Welcome to Reception class 2020- new starters from Nursery!!

Dear New Reception parent/carer,

 

Welcome to Reception class!  We are thrilled that you and your child are going to continue your journey with us at King Edward Primary School!  As you will already know, the Local Education Authority has informed me that your child is due to join our Reception year at King Edward Primary School in September 2020.  On behalf of the staff, Governors and children, I would like to tell you how pleased we are that you and your child are staying a part of our school community, for at least the next 7 years! 

Despite these challenging and unprecedented times, we are finalising plans to ensure that your child’s start in Reception class is as smooth as possible.  We want to make sure you are as informed as you would be in normal circumstances and that you have all the information that you need for when your child starts.  We will stay in touch with you between now and September.

As your child is already in our Nursery, we already know how your child learns, their likes and dislikes and all the other information that will help us give your child the best start in Reception.  Our Reception teachers would normally spend time with your child in our Nursery and your child would spend time in our Reception classrooms over the coming months. We are unsure at the moment when or if this will be possible, but we will make sure that we keep in touch with you. 

We would like some valuable information about your child, especially for their new teacher.  We already have most of this information, but we would really appreciate it if you could complete a transition to Reception class form for us.  This means that the information is as up to date as possible for your child’s new teacher.  We will send a link to this form at the start of next week.

On that note and as you already know, we are a paperless school where at all possible!  This has proved invaluable to us and our families during these challenging times.  In practise, this allows us to collate and share up to date valuable information from you and with you, via text links.  We will also be able to share valuable information with your child, also via text links to you, if we need to.  Whilst schools remain physically closed for face-to-face learning, it is going to mean that we will have to be creative in our transition and information sharing and we’ve already got some exciting ideas!

Visits to our Reception classes and welcoming you and your child into Reception class

We would normally be sharing a date with you to come and visit our school.  This visit is for both you and your child, to meet with myself, their teacher and to find out valuable information.  I am extremely uncertain if this will be possible.  As a school, we have no more information than you, about when schools will reopen for face-to-face learning.  I watch the daily Government briefings at the same time as you.  It will be while watching those briefings, at the same time as you, that I will know when children will begin to return to schools.  Even when they do, the challenges will be vast, as I’m sure you can appreciate.  I am proud to say however, that we are providing childcare to our key worker families throughout this lockdown, whilst at the same time, we are providing daily learning and well-being support for our children and families.  I am very proud of our staff team, our children and our families.

Despite the current challenges and in the hope that it may be possible to welcome you and your child to Reception class in person as we usually would, please keep the following date free.  This will only go ahead if it is safe to do so.  

If it is safe to go ahead, I will need to be guided about how many of you we can invite at once safely, so we cannot confirm a time yet. We may need to invite you in small groups, but we will get in touch with you to confirm the time at the earliest possible opportunity if it’s safe to do so. 

Please keep this date free in case it is possible to meet you all. It will be the only date we will offer, so I thought you would appreciate the date as soon as possible. 

 

Thursday 2nd July 2020

 

If this date can go ahead then you AND your child will be able to meet their teacher and visit the classrooms and learning environment.

You will be able to:

•             Meet your child’s teacher.
•             Collect a School Brochure, giving details of Reception class school policies and routines.
•             Talk to staff.
•             Ask questions.
•             Order items of school uniform; (we accept cash, cheques made payable to King Edward Primary School and card payments with orders).

 

 

What will happen if we cannot meet you all in person?

First of all, don’t worry! We WILL find a way.  If we cannot meet you in person, then we plan on doing each of the following:

•       Send you and your child a short video and leaflet showing you our learning environment and explaining what and where things are e.g. their classroom, outdoor space etc.
•       Send a video to each of your children for their teacher to introduce themselves and say hello.
•       Invite you to a group video call to share the information that we would have shared in the welcome meeting. We would offer a few possible dates/times, both in the school day and at the end of a working day.  This will enable you to all find a time to join us.
•       Ring you separately to discuss your child, talk about the information you will have given us and also give you the chance to ask any questions.

 

What will happen about buying your child’s uniform?

We have placed a uniform order ready for our Reception children.  Therefore we don’t expect there to be a problem with you being able to buy our school jumpers and polo shirts etc.  The uniform list is on our website if you wish to have a look; we will also share it with you directly nearer the time.  So please don’t worry.  If need be, you will be able to order uniform from us remotely and then pick up your order when it arrives into school.  Anything which doesn’t fit we would simply swap. 

 

What about any other questions you have?

I am sure that either via the meeting in person or our remote meetings, we will be able to answer all of your questions as we usually can.  Despite these challenging circumstances, we will make sure that you have all of the information that you need.

Over the coming weeks and months, as decisions are made about schools, we will keep in touch with you and make whatever plans it is safe for us to make.  We will ensure that you and your child are supported and able to feel ready to join us for Reception class. Whilst we know no more than you about the current plans for schools, we will respond to whatever we need to, in order to make your start with us as informed and natural as it would be in normal circumstances.

If you have any questions about this letter or the form we are going to send you next week, then please don’t hesitate to contact us on the following email.  We will then contact you as soon as possible.

 

info@kingedward.org

 

Take care, best wishes and stay safe.

 

Kate Byrne                                Paul Denton

Headteacher                             EYFS Leader