We have just had the most amazing three days welcoming all our pupils back to school. It’s been a long time coming and a lot of planning and organisation has taken place to get to this point, but it had been so worthwhile. I would like to thank all our families for their patience and understanding during drop-off and pick-up times. I am confident that it will be a slick operation next week now that the pupils know where they are going.
With our first day at full capacity pick up at the end of the day was busy. 2-meter physical distancing was very difficult to maintain. One of the things we can do to try to improve this is moving the tyres to increase the space. A few reminders for parents/carers picking up children at the end of the day:
- Only one adult should enter the playground.
- To limit waiting in the playground, aim to be there as close to pick up time as possible. Please do not arrive early, wait outside the gate if you do.
- As soon as you collect your child please exit the playground as quickly as possible.
- If your child is in P4 – P7 and to be picked up, please arrange to meet them outside the Exit gate at a pre-arranged spot.
- There is a strict one-way system in place, please always follow this.
If the situation at the end of the day does not improve we will have to reconsider parents/carers entering the playground. We do appreciate that these measures may be inconvenient, however this is in place to ensure everyone’s safety. Despite all children returning to school, this is not a return to normal yet.
Revised drop off and pick up
Now that the children are confident in going to their new entrances we will try to shorten the length of our staggered drop-off and pick- up times. Please see the revised times below:
| Stages | Start Time/ Drop off window | M-T Finish | Friday Finish Time |
| P1 | 9:00-9:10 | 2:55pm | 12noon |
| P2 | 9:00 | 2:55pm | 12noon |
| P3 | 8.50 | 3:05pm | 12:15pm |
| P4 | 8:50 | 3:15pm | 12:25pm |
| P5 | 8:50 | 3:15pm | 12:25pm |
| P6 | 8:50 | 3:15pm | 12:25pm |
| P7 | 8:50 | 3:15pm | 12:25pm |
All times will be reviewed at the end of every week.
PE Times
Due to the restrictions around staff working between classes Miss Smith will only see two classes per day instead of her usual 6. We have created a 3-week rota and your child will receive one, full morning and one full afternoon with Miss Smith every three weeks. On the week that Miss Smith does not teach your class, their class teacher will deliver the PE lesson. As previously mentioned, all PE will be outside, and there will be no requirement to change into PE kit so please make sure your child wears clothes suitable for PE on their allocated day. Class teachers will be in touch next week to let you know when this will be.
This week in Nursery….
This week we have welcomed all our returning families back to the nursery, it was wonderful to see everyone and to have our nursery full of chatter and laughter again! The children made the most of the garden and the sunshine and enjoyed exploring the new room layouts and resources. Most children joined us for lunch which was a new experience for us all this week, but it went really well and showed us how much our children have developed over the period of nursery closure. The whole nursery team are looking forward to next week.
Fire Drill
All classes walked through the fire drill procedure today to ensure that everyone knows what to do in the event of a fire.
School Uniform
We are still waiting on our delivery of ties and we will be in touch as soon as the arrive.
Assembly
We tested out our first virtual assembly today with classes tuning in via Skype. We spoke about the school values and pupils shared how important these were in this new way of working. Using technology in this way allowed for an interactive experience with children being able to take part and answer questions. We are looking forward to perfecting the digital assembly which is a new format for us all.