the following link: https://www.facebook.com/StLukesPrimaryGlossop/

We recommend that you set up the St Luke’s Facebook page as a ‘favourite group/page’ by following these simple steps (from a desktop computer):

1) Like and follow https://www.facebook.com/StLukesPrimaryGlossop/ on your personal Facebook profile

2) When on the St Luke’s Facebook page. Click the ‘following’ button and under ‘in your news feed’ section, tick the ‘see first’ button. This will ensure that when a new item is posted on the official page you will see this first in your newsfeed.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation.

I am aware of a real and particularly nasty viral post going round on TikTok. The company are dealing with the situation and it should be cleared within the next few days. I am mentioning this to you as it gives you the option to prevent your child using TikTok temporarily if you think that is appropriate.

At this time in the term I usually send out a list of dates but unfortunately at the moment there are few dates I can give you. I know our lovely PTA, which you are all members of, are frustrated that they cannot meet and plan events. Keep an eye on the newsletters and I will let you know what is coming up when we are able to have things.

On Tuesday 15th & Wednesday 16th the first group of Y5s will be doing their bikeability course, we will keep our fingers crossed for fine weather for them.

Stay happy and healthy

Alice Littlehailes

St Luke’s CE Primary School Newsletter

16.7.2020

Dear Parents,

It is hard to believe but this is the last newsletter of this academic year and what a year it has been. I want to extend a huge well done and thank you to everyone for everything you have done. I know lots of you are going to feel a huge sense of relief that you no longer need to be responsible for home learning. A number of people have told me that they are looking forward to having time with their children without worrying about schooling them. I also know that a number of you will miss working with your children every day.

Thank you to all of you who have sent in lovely messages to the staff we have all appreciated them.

There have been a number of queries following the letter I sent home about arrangements for September which I can answer now.

• Birthday treats, there is no pressure to send in treats for the class if it is your child’s birthday but if you want to please can they be something like little packets of sweets. Please no lollies and unfortunately I am going to have to say no home-made deliciousness from September.

• If your child is going to out of school care before and or after school we will work with the nurseries so they only have 1 drop off/ pick up time.

• Reading books – I have no answer now about these as we are being encouraged not to send them home, but I am working on it.

The county council is looking at what can be realistically done to get students to and from school. To help plan for the September return the council need every parent and carer to complete a short survey. The survey asks about how your children got from home to school before the coronavirus pandemic, and how you think they will get to school in September. It also asks how your children could be encouraged to walk, cycle or scoot to school. Please use this link to fill in the survey https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=159431407337 , the deadline is 31st July.

If you have not yet paid for your dinners please can you, today.

For those parents who will finish being a St Luke’s parent thank you for all your support over the years. Thank you for trusting us with your child or in some cases children. It has been such a pleasure to be part of your lives over the years. Remember you never stop being part of the St Luke’s family. Please keep in touch, we will miss you as well as your children.

I hope you all have a lovely summer and I look forward to seeing you on Thursday 3rd September, 4th for new reception children.

Stay happy and healthy

Alice Littlehailes

We can’t wait to meet you all. See you soon!

St Luke’s CE Primary School Newsletter

9.7.2020

Dear Parents,

It has been lovely to welcome more children back into school this week. It has been great to see how quickly they have relaxed back into it. School has a funny feel at the moment; there are those children who have done weeks and weeks (some haven’t had a holiday since February) who are all feeling settled but end of termy and those who have done a few days who are tired because settling back into a routine makes you tired, but they are essentially full of beans. What is nice is each group is feeding off the energy of the other and there is a very happy atmosphere.

We are busy formulating plans for September and I will share those with you when they are finalised. One thing I have realised during this wet weather is that all the children, no matter what age group they are in, are going to need a pair of wellies in school. We need to get the children out no matter what the weather is doing and wellies and waterproofs are essential pieces of kit. I am saying this very quietly so I don’t jinx it but the weather looks much better next week, dry even, so no need to rush out and get wellies now but the children will need them for September.

As we only have 1 week left after this week it is the time when I nag you pay your dinner money debts. Please can you check if you owe anything and pay preferably before the middle of next week. As usually happens dinner money is going up in September to £2.20 A day £11 a week. Children in Reception Y1 and Y2 do not pay for their dinners under the universal free school meals scheme. Whichever year group your child is in if you think your child might be eligible for free school meals please do apply for them. Not only do you not have to pay for your child’s dinner but school also receives money, which is always useful. That is why we encourage people to apply for free school meals even if their child is in Reception, Y1 or Y2. You can apply at www.derbyshire.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals or by phoning 01629 536400 / 535743

We have not yet heard about fruit for schools as soon as we know what is happening with this we will let you know.

Stay happy and healthy

Alice Littlehailes