Dear Parents and Carers,

I can’t believe that it is December already and Christmas is just around the corner. I think that we all recognise that the celebrations will need to look different this year, but despite that, we are all looking forward to some Christmas fun.

Christmas Mufti - instead of our usual ‘Bring a Bottle’ mufti for our Christmas Fayre, which was planned for Friday, the children can wear mufti for a donation of £1.00

For a little surprise that the Ridge Friends are putting together, we would like the children wear their Christmas jumper on Monday 7^th December, if they have one. (Please do not buy one specially – they can wear a Christmas hat instead if they don’t have a jumper.) That’s all we are saying for now……..

Cards – we will not have our usual Christmas Card Posting box in school this year, and items brought into school from home (cards and gifts) will need to be ‘ quarantined’ before being distributed. Instead, if you wish to, your child can write one card to the whole class. These should be brought into school on Friday 4^th December so that they can opened by the class, read out and displayed, the following week.

Gifts – some parents have kindly asked if it is OK to give a gift to their child’s class teacher or TA this year. This is fine but because we have mentioned it here, please do not feel that there is any expectation.

Christmas Performances - as Dudley is in Tier 3 after lockdown was lifted, we have been advised by the Local Authority that we must not sing in school, and clearly we are unable to have an audience for a performance. Usually, we have two classes or the Key Stage performing together but this is unable to happen this year due to the need to keep bubbles separate. With difficulties over copyright and ensuring that we have permissions for children to appear on video, we have reluctantly decided that we are unable to hold performances this year.  Whilst we know that everyone understands the reasons why, we are all disappointed not to be sharing in this Ridge Christmas tradition with our families and friends. 

Parties – we will be holding ‘Classroom’ Parties on the afternoon of Thursday 17^th December. As we can’t sing and need to stay in our bubbles, the party will feature a class talent show. The children are encouraged to prepare an act to either share live, or pre-recorded to show on the interactive whiteboard.  We will be using Class Dojo to upload and view the video clips, which must be uploaded by Friday 11^th December. If you wish to upload a video, please email the school’s info email address (info@ridge.dudley.sch.uk) to get a log in and instructions.

End of Term Arrangements – our usual early closure on the last day of term will need to be slightly different this year to allow for a staggered departure. All the children will have lunch in school and the following pick up times will apply.

Reception                    1.25 – 1.35 p.m.

Years 1 and 2               1.40 p.m.

Years 3 and 5              1.50 p.m.

Years 4 and 6              2.00 p.m.

And finally, we send our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to Miss Ball and her fiancé, Tom, on the occasion of their marriage on Saturday. Although a little different to how they had planned, we are sure that they are going to have a wonderful day. After the wedding, Miss Ball will become Mrs Rouse.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs D Hudson