All Souls is in the process of becoming an approved partner of the charity Rainbows – which provides support to children who are impacted by bereavement or loss.  Myself and Mrs Hartwell have completed Rainbows facilitator training and, in the coming weeks, will be looking to begin our first Rainbows support group for children.  The programme is designed to support children who are suffering or who have suffered from bereavement or loss (including separation/divorce of parents, loss of a pet or even moving home).  If you feel that your child would benefit from this support, please do let me know so that they can be included in our first group.  Further information and details will then be sent prior to the programme commencing and before you make a final decision about your child’s participation. Thank you.

Mr Cooke

Please book your open evening appointment for Monday 18th / Tuesday 19th by using the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgzWYCu2jsUZcYNqApcQI_idMJWFg-vcOmakpvcJlKK30SsQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

A letter with information about the start of the academic year 2021 has been emailed out to parents today.  Please find a copy below:

Letter to parents – start of term 2021

Please also find below a letter from Kirston Nelson, director of education for Coventry, which is being circulated to parents of all children in Coventry schools.

Letter from LA

The following letter has been emailed to parents today:

The Online Safety Newsletter, referenced in the letter, can be downloaded here.

Dear Parents/Carers,

I’m sure that it would come as no surprise to you that during the last few years we have seen an almost exponential rise in the number of issues in school as a result of the misuse of technology.  New websites, apps and services appear much faster than we, as adults, can keep up with them and children are now invariably more competent users of technology than adults.  We have been shocked and mortified by some of the content which All Souls children have accessed on their devices at home as well as the way in which they have communicated with both each other and complete strangers, who they believe to be their friends. We also have grave concerns that this situation has the potential to become far worse in the near future.

Although we are very proud of our e-safety curriculum, and were praised for this at our last Ofsted inspection, we know that computing lessons alone are not enough to ensure that our children are equipped to keep themselves safe online.  We also appreciate how difficult it is, as parents, to find the balance between giving children freedom and independence, and putting in the rules and restrictions to keep them safe.

With that in mind, over the next few months we’ll be looking to provide you with additional support and guidance around e-safety and online behavior including more information and details around our school e-safety curriculum, practical help in putting restrictions on devices used at home and information sessions for parents where you can have any questions or concerns answered.

In addition, we have subscribed to a service, as a school, which will ensure that we are kept up-to-date with latest information, facts, figures and advice.  We will also receive a monthly newsletter, for distribution to parents, which is dedicated to the latest online safety information.  I am pleased to attach the first of these newsletters to this email and hope that you are able to take the time to read and think about its content.

With the summer holidays rapidly approaching, many children will have even greater access to Internet enabled devices, and I hope that this can serve as a reminder to us all of our responsibility to become knowledgeable around the topic in order to keep our children safe.

Please remember that school is always available, as a first port of call, to offer you advice and support with technology and e-safety matters.

Kind regards

Andy Cooke

Deputy Headteacher / e-Safety Lead

Could parents of children in Year 6, who are to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation this Sunday (25.04.21) please complete the following form, so that all attendees are pre-registered.  Thank you.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjwbi7ByKhW0LFQOWZH5tGgn7cLzaA2bqSdJw2w5saMHa2Ag/viewform?usp=sf_link

Please note that you can now book an open evening appointment with your child’s class teacher for Monday 29th / Tuesday 30th March using the following link, or clicking the button on the right-hand side of the page:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOo4j9iID92XkTu2qq3GZdmipGmgafG7PXt6PkcGxDmFVOSw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Please note that, so that we are able to accommodate all parents, appointments will be limited to 5 minutes.  Any discussion beyond this will need to be scheduled for another mutually agreeable time.  Thank you for your understanding.

Please find below the contents of a letter which is being emailed to all parents today.  It can also be downloaded here.

Dear Parent(s)/Carer(s),

We are delighted to be able to welcome all pupils back to All Souls from Monday 8^th March.  We know that 2021 has not started as many had hoped or imagined and we have greatly missed seeing our children and families during over the last two months.  This letter should hopefully answer many of the questions you may have regarding the reopening of the school and reassure you that we continue to take seriously our role in keeping our children, families and staff safe during this pandemic.  We have all worked too hard and come too far to now let our guard down as restrictions are slowly being eased and so we ask that you read this letter carefully and discuss its contents with your child so that they are best prepared for the return to school.

