Dear Parents and Carers

As we approach the break, I want to thank you for your support over the past half term.  It has been a busy few weeks!

Wellbeing Questionnaire

Thank you to everyone who responded to the recent wellbeing questionnaire. Looking at the outcomes, it was lovely to hear the many positive comments that parents and carers made. It also highlighted the concerns about the impact of covid on the running of the school. The feedback also demonstrated that there is some work for us to do to communicate how parents and carers can share any worries with teachers and the support available both within school and from others such as our school nurse. We are currently collating the views of the children, which were collected during Children’s Mental Health Week and we will share these, along with a summary of parent views, in the near future.

Thank you to those parents and carers who have offered to be part of a focus group looking at mental health and wellbeing in school. We will be meeting after half term to explore this important topic a bit more. It is not too late to join this group if you would like to – please contact the school office.

Covid Update

Although covid rates in Wollaston and Stourbridge Town are currently the highest in the borough, I am pleased to report that cases within school have now fallen significantly. Like everyone else, we are expecting further guidance from the government in the coming days about the future direction of managing covid in society and what this means for us in schools.

After half term we will be adapting how we organise certain aspects of the school day to reflect this drop in infection. Case numbers will be kept under review as part of our contingency plan and if they rise again, we will need to follow the guidance of our Public Health Case Officer, which may include re-introducing some measures for some classes.

• Morning routines will remain as they currently are.
• Key Stage 2 children will return to hanging their coats and bags in the cloakrooms. Although children may bring a bag, in many cases they don’t need to. Any bags brought into school must be small: ideally, we would like bags to be ‘Ridge Back Packs’.
• Break times - initially, Reception and Key Stage 1 will have break together, Years 3 and 4 will have break together and Years 5 and 6 will have break together. (This is for organisation purposes but will also ease the children back into a fuller playground.)
• Lunchtimes – lunchtime will be 50 minutes long rather than the current 40 minutes and all children will eat in the hall with the full dining service available.
• End of day routines will remain as they currently are.

Teachers have already booked educational visits linked to the curriculum and further information will be sent out about these as appropriate. We are also looking forward to taking Year 6 on residential to Pioneer in the summer.

Mid Point Reports and Consultations

Thank you for responding to our question about your preference for an ‘in person’ or telephone appointment for your discussions with teachers. After half term, we will invite you to book your appointment. Both telephone appointments and face to face appointments will take place over a two week period ( 21^st March to 1^st April) to help manage the number of people in school at any one time. For Year 6 parents and carers, your consultations will take place earlier (7^th to 18^th March) so that we can discuss how you can be helping your child prepare for the SATs.  Mid-point reports will be issued prior to consultation meetings.

Congratulations…..

…..to our Year 5 and 6 Cross Country Team who took part in a competition at Summerhill School yesterday. Out of 22 teams, our school came 4^th overall (girls and boys combined). This is an amazing achievement, especially when you consider that we are one of the smaller schools in the borough!

Very well done to:

George, Finley, Sam, Harry, Evan, Theo, Mariella, Summer, Amber, Jessica, Olivia and Kelsea.

The boy’s team came third and were awarded a bronze medal. Sam and Harry were placed 4^th and 5^th.

The girl’s team came 6^th and Kelsea came in 3^rd place, winning an individual bronze medal. 

Big thanks to Mrs Adams who trained the teams and to the parents and carers who supported the event by transporting the children.

I hope that you all have a lovely half term break and look forward to seeing you all on Monday 28^th February.

Kind regards
Mrs D Hudson
Headteacher