Dear parents and carers of Stepney Park Primary School,
Welcome to the first newsletter of this half term. I hope you will enjoy reading it.
Covid related reminders and messages:
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Please do not send your child to school if you or your family have any of the Covid symptoms. We have noted that some parents have sent their child to school whilst waiting for their own test results. This has put our staff and children at risk and is against NHS advice. If someone in the family has Covid symptoms, the whole family needs to self isolate.
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Although we have seen a number of staff and child related Covid cases, we believe all of these have been caused by close contacts (friends or family) outside of the school. Our school risk assessment, which can be found on our school website, is very detailed and robust.
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Thank you for wearing face coverings when dropping off and picking up your child. Our staff have been advised they may wear a face covering at the end of the day too, if they wish to do so.
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Queueing: we are dealing with some complaints from parents about other parents who jump the queue. It is impossible for us to manage fair queueing , so I would once again like to remind parents to wait for their turn by joining the end of each queue.
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Please maintain social distance when entering the school grounds and when queueing up.
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I would advise parents who do not want to queue at all to arrive 10 minutes later, at 3.30pm. At this point almost all children have been picked up and the playground is a lot less crowded, making it safer too.
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Please do not stay around in and around the playground at the start or end of the day, as this will put other parents and staff at risk.
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If your child is isolating, you may receive a phone call from staff using a private or withheld number. These calls will normally be between 10-11am for children who have not attended registration. Please accept these calls.
Challenges to staff
We have been very short staffed and are dealing with a very high number of Covid related staff absences every day. Our staff have been fabulous in pulling together as a team, covering for each other and backing each other up. They have been incredibly resilient, and they all deserve our huge thanks! At last there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, with a vaccine around the corner. Stepney Park Primary School will do everything within its power to remain safely open for children and for parents in the meantime.
School Development plan
As you may be aware, each school needs to have a ‘school development plan’ and I thought it would be nice to share our school development plan priorities with you here. They are:
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Establish and embed general school systems, the school environment and a physical and digital identity. This covers the following areas: Admin systems, Finance systems, HR systems, Governance, Premises and general school environment, ICT infrastructure and digital identity, Health & Safety and safeguarding systems, Leadership systems, General school procedures
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Establish and embed our new teaching, learning and assessment and evaluation practice and procedures
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Establish and embed a remote/digital strategy which blends in-school and at-home learning.
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Develop a Personal Development, Mental Health and Well-being strategy.
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Develop working with parents. This covers the following areas: Digital Strategy, RSE, Communication ,Engagement
Kindest regards,
Edith Philipsen
Headteacher- Stepney Park Primary School.
