We welcomed the Year 5 back this week and all those who attended appear to have had a good time – they all certainly appeared very happy when they were outside. Next week it is the turn of the Year 4 children and I hope they are looking forward to it because we are certainly looking forward to seeing them. All those that returned our Google forms have been given a place and will have received a notification about their child having a place. As I said in a previous letter, we cannot guarantee that they will have their class teacher but even the children who were not with their class teacher this week had a good time. May I ask that if parents change their minds about their child attending school that they inform the school as soon as possible so we can make sure that the children are as evenly distributed as possible between the two groups.

As we are having more children in school (which is great) we have noticed that there are more cars starting to pull up in front of the school. Whilst we are not full due to social distancing, parents are having to be more spread out whilst dropping off and picking up their children so can I please ask that parents who are using cars to transport their children to and from school do follow our usual rules for cars by not parking in front of the school. We can still use the church car park for parking at the beginning and the end of the school day.

I sent out the new teacher list yesterday. As I explained in the letter, we cannot have the usual class transition because of the current situation but we will try and ensure that all children have some preparation for September and do get to see their new teacher (even if it is by video link). We have been told that we will have full classes in September (thank goodness) but I do not want to say too much about what will happen until I see the official guidance. Hopefully though, we will be allowed to have parents back on site and if we can, we will hold our ‘Meet the Teacher‘ sessions then. If this is not possible we may try something ’interactive’.

I hope you all have a great weekend. After some of the glorious weather of this week we are expected to have some more thunderstorms over the weekend. However, the weather looks good for next week even if it’s not going to be as hot as it was this week.

It has been a very busy week for me – trying to manage all these government guidelines is proving very trying for me. As you know we have now made arrangements for Years 2, 3, 4 and 5 to join us for a few days to allow them to have a little ‘closure’ with the school year. It has been very complex to organise whilst still following regulations and I know there was a glitch with the form that we sent out which did not help things. Some parents have thought that our timeframes for collecting information have been a little tight but unfortunately this is how we have to operate at the moment. All I can say is that we have really tried to please as many people as possible and I hope that the children who do come into school have an enjoyable time.

I have some sad news to share with you in that we are losing some of our teachers this term. Miss Bradford, Mr da Rocha, Mrs Pittson and Mrs Zegallo are leaving us. I am sure that you will join me in thanking them all for all their hard work and dedication that they have given Little Heath and wish them all every success for their futures. We have appointed new teachers to replace them and they are Miss Hannah Huntley and Mrs Andri-Anna Bidder. I will be sending out the new class list soon so you will know which teacher your child will have next year. As yet the government have not sent out any guidance relating to September so how we will operate then is still a mystery to us. Some people seem to think that we receive this information before the announcement is made by the government but I can assure you that this is not the case – very often we hear the announcements at the same time as you and then we have to wait for the guidance to be sent to us to inform us about how they want us to implement the changes. It is very frustrating but I suppose we all have to make allowances during these unchartered times.

I hope you all have a good weekend –the weather is a little mixed but the good news is that summer appears to return next week. It is something to look forward to as well as welcoming back some of our Year 5 children.

The weather has certainly changed this week and it does seem a long time since we had that lovely sunny weather that made us believe that summer has truly arrived. However, we did need some rain and at least the farmers are glad to have it. The wet weather has not dampened the spirits of the children in school though and all those that are here appear very happy which makes us happy.

You will all know by now that the government have scrapped their plans to have all primary age children return to school before the summer. I know that there has been a mixed reaction to this and we are still awaiting further guidance on how we are to proceed –we just find out the information at the same time as you. In fact, since we are in school you sometimes hear it first! There is still the possibility that some year groups may be able to return before the summer but we are waiting for the guidance before we make any decisions.

I know that home schooling can be a challenge and that some parents are worried that their children are going to ‘fall behind’ but as all children are in the same position this is not going to happen. When children do return to school we will assess where they are and then make the necessary provision to help them move forward with their learning. We are going to review home learning and see if we can make any adjustments to help support parents and children at home with this but it is impossible to provide the same service that the children would get in the classroom. If you are experiencing any difficulties with the home learning may I remind you that you can email the class teachers and they will get back to you with some support. Please can I just remind you though, that when addressing members of staff, that you do so in a respectful manner as we are all working incredibly hard at this time.

I hope you all have a pleasant weekend. I know that the weather is not as good as it has been but I do hope that you can get out for some walks because being in touch with nature does help lift the spirits.

It feels strange writing my blog in my school office because I have not done that for a very long time – it makes me feel that everything is back to the way it was although we are still far from that.  Since Monday we have had more staff and children in school which is great. We have all had to get used to the new ‘Covid 19‘ measures that are now in place but everyone appears to be doing very well with this. Parents have also been very good in following these although can I remind parents who do have children in school that they are only allowed on the school premises by invitation and if they do have any queries they should contact the school by email or telephone. School staff will bring children to the school gates at the end of the day so parents do not need to come onto the site to collect them. I know the staggered start and finish times can take a bit of getting used to but in a couple of weeks it will feel like we have been running school like this forever. May I also remind you that if you have not reserved a place for your child in school and they are in one of the eligible year groups to attend you must contact the office before you bring them in and we will then let you know when we have made the necessary arrangements to allow them to return.

For the children who still cannot come into school I hope they are still getting on well with their home learning. Now they have been doing that for a while I am sure they are getting used to learning in this style. If a good routine for carrying out the learning has been established I know that children will be accepting of this as their ‘new norm’. All the teachers will all be carrying out more ’Zoom’ sessions with the children next week so it will be good if all of the children can have some learning to share with the teachers on this so the teacher can support them personally with their learning.

At the moment there are no plans to have any more year groups return to school so I think we will be continuing as we are for now but who knows how things are going to develop –there are so many reports and guidance out there that it is difficult to know what is the best course of action. We will keep you up to date though of any new notifications that we receive.

I hope you have a good weekend. The weather is not as good as it has been but as we do need rain we should not complain –we do not want to have to deal with a water shortage on top of everything else.