The summer term ends on Friday 16th July 2021.

School reopens on Thursday 2nd September 2021.

The Prime Minister hopes to reopen schools on 8th March. However, this is subject to change, depending on infection rates and the success of the vaccine roll out.

School closure is frustrating for all of us, but necessary to prevent the virus from spreading and to protect the NHS. We will continue to support home learning during term time and provide free school meals vouchers until the school reopens.

I will keep you up to date with any developments as they are announced. Thank you

Dear Parent / Carer

I am thinking of you all as we continue to deal with life during lockdown. We all wish school could be open as usual, but accept the need for restrictions in order to stop the virus from spreading.

Online Learning
Teachers are posting three daily activities on ClassDojo for your child to access - English, Maths and one other subject. We recommend trying to do at least 2 hours learning a day and uploading your child's work to their portfolio for the teacher to see. Having a simple routine is the best way forward. We understand that this will be challenging for working parents and would simply ask that you do what you can.

Work Packs
Work books have been provided as an optional extra or alternative resource. You are NOT expected to do all the online learning and the workbooks too. They are handy for families who have limited access to laptops and tablets. Remember to get in touch if you would like to borrow a school laptop.

Key Workers' Group
The school has groups running for the children of key workers' and vulnerable pupils. Demand has more than doubled since the first lockdown. We are working hard to offer this provision whilst following the recommendations of our Risk Assessment.

Free School Meals
We are providing supermarket vouchers to families entitled to free school meals. These are issued by the company Edenred via email.  The Pop Up Shop at St Matthew's church is open at 9am every Thursday as well. 

Lockdown continues to bring huge challenges to families, both financially, emotionally and in terms of wellbeing. Remember that we don't want to put any extra pressure on you as a school, and are happy for you to do what you can in terms of home learning.

Please ring the school office on 01473 251614 between 9am and 2.30pm if you think we can help in any way. You can also contact Mrs Cameron, Miss Hood or me via ClassDojo.

Take care and stay safe

Mr Gates

Home Learning packs are ready for collection on...

Thursday 7th January 2021

Please collect your pack if your family name (surname) begins with A - L. You will be able to collect these between 10am and 2pm.

Friday 8th January 2021

Please collect your pack if your family name (surname) begins with M - Z. You will be able to collect these between 10am and 2pm.

To keep you and members of staff safe, please...

• wear a face covering.
• keep 2m from the people also collecting at the same time.
• enter the school via the main entrance. Hand sanitiser will be available.
• try to collect on your allocated day. We have done this by family name rather than year groups. The split days are so that we don't have everyone in school on the same day.
• try to collect the packs with the minimum number of people. We do appreciate you may need to bring your children with you.

The aim of the learning packs is to supplement the fantastic activities class teachers are posting every day. They will not be referred to in the daily posts. Please contact Mrs Cameron if you have concerns or questions. Thank you.

The school is closed for most pupils. 

 

Places have been offered to the children of key workers and vulnerable pupils in consultation with the Headteacher. Please do not send your child to school unless you have been told that you have a space allocated. 

 

If you need any support with remote learning, please contact the school office or send a dojo message to the class teacher, Mr Gates, Mrs Cameron or Miss Hood. Thank you.

 

 

The school is now closed for most pupils due to the lockdown in England. If you are a key worker or your child is vulnerable, and you require a place for them in school, please contact the Headteacher by 2pm on Tuesday 5th January. We have a limited number of places available, based upon our Risk Assessment and staffing capacity.

 

The teachers will be supporting remote learning from today via the ClassDojo app and work books will be available for collection later on this week. Further details to follow.

We are sad to say goodbye to Mrs Coltham who has worked at St Matthew's as a Teaching Assistant for 24 years! During this time she has been an enormous help to all the teachers and has been a popular member of staff with the children.

 

As well as running the lunchtime SALT group for over 20 years she also produced numerous collections of poetry which have raised money for charity.

 

We will miss you Mrs Coltham, and wish you a very happy retirement. Come back and see us when you can!

Congratulations to Mrs Todd, our previous Headteacher, who has been appointed as the new Diocesan Deputy Director of Education. 

Thank you so much for supporting our Harvest Appeal. We delivered a whole car load of food to the charity FIND. This will be a big help to many local families who are struggling to make ends meet. Your generosity is much appreciated.

We are relaunching the Children's University at St Matthew's this half term. More details are in the latest newsletter. If you wish for your child to participate, please contact Mr Gates by Friday 9th October. Thank you.