Dear Parents & Carers
Nearly there…
I apologise for the length of this ParentMail but there is a lot to get through today &, to be honest, I’ve needed to immerse myself in a protracted task to stop me thinking about Liverpool’s form since Christmas.
I hope this is the last time I write I have to ‘write lockdown thank yous’ but I wanted to acknowledge everyone for pulling together over the past couple of months. I’d like to thank the children who have been tackling home-learning from their kitchens, living rooms, sheds, etc. They have been wonderful throughout, engaging with the work each day under highly unusual circumstances. Huge thanks also to the children who have been learning in school (some every day, others when their parents/carers were in work) – not only have they worked their socks off, they have behaved impeccably each & every day & have been a real credit to their families. I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to all of our parents & carers – without your support none of this would have been possible. We are fully aware of the pressures home learning puts on families & we are thankful to have parents & carers who care so much about their children’s education. There will have been times when you were driven to distraction & wondered whether this would ever end. Well it has. Give yourself a treat over the weekend to celebrate – you could go for a walk, or a bike ride, or a jog, or a walk, or a bike ride, or a jog, or a walk… Thank you to the teachers who have been able to remotely deliver high quality learning opportunities & give valuable feedback to their pupils to help them improve – I am lucky to have such dedicated teachers here at Woodlands. Finally, I would like to thank all of the Woodlands staff who have been in school throughout this latest lockdown: TAs & teachers facilitating learning for the children who have been in school – always making sure the pupils in their care are supported, always ensuring they are greeted warmly each morning; Mr Inskip, our site manager, for ensuring the school is running smoothly & safely every single day; our office staff who, at times, have been rushed off their feet (chairs?) & have managed to keep smiling no matter what & keep me on the straight & narrow; Holly & her wonderful team in the kitchen for working throughout this period; our cleaners who have kept the school looking spick & span as usual; last, but by no means least, our wonderful lunchtime welfare assistants who look after the children over dinnertime – they are always positive, always happy to engage with our children & always take care of them. Woodlands motto is ‘Working Together, Achieving More’ – I think our whole school community has really lived up to this.
If any of you have run out of paint to watch dry, or you need help going to sleep, you can read our ‘Return to school: protocol & procedures March 2021’ full risk assessment by following the link below:
https://www.woodlandsschoolformby.co.uk/return-to-school-risk-assessment-8th-march-2021/
If you have better things to do with your time, I have recapped the important information you need for the return to school on Monday (8 March):
Nursery am: 9.05am – 11.30am
Nursery pm: 12.30pm – 2.50pm
A reminder to parents of children in Year 5 & 6 about the equipment your child needs to bring to school:
Other news
We have been asked by Maria Simpson, Sefton’s SEN & Inclusion Policy Development Officer, to share the following with you:
Following on from the baseline SEND Parent and Carer survey the SEND Parent and Carer survey will take place from 1 – 26 March, as agreed by the SEND Continuous Improvement board. The survey is the same as the full baseline survey, but with a couple more questions in about the length of time engaged with SEND services and the impact of COVID, which were developed with the Sefton Parent and Carer Forum. The survey is live and the link is below. We would be very grateful if you could please promote the survey throughout the month with your parent/carers and encourage as many as possible to complete the survey.
https://yourseftonyoursay.sefton.gov.uk/business-intelligence/sefton-parent-carer-send-survey-2021
Thank you to all the families who took part in ‘Book in a Box’ to celebrate World Book Day – there were many incredible creations turned in. Check out the Class Pages on the school website to see a collection of photos for each phase https://www.woodlandsschoolformby.co.uk/topic/class-pages
If your children haven’t had a go at our World Book Day Mystery Reader Quiz, please follow the link to view the videos & then try & guess which members of staff are behind the mask - “I know exactly who this is!” https://www.woodlandsschoolformby.co.uk/world-book-day-2021/
A final piece of very good news: Holly, our wonderful school chef, has just taken delivery of 2 incredible pieces of kitchen equipment that, as a result of Holly’s success in LACA School Chef of the Year competition, have been kindly donated by Rational (the makers of crème de la crème kitchen appliances). One is a combination oven which is replacing a very temperamental oven that would only cook if it felt like it – or sometimes it would start cooking & then simply give up – the culinary equivalent of Homer Simpson. The other appliance is called an iVario Pro, which is like something out of Star Trek! This is genuinely worth looking up on YouTube – we have been reliably told that we are the only state school in the country to have one of these in our kitchen. I will be putting an article on the school website when we find out exactly what these appliance can do – we are amazed by what we’ve seen already. Holly & her team have today been working with a chef from Rational, learning how to programme each cooker. Our meals are going to get even better!
We can’t wait to see everyone again on Monday – only 3 sleeps to go!
Take care
KD Williams
Headteacher
Last word
I’m bad at four things:
remembering, counting and remembering.