Author: Mr Langford

2 years, 176 days ago
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Year 6 – Post from Mr Langford

Dear year six parents and carers

This morning, whilst driving their child to school, a parent had to swerve their car to avoid a group of year six children pushing and shoving each other in the middle of the road.

Such behaviour is unacceptable and, if it continues, I will have no choice but to ask the parents of those children involved to drop-off and collect their children from school.

Whilst this is incident involved only a small group of pupils, I ask all parents and carers to remind their children of the inherent dangers and potential risks of walking to school, especially considering how very busy the roads around school are at the beginning and end of the day.

Also, it has come to our attention that several children in year six are using the WhatsApp messaging service and that they are messaging each other in the early hours of the morning between 1.00am and 3.00am.

The minimum age for using WhatsApp is 13 years old so no year six children should be using it; we have also had to deal with several incidents in school which have occurred as a direct result of children’s inappropriate conversations via the app.

I therefore also ask year six parents and carers to discuss this issue with your children and to find out if they are using WhatsApp and whether they are using it overnight?

As a school, safeguarding our children is of paramount importance; it is our core purpose. Children using their phones unregulated overnight is a significant safeguarding concern. If staff continue to become aware of, for example, inappropriate WhatsApp use then such incidences will be fully investigated which may lead to other agency involvement.

Year six is a tough year and, especially when considering the implications of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, they all need to arrive at school fresh and rested after having had a really good night’s sleep.

There is a significant amount of information concerning e-safety; how parents can regulate children’s access to messaging services such as WhatsApp and Facebook and apps which can be downloaded onto an adult’s phone to facilitate this.

Website Internet Safety Page

If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, especially if advice required regarding parental control applications.

Thank you for your cooperation with both these issues.

Mr Langford

2 years, 211 days ago
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Message for Year 1 Parents

Dear Parents and Carers

This is just a quick email to inform you that, from tomorrow, Mrs Crane, who currently teaches with Mr Lowrie-Herz in year 3, will also be teaching the year 1 children on Wednesdays. This is to release Ms Vincent to undertake her duties as Special Education Needs and Disabilities Coordinator.

If there are any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact either me or Ms Vincent.

Mr Langford

2 years, 233 days ago
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Staffing in year 4 and year 1

Dear year 4 and year 1 parents and carers

Due to personal reasons, Mrs Gwyther will be absent from school from today and for the foreseeable future.

I am very aware that over the last few months the year 4 children have had a number of supply teachers covering Mrs Gwyther’s absence. To ensure that, from today, the year 4 children have the least amount of disruption possible as we move foward, Mrs Smout has kindly agreed to teach our wonderful year 4 class, Monday to Thursday, for as long as necessary.

I will inform you of who will be teaching the year 4 class on Fridays as soon as possible.

As Mrs Smout has moved to year 4, Ms Vincent has kindly agreed to teach the Y1 children full time from today.

As usual, if there are any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mr Langford

 

2 years, 252 days ago
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Mrs Gwyther

Dear year 4 parents and carers

I am contacting to let you know that Mrs Gwyther will be returning to work from tomorrow, 20th January.

Her return will be phased over the next couple of weeks as follows:

  • Thursday 20th January – None contact day
  • Friday 21st January – In class working alongside Mr Bremner
  • Wednesday 26th, Thursday 27th and Friday 28th January – In class
  • Monday 31st January – Return to work full time.

If there are any questions or queries regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mr Langford

 

2 years, 286 days ago
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Year 2 and Reception Staffing From January 2022

Dear Parents and Carers

As you are aware, Miss Roberts will be starting her maternity leave after Christmas and Mrs Pittaway will be returning from her maternity leave.

Through the autumn term, we advertised for a reception teacher to take over from Miss Roberts and, whilst we had a good interest, none of the candidates, with the exception of one, were of sufficient calibre to join the Pontesbury staff. The one candidate who was shortlisted and invited to interview unfortunately withdrew her application: she was offered another post.

Therefore, I am writing to inform you that, from January, Mrs Pope will be teaching the reception class, supported by Mrs Roberts, Mrs Davies, Mrs Dignam and Mrs Cherrington, who will be joining the Reception team.

