King Richard III Infant and Nursery School

We can do it! We never give up - anything is possible!

Newsletter for August 23rd 2021

Newsletter at the end of the summer break: 23.8.21

Dear parents, carers, families and friends,

I hope this finds you all well, having enjoyed a lovely sunny day today. The teachers and support staff have all been working together in school today, on the first of our two 'teacher days' before the children all come back to school to join us on Wednesday 25th.

This is a start-of-term newsletter to share a few pieces of useful information with you.

You'll have heard lots on the news, I'm sure, about the relaxation of Covid measures over the last couple of weeks. We won't be asking you to wear a mask when you come onto the playground this term, but you'll notice that some members of staff are choosing to continue to wear their masks. Often this is because they are still more vulnerable - in my case, blood cancer means that my immunity and my response to the vaccine are both likely to be very low, so I'm continuing to take a lot of care. Please show consideration for the needs and decisions of those you meet on the school site - like giving them space when you're talking with them.

If you come into areas of the school that are likely to be crowded, we might ask you to wear your mask - the reception area at the school office, for example, will have a sign at the door to explain that we ask people coming into that space to wear a mask.

We will continue to stagger start and finish times, because this has made a huge difference to the parking and traffic problems outside the school.

F2/Reception and Year 1 classes will be starting at 8.30am and finishing at 2.45pm.
Nursery (Daisy and Sunflower classes) and Year 2 classes will be starting at 8.45am and finishing at 3pm.

If your child is in our Nursery, pick up time at the end of the morning session will be between 11.30-11.45am.
The afternoon session will start at 12.15pm and pick up time at the end of that session will be between 3-3.15pm.

Wherever possible, it's helpful if just one adult drops off and picks up, please.

Year 1 classes:
Both classes will come in at the start of the day and leave at home time through their cloakroom doors. Lavender cloakroom opens directly onto the playground, but this means that Violet children and parents will need to walk down the side of the building to get to the cloakroom entrance. School adults will be able to point you in the right direction while everyone gets used to the system!

Staff changes:
As we mentioned before the summer break, Mrs Lord is taking on the role of Deputy Head this term. Mrs Hart has now taken on the role of Premises Officer. Many thanks to both of them for all of their hard work over the summer break!

Congratulations to Mrs Golding (who used to be Miss Macdonald) and Mrs Thorpe (who used to be Miss Hudson) - two lovely summer weddings since we last saw them.

Breakfast Club and Aftercare
Please get in touch with the school office if you need to book a space for your child at the start or end of the day.

Daisy Nursery
Daisy Nursery mobile has had an exciting facelift since the start of the summer break - a new, bright yellow coat on the outside, new windows, flooring and toilets on the inside. More work is planned for the October half term, but none will take place while the children are in school.

Water bottles
Please do send in a named bottle of water with your child - we'll give them lots of encouragement to drink regularly through the day.

Birthday sweets and treats
You don't have to send these in on your child's birthday, but if you would like to:
We're still taking lots of Covid care, because it's done such a good job of keeping our children safe, so please send them in a couple of days before the birthday itself so we can keep them safely quarantined before they're shared with the children. If they come in on the day itself, we'll put them to one side and celebrate a couple of days later.

COVID SYMPTOMS
Although lots of things have changed, this bit hasn't:

If your child has Covid symptoms, they mustn't come into school until they've had a PCR test or have isolated for 10 days.
If your child shows or develops Covid symptoms in school, we'll ask you to collect them straight away and we'll keep them away from other children and adults until you pick them up.

I hope this newsletter has made sense, but it it's left you with questions, please do get in touch. You're welcome to call the school office or to use the contact form to email your query to us - we'll do our best to get back to you asap!

Enjoy the last day of the summer break and we'll see you all on Wednesday!

Best wishes,

Ms Harrison and the KRIII team