The Link Newsletter #49

Friday 14th July 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

It doesn't feel like a month has passed since the last newsletter and that we are just one week away from the end of term and with it, the end of the school year.

Of course, for our Year 6 pupils, this means the week of their primary experience before moving onto secondary school. I am also aware that for many of our Year 6 families, this is the end of your connection to St John's having been with us for the last seven years or seventeen years!

Two weeks ago I was able to spend the day with the Year 6 children at Kingswood in north Norfolk. Apart from an initial heavy downpour on their arrival on Monday evening, the weather had been sunny, warm and dry. It was lovely to watch the children cheering and supporting each other as they dug deep to overcome challenges, such as leaping from a 10m tower onto the zip line, or climbing the infamous Jacob's ladder. Their days and evenings were busy and they needed the weekend to sleep and recover. More photographs can be found here.

Three weeks ago we were enjoying the Summer Fayre in glorious sunshine. It was the perfect evening for families to enjoy together and for children to experience the games, inflatables and treats and sweets. Thank you to everyone, staff, parents and volunteers who made the fayre so enjoyable for our children. There is an enormous amount of preparation work that has taken place over many weeks and months and this cannot be forgotten. A HUGE thank you to all of the PTA committee members with a special shoutout to Sue Moody who have worked brilliantly to organise the fayre. We have raised over £6500 which is money that the school can spend to improve the opportunities for not just children attending today, but in the future too. This is a fantastic achievement. 

Three weeks ago, the rescheduled KS2 Sports Day took place on Tuesday. Thankfully the rain steered clear and we were able to run the full event as planned. Both Sports Days were enjoyed by the children; being fun and inclusive to everyone. The children and staff from High Beech welcomed the invitation and were impressed by the organisation of the event and the opportunity to compete with a larger group of children. The Sports Leaders and Mrs Carr from Debden Park were impressive and they really contributed the successful running of the event. Finally, a big thank you to Mr Perez, Miss Ruddock and the staff team for their work setting up the events on the day and also the preparation that took place in the proceeding weeks.

If you remember last year, during the first Sports Day, I received the Ofsted call notifying us of our inspection at St John's. What I hadn't imagined then is that Ofsted would call again the following year, again on a Sports Day morning only this time, to inspect High Beech. I am pleased to say that the inspection went well and recognised the hard work of everyone in making the necessary improvements since September. The Ofsted report for High Beech is likely to be published in September.

TERM TIME HOLIDAYS AND EARLY PICK UP

I wish to remind everyone that term time holidays are not sanctioned or authorised. A number of parents have recently requested leave for term time holidays. All holidays are marked as unauthorised leave.

I strongly believe that children should be in school every day, including the weeks leading to the holiday periods. We cannot educate your children when they are not in school. One day missed of learning sets the children back and they never have the opportunity to catch up. Parents at St John's are incredibly supportive and recognise the impact a single day has on children's outcomes, never mind absence for more than a day. Our staff work tirelessly to provide support for children who are absent due to illness but the same cannot be provided for children absent for other reasons. The workload on staff is enormous and it is unfair for parents to exert further pressure on the teachers and support staff.

I also wish to clarify that we will not be accepting requests for early pick up from September. The impact of a child leaving early is significant on the office staff. You may not be aware, but each time a child is collected, Mrs Seal or Mrs Aarons leaves the front desk to collect the children. This is not only disruptive to your child's learning other children in the class and teaching staff, but also disruptive to the smooth operation of the office team who are single-handedly managing phone calls, responding to visitors at the gate and much more besides. 

Whilst I mention early pick up, this includes dental appointments, which unless under exceptional circumstances, should not be booked during the school day. With good organisation, these appointments can be made during the holiday periods, before or after the school day.

CHANGES TO THE START AND FINISH TIMES OF THE SCHOOL DAY - SEPTEMBER 2023

In March 2022, the government released an Education White Paper, setting out its vision for education for this decade. The White Paper outlined the government’s intention for all schools to have a school week which is at least 32.5 hours in length. September 2023 is the deadline for this new requirement.

The Department for Education (DfE) information note that can be found at this link, provides more detail about this plan. 

