September 2020 reminder of arrangements
Wednesday 26th August 2020
Dear parent / carer,
I hope that you have managed to have some time with your family and loved ones during this ever changing summer holiday period. As we draw towards the start of another school year I am sure we are all hoping for a more settled period than the previous one. However, as you know, things have had to change to ensure we can minimise risk to children, staff and parents when accessing the site. These changes were published to parents before the end of term and can still be found on the school’s website langleyfirst.org.uk. It is important that parents review the proposals and are clear what the expectations are for themselves and their child(ren). As this is all new to everyone we will be continually reviewing our arrangements and any changes will be made clear prior to adopting.
Please note, we intend to use the large, vehicle access gates for children in year 1 – 4 to enter school in the morning and will ask Reception children to access via the normal pedestrian gate. This is to support their transition into school which would normally happen through the Nursery entrance. I ask that parents give consideration to the Reception children entering school from Monday 7th September. Any older siblings of Reception children are able to come in through the pedestrian gates and then go to their class entrance.
Prior to the end of the summer I had hoped to be able to arrange opportunities for the children in Reception to year 4 to be able to come into school prior to their start day to familiarise themselves with their new classrooms and their teachers. Unfortunately this is not going to be possible. As you may have seen, we have had extensive roof works over the summer holidays and with the recent poor weather, have had some ingress of water which has resulted in needing the time between now and Thursday 3rd September to get the school back to looking its best.
As I have mentioned at the start, this is going to be very different and new. We appreciate that not only the children but also many parents will be anxious at the thought of the start of the new term. It is therefore really important that parents speak positively with their child about September, prepare them for what will happen at the start of the day and over the coming days walk the route that will be taken and show the children where they will come into school and be picked up from. Where possible we would really encourage parents to walk, scoot or cycle to school. There is plenty of space for the children to take their bikes or scooters to and leave during the day and collect after school.
Over the first few days staff will be focusing on engaging and support the children and ensuring that they are happy and settled. We understand that everyone will be coming into school with hugely different experiences and will work tirelessly to ensure that each and every child is prepared, able to and happy to begin learning and enjoying their time in school.
As always, if you have anything you wish to pass onto school or raise with staff please use the schools email address.
I look forward to welcoming everyone back into school over the coming weeks and hope that enjoy the final few days of the holidays and please don’t forget to check out the new arrangements on the school website https://www.langleyfirst.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/letter-to-parents-end-of-term.pdf
Kind regards,
Mr T Jones
Headteacher