Mrs Pittaway will return to the year 2 class (3 days) with Mrs Manna (2 days) supported by Mrs Keyland, Mrs Christopher and Mrs Butler, who will be joining the Year 2 team. Mrs Pittaway and Mrs Manna will ensure that the Year 2 class continue to have a very highest quality of education.

Miss Roberts will be starting her maternity leave on 17th January so will continue for the first two weeks in January and work alongside Mrs Pope.

The decision to ask Mrs Pope to teach the reception class was taken to ensure that the highest quality of provision continues for our wonderful reception children, and I am very grateful to Mrs Pope for agreeing to take up this post until the end of the year.

Mrs Pope will still, of course, be accompanying the children when they go to Colomendy.

If there are any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me at the start of next term.

I wish everyone a very happy Christmas, a fantastic New Year and I look forward to seeing you all again on the 5th of January.

2 years, 286 days ago
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December Government Covid-19 Update

Dear Parents

I would be grateful if you would read this latest advice from the Government about Covid-19 procedures:

Below is a summary of the changes in relation to the Management of Suspected & Positive Cases and Contact Tracing from 14th December 2021. Please read these carefully:

  1. From Tuesday 14 December, a new national approach to daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 is being introduced (including until the end of this term). All adults who are fully vaccinated and children aged 5 to 18 years and 6 months, identified as a contact of someone with COVID-19 – whether Omicron or not – should take a lateral flow device (LFD) test every day for 7 days instead of self-isolating. Daily testing by close contacts will help to slow the spread of COVID-19.
  2. Once notified by NHS Test and Trace as a close contact, all eligible staff, pupils and students should take an LFD each day for 7 days and report the results through the Online Reporting System and to their setting. If they test negative, they can continue to attend their education setting. Outside of the education setting, they should continue to follow the advice set out in the Sunday 12 December press release. This approach should also be adopted over the winter break and on return in January.
  3. If they test positive, they should self-isolate and order a PCR test to confirm the result. If the PCR is positive, they must self-isolate for 10 days. If the PCR test is negative, they no longer need to self-isolate but should continue to carry out the remainder of the daily tests, and only need to isolate if it is positive.
  4. For primary aged children, LFD test kits are available through the usual routes (community test sites, local pharmacies or online).
  5. Children under five years old do not need to take part in daily testing for contacts of COVID-19 and do not need to isolate.

Mr Langford

2 years, 286 days ago
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Year Four Staffing from 5.1.2022

Dear Parents

Thank you to those parents who have emailed me detailing your concerns about the staffing issues we have had in our Y4 class.

Since the beginning of Mrs Gwyther’s absence, we have striven to provide as much continuity as possible with the teachers we have employed in room 6.

I appreciate that there have been a significant number of supply teachers employed, but during the autumn term we simply have not been able to ensure consistency of staffing.

This is due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic across all schools in Shropshire. With so many schools requiring cover for teachers self-isolating, the supply agencies simply have not had enough employees to cover the required demand.

This, together with the issue of only been in the position to employ cover on a short-term basis, as is often the case with long term sickness absence, has severely hampered our ability to provide consistent supply cover of the right calibre for the year four class.

In the New Year, when the children return on the 5th January, I am happy to inform you that Mrs Glover will be continuing after Christmas starting on Wednesday 5th January. The timetable will then be:

  • January 5th, 6th and 7th – Mrs Glover
  • Mondays and Tuesdays from 10th January – Mrs Glover
  • Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays – Mr Rory Bremner.

Mr Bremner is a fantastic teacher who has worked at Pontesbury many times over many years. I am delighted he is available to teach our wonderful year 4 children.

This arrangement will continue for as long as necessary until Mrs Gwyther returns. If necessary, this will continue until the end of the academic year.

I am very aware that there is a rumour circulating amongst the year four parents that we will be having a TA re-shuffle in the New Year.

Consistency, when the year has already been so disruptive, is vital for all our children, but especially so for those in year four.

I therefore inform you that, whilst there may be adjustments to TA deployment across the school, Mrs Green will be continuing to provide TA support in room 6.

I would like to thank you all for your continued support, especially considering how very challenging this year has been.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Mr Langford