In order to meet rising food costs we have increased the cost of school dinners to £2.30 a day (10p increase) or £11.50 per week.
We still feel this offers excellent value for money.
Email Bulletin – All
Lunchtime Supervisor Vacancy
We are looking to appoint a lunchtime supervisor to supervise the children during the lunch break (inside and outside) between 12.20pm and 1.35pm each day term time only. (6.25 hours per week, £2579 per year)
Please email admin@pontesbury.shropshire.sch.uk for a job application pack.
Second Hand Uniform Donations
If you have any old school uniform, PE kit or footwear that you would like to donate to school, we would really appreciate it. You can drop it into school when you collect your new uniform on Tuesday or Wednesday or drop it off at drop off or pick up time.
End of Term Message from Mr Langford
Dear Parents and Carers
When we open our doors in September for, thankfully, all our children, we will do all we can to keep our community safe and to minimise the risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus. It is important to realise though that, as a school, we cannot mitigate all risk and that we rely heavily on the actions of parents and carers to support us in our endeavour to keep everyone safe. I ask that all parents over the summer, and when we return to school in September, take every precaution to stay safe and to follow Government guidelines, even though these are sometimes a little ambiguous!
Further to my email last week, I am posting to answer queries raised by parents over the last few days about our return in September:
- Pupils are to bring a schoolbag as normal.
- Lunchboxes are allowed.
- ‘Bubbles’ will use the same toilets throughout the day; cubicles will be labelled, and all children will have access to appropriate, non alcohol based hand sanitiser and hand washing facilities. Toilets will be thoroughly cleaned each day.
- Parents or carers do not need to wash school uniform each day.
On our return, please take every care as you drop off or collect children from school. Please obey social distancing requirements at all times and refrain from forming groups and chatting on the playground. As soon as children are collected, I ask you to exit the site as quickly as possible. Just to reiterate, on arrival in the morning, please rotate anti-clockwise around the school and exit through the front carpark and when collecting, please enter through the front carpark, rotate clockwise around the school and exit through the front gate by the bike rack.
During the summer holiday, I would be very grateful if any have any questions, concerns or anxieties about returning in September, or have any general queries, to contact me via email and refrain from contacting class teachers. My staff have, for the last 4 months, given all for our school community and need a very well-deserved break with their families.
Lastly, I would like to thank you all for the support you have given since the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown started back in March. I know I speak for all staff in expressing our gratitude for the way you have supported your children at home, even though sometimes this has been difficult. I am also acutely aware that some are experiencing extremely uncertain times and our thoughts are with you. This has been an extraordinary and unprecedented period but I know this: thanks to your support, the exemplary work of all staff and the phenomenal way our community has pulled together, our children’s education has suffered no long-term implications due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Their future is in safe hands.
I wish you all a wonderful and safe summer holiday.
Mr Langford
Important information about instrumental lessons in the Autumn term
Dear Parent
Shropshire Music Service have been offering free online instrumental lessons this term. From September we will need to start charging for lessons as normal. As our teachers are not yet allowed to visit schools, the highly successful online teaching will continue for the Autumn term.
Shropshire Music Service will be billing parents directly while online lessons are taking place. This will definitely be the case for lessons delivered in the Autumn term. To sign up, please complete the attached application form and arrange payment in advance of lessons beginning. You can do this now to ensure all is in place in good time. We will be unable to start lessons until payment has been received.
As our staff are working from home, please contact the Music Service by email if you have any queries and one of our staff will contact you.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Sent on behalf of Alison Stevens
Music Service Manager
Shropshire Music Service
September Return Information
Dear parents
As I detailed in my post of Monday 6th, when we return after the summer holiday, we will be fully open for all children, with the exception of our new reception intake who will be starting with a phased entry from the 7th of September.
I am posting today to explain the procedures we will be asking parents to follow at the beginning and end of every day and information about how school will operate after the holiday.
General Information
- School uniform is to be worn as usual from 3rd of September.
- Children are to wear PE kits all day on days when they have PE. They will not be asked to change.
- The school kitchen will be open as usual. Children will have their dinner in the hall in their class ‘bubbles’ in separate sittings and discrete areas.
- Playtimes will be staggered and ‘bubbles’ will have designated zones in which to play.
- All requirements for children with Individual Learning Plans or Educational Health Care Plans, including visits from key professionals, will carry on as normal.
- Before and after school wraparound provision will start on 3rd September.
Beginning and end of the day
- The school gate will open at 8.40am and will shut at 9.00am
- Parents are asked to enter the school via the side gate by the bike rack and accompany their children to the back door of their classroom. Parents will then continue in an anti-clockwise direction around the school and exit via the small gate onto the front carpark.
- At the end of the day, we ask parents to enter through the small gate in the corner of front staff car park at 3.10pm and move around school in a clockwise direction, again collecting children from classroom backdoors, before exiting the school via the side gate by the bike rack. Collection will be between 3.15pm and 3.30pm. Parents are asked to leave the school site as soon as children are dropped off or collected to ensure the smooth flow of the one-way system.
- Again, parents are asked to collect their children from the back door of their classrooms.
- Parents are asked to obey strict 1+ metre social distancing requirements at all times whilst on the school site and ensure that children adhere to this as well. We also ask parents not to congregate outside the school in groups before the gate is unlocked in the morning or in the afternoon.
Equipment
- Parents are asked to provide a SMALL pencil case containing a pencil, a ruler, pencil crayons, a pen and a ruler. This is to minimise as far as possible the sharing of equipment.
