Dear Parents/Carers

I can’t quite believe how quickly January has gone, but it is lovely to see the lighter mornings and evenings drawing out again.

Covid Update

I am pleased to report that following our recent high numbers of Covid infections, we are now seeing fewer new cases and a return to school of many children and staff who have been isolating. Today, we currently have 4 active cases, which is good news after the large outbreaks we were seeing. If it continues to remain this way, we hope to introduce some further changes to our organisation after half term, which will see a relaxation on the size of groups mixing on the playground and in the dinner hall. Further details will be shared in the coming days. I am sure that these changes will be welcomed by children and parents alike but also by staff on whom the mitigations have impacted significantly. We remain very grateful to them for going ‘above and beyond’ during this time.  It is worth noting however, that we may need to reintroduce these measures at a later date, should infection rates start to rise again.

Please continue to take part in regular household Lateral Flow Testing.

Child Mental Health Week

Next week is ‘Child Mental Health Week’. Mrs Melia has already sent out some information about this important topic, which signposts you to useful resources. In addition, we will be asking you to complete a questionnaire to help us understand the impact of the pandemic on our pupil’s wellbeing. We invite you to share your thoughts and suggestions, which we will use to help us improve our support. In the meantime, if you have any concerns about your child’s individual wellbeing, please speak to their class teacher.

Staffing News

At half term we will be saying “Good Bye” to Mrs Brooks, who has worked as a lunchtime supervisor at The Ridge for the past 2 years. More recently, after completing her training as a TA she has worked in Kindergarten each Thursday and supported in Reception. We are delighted for her to hear that she has been appointed to a full time post at a nursery in Hagley. We shall miss her and wish her well in the future.

Our new Year 5 teacher and SENCo, Mrs Norgate is settling in well and has been getting to know the children in both her Year 5 class and also pupils with additional needs in other year groups. Mrs Norgate brings lots of experience to the role; she was previously a SENCo at a school in Staffordshire.

Some Reminders About Food in School

• Please ensure any food items brought into school are nut-free as we have a number of children with allergies which could be life threatening.
• Please can children bring a packed lunch or order a school meal – either one or the other. We have recently experienced children bringing in a packed lunch and ordering a school meal on the same day. This has been confusing for them and resulted in food being wasted.
• A reminder that our school policy is that the only snack that should be brought in for break time is a piece of fresh fruit, vegetable sticks or a small packet of dried raisins, apricots etc.
• A reminder that large grapes should be cut into half to minimise the risk of choking.

Thank you for your on-going support.

Kind regards
Mrs D Hudson
Headteacher