Welcome back to school, and (sadly) to Lockdown 2…
Guidance for schools about the new national restrictions was released just the day before the lockdown kicked in, so we’re still working through any changes – we don’t anticipate too many, thankfully. You may have read headlines about teachers claiming that schools should close. The arguments stem from one particular union, and others disagree. As we said earlier this week, we fully support the decision to keep schools open – children need to be in school to learn and socialise. We can assure you that Sphere Federation schools have been working as hard as we can to keep our schools safe places to learn.
Your child’s a historian this half-term!
With the start of a new half-term comes the start of a new topic. Across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, children are becoming historians this half-term:
- children in Years 1 and 2 will learn about the Great Fire of London
- children in Years 3 and 4 will become experts on Ancient Greece
- children in Years 5 and 6 will compare the Stone Age and Iron Age in Britain with what was going on in Ancient Egypt at around the same time
Read this one page list of History learning for the half-term ahead – it contains the core learning in terms of both knowledge and skills. (Be aware, though, that because of the closure of schools in Lockdown 1, teachers are being more flexible in their approach to the expectations set out in this document, making sure that missed learning and gaps are being addressed in Reading, Writing and Maths.)
And now, a message from Miss Hague…
Everything I write at the moment seems to start with a reference to Covid and an acknowledgement to how difficult, worrying and serious the situation is. The news is unbearable but just being in school for a few hours is a great antidote. The children and staff have come back to school and are raring to go! Everyone seems to have settled back into our well-established routines and Scholes certainly feels like a happy and healthy place to be.
A few updates…
Lunches: During the last half term, we had to modify our school lunches to a ‘grab-bag’ style service. The catering team are eager to get hot meals back on the menu as quickly as possible but, because of space and the need to keep our bubbles separate, we aren’t able to serve hot meals in the hall, like we used to. As a step towards making hot food available, we’re now offering a revised menu with some hot food options. Read our menu if you’re considering a school meal for your child.
Swimming: I had hoped to be saying that we could begin to use the pool again for our children in school; unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Government guidance has said that swimming pools should close until December 04. Our pool is now closed to all users until further notice. It’s our intention that we resume using the pool at the earliest and safest point in time.
A few thank yous…
Last half term, we managed to go a full seven weeks without having to collapse a school-based bubble! I’m sure we had luck on our side but I also recognise the huge effort everyone has made, too. From staggered start and finishing times (thank you, parents) to staggered breaks and lunches (thank you, staff)… From relentless cleaning of our school (thank you, premises staff) to the understanding and dedication of our children… Well done, everyone!
As always, if you’ve any questions, concerns or comments, please do speak with me. I’m pretty much always at the gate in the morning or at the end of the school day.