Headmaster's Message

Headmaster's Welcome

Dear Parents

Welcome to the first Chronicle of the Lent Term.  I hope that you all enjoyed the holiday period and were able to spend some time with your loved ones.

Although the first week back to school has only been three days, we have been busy preparing for this term and children have slipped back into the usual routine, full of energy.  On Thursday, I was delighted to invite Father Kevin into school for our Epiphany Mass.  Junior 4 joined Father Kevin and Mrs Jackson-Mayne in the Hall for this celebration.  My thanks to Father Kevin, Mrs Jackson-Mayne and Mrs Simmonds for their efforts ensuring children could celebration this important event in the Christmas Season.

I hosted our first Celebration Assembly of this term, inviting Junior 6, our birthday pupils and staff and our Stars of the Week into the Hall.  It was super to be able to have our Junior 6 parents, and a few ‘stars of the week’ parents with us in person.  These assemblies will be streamed to other classes until we are able to safely invite larger groups into the hall; we will also send a recording of the assembly to parents later in the day.  This week I congratulated, Theodore, Tommy, Bevan, Lewis, Beatrice, Jessie, Rohan, Tommy, Ted, Chloe, Grace, Issey and William.  There was also an impressive collection of Da Vinci’s awarded in Junior 2, 3, 4 and 5.  Some of the Da Vinci awards have been held back in order to present them within the next couple of weeks when parents might be in attendance.  We tended to proceed with what the children preferred – some wanted their award today and others preferred to wait until their parents could be at assembly.  It was super work from everyone concerned and a wonderful start to this term.

Next week, Junior 5 and their families will be invited in to watch assembly. Please could I ask parents to remember to have returned a negative lateral flow test within the 12 hours prior to coming into school, to wear a mask when on the premises and to maintain an acceptable social distance from others outside your household.  I would also, respectfully, ask that you do not come into school if you are displaying any of the symptoms of Covid or are under any Covid instruction.  It is hoped that by maintaining these procedures we can continue to invite small groups of parents into school and gradually return to ‘normal’.

As I am sure you are aware, the Government have updated their advice regarding PCR testing from 11 January.  The current guidance, if a member of your household tests positive or has symptoms, can be found on this website  Stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  We will continue to notify close contacts within classes so that the appropriate action can be taken.  We are preparing updated guidance for parents, which will be circulated early next week. To clarify a point from last week, it is required that a PCR test is taken if someone in your household contracts Covid.  Also, it is very important not to send your child into school if they display any one of the Covid symptoms.  We currently have five members of staff off with Covid and a number of pupils as well.  We are going to have to manage this pandemic through being vigilant, strict in following guidelines and requests and by working together through this.

I met (online) with our PTA Chair and Treasurer today to discuss future events and fundraising and was excited to hear about the plans they have for the remainder of this year.   Please keep a look out for updates from the PTA and later in this edition of the Chronicle to learn about Jubilee celebrations, book sale, summer fayre and non-uniform days.  I am grateful to the work that is carried out behind the scenes by the PTA; they work so hard providing surprises for the children, whole family events, selling second hand uniform whilst raising funds for school which are used to benefit all year groups.

We have 3 new families who have joined Crackley Hall this term, together with our two new teachers, Mrs Allen and Mrs Westerman.  I am delighted to welcome to our school and  I am sure they have been made to feel very welcome by everyone and will settle in the Crackley Hall family with ease.

I would like to also remind all parents about our arrangements for carline in the morning and evenings.  It is imperative that you follow the collection times and collection areas published to ensure that that traffic flows and children are collected safely from the correct areas.  I also remind staff about having pupils ready for collection at the correct times, but it creates difficulties in car line if we have parents arriving early for collection.  As a reminder, please see the collection times below:

Class Collection Time

Reception 3.15pm
Lower playground pedestrian gate

Junior 1 3.20pm
Main carline collection point (around flagpole)

Junior 2 3.30pm
Main carline collection point (around flagpole)

Junior 3 3.35pm
Lower playground pedestrian gate

Junior 4 3.40pm
Main carline collection point (around flagpole)

Junior 5 3.50pm
Lower playground pedestrian gate

Junior 6 4.00pm
Main carline collection point (around flagpole)

School led clubs will resume next week and I am pleased to see a full schedule of activities planned, involving all year groups.  My thanks to Mrs Vaughan for co-ordinating the timetable, I am sure that there is something to suit everyone.

I would like to wish everyone a happy and restful weekend.

God bless,

 

 

Mr Duigan