Dear Parents and Carers,

As we come to the end of another challenging term, I want to thank you for all your support and wish you all a happy and safe Christmas, which hopefully, can be spent with those who you love and are loved by you.

The last couple of weeks have been especially difficult in school with us experiencing a number of isolated Covid-19 cases, along with a class outbreak and a number of staff absences. I would like to take this opportunity to pass on my thanks to everyone on the staff for going ‘above and beyond’ to make sure that classes were covered and that the children were able to take part in Christmas celebrations. Whist everyone has played a part, on this occasion I would particularly like to thank our Teaching Assistants who have covered classes in the absence of Teachers and our Admin Team who have literally ‘rolled up their sleeves’ whilst a number of our Site Team have been away from school.  We are truly blessed, to have such a wonderful group of people working at our school.

We do not yet know what the New Year will hold but please be assured that we will continue to do all that we can to keep everyone in school, safe and learning. I know how disappointing it has been for parents and carers that we have not been able to do many of the things that we would normally do but thanks to your support, we have been able to keep infection rates relatively low here at The Ridge. Please continue to play your part: it is essential that you arrange a PCR if your child is showing any diffuse or classic symptoms or if requested to by school, even if your child has recently had a test.  We are seeing a significant percentage of cases that are asymptomatic. We also strongly advise you to take part in regular lateral flow testing at home, and it is especially important to test all children the night before we return to school in January.

As we break up we will be saying ‘goodbye’ to Ellie Coggan, our Year 5 Teacher and SENCo who is leaving us to work closer to her home in Coventry. We thank her for all that she has done during her time at The Ridge and wish her all the very best in the future. After Christmas, we will be welcoming Mrs Natasha Norgate, an experienced SENCo and Key Stage 2 Teacher, who will who will joining the staff team.

Congratulations to our newly elected parent governors – Jennie Gough and Sallyann Tyler. It was wonderful to have five very able candidates and voting was incredibly close. Jennie and Sallyann join Phil Roberts who was elected earlier in the year and make up our group of three parent governors.

Thank you for your support with our recent fund raising activities. As you can imagine over the past year, we have been unable to run many of our usual events to raise vital funds for school so your generosity has been much appreciated. The recent raffle, sale of calendars and children’s competitions have raised a magnificent total of £1191.50.

Thank you for your cards, presents and good wishes. We look forward to seeing everyone back for the new term on Wednesday 5^th January 2022 and in the meantime, I wish you a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Kind regards
Mrs D Hudson
Headteacher