Dear Parents/Carers,

The summer term has almost arrived! I hope you were able to enjoy the warmth and sunshine over the Easter break.  Good weather often allows us to put some of the stresses and strains to the back of our minds (at least for a brief moment) and helps to raise our spirits.  I don’t think it could have come at a better time.

 

I would like to thank all those parents who sent messages of support for our staff in recognition of good work which they have been doing over the Easter holidays.  I have passed on your emails and your kind words were very much appreciated. I would also like to echo these sentiments and offer my own thanks to our dedicated staff for all of their hard work over the Easter holidays. Whether working from home, in the office,  or coming in to school to work with the children, you are all super stars. 

 

As I am sure you are aware school closures will continue for at least another three weeks when the national lockdown will be reviewed again. As we approach a new term, I would like to think that the children are preparing to get themselves back into a learning mindset, with daily routines being put in place and class pages being used to source learning activities. Teachers will be reviewing and updating the work which is being set on a regular basis, with a mix of both academic and fun activities being posted. I would also like to remind you that children and families can visit offschool.org.uk, which is a Leicester based website -created by teachers in Leicester- to engage children in a broad range of meaningful learning activities.

 

I have been contacted by several parents who have been unable to access their (income based) free school meal vouchers.  You may have read on various news feeds that the organisation administering the vouchers on behalf of the government have been overwhelmed by the task. Unfortunately this has resulted in many families, both local and nationwide, being unable to access their vouchers.

 

The problem has also been compounded by emails containing voucher codes being classed as spam/junk and being found in these folders days later.  Some parents have also not updated us with their new email address and so vouchers have been sent to their old email address.  Fortunately the vast majority of vouchers now seem to be getting through. I would again like to thank Mrs. Pettinger for her hard work in helping to overcome some of the issues related to the voucher scheme over the Easter break.

 

A number of parents have also enquired about refunds for dinner money.  This is a particularly difficult and time consuming process which we are currently working on in conjunction Parent Pay. For those parents who have contacted us about refunds, we will keep you informed of our progress.

 

Finally, some of you may be interested to know that I was contacted recently by our previous Head teacher, Mr. Dix. He was keen to know how the school community has been coping with the current difficulties and wanted me to pass on his best wishes. Mr. Dix narrowly escaped a lock-down in Mauritius where he was holidaying with family.  (I suppose there are worse places he could have been stranded!)

 

In the meantime, I would like to wish you all the best for the coming weeks ahead and I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

Yours sincerely