A round up of Autumn’s first half term
Greater independence for the children
As a parent-founded school, where parents have always played such an instrumental part, it has been strange for me not to have some parents in to help out and see the school in action. I know many of you also find it strange being limited to the forecourt, with just a peer through the front door as your children waltz off to their classrooms. In many ways, however, the staggered drop offs have created greater independence for the children and some wonderful moments. Watching older (but still very little) siblings take the hand of their younger brother or sister and walk them over to the coach house each morning will be an abiding memory of this period.
We don’t know how long these current restrictions will be in place, or whether they may tighten up at some stage over the winter, but there are definitely things that have worked really well this term that we will be considering taking forward, in some form or other, in the future. Two projects that are still on hold, but remain top priorities once we move back to more normal times, are the new kitchen with the provision of fresh food cooked on site, and also greater flexibility for parents with more options for wrap-around care. These were clearly the most mentioned areas in the parent survey and I just wanted you to know that these are still very much in our plans.
In the meantime, we continue with school as it is. For the children they see it as pretty much normal. They are used to being divided into the new ‘bubble’ system and they get the full timetable with the breadth of opportunities that our curricular and co-curricular activities provide. The recent parent evenings will have highlighted individual situations and I know that the communication between school and parent will continue to ensure the individual needs of every child continue to be catered for.
Our alternative Harvest Festival – over £2,000 in food vouchers donated
Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity over the Harvest Festival period, we were able to donate over £2,000 in food vouchers to many families in need in the west London area. Thanks also to the children who created some lovely Harvest artwork.
Christmas is definitely on the cards!
Christmas events at school will be different this year, but we hope to be creative enough to ensure as many activities as possible can happen, in some form other, as would normally be the case. There will still be live events where you can dial in remotely and other events that will be recorded. Details will be provided during the course of the next half term, but you can rest assured that the latter part will still have that festive feel for the children.
It now only leaves me to say thank you to the pupils, staff and parents; I hope you have a restful break, even though we will all have to avoid travelling to places that are on the quarantine list, and follow tighter social distancing measures, so that school can continue uninterrupted once we return. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for minimum disruption over the coming weeks.
