Letter to parents re Christmas 14.12.20

Hello everyone,

There is lots of information in this week’s newsletter and I thank you in advance for taking the time to read everything.

Last day of term – Friday 18th December 2020

I am sure many of you will have heard or seen in the news that the government announced this week that schools could consider finishing on Thursday 17th instead of Friday 18th December. I just wanted to confirm that we are not changing our arrangements and the school term will end at your child’s normal finishing time on Friday 18^th December with the children returning to school/nursery on Tuesday 5^th January 2021.

A letter will be sent out on Monday with important information that we need parents to follow, should your child test positive for COVID-19 after the end of term and their symptoms emerged within 48 hours of them last being in school/nursery.

Parent governor election

We are delighted to announce that Ms Jessica Greenwood has been elected as our new parent governor and we thank her for taking on this key role within our school. Please see Jessica’s personal statement here Parent governor announcement December 2020

Consultation on Admission Arrangements 2022/2023

‘Shropshire Council, as admission authority for community and voluntary controlled schools in Shropshire, will be conducting a consultation exercise on School Admission Arrangements for 2022/23 and simultaneously co-ordinating a consultation exercise for any own admission authority schools proposing changes.  The consultation will commence on Friday 11 December 2020 until Monday 25 January 2021.’

Consult Parent notice 2021

Just to confirm, that Bicton CE Primary School is not proposing changes to our admission number for 2022/2023.

Carols on the Doorstep – Wednesday 16 December from 6 pm!

You may be aware of the Carols on the Doorstep event which started in Shrewsbury but is now ‘going national’ – we have been asked to help make sure that as many streets in possible take part in Shropshire on December 16th and to invite you all to join in!

To take part, stand on your doorsteps on Wednesday, December 16th from 6-7pm and tune in to BBC Radio Shropshire (96FM) who will be providing the backing music from last year’s Carols in the Square for you to sing along to. You are also asked to choose to donate, if you can, to a charity of your choice – there are four local charities suggested on their website.

You can also find the details at www.doorstepcarols.co.uk The words to the carols can be found there, along with simple sheet music for children to play along to on a variety of instruments (all the right key!).

Obviously the more the merrier – it would be wonderful to get the whole of Shropshire and the rest of the UK all singing together at the same time!

Why not also Decorate your Doorstep (see ‘Decorate’ on the website) – there are prizes available for the best decorated houses!

Understanding Your Child

Please see posters below about the parenting groups which are restarting virtually.

Understanding your child (universal)

Understanding your child (SEND)

Dear friends,

Hello everyone,

I hope you are remaining well and coping ok with the ongoing restrictions.

We have really missed seeing Hazel class and we can’t wait to see them all back in school on Monday!

Face masks/coverings

Please can we remind all adults coming on to the school site that a face mask/covering should be worn at all times, unless you are exempt. If you wear one to go into shops then you should be wearing one on our school site to keep everyone safe. Thank you

TogetherAll

TogetherAll is a new digital mental health and wellbeing support service offer for any resident aged 16 years and above within the Shropshire Council area, who would like to improve their mental wellbeing.  TogetherAll is available online, 24/7.  The TogetherAll Community is completely anonymous so people can express themselves freely and openly.

5 Togetherall_InteractivePDF_Generic16+_2020

Computing resources for home

The Raspberry Pi Foundation have launched a free Learn at Home initiative to support parents and young people with coding resources at home. You don’t need any coding experience to join in, and all of their resources and activities are free forever.

• Get involved with their space challenge, Astro Pi Mission Zero in partnership with the European Space Agency, where young people can send a message to the International Space Station!

• Every Wednesday their team of educators host a digital making live stream to inspire and teach young people about getting creative with technology.

• They provide over 200 coding projects that you can follow on any computer, with themes from looking after yourself to protecting the planet. All with step-by-step instructions, accessible online at any time, for free!

Simply visit their website to get started right away!

Christmas at Bicton

We would like to say a huge thank you to FOBS who have continued to work hard to raise funds in these challenging times. Part of the funds they have recently donated to school are being used to pay for a virtual pantomime which children will watch on the screen in their classes during the last week of term. THANK YOU FOBS!

Next week we will be sending a letter home explaining what we are doing in the build up to Christmas including: how children can give out Christmas cards to their friends, details on our Christmas grotto/shop, Christmas jumper day, and class ‘performances’, amongst other things.

Have a good weekend and please stay safe.

Mrs Johnson x

Hello everyone

This has been a very challenging week in school but it has been made much easier thanks to your support. I would like to say a very heartfelt thank you on behalf of all the staff and governors.

Friday Worship

It was wonderful to see so many children from Hazel class join our Teams worship today and I’m sorry if I did not mention you by name. We could only see some children on the screen in Maple class but I know next door in Oak class they were able to see many more of you! We had a few technical difficulties connecting so it was a relief just to be able to log in – hopefully next week things will run more smoothly!

I’ll send you an invite for next Friday’s worship and hopefully you will be able to join us again. In the meantime, I hope you all stay well and I can’t wait to see you back in school.

Before and after-school clubs

Please read the following extract below taken from the latest government guidance at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-a … ember-2020

‘Where schools are offering extra-curricular activities (that is, before and after school clubs) they should only do so where it is reasonably necessary to support parents to work, search for work, or undertake training or education, or where the provision is being used for the purposes of respite care.’

IMPORTANT REMINDER – BUBBLE TIMES DURING COVID-19

We have already sent out several reminders about children needing to arrive at their bubble door/gate on time and before it closes. Every day, there are a few children who are arriving late and who then have to enter through the main entrance door. This is putting staff and other children at risk and we need all parents to make sure that their child arrives on time.

We understand there will be odd times where things happen before school but late arrival at school must not happen on a regular basis. Our attendance registers are reviewed by the Local Authority and parents will be contacted by the Education Welfare Officer where concerns arise about punctuality or attendance. Thank you.

We have been asked to share the survey link below with our school community.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DJ35T3H

WANTED – Decorations / donations for our Christmas Grotto

To try and make things as special as possible for the children in school leading up to Christmas, and also to raise funds, we are going to create a Christmas grotto and we desperately need your help.

If you are changing your Christmas tree or decorations this year, rather than take them to the recycling centre or put them in the bin, we’d love to take them off your hands!

We are looking for donations of:

• artificial christmas trees
• Christmas tree decorations – baubles, tinsel, etc – NOT lights please.
• small unwanted gifts which children can buy as gifts for their family for 50p/£1 e.g. toiletries, stationery, candles, or anything that you think children might like to purchase!

Thank you in advance for your support.

Have a safe weekend and take care.

Mrs Johnson x