Wednesday 2^nd September 2020

Dear Parents,

It has been an absolute delight to welcome both new and familiar faces into school today. The new school year is always full of feelings of anticipation, excitement and of course a few nervous ‘butterflies’ for everyone, but never has this been truer than this year. As I write this letter, the sound of the children playing happily on the playground is drifting into my office and I must admit, it feels rather wonderful to have a full school in attendance again. Bright blue uniforms, gleaming, polished shoes and wide, sparkling smiles are in abundance once more. 

Thank you to all of our families for their patience and cooperation this morning. Things will inevitably get quicker as everyone becomes accustomed to our new operating procedures. 

Our staff team will continue to endeavour to keep you as well informed as possible via our weekly class letters, these are extremely important as they detail information about events which will be happening in your child’s class in the weeks ahead. The first of these will be issued via email this Friday, and normally on each Friday after that along with our Whole School Newsletter. Both these are also easily accessible on our School Website, www.cropthorneschool.org, from the home page and on our Class Pages.  Please do check regularly, and if you find you are not receiving these weekly updates, do please contact Mrs Evans so we can explore why this might be.

In the meantime, if you do have questions or queries please check our September FAQS here, or alternatively email Mrs Evans at office@cropthorne.worcs.sch.uk so we can answer your query or pass information on promptly to class teachers to help us best support your child in school. We will add to our Frequently Asked Questions if we receive similar queries from several parents. Mrs Evans and I will also be around at all entrances throughout the week to help where we can.

As you would expect, along with carrying out our new safer operating procedures, supporting children’s well-being and adjustment back into the routine of school life is a top priority for us, after the period of disruption our children have faced. We are, and will be continuing to adapt our curriculum to support children wherever necessary with their emotional wellbeing, recognising that our children missed out on normal transition activities last term. We know it is a September like no other for our children, and recognise that everyone’s experience of the past months is a unique one. We are fortunate at Cropthorne to have a very experienced staff group who have risen to every challenge they have faced during this difficult year.

This year, everyone will need to play their part to ensure school runs smoothly, maintaining distancing, following Government Guidance as it is updated, and working together as a school community as we all continue to adapt to new ways of operating.

The start of a new school year is always a tiring one for children. We therefore expect some inevitable weariness, especially at the end of each week as children become accustomed to the regularity of school life once again, and of course for the first time for our Reception pupils. Do let us know if this is the case with your child, this experience is new for everyone and we’ll do our best to support your child.

Over the coming weeks we will be looking to gradually reintroduce familiar aspects of the school, such as our amazing weekly awards and our wraparound care. Things may look and run differently than before, but that is something we are having to become accustomed to in all walks of life. We will of course let you know more as soon as we can.

I really have been so pleased with how all of the children have settled into school life over the course of today and look forward to seeing their many successes over the course of the term.

Yours Sincerely,

Rob Bothma

Headteacher