Latest News | Bishops Waltham Infant School

IMPORTANT SCHOOL UPDATE FOR YEAR R PARENTS

Sun 31 May 2020

Dear Parents of Year R children

Following recent advice to teachers yesterday evening, following 4 members of the governments scientific body breaking ranks and speaking against a wider opening tomorrow, we will now only be open to Keyworker children on June 1st. Safety for children and staff is paramount. We apologise profusely for the lateness of this announcement, and there is an email in your inbox explaining the situation fully. Please contact the school office ASAP if you are a Year R parent who needs a keyworker space. Your child will be in BAT class tomorrow.

The situation will be under review and we will get back to you at the end of the week regarding a possible opening date.

A link to the advice is below:

https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/stop-wider-1-june-school-reopening

School Update

Fri 29 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

Following the government's confirmation last night that they are meeting government targets, I am confirming that we will be opening for our 2 keyworker bubbles and 6 Year R bubbles from Monday 1st June.

If you are sending your child back, please spend the weekend talking to your child about school using the guidance we have issued.

All children (Keyworker children and Year R) will be expected to wear uniform. It can be a more relaxed version, especially footwear (trainers can be worn, sandals of any colour but socks must be worn). Blue/black PE shorts can also be worn if your child has outgrown their grey ones. We do have some spare summer clothes in school. We will put this out at the end of the day, which you can purchase for a donation. If any Year 1/2 parents have summer uniform they would like to donate, please wash and leave it in a carrier bag outside our office. Please remember our office will not be open, as we are limiting the number of adults who enter the building. If you need to get in touch with us, please email or telephone and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Thank you to all Year 2 children who have been sending us your photographs and writing for your Year Book. They are fantastic-keep them coming!!! I have also loved watching your 'Deadly 60' videos. There were some pretty deadly animals on there!

I have also loved looking at Year 1 and R's super learning. I know your teachers have been very happy when they are sharing it with us all.

We look forward to seeing some of you on Monday.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

School Update: Information for Year R Parents, Keyworker Parents and Year 2 Parents

Tue 26 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

If your child is in Year R or you have requested a keyworker space please check your emails today as there will either be an email from myself or Miss Turner explaining what to do and where to go if we start back on June 1st. It will look different to the school we left, but I am sure our fantastic staff will help your children understand the new 'normal' in school at the moment.

Thank you to all the Year R parents who have let us know their intentions on coming back to school. Your kind words and messages were so lovely. We have tried our best to support and help keep learning fun through the lockdown and it is lovely to know how much it has been appreciated. I will pass your good wishes on to the staff too.

Now for our lovely Year 2 children. We understand that this would have been our term where we would be getting ready to say goodbye to you. We are ever hopeful we will see you again soon. We would like to do something special for you. Usually, we buy a book as a leaving present. This time we would like to make a special Year Book, with photographs and writing from you and we need you to help. Please can you ALL do the following to help us?

By Friday 5th June can you please email the Year 2 teachers:

1. A really lovely picture of yourself (just you in the photograph)

2. A photograph or scan of a short piece of writing telling us your favourite memories about being at school. It can include something about your teachers, your learning, your friend or even me. We want it to be in your lovely handwriting (not typed) so your mummies and daddies may need to help you to make sure it is your best piece.

We have lots of other pictures we can put in as well. We will be putting it altogether ready for the end of term.

We will let you know after the government announcement if Monday 1st June is happening, so please watch this space. Now go and enjoy this lovely sunshine!

With best wishes

Mrs Riches

Calling all ‘Crafty’ Parents

Sat 23 May 2020

We have been amazed by some of the fantastic arts and crafts you have been producing on Lockdown and wondered if you fancy a bit of a challenge? We saw these fabulous book signs that we would like inside and outside our school. We wondered if anyone fancied making some? If you do we would love to have them!

Reopening Update- Important Information

Fri 22 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

We were hoping by today to be able to email you which class and bubble your child will be in and also whether keyworker provision can be for everybody who applied for it. The organisation of this is proving more problematic than we originally thought. We will continue to work on it and hopefully this will be with you by the middle of next week. Please also remember to look on our website on 28th May for affirmation that the government has told us we can open.

We apologise for this. However, different guidance is being given daily, including queries from united unions about the health and safety of staff. Every eventuality needs to be considered and planned for in line with our risk assessment.

Many of Year R parents have asked will the same level of learning be available on the website if they decide not to send their children back to school. We will be using Fridays to do our best regarding the website. However I cannot guarantee the same level, as we are reducing 5 days of keeping in touch, emailing, telephoning and planning into 1 day. We will do our best in the time we have.

Every year R child will have a place planned for them, whether they come back on 1st June or at a later date. We would appreciate knowing your plans, which will save the admin staff telephoning every year R parent to ask them of their intentions. I know many of you have done this verbally, but please can you put it in writing too.

