Dear Children, Parents and Carers,
After another week of leading two schools, the one that’s working remotely and the one for a very small group of key worker children in school, I again want to pass on my thanks to everyone involved! I’m so appreciative of our staff who are going the extra mile every day and I’m also grateful to all our families who are helping to keep children learning in difficult times.
We’re really doing our bit collectively to bring down the covid infection rate locally and there’s a glimmer of hope that the numbers are plateauing. Let’s keep being determined to reduce transmission whenever we can by staying at home. Thank you to the key worker families who only send their children in when it’s absolutely necessary. I’m working at home today with a strong team in school that I can rely on and plenty of Zoom time and phone calls keeping me in touch across the community. It’s reminded me again of the circumstances of so many of our families, working at home and juggling different demands on our time; with my son and husband also using the internet all day, we have quite a complicated schedule! I salute you for being so determined to prioritise your child’s education. It must be quite a sacrifice.
Compared to so many schools, we’re glad that at HTPD every child has the technology to be online each day. This daily contact is proving to be very popular, with teachers, children and families finding it a great motivator. The children love to see their work shared with their classmates and they’re also being inspired to work hard when others are producing such super quality too. Keep it up everyone!
If you’ve followed the news in the press about the free school meals debacle, you’ll be interested to know that we made the decision to support our families in need with vouchers rather than food parcels. These will be issued to those in receipt of means-tested free school meals next week, and back-dated to the start of term. To me, this seems so much more respectful. Please do get in touch if you’re going through financial difficulties – we still have our hardship fund open for donations on Parentpay, and we’re able to help out. We really want to look after each other and make sure that none of our children go hungry.
For me, this week’s highlight has been sharing assembly with all the children from Year 1 to Year 6. Being able to see the school gathered together despite the distance between us, really gave me hope. Eventually, we’ll all be back together in the same place again and what a celebration we’ll have. Thank you for continuing to make connection with school a priority; it’s great to belong to such a vibrant, determined and loving community. Your support and encouragement to the teaching staff is much appreciated – we share that feedback every week and cheer one another along! Thank you for all your encouraging emails.
With love,
Clare
Thought of the Week: Love is eternal – who will love you forever?
Whole school notice
Opportunity to discuss ways to find hope
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been approached by families commenting on our school values bringing them comfort and hope. Mike Norris, one of our parents and part of St Saviour’s Church in Guildford, has offered to run a couple of online sessions exploring this and similar themes. See the attached flyer if you’re interested in taking part.
FOPS News
Hello everyone,
A quick note to say we will be having a PTA meeting next Thursday 21st January at 8pm - on Zoom of course! Details will be sent out via ParentMail next week.
We'll be discussing fundraising objectives for the rest of the school year and activities to support everyone during this current lockdown.
I hope to 'meet' you there!
Kate x