Dear GBP Children,

This time next week, you will be at school! We cannot wait to welcome you all back as a whole school because we have missed you all so much. Our teachers and support team are really excited about having you all back and have some really inspiring activities planned for you. There will be plenty of opportunity for you to chat to your old class mates and staff too – you all have a lot of catching up to do!!!

 

Please don’t forget that you have a special time to arrive at school and you have a set entrance gate for your year group too (see our Q and A document emailed to your parents for finer details of this). I have attached the map again for you too, to remind yourselves of where to go. Mr Quilter will be putting new gate signs up next week. It is really important that you arrive on time to keep everyone safe as we do not want huge groups arriving at the same time. Also try and walk to school if you can – safe social distancing as you travel in. See this link: https://www.greatbinfields.co.uk/travelling-to-school/.  If your family have to drive in because you live far away from school, I am pleading with your parents/carers to park in the Hampshire Court front tennis courts or in Tescos car park (Dominoes Pizza end) and avoid coming down Binfields Farm Lane and the surrounding roads around school. There will be lots of children walking to different entrance gates and we want to keep everyone in our school community as safe as we can – after all we really care about one another don’t we?!

 

A September start is always full of excitement and there is also a little apprehension too due to being in a new year group, a new class, with a new teacher and learning support assistants.  So far 2020 has been the strangest year ever hasn’t it? For some of you, apart from the ‘catch up with your teacher’ session in July, you haven’t been in school since March which is a very long time indeed. But there is one thing that has not changed, your class buddies are going to be the same as they were last year. This is the first year ever in GBP history (since being a larger school) that we haven’t changed the classes around! This is because we thought there has been so much change happening, it is good to have some things just the way they were.

 

We know that this September will be a little strange to start off with due to these really unusual times. However, I would like to reassure you that we have planned how to best meet your needs when you all come back and you are all so important to us, that we have put lots of things in place to keep everyone safe. These are outlined in the Question and Answer letter I sent out to your parents/carers at the end of term (email sent on the 20^th July and 27th August). We are continually updating something called a ‘risk assessment’ too. This process makes us think carefully about what we need to do when the government changes things.   

 

Please do not expect everything to just ‘go back to normal’ when you return but we promise we will try to make learning as enjoyable and fun as possible for you all – as happy children are really good learners. You can see what topics your year group will be doing by going on the website class pages and the curriculum pages too. https://www.greatbinfields.co.uk/topic/class-pages and https://www.greatbinfields.co.uk/topic/curriculum

We will send you an email at the start of term to let you know when your PE days will be as on those days you will be coming in your PE kit. We will also send out a dates letter but only for a term at a time for this academic year.

We hope that you have been keeping your skills fresh by working through your CGP work books we handed out in the Summer 2 term. You still have over a week to work on them as we would like you to bring them back into school on Monday 7^th September. Next Thursday and Friday are planned transition days (to get to know your new teacher and LSAs plus rekindle your friendships) so you will not need those workbooks then. Which reminds me, you can find out more about your new staff team by checking out this link on our website. https://www.greatbinfields.co.uk/whos-in-my-year-group-team-2020/ You can find out about their favourite things and even find out some top gossip about them!

 

Lunchtimes and break times – important parts of the day for you. We have got playtime equipment boxes for each class and this will be rotated so you do not get bored about what’s on offer. You will play in a set zone and we will swap these over regularly so again you don’t get bored of playing in the same area. You will have your lunch in your classroom – you can still have a packed lunch or a school lunch and they will be delivered to your classroom!

 

Due to ever changing guidance, when the staff are not in their classrooms, they will now be wearing face coverings for example when out on the gate entrances at the beginning and end of day. They will also wear them when we have meetings in school and when visitors are in. This is not something to be worried about – it is to keep them and your families safe!

 

Make sure you look smart in your school uniform and your bookbag/backpack has to be able to fit on the back of your chair along with your coat. Mrs Robinson has sent a quick email to your parents/carers about another secondhand uniform sale that is being held early next week at school if you are having trouble getting hold of a few things.

 

I know you have been away for a long time but I hope you have not forgotten how much school cares about you, and what a strong community we have. School doesn’t really look any different apart from our tables being in rows. Mr Quilter has been busy since March – what wonderful new areas will you spot?? We have had to change some routines in school and put measures in place to ensure that you can wash your hands regularly to help combat this nasty virus from entering our school.  

 

Our values (think our Values Tree) haven’t changed, we will still bang on about growth mindset, our curriculum topics are the same (but we will assist you to catch up on learning missed in the summer term). We will be doing Jigsaw PSHE and Mrs Irons is looking forward to teaching music as is Mrs Vaughan for Year 3's Listen 2 Me sessions. There will still be Forest School throughout the year, PE and Games will happen, as will a form of Golden Time at the end of each half term (but it will be in your year groups not whole school) and the mobile farm is still coming in for Year 1 at the beginning of September! See lots and lots of things are sounding familiar aren’t they? We just have to make lots of adaptations to make it all work safely.  I want to be honest with you all - some things may not happen straight away and sadly some things will not be able to go ahead next year because we can't make it a safe activity/event ...but as listed above lots of things will nearly be the same as it has been in the past. We will all practice our values of resilience and creativity to make sure our school’s curriculum is as broad and rich as it can be for you all.

 

Right that is it from me, for now… if I think of anything else important then I will of course contact you via your parents/carers’ email again… but thanks for reading this letter - please follow those web links above and get your parents/carers to read through the Question and Answers letter with you before we start back. If you feel informed and knowledgeable about what is ahead, you will feel more at ease about the start of term next week.

Once again, I can’t wait to see you all on Thursday 3^rd September – I think my face will ache because I will be smiling from ear to ear all day… our school will feel so much happier again with you all there.

Take care and see you soon,

 

Ms Rogers, 

Headteacher