Children of Year R parents who have key worker hours (8-4.30) are NOT going to be in the 6 Year R bubbles and will have to be in Year 1/2 key worker bubbles, due to there being very few requests for Year R places. If you are a Year R parent who has requested this, Miss Turner is ringing today to confirm your request.

Bubbles WILL NOT be mixing at all. This includes all Year R bubbles. They will be with their own bubble all day. There will be no freeflow play or mixed lunchtimes and playtimes as we know them. Children will stay in designated areas in their bubbles, using their own class outside equipment box. This is in the FAQ we sent out to parents.

Even as I write this to you, my 28 years experience of being an infant teacher tells me that not all children will be able to cope with these changes. We have always prided ourselves on our friendly, safe ethos. I hope that seeing some of their classmates and familiar adults will make up for the strangeness of it all. We promise to try to do our best for everybody.

On a happier note, I am really pleased to announce we have two new teachers joining us in September! Miss Abigail Whitehead will be Frogs' teacher in Year 2 and Miss Katy Harper will be Bats' teacher in Year R. We have asked them to send a photograph of themselves to put on our website, so that you can see them soon. I know you will all give them a lovely BWIS welcome when you meet them next term.

Lastly, below is a picture of what our classrooms will look like for Year R children when they start back, so that you can see them. We hope this helps some parents to share with their children.

Wishing you all well

Mrs Riches

Thank a Teacher Day

Wed 20 May 2020

To all our school community

Thank you very much to everybody who has taken the time to thank myself and the teaching staff on ‘Thank a Teacher’ day. It really means a lot to know you are thinking about us. When we chose to be teachers none of us could have ever for seen a deadly worldwide pandemic affecting our normal day to day life like this.

We miss you all very much and can’t wait for BWIS to get back to normal. I learnt a new skill of interviewing by Zoom yesterday and today- we will introduce our two new teachers who will be joining us in September on Friday, so watch this space!

I hope you have enjoyed this glorious sunshine.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches

School update re 1st June

Tue 19 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Please check your emails today as we have sent all parents an email regarding opening on June 1st. If schools are deemed safe to open on 28th May by the government, we will be open to Year R and keyworkers only on Monday 1st June. The decision has been made with the governing body and the subsequent organisation is detailed in the letter. There is a ‘question and answer’ sheet for frequently asked questions and also a leaflet for parents to share with their child before returning to school.

Keyworker spaces are extended, but still limited, due to the government’s ratio of no more than 15 in a group ( bubble). Keyworkers will know if they have a space in this provision by Friday and requests for this must be made no later than Thursday 21st May.

We thank you for your continued support through this pandemic. We hope you and your families are all keeping well.

Kind regards

Bishops Waltham Infant School

School Update Regarding Possibility of Reopening

Fri 15 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

Firstly, I would like to thank every single parent for their support since our school was closed for the majority of the children. It seems such a long time since our school was full of laughing children. I miss every single one of them and, along with my staff, wish for nothing more than the government’s 5 targets to be met so that we can try to reopen for some children on 1^st June.

Thank you to all the Year R and 1 parents who filled in our quick ‘Survey Monkey’ to indicate whether you would send your child back to school. We have to plan for everyone sending children back, but from your initial response it is looking at a 70% return to school.

I also thank you for your emails of concern about sending your children back, whilst COVID-19 is still such a threat to our lives. As a mummy, I share your fears, which is why, when considering all of the different organisational scenarios of a possible start back, I am thinking about your child and your family’s safety at all times. As a headteacher I am also thinking about my school staff’s safety too. I will have to let you know, however, I cannot 100% guarantee that your child will be socially distancing from peers in their 1-15 group. They are very young, and we will be teaching them to do this, putting classroom measures in place to do this as much as we can.

As a leader, I have been overwhelmed by the daily ‘updates’ that have been published to schools since Sunday. There have been many, including one that was released at 7pm last night. As a school, we currently have 6 teachers available for teaching, with children, in a classroom full time. I also have 4 classroom full time LSAs available. I have other staff members who can work part time. On this basis, it will be impossible for all Year R and Year 1 to start back full time with a 1-15 ratio, on June 1^stand continue provision for keyworker children, should the five tests be met. It is looking unlikely that there will be room for wrap around care. We also have our Year 2 children and children who will not attend to consider, and their possible start back to school before the summer holidays. Health and Safety will be a much higher priority with a a higher cleaning regime.

This is before considering what school will look like for children. Some of the organisational scenarios we have looked at include children being taught in an unfamiliar classroom, with unfamiliar adults. Children will not be working in groups, have limited access to resources, and not be and with lots of their classmates. My own child has been confused that ‘school doesn’t look like school anymore’ and how he now cannot play near other children, when he has been in our keyworker group.