Our current school week falls slightly short of these requirements and we propose to alter our start and finish times in order to meet the DfE’s intentions of addressing priorities for improvement and learning outcomes for our children. During the period of Covid infection, we introduced a staggered start to the school day for children in EYFS / KS1 and KS2. This will be an opportunity to simplify these timings which I believe will benefit families with children in different key stages.

The proposal for the new start and finish times from September 2023 are as follows:

Children arrive: 8.40am

Children registered: 8.45am

Children leave: 3.15pm

As you can see, the length of the school day increases by 5 minutes. This is all that is required in order to meet the new 32.5 hour week expectation. We have added additional time to the beginning of the school day because extending the end of the school day may impact after school activities, both within school and externally. 

We are conscious that, for those parents who need to drive their children to school, this may put very slightly more pressure on parking spaces around drop off time, so this would require you to adjust your own routine accordingly. This also means all children should arrive for 8.40am.

In determining the changes to start and finish times, the school has explored various models. We believe this model to be in the best interests of the children, in terms of meeting our priorities for improvement. 

I would encourage all parents to share any comments or observations you have about this proposal, whether positive or negative. This parent consultation and feedback form will be open until 3pm Thursday 20th July 2023. 

CROSSING PATROL FOR CHURCH ROAD 

The post for Church Road is still advertised as there has not been any interest as yet.

LIBRARY CHANGES

Mrs Bage with the help of Mrs Adamson have been working exceptionally hard on preparing our library for a fresh launch in September. Mrs Bage has given the library an overhaul, including the quality of the books available to the children. We have been careful to give greater representation to all authors as part of our diversity and inclusion strategy. This should enable all children to find a book that they will enjoy.

Mrs Bage has also taken the library into the digital phase, with an electronic system for signing books in and out of the library.

We would like to say a big thank you to parents who have bought and donated high quality books as part of this project. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity. Ultimately our children will benefit come September.

STAFF CHANGES

A few weeks ago, Mrs Watkins notified me of her intention to retire after 17 years of service to St John's. In her time, Mrs Watkins has been a support staff member which grew into the role she has today as our Sports Coach. Mrs Watkin's passion and expertise for sport will be much missed next year. 

Staff at other schools often question why St John's is so successful when competing at events. All of us know that in part this is reflective of the emphasis that PE has at St John's by all staff. The after school clubs that Mrs Watkins runs, together with her weekly lessons to the children means that our children are well practiced and prepared for the upcoming competitions.

I am sure that you will join me in wishing Mrs Watkins well as she enters the next phase in her life. We are in the process of recruiting to this post and I will be able to share more details in September.

Mrs Hurst will also be leaving St John's this summer. She has taken up a similar role at Chigwell School. Mrs Hurst has been at St John's for six years, supporting classes and individual children with particular needs. We will be sad to miss someone who has shown such care and understanding towards children and staff. We wish Mrs Hurst all the very best in her new post. 

END OF YEAR REPORTS

Reports for your children were shared with you on Friday. We hope that these reports reflect the work and effort that your children have demonstrated since September. Teaching staff, support staff and the leadership team have worked intensely to write and proof-read reports. We would value your feedback, which we are gathering online this year. Please complete the form here: https://forms.gle/gxs5X2UU2nsY16kc7

ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE LAST DAY OF TERM

The last day of term is Thursday 20th July.

The morning will consist of an end of year service starting at 9.30am. We are inviting Year 6 parents to this assembly, two seats per family please.

The assembly will be in two parts, our formal service, followed by a break for the children before handing over to the Year 6 staff and children who will perform their Leavers' final act!

The school day will finish at:

1.10pm for children in Foundation and KS1

1.15pm for children in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6.

School resumes on Wednesday 6th September at 8.40am.

 ...AND FINALLY...

May I share my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported the school during this year. Your support within this home school partnership has been invaluable. Hearing children read regularly, supporting them with their homework and talking through the highs and the lows of a typical school day is so important for their development, academically and socially. 

On behalf of the whole school team, may we wish you an enjoyable and peaceful Summer break when it arrives next week.