Update information 2_7_20
Thursday 2nd July
RE: update information 2_7_20
Dear Parent/ Carer,
As 2019-20 academic year draws to a close I would like to take a moment to write to Langley parents to share important information, upcoming dates and also a note of thanks.
The support and cooperation from parents over recent months has been nothing short of amazing and we couldn’t have got to this point without it. As with the whole country, we have been reacting to unprecedented times and whilst we may not have got everything right, the staff and I have tried to offer the best provision we could in the circumstances we were working within. Over the course of the last few months we have been able to offer provision for key worker children from the start to the end of lockdown including Easter and May holidays. We have hugely increased our online presence and, through the use of Seesaw and Tapestry, been able to reach out to our children to hopefully keep them learning and feeling part of Langley First School. Just today the Government has released the guidance on what the expectations for schools are in September. As this has just been made public we need time to read through, understand and then plan our provision around this. Therefore as soon as we know what this means for our school I will communicate to parents directly.
Staffing changes
We are extremely sad to be saying good bye to two long standing members of staff at the end of this term; Mr Mitchinson will be heading off to the sunshine of Dubai where he and his wife have both secured teaching positions and, after 28 years of service to school, Mrs Slade will be retiring.
Mr Mitchinson joined Langley some 12 years ago. Over his time here he has taught across the year groups from Reception to year 4 and been a key member of our staff who has always gone the extra mile to offer a wide variety of experiences to the children from Glee and chess club to running our football teams.
As I am sure you can imagine Mrs Slade is going to be a huge miss for our school. It will not just be the singing, guitar playing or excellent teaching but also that calm and unflustered approach that we all know and love. I am sure you will join with us in wishing her a relaxing, enjoyable and most definitely, well deserved retirement!
From September we welcome two new members of staff. Miss Anderson, who our year 2 children already know from being based in class 6 for her training this year. We also welcome Mrs Hastie to our Early Years team. Mrs Hastie has completed the North Tyneside SCITT course and has many years of working in schools before this. She will be teaching class 2 on a Monday – Wednesday.
Classes for next year
Each year it has been customary at Langley to mix the classes up to ensure that we can keep as an appropriate balance as possible as the year group’s move through the school. However as there has been so much uncertainty and a huge number of our children will have been away from school for nearly 6 months, the children will stay with their class as they move up to the next year. The classes will move up as below;
|
Current class |
Teacher | Will move to… | September 2020 Class | Teacher |
|
1 |
Miss Calboutin |
|||
|
2 |
Mrs Hastie / Mrs March |
|||
|
1 |
Miss Calboutin |
4 |
Miss Easton |
|
|
2 |
Mrs O’Sullivan / Mrs March |
3 |
Mrs O’Sullivan / Mrs Proud |
|
|
3 |
Miss Easton |
5 |
Mrs Pendleton |
|
|
4 |
Mrs Slade |
6 |
Miss Anderson |
|
|
5 |
Mrs Pendleton |
8 |
Mrs Jones |
|
|
6 |
Mr Massey |
7 |
Mr Massey |
|
|
7 |
Mr Mitchinson |
9 |
Mrs Gardner / Miss Cummings |
|
|
8 |
Mrs Marron |
10 |
Mrs Marron |
|
As we can’t run the normal transition meetings at the end of term we have added key information that you will need to complete and return. This can be found on the transition presentations that we will share with the children on Monday 1st July through Tapestry and Seesaw and also email a link to parents.
Our intention is to have a chance for the children to come into their new classrooms on one of the training days. This is yet to be confirmed and more information will be sent to parents with information for September opening.
Online / Blended learning
With so many positive comments and engagement with online learning since the start of lockdown we will look to build on this as things hopefully return to some normality in September. As we are not clear exactly what school will look like, there may be a need to offer a more blended approach where some of the direct teaching is completed in school and then children can consolidate and extend their learning online at home. We will also be looking at ways to cover some of the key concepts that the children have missed during the summer term and if these can be done via activities that could be sent home or through online engagement. Again, we will communicate this as soon as we become aware of what the expectations are in September.
School reports
This year we have changed the report format to a more condensed version. Class teachers have written a report for each child however, please appreciate that we have not seen some children since March! Therefore any comments are made based on the year up to the start of lockdown. There will also be the inclusion of spring term data in the reports. Again, this is based on the children’s progress up to the end of March and therefore may need to be reviewed in September / October once the children return to school in the normal capacity. As we have not assessed the children in key stage 1 for their SATs or in year 1 for the phonics screener, there is no information concerning these within the reports. There will also be no attendance data this year. To reduce the need to return slips of paper I also request that any comments etc. from the reports are emailed to the school account office@langleyfirst.org.uk with school report as the subject.
Please note reports will be sent out to parents on Thursday 16th July.
Term dates
The term dates for next year have been shared with parents. If you have missed them please check the school website under ‘our school’
Summer holidays
At the present time, Schools out Northern is asking if parents require their services over the summer holidays and a decision will be made shortly if they will open for the holiday period. If you haven’t already contacted them and require a place, please email Jan at jancallaghanson@gmail.com.
Should you have problems with childcare during the 6 weeks you can refer to https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/category/496/childcare
Communication
Please make sure that school is notified should you change your mobile or email address. Parents are also reminded to check the school website for ongoing communication concerning the return to school in September. We also have a school twitter feed which automatically tweets a link to communications shared on the website. The school’s twitter account is @LangleyFirstSch
No one can doubt that every member of our society has witnessed and experienced difficulties in the last few months but hopefully, through adversity comes positivity. We have loved how our children have risen to the challenge of online learning and also hope that pulling together as a community can only make our community stronger and even more cohesive.
I look forward to our final few days of this academic year, though with sadness we will say goodbye to our year 4’s for the final time but know that we have given them the best building blocks for the start to their educational life.
From myself, the staff and the Governors thank you again for your ongoing support and co-operation at this time and I will write in the coming days with information concerning expectations for opening in September.
Kind regards,
Mr. T Jones
Headteacher
