September 2020 Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back! It has been lovely to see everyone and to once again have a school full of children!

A warm welcome to our new pupils and families.  We hope that you will be very happy here. In the meantime, if there is anything that we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Our new class arrangements are as follows:

New arrival and departure procedures

We would like to express our thanks for your cooperation with our new arrival and departure procedures, including staggered start and finish times. The whole system appears to be running a little better this week. If you are waiting to drop your children off in the morning or collecting in the evening, please don’t forget to maintain social distancing. We also kindly request that if you need to speak to staff, please call or email the office. As much as we would like to speak to you face to face, we are mindful of the need to keep contact to a minimum in an effort to keep us all safe.

Breakfast Club

We are pleased to announce that our new breakfast club is up and running. We offer separate year group provision from 7:45am. At the moment we have vacancies in all year groups. If you are interested in a place, please contact the school office for more information.

Contact Information

Please ensure that the contact information that we hold is up to date, including all contact numbers and email addresses. It is important that we are able to communicate information to you, especially in case of emergency.

Google Classroom

By the end of the week, all pupils should have received their Google Classroom log in details. Homework will be completed online this year. This is to eliminate the need for more paper in school and to ensure that all pupils can access and submit work online in the event of a partial school closure or isolation period.

If your child experiences difficulty logging on, please contact the school and a member of the team will return your call and provide you with some assistance.

If your child does not have access to a laptop or tablet, please get in touch with us. We have a limited number of laptops in school which can be loaned to families.

Sickness and Covid testing

Yesterday we sent out some information about what you should do if a member of your family is exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms. If you or someone in your household needs a test, we have received notification that a new walk-in testing facility has opened at the Cherry Tree Lane car park off Rainham Road in South Hornchurch. The facility is open seven days a week between the hours of 8am and 8pm. This is in addition to the regular testing facility at the rear of the Town Hall in Romford which is next open on Thursday 17 September and Sunday 20 September. If you are struggling to access a testing slot, please refresh the government website as slots are being made available throughout the day. If you are still unable to access a test, please contact the school and we will do what we can to assist you.

If your child does need to isolate at home for any reason, they can access class work through Google Classroom. Teachers will be setting up a “Work from home” folder which will include English and Maths work covered in school that week. Pupils can submit the work in the usual way and teachers will provide feedback and return the work to your child through Google Classroom. If you experience any problems using this facility, please email the office.

New School Website

We are pleased to announce that we have a new school website in operation. The new website should make it easier to find key information and includes a link to our School Blog. Please take some time to have a look. We would welcome your feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Salisbury Road Car Free Street

We would like to bring to your attention that following the borough’s consultation with residents, from Monday 21^st September, Salisbury Road will become a pedestrian and cycle zone only between 8am and 9.30am and 2.30pm and 4pm from Monday to Friday during term time. The zone will be enforced by unattended cameras positioned on Heath Park Road and Brentwood Road facing into Salisbury Road. Any vehicles entering the zone within these times will be issued with a penalty. More information about this scheme can be found on the notices displayed on the lampposts outside of the school.

Questions or Concerns

Throughout the year, if you have any questions or concerns, it is important that you let us know as soon as possible. As you can appreciate, Covid has presented many challenges that has forced us to change how we do things and it may take us a little longer to address certain issues. We will work hard to resolve any problems as quickly as we can. Our team are here to help and your child’s happiness and well-being are important to us. As always, we greatly appreciate your patience and understanding.

With all good wishes,