@ALEX
Summer Term
Friday 11th September 2020
Thank you for reading @ALEX we hope you find it useful. @ALEX, our weekly email newsletter, will go out via Parentmail every Friday.
Version suitable for using the Translate Button within our website.
Message from Mr Waiting
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope you have had a good week. Thank you to those families who were able to join us for the Parent Forum sessions that have taken place across Key Stage 1 and 2 this week. The sessions were very well attended and I am grateful to parents for working in such close partnership with us at this critical time in coming back to school. This is also reflected in the strong school attendance that we have seen for all year groups in the first two weeks back. It has helped to create a very positive start to term – thank you.
Last night the leadership team led a session specifically on our response as a school to the impact of Covid on the children’s education. We explored the strategic plan that has been implemented to support pupils and the actions taken to develop the curriculum following our Ofsted report last year. The slides for the session and parent forum meetings will be available on the website next week, alongside a question and answer document picking up on the key discussions points.
As part of the leadership session, we highlighted that one of our aims this year is to consider our school values, so that they are reflective of our identity now as a primary school. We have started to work on these with staff and the pupils and in assembly on Monday we considered qualities that felt relevant to the school now and for the future. These included values in relation to – Nurture / Excellence / Community / Exploration. In the assembly, I asked the children to create a representation of one or all of these new Alexandra values either as a painting, a poem, an illustration or even a piece of writing. It would be lovely to display these within the school hall and I have asked teachers to include this as a home learning task over the next few weeks. We look forward to sharing some of the children’s creations in the newsletter.
Finally, the parent survey is due to close this week. If you have not completed it yet we would be grateful for any responses in relation to your child’s experiences at Alexandra from last year.
Best wishes,
Robert Waiting
Drop off times
Please adhere to the following drop off/pick up times, to reduce congestion/contact in the playground. The only exception to this is if a sibling has an earlier start time, the other sibling may be dropped at their class before the start time below.
|
Year group |
Arrival time |
Collection time |
||
|
Nursery |
8.45 |
11.45 |
12.30 |
3.30 |
|
Reception |
9.00 |
3.25 |
||
|
Year 1 |
8.45 |
3.15 |
||
|
Year 2 |
8.50 |
3.20 |
||
|
Year 3 |
8.45 |
3.15 |
||
|
Year 4 |
8.50 |
3.20 |
||
|
Year 5 |
8.35 |
3.10 |
||
|
Year 6 |
8.35 |
3.10 |
||
One way system around school
There is a one-way system operating in the school, both for the outside and inside space. The entrance to school is the single gate on Princes Road. The exit will be the double gate on Princes Road and the single gate on Alexandra Road. We ask that only one parent drops off/picks up. Parents should leave the school site immediately after dropping off.
Scooters and bikes
To reduce congestion around the school, we are asking that you do not bring bikes or scooters to school. If you do live a long distance away and your child wishes to scoot, we ask that parents take the scooter/bike home with them after dropping them off. The scooter park will be removed over the weekend as Caterpillar parents will be lining up along the wall. Thank you for your cooperation in helping to reduce contact on the school site.
Dropping children off
We are encouraging parents with children in KS2 to drop them off at the gates and they can go to their classroom by themselves. Year 6 may walk to school alone providing a parental consent form has been filled out and returned to the office either in person or via email. You can find the form here. We unfortunately cannot accept email consent without the completed form.
Packed lunches
Please remember that packed lunches must be healthy (no chocolate or sweets) and absolutely no nuts or sesame products (which includes, but is not limited to, pesto, Nutella, sesame seeds on bread, peanut butter, granola bars that contain nuts) as we have a number of children at school with severe allergies.
Late items
Please drop off any late items (water bottles, packed lunches etc) onto the table outside the office. Please ensure they have your child’s name and class on them.
Office
The office is currently closed, so please phone or email alexandrasch@axi.rbksch.org with any queries. Absences can be reported via Parentmail. If you absolutely need to come to the office, please stand well back and wait outside if someone is already in there.
WhatsApp Guidelines
As we have new Reception parents joining us, here is a reminder of the class WhatsApp guidelines. Class WhatsApp groups are a very useful and efficient way of communicating to the whole class. The aim of using WhatsApp is to send messages to the entire group, which are relevant to school.
The PSA would appreciate if parents would note the following guidelines when using class WhatsApp groups:
- The group should never be used as a platform to air views/grievances regarding a teacher, child or parent in the class or school.
- The group is not a political platform for airing opinions on current affairs.
- The group should not be used for private conversations with anyone else using the group.
Points to note:
- The group should be used to make our lives easier and not become a nuisance.
- It is a quick and easy network for Class Reps to remind parents of School events and activities and inform about PSA events. That is the main reason we ask parents to reduce the amount of casual chat so important messages do not get “lost” making the group ineffective.
- Parents should always refer to the official channels of communication from School including Parentmail and the website in the first instance. The class WhatsApp group should function mainly as a source for reminders.
- The group should be used keeping in mind mutual respect and cultural sensitivity between all its members.
- We ask parents to be considerate regarding the time they post messages: early morning or late night posts are discouraged.
We encourage the use of the groups for:
- Reminders about deadlines, school activities, and events.
- Questions about school activities or special events e.g. what date homework is due in, mufti day etc
- Sharing important information already sent via Parentmail to help reach more parents
- Foster a sense of community e.g. sharing the invitation for a birthday party (when the whole class is involved or invited), planning end of year gifts for teachers and TAs, etc.
- Sharing relevant community notices e.g. road closures or new traffic lights in the local area, etc.
We discourage the use of the groups to:
- Gossip.
- Voice grievances.
- Share personal problems.
- Point out another child’s behaviour.
- Discuss the work of teachers: if a parent has a concern regarding the teacher, that parent should speak with them directly.
- Raise individual concerns or complaints: if a parent has a particular concern or complaint regarding the School or any member of the Staff, that issue should be raised directly with the School (teacher, leadership team of the School).
- Share political posts or discussions.
If you have any queries, please either ask your class teacher or email alexandrasch@axi.rbksch.org, stating your child’s name and class.
There is a lot of information about the school available on the website including:
Please take your time to familiarise yourself with the website as most information you need will be on there.