Where did the summer holidays go? The Autumn term is traditionally a very busy one for us in school but this year it is going to be a little different with not being able to welcome you into school as we normally would. We would like to extend a warm welcome our new pupils and their families into our school community. We hope you enjoy your time with us at William Ransom.
I would also like to welcome Miss Amy Swinburne and Miss Maria Corcoran, to our teaching team and Mrs Nicole Airey, Mrs Marie Baker, Ms Annlouise Gallagher and Ms Katie Rowley-Jones, our new teaching assistants and Mr Adam Cain, our new IT Assistant; we are looking forward to having them all as part of our team.
It was lovely to see some of you at the school gates this morning. It was quite busy out there and we are trying to keep human traffic down to a minimum. Each year group has a 5 minute window to come into school. Please do not come before your allotted time otherwise it gets too busy in the lane. If you have children in different year groups then clearly you will need to wait but otherwise please vacate the area as soon as possible! To avoid confusion, Year 3 & Year 4 are using gate 5!
Within the first week we will be sending home a list of known dates for this academic year. Please keep it handy. We make every endeavour not to change dates once they have been set, but there are times when this is unavoidable, however we will try to give as much notice as possible.
Please remember that we have been advised by County that we are to avoid granting permission for pupils to be absent during term time. The law is quite specific about this and allows for parents to apply for permission for their child to be absent, for UNAVOIDABLE reasons only. It is only the school that can authorise an absence.
This year things are a little different and I do not expect to get any requests for holiday absences. Your children have missed so much school already they cannot afford to miss any more.
If your child displays any of the symptoms for COVID 19 you will be called immediately and asked to collect your child from school and arrange for a COVID test.
This situation is being monitored daily.
At the beginning of a school year we always have a purge on names on uniform! Please ensure your child’s uniform and PE kit is named clearly. All uniform is now available from Beat, the uniform shop in town and we are developing our own second hand uniform shed in school. More details on this to follow.
It will be necessary to delay the start of different extra – curricular activities; we just need to get the school day running smoothly first!
As soon as we feel able to start some different activities, the children will be told.
Music lessons from peripatetic teachers will hopefully be starting very soon. As soon as we have definite start dates for the various instruments we will let you know.
If you have any questions about music lessons, don’t hesitate to come in and talk to Mrs Hopcraft.
If your child is ill (unrelated to COVID) and unable to come to school:
- Please telephone school and leave a message on option 1 before 9.00am
- Alternatively you can email any information to the school office on admin@wransom.herts.sch.uk
- Please phone or email each day to keep us informed of their progress.
- Once your child returns to school please send a letter explaining their absence if you have not emailed.
- In the case of long term absences we will assume the pupil will be off school unless you tell us otherwise.
- Any unexplained absences will be followed up with a phone call before 9.30am.
All of these procedures are intended to keep your child safe, please help by keeping us informed. I hope these arrangements are clear but if you do have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
We are encouraging all our pupils to develop independence as they spend their time with us. Part of this is remembering to bring everything they need for school with them in the morning. Currently we do not want ‘extra’ visitors coming to the office so please help us by encouraging your child to remember what they need for school and sending all forms and monies into school with your child. Obviously if you have any queries or issues you would like to discuss, we are happy to see you at the office.
Any money for Brighter Days should NOT come to the school office it must go directly to them.
Every year we write a School Development Plan to highlight the areas of our work which we will be focussing on during the academic year however, this is something else which needs to be a little different this year.
We have written an Action Plan and a Recovery Plan and each year group is currently looking at where the children are in their learning and what they need to cover to stay on track. Work may look very different from how it has been in the past but it is essential that we meet the needs of all the children.
We are interested in seeing the work done during lock down so please ensure it is sent into school by Friday this week. We will look at it next week and then send it home.
We have made the decision we will be sending reading books home but we would ask that you and your child wash & sanitise your hands before and after reading the book.
Please remember if you have any concerns about your child at school, do not hesitate to come in to see me.
I look forward to seeing you in school in the very near future.