Drop-off at the start of the school day:

As during the Autumn term, there will be a staggered start to the school day, however, this will now be determined alphabetically by surname as opposed to year groups.  This will allow all children from a family to arrive at school at the same time.  We will be operating four 10 minute arrival windows, which have been allocated as follows:

8:30-8:40am    –           Children with surnames beginning A-D & Nursery children and their older siblings

8:40-8:50am    –           Children with surnames beginning E-K

8:50-9:00am    –           Children with surnames beginning L-R

9:00-9:10am    –           Children with surnames beginning S-Z

As you arrive at the entrance to the school drive, a member of staff will be there to greet you and direct your child(ren) into school.  Only parents of children in Nursery will be allowed along the driveway – and they will be able to take their children around to the classroom as was the case before Christmas.  Children in Years R-4 will enter the school site from the pedestrian gate, which will also be manned by staff members and into the school building through their classroom door.  Years 5 and 6 children will enter via the hall doors and make their way to their classroom.

Collection at the end of the school day:

At the end of the school day, for most children, the routine will be as it was during the Autumn term.  Reception and Years 1-2 will be dismissed from their classroom doors at 3:00pm.  The significant change however, will be that any parents who are collecting children from Years R-2 will then also be able to collect their children from Years 3-4 (from their classroom doors) and from Years 5-6 (from the hall doors) as they make their way off site – as opposed to waiting for these to be dismissed at 3:15pm.  Staff will ensure that children in Years 3-6 who have younger siblings are ready at 3:00pm.  For all other children in Years 3-6, they will be dismissed at 3:15pm as previously, from the playground (Years 3-4) and the drive entrance by the hall (Years 5-6).  We ask parents to support us in keeping the school site as clear as possible by ensuring that they arrive and depart promptly when dropping off or collecting.  Please do not congregate in groups and resist the temptation to enter into conversations with other parents.

Uniform and equipment:

We are acutely aware that some parents have purchased uniform which has so far remained unworn which, if not used, may become redundant soon.  Therefore, we are a flexible approach to uniform for the remainder of the academic year to limit any further financial burden on families.  We are giving children/parents two options with regards to unform:

1)         Children can continue to attend daily in their school PE kit (a combination of PE top with navy shorts or tracksuit as appropriate)

2)         Wear a traditional school uniform (Winter or Summer) on non-PE days and arrive at school in PE uniform on the days where PE is timetabled.  Class teachers will inform you as to which days this will be and any changes will be notified via the weekly newsletter.  Please note that our current risk assessment does not allow for children to change for PE in school.

If you require any additional uniform, please note that Andy Blair is open for click and collect from March 1^st – the details of which are available on his website (https://coventryschoolwear.com/).

PE tops can continue to be purchased directly from the school.

Irrespective of whether PE is scheduled, please ensure that your child has a pair of outdoor trainers (and ideally wellies too) in school at all times as exercise and outdoor learning will continue to play a vital part in our recovery curriculum.  As always, please ensure that all items of clothing are clearly labelled with your child’s full name.

Aside from a lunchbox and water bottle, children should not bring any other items in to school each day.  Once we are again settled into a routine, we will give you details as to how reading books will be issued and returned.

School Lunches

School lunches will be continued to be available as usual and should you wish for your child to have these, please order and pay in the usual way.  As during the Autumn term, children will, for the time being, continue to eat their lunch in the classroom.

Before and After-school Provision (All Sorts)

 Currently we are uncertain as to the future of the before and after school provision due to the financial impact of the last 12 months.  Unless there is a significant uptake of places it is unlikely that the service will be financially viable and may have to permanently close.  We are aware that a similar picture exists locally and nationally.  We also know that this will cause considerable anxiety for many of our parents and so we therefore need to work together if we are to secure the future of All Sorts extended school provision.  As a matter of urgency, and by midday next Tuesday by the very latest, if you are requesting use of the service from the 8^th of March, please contact Sharon Bennett ([email protected]) detailing all sessions that you would like.  A decision can then be made and parents informed with as much notice as possible.  All Sorts Early Years care has not been impacted to the same degree and therefore will continue as normal.

Curriculum

We are currently working with our teaching staff to make the necessary adjustments to the curriculum so that the children, upon return to school will be cared for and time curriculum time is used as effectively as possible.  A brief newsletter, welcoming your child back, containing information and a brief outline of the curriculum for the next few weeks will be emailed out next Friday.

Extra-curriculum activities

We are looking to resume a range of extra-curriculum activities after the Easter Holidays once further local and nation guidance has been issued.  Details of these will be sent to you in due course.

Finally, we’d like to re-iterate how much we are looking forward to seeing the children return to school.  Thank you for your support throughout these difficult times and the support we know you will give us going forwards.

Best wishes,

Mrs Quinn