I am sure that there are still many questions you still have about our return after the holiday, such as what are plans to deal with a confirmed case of Covid-19 within school. If you have a question or concern about September, please do email me directly; I will answer all queries in a website / email post next week.
Arthog
I will be contacting current year 5 parents next week to discuss plans for our residential trip to Arthog in November.
Last Week of Term
As it’s the last week of term, home school learning work, with suggestions and signposts for activities, will be posted on Monday for the whole week. There will not be a daily post on the class page. Children in school will also not be being set Maths and English tasks each day but rather spending time outside undertaking more team oriented and creative activities.
I look forward to seeing as many of you that can make it to our picnics next week as possible.
Mr Langford
September 2020
Dear Parents
September 2020 Return
Further to the Education Secretary’s statement regarding the return to school after the summer holidays, I am very happy to inform you that, from Thursday September 3rd, we will be opening our doors for all children in all years. Our new Reception children will be starting their phased entry into school from Mon 7th Sept.
When we return, please let me reassure you that we will continue to ensure that the health and safety of all staff and children is given the highest priority; all current Covid-19 procedures will continue and all the advice and guidelines from the Government and Public Health England will be followed. All actions to reduce the transmission Covid-19 will continue to be underpinned by striving to minimising contact and mixing between bubbles and ensuring absolutely rigorous and frequent hygiene procedures are followed.
I will inform parents of full operational plans for September before the end of term but in summary:
- Social distancing rules will still be applied before and after school when children arrive and are collected.
- Arrival times will be staggered and the one-way system around school will continue.
- Children will work in whole-class ‘bubbles’. There is no requirement for social distancing within each bubble.
- The school kitchen will reopen and children will eat their dinner in their ‘bubbles’.
I am so pleased that we will be able to welcome back all our children in September but realise that, for some, there will still be worry and anxiety around returning. A full and detailed plan for our return will be published shortly but please do contact me directly if you have any concerns at all.
Before and After School Provision
From September, I am very excited to announce that we will providing our own before and after school wraparound provision. This will start on Thursday September 3rd and will be available from 8am in the morning and until 6pm in the evening.
The initial cost will be:
- £5 for the morning session – 8.00am until 8.45am
- £10 for the evening session – 3.15pm until 6.00pm
- £12.50 if both sessions in a day are booked.
As this is a new business venture, I will be reviewing these costs at the end of October after analysing half a term of usage. I am hopeful that these costs will not have to change and that, importantly, we are not looking to make a significant profit. The business model has been designed to ensure we provide the most affordable solution possible for our community. It is also important to say that every penny of any profit will be for our children. During the first half term, we may not be able to offer a place for all children who apply, but we will strive to ensure our wraparound provision is available to all from 2nd November. Mrs Giles will be contacting parents shortly to ascertain possible numbers for September and Mrs Andrew will be posting details about the application process.
Mr Langford
School Covid-19 update 23.6.20
Dear parents
Further to the Government’s announcement today that lockdown restrictions are being eased and that the social distance requirement of 2m is being reduced to 1m, I am posting to explain the impact that this will have on our current provision for key worker children, vulnerable children and year 6 children.
Children and staff are kept safe in school primarily because we are working in ‘bubbles’ and we have incredibly strict hygiene procedures. We have striven to adhere to the 2m distancing rule but this is simply not possible in our school setting. Children in classrooms and workspaces are currently spaced out as much as possible to ensure a 2m spacing; reducing this to 1m will have very little impact on our ability to increase the size of our bubbles and welcome more children back. We are also constrained by the Government guideline that no bubble will exceed 15 children.
Our situation will therefore not change in the near future. There may be small variations to our number but there will not be a wider opening as a result of today’s announcement. I reiterate that those children attending in YR or Y1 are only attending because they are key worker or vulnerable children. We have not approached anybody to widen this offer and nor would we do so!
The longer this situation continues, the more families need their children back in school so that lives can be restarted; there are many families desperate for their children to return to school and I am acutely aware of the ramifications of decisions I am regularly having to make.
I am very willing, of course, to discuss any request made for a space if one of the household is a key worker and I thank you all for your continued patience and support.
Mr Langford
Theme Week – Update!
Thank you so much for all your thoughtful work for Diversity week. We have received lovely feedback and are so glad that the activities stimulated important discussions for many families.
However, we are also aware that the change in routine has been a bit tricky for some families. With this in mind, we have tweaked our plans! From Monday 22nd your child’s class teacher will be posting daily English and Maths tasks and our afternoon suggestions will fit with the weekly theme. Mr Morris and Mrs Rowe will be posting their learning tasks onto the school website and onto Google Classroom.
We do appreciate that as more time goes by it is really hard to keep the momentum with home learning. We hope that this plan will provide sufficient familiarity and routine for children (and parents) to keep going with some daily learning and we hope that our suggestions for afternoon tasks will be fun, creative and stimulating. If you are experiencing particular problems, please contact your child’s current class teacher and they will do their best to support you.
Website Issues and Upgrades
Dear Parents
Website Upgrades
Our website has undergone a number of upgrades recently including the addition of a blog and an increase in security. Hopefully for most, your experience of using the site will have been uninterrupted. If however your view of the site is displaying strangely, a refresh of the page should help your browser to download the latest version of the website:
Windows and Linux browsers: CTRL + F5
Apple Safari: SHIFT + Reload toolbar button
Chrome and Firefox for Mac: CMD + SHIFT + R
Also should also check that your browser is taking you to an address that starts ‘https:’ (rather than ‘http:’)
Mr Langford