I am writing to you today to let you know your child’s wellbeing and mental health will be at the forefront of our final plan. This includes ALL the children in our school, not just Year R, which is what the government is advising should be a focus, if staffing is limited. Headteachers , with their governors, MUST still make the right decision for their own setting, children and staff. We understand with many more people going back to work, there will also be a request for more keyworker spaces, which we will cover as best as we can with the constraints of our staffing.

Learning will concentrate on ensuring children have recapped on prior learning before teaching new concepts. Our main focus will be reading writing and maths. We will ensure they have lots of ‘runaround’ time, and have lessons to promote creativity. There will be lots of singing too. We will try to normalise things as much as we possibly can in an unfamiliar world.

Over the next few days I will be having more meetings with staff and governors. We will then let parents know what a June 1^st opening will look like at Bishops Waltham Infant School. Hopefully this will be with you, at the latest, a week before aJune1st start. Accompanying this will be a FAQ sheet for parents, personalised to our school and a leaflet for parents to discuss with their children, to help their child’s re-entry into school and what this will now look like.

Thank you for being the brilliant, understanding parents you have been during this closure. We have been overwhelmed, as a school, by your continuing support in your child’s learning and in your support of the staff. One Year 2 boy asked if ‘Mrs Riches is ok?’. I am, but only because I am lucky enough to work in Bishops Waltham Infant School.

With very best wishes

Ginene Riches

School Update 11th May 2020

Mon 11 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you had a lovely weekend in the sunshine with your families. We have loved seeing your VE 'Stay at Home' party pictures. Please keep sending them in and we will put them on our 'gallery page' under parents.

You probably watched the Prime Minister's new address last night, keen to know what will now be happening in our country with the lockdown and schools. At the moment, everything is the same as it has been since the lockdown started. We can accommodate the emergency care for key worker and vulnerable children we identified at the start of the school closure. Keyworker children will still need to be booked in the day before, the hours are 8am-6pm and drop off and pick up is at Bat Class. Please do not turn up without booking in. Our other teaching staff are continuing uploading Home Learning, answering emails, blogging, answering blogging and making telephone calls.

Some of you have emailed your worries and questions to me following the announcement last night. I am afraid I am unable to answer questions at the moment. Currently, we know nothing further than yourselves regarding the possibility of some year groups starting back to school on June 1st. I was informed, via email following the announcement, that the teaching unions are in talks with the government and we are awaiting further details. As an infant school head, I am obviously very concerned about the numbers this would mean in my school, my possible workforce numbers (several staff are self isolating/shielding) and maintaining safety for all-children, families and staff. Please do not worry. We will keep you informed of any plans that we are making as soon as we have the relevant guidance that is needed to keep everybody safe.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding. I hope you are all staying well.

Kind Regards

Ginene Riches

School Update 4th May

Mon 04 May 2020

Dear Parents and Carers

You may have read in the news about 'Oak Academy'. This is an online learning platform developed by teachers with live lessons. We have put a link on our learning links page which you can access below.

https://www.bwis.org.uk/oak-academy/

We are new becoming more familiar with the different learning platforms available to help us at home. Everyone should have received their link to 'Sum Dog' and Year 1 and 2 should have received their link to 'TT Rockstars'. Please look for these emails with log in details in your inbox.

Everyone should have received at least one email from your child's year group and at least one telephone call. Please look out for these and engage with us. There are still a handful of children who we haven't heard from. Please make sure you contact us in some way ASAP, if you haven't done so already.. We have had lots of positive feedback to all our methods of communication and the teachers love talking to you. The advice for blogging has been updated on latest news and on learning links. Please look at it and follow it. We love seeing all your uploads.

There is a VE day section on our learning links for this Friday. If you are currently accessing our provision, you should have received an email about provision on VE day. Please respond to Mrs Palmer as soon as possible if you would like provision on this day. We look forward to seeing all your VE pictures.

We have had a lot of interest in both the maternity cover and the Year 2 teaching provision. I have made 48 telephone calls to prospective candidates to date and the closing day is next week. As soon as we have appointed, I will let you know.

I am sorry about the slip with our INSET day-thank you to the eagle eyed parents who helped me out and reminded me it is a Thursday start back. This is obviously assuming we will be back to normal. The 3rd September is our official start of term date, so please keep checking back for what this will look like for your child.

With children using the internet more and more, I have been asked to share two updated advice sites for parents and carers. Please click on the websites below to find out more;

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-staying-safe-online

https://www.hants.gov.uk/socialcareandhealth/childrenandfamilies/safeguardingchildren/onlinesafetyguide

I have also put lots more links to online safety from different organisations on our online safety page here;

https://www.bwis.org.uk/keeping-safe-online/

We hope you are all keeping well. We look forward to learning of the day when we can open for more pupils again. In the meantime stay safe.

Best wishes

Mrs Riches