Newsletter - w/c - 01/02/21
Dear Parent/Carer,
We hope you and your family are keeping well.
Please see below for some important notices about school life:
Remote Education - Changes
We are having an increasing number of children return to school, either because they are the children of parents/carers who are critical workers, or they are children deemed vulnerable because they are known to Children's Services or because they are currently not accessing remote education. For that reason, we have reorganised how we are deploying our teachers to ensure as many children as possible are having access to a teacher and so parents/carers must take note of the following:
- Currently, those of you who have chosen to complete a paper-based Home Learning Pack with your child/ren have been using Facebook Messenger and/or directly e-mailing teachers photographs of your child's work. This is no longer required. Instead, you should use the answers in the Home Learning Pack to mark your child's work, ticking a correct response and dotting an incorrect response. Fortnightly, when you return the pack to school, the teacher will be able to look at your child's completed work to inform their assessments.
- Those of you accessing Google Classroom will continue to receive feedback on your child's work by one of the teachers or a teaching assistant who works in their year group. We have 10 school laptops remaining that we may lend to families who wish for their child to use Google Classroom - please e-mail the School Office via admin@hurstdrive.herts.sch.uk if you would like to visit school to sign a lending agreement to borrow one of our laptops.
- Parents/carers should make a note of any questions or issues they are having with Google Classroom or the Home Learning Pack so they may discuss these with their child's class teacher or teaching assistant as part of the weekly telephone call.
Home Learning Pack & Reading Books
On Monday 1 February 2021, one parent/carer with or without their child/ren, may visit school to return any completed home packs and to return any borrowed reading books. We will then be able to supply new home learning packs and/or new reading books.
If you have more than one child, please visit at the time allocated to your eldest child's year group. You should enter the premises by the large pedestrian gate, and you must wear a face covering to enter the building.
09:15-09:35 - Reception
09:35-09:55 - Year 1
09:55-10:15 - Year 2
13:00-13:20 - Year 3
13:20-13:40 - Year 4
13:40-14:00 - Year 5
14:00-14:20 - Year 6
Online Safety
We have updated the section on our school website relating to on-line safety. Please make time to read it carefully - there are links to websites suitable for your child as well.
Prize Draw - a Reward for Hardworking Children and a Reward for Hardworking Parents/Carers
We are aware of lots of parents and carers who are working hard to support their child's learning at home whilst also working remotely themselves and/or caring for other children. We have decided to create a prize draw so some of these parents/carers may win a prize for their efforts. The first-place prize is a £150 supermarket voucher, the second-place prize is a £75 supermarket voucher, and the third-place prize is a £50 supermarket voucher.
If you would like to be in with a chance of winning, you must make sure the following is happening now and continuing to happen for however long schools remain closed to the majority:
- Your child is completing all the work set on Google Classroom or they are completing the paper-based Home Learning Pack and returning it to school on time
- Parents/carers are sharing the other work they are doing with their child via the weekly telephone call (e.g. reading with their child daily, trips to the park etc.)
Of course, we wish to reward all the children who are working hard in school and at home as well. We will wait for schools to reopen fully and those children who have been working hard in school, and those children who have completed their learning at home, will be able to partake in an event decided by the School Council - it will certainly be something that's lots of fun as our children deserve that after experiencing three different national lockdowns in the past year!
Payments for Before- and After-school Clubs
For those parents/carers who access our before- and after-school clubs that incur a fee, namely Breakfast Club and Wraparound Care, we now have the facility installed on SchoolGateway for you to cancel bookings yourself and for this to be returned to your account in the form of credit. The instructions for cancelling a booking are listed below:
1) Click on the club.
2) Click 'Manage Bookings'
3) If using a phone, swipe left on the booking, turning it red with a trash can symbol, and then click to cancel the booking. If on a computer, you select the booking and then cancel it.
4) Your account will now be credited with the cost of the cancelled booking. If you require a refund to the card you used to pay for the booking, you must e-mail admin@hurstdrive.herts.sch.uk to make this known.
Telephoning the School
Currently, due to some staff members being unwell and/or having to shield as they are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable, we are unable to answer the telephone. For that reason, we have a clear voicemail message, telling the caller to leave their name and contact information so we may return their call. We check the voicemail at 8:30am, 12:30pm and 2:30pm. Parents/carers should be aware that we cannot see the number you have called from, and so, you must detail the telephone number you wish to be contacted on.
We highly recommend parents/carers use e-mail - admin@hurstdrive.herts.sch.uk - instead of the telephone to ask questions or share information with us as those working remotely can respond to your e-mails more efficiently than we can respond to your telephone calls at this time.
Parent Governor
Congratulations to Mr Prince Paul - a parent of a child in our school - who has been elected as Parent Governor to join our Governing Body as of March 2021. Thank you to all the candidates who applied and thank you to the parents/carers who took the time to cast a vote. If you would like to know more about the school's Governing Body, you may click here.
Year 6 Residential Trip
Ordinarily, we would have already shared the information relating to the Year 6 Residential Trip, including details of payment plans, with children and their parents/carers.
We have a provisional booking for mid-June 2021; however, the company currently have their staff furloughed and we are still not able to know whether trips of this kind will be possible in June 2021.
Please rest assured that we have not forgotten about the Year 6 children's residential trip and we will contact parents/carers as soon as we can give a definitive answer as to whether it is going to happen. If it does not happen, we will look to organise a different event or events for the Year 6 children.
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Yours sincerely,
The Administration Team
Hurst Drive Primary School
admin@hurstdrive.herts.sch.uk
01992 624099