Happy Easter

Dear Parents, Carers and Children 

 

I hope you have all been enjoying the lovely sunshine in your gardens or on your daily exercise. We have all been excited to read your blogs to your teachers and see what you have been doing at home.

 

Next week, if you are in Year 2, you will be receiving an email confirming your junior school place, so please look out for it in your inbox and follow any instructions in the email. Mr Campbell and his team will be contacting you in the next few weeks to welcome you to the juniors. We don't know what transition is going to look like yet, and a lot will depend on when we are going to reopen. The Department For Education made it clear yesterday that schools will open when the scientists say it is safe to do so, despite what some newspaper headlines might say.

 

If you have a Year R child starting school in September 2020, you too will be informed next week about your child's school place next week. We will be contacting you over the next few weeks with the next steps you need to take to accept your place. Miss Turner, our Early Years Leader, and myself are working on a welcome pack for you, to introduce you to our school. Again, we don't know what transition will look like, and a lot will depend on when we can reopen. We will keep in touch with you when we know something different.

 

We also have some good news to share with you. Mrs Wombell is expecting her first baby in October. I am sure you will all join me in wishing Mrs Wombell congratulations. She said everything is going well so far, but she is missing Bat class lots and lots.

 

We hope you have all enjoyed speaking to your teachers on the telephone over the last few weeks. They have enjoyed talking to you. I know some of you have missed their call, and they want you to know that they will try again to chat. We are looking into ways we can keep in touch with you more.

 

Now for more important things. The Easter Bunny. I have been asked if the Easter Bunny is self isolating. I have also been asked if the Tooth Fairy is self isolating. I don't think they are. They might not be able to do their jobs as well as they normally do, but I think they are still about. I know the tooth fairy has managed to visit our house twice over the last few weeks, so I think it is business as usual. For everyone who likes looking for eggs, keep an eye on our website. Miss Apsey is working on a virtual egg hunt. Will you be able to find them all?

 

This week our school has been open for keyworkers, and we have had very low numbers. Next week, we are moving our provision from 13th April-17th April to Activeme 360 CIC at Swanmore College, with the other schools in the Swanmore Cluster. The parents who have been using our provision have let us know their days for next week. If you need emergency provision, please either email our school office or telephone/email  Activeme 360 CIC directly on 02392 007523/ hello@activeme360.com.

 

Children attending will need to be dropped at the Community entrance to the college. Active360 is open from 8am until 6pm and a packed lunch and a drink is needed for the session. If your child takes any regular medication, this will also need to be taken with them.

 

Our provision for keyworker's children will be back at BWIS on the week starting 20th April at the later time of 8am. We will still be open until 6pm.

 

Children who are on our Free School Meal register should have received their first vouchercards from Mrs Palmer at the end of the second week of closure. We have now managed (after 3 frustrating days) to log in to the government Edenred voucher scheme for the Easter holiday period (You would have received an email yesterday/today with instructions on how to access the voucher). From Monday 20th April, from 10am-1pm we will be distributing the HC3S hamper from school. They will be freshly prepared by our brilliant cook, Gabi. This will continue every Monday between those times. We ask for social distancing to be observed when picking up your hampers.

 

Remember, if your circumstances have changed then you may me eligible for Free School Meals at school. Some people are being refused, because they are not meeting the criteria. Please read the application form carefully. The decision is instant on the government website here:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the amazing staff at Bishops Waltham Infant School.  Our teachers been busy keeping in touch with you, looking after keyworker children and making sure there is learning on our site, if you want to access it, as well as continuing to do all their planning and assessments.. Our LSAs and reception team have been coming in on rota to also do fun activities with keyworker children. Mrs Palmer and myself have had lots of sorting out to do, keeping up to date daily, including coordinating all our resources and our kitchen staff have continued to do lunches. Mrs Ely and Miss Ely have been looking after children before and after school and also cleaning alongside Mr Ely. Our governors have kept in touch too, to make sure everything is being done correctly. It has all been a very steep learning curve for us IT wise, but everyone has been trying their best and I am very proud of everyone. At the moment, we have all stayed well and I would like to reassure parents and children that we will continue to do our best for you all. We have been very grateful for your kind words of support.

 

We wish you all well and please get in touch if you need us. We will try to get back to you as soon as we can.

 

Best Wishes

 

Mrs